For this last assignment I would like you to reflect on what you have learned in this class the semester. Please answer the following questions. What are three topics that you found interesting during the semester? Why? How has the material you have learned in this class changed the way you think about psychology and the world in general? How has the material you have learned in this class, complemented what you have learned in other classes at UNI?
Please answer the questions in sufficient detail as warranted for a final assignment and please make sure to use as much behavioral terminology as possible.
Let me know if you have any questions,
--Dr. M
After emitting the behavior of taking the class Behavior Modification I found that the class was very rewarding and provided much information. My three favorite topics that I emitted the behavior or doing work and research on are Discriminative stimulus, the ABC's of behavior modification and finally the idea of token economies especially in classrooms. I thought the discriminative stimulus was enjoyable because I didn't realize how much we are sort of controlled everyday by the simplest thing one would never notice unless pointed out to them.
I enjoyed the ABC's of behavior modification after emitting the behavior of reading them because they are the heart and soul of behavior modification and is like the underlying rules or stipulations on how many of the other topics we discussed work. Without this information the other topics would have been much harder to understand and possibly implement. It is also fun to know to elicit someone to emit a behavior you wish them to do.
Finally I found the topic of token behaviors that I recently emitted the behavior or writing about interesting because I am pursuing a career in counselling psychology. If i end up doing what I hope to do in my future I think a token economy may be a good plan to help some of my students that have behavioral issues. I also found it enjoyable because I was once subjected to a token economy and for me it worked as well as it could with the problem it had.
This course has elicited me to think about the world a lot differently. I now emit the behavior of looking at simple things that no one notices and thinking about how that may elicit a behavioral response from people. It also taught me about how I can alter my own aversive behaviors especially those that are a jeopardy to my health. Behavior modification altered my thought about psychology by introducing a new theory to use and think about when working with a client or a student instead the old ways in which were are elicited to use all the time.
i found several times through out the semester in my other courses that we mentioned something dealing with behavior modification or noticed something in a classroom that elicited me to do something maybe set by a teacher or a standard that I would stop and emit a behavior of analyzing that behavior and thinking through the ABC's of that particular behavior. The class where this came up the most was Applied Psychology because we talked about the different theories on psychology and the cognitive/behavior theory is about altering behaviors to deal with the clients problems or issues.
Taking this class elicited many different thinking behaviors in my life. The first topic I found interesting was kind of a good start to understand the more complex information.
1st: This was the ABCs of Behavior Modification. This elicited a pleasurable response because it made me think a lot of behaviors that I emit every day and how it is easy to manipulate them. For example, it is interesting because different antecedents can be an establishing operation for behaviors (set the occasion), and therefore the consequence. It is a more interesting way to think of where behaviors are acceptable. For example, you wouldn’t emit a joking behavior at a funeral. However, you may emit a joking behavior at a friends’ house.
2nd: The second was the reinforcement and punishment. Although I have learned this for many Psychology classes, I definitely learned much more through this class. This elicited a pleasant response because it made me realize I can personally reinforce or punish things in my daily life.
3rd: The third was the establishing operations. This is when the withholding of the stimulus makes the reinforcer more reinforcing. This is interesting and can relate to my life because with my new dog, I could think of ways to train him. When playing Frisbee, I could throw it and reinforce him with a treat when he brought it back. After a while, I can show him the reinforcer (Frisbee), and hold it until I throw it and he gets more reinforcement chasing after it because of the deprivation of the Frisbee and not getting reinforced in a short variable schedule.
The material I have learned in this class has made me think of psychology as very applicable knowledge for behaviors in my life. I actually used the reinforcement this semester from what I learned in class. My roommate wasn’t doing the dishes. When she did, I said “thanks for doing the dishes”! I also asked her if she wanted any ice cream after, a couple times. Now she has emitted this behavior frequently. This also is going to be very reinforcing in my future when I have children because I have learned a lot and researched about raising children after this class. I learned it’s more important to reinforce rather than punish.
The material I learned in this class complemented what I’ve learned in my other classes in many ways. In my applied psychology we learned about different spaces and how they elicit different behaviors. The antecedent is more defensive space, the behavior is spending time in own space and the consequence is less crime. In my Biological Psychology class, the ABCs could be used. For example,
A=In the post synaptic membrane
B=Sodium channels open
C=Dendrite depolarizes
Sometimes in class or with my friends I almost start speaking in behavioral terms! Overall, this class has elicited a great understanding of not only limited to Psychology classes, but also with every day behaviors.
The three things I have learned that have elicited a remembering response are as follows:
1.) The ABC’s of behavior modification: This is such a simple way of looking at something that could have been much more complex if it wasn’t explained properly. The letters represent the words they stand for (ex: A= antecedent which starts with the letter A) so it’s almost impossible to forget the terms. I really liked learning about the ABC’s because they can be applied to ANY behavior. If someone were to rattle off a behavior and told me to give them the antecedent and consequence, I could easily do it.
2.) Punishment: Prior to emitting the behavior of taking Behavior Modification, I thought of punishment in a completely different way. I had no idea that reinforcing a behavior could actually be a much stronger influence than punishment. On the flip side, punishment can still be used to shape behaviors. I also found it interesting to take a deeper look into corporal punishment when we had the chance to do our own research on a topic of our choice.
3.) Extinction: To me, extinction is more simply defined as a “temper tantrum.” Temper tantrum sounds like something a two year old would do, but if you call it extinction, it’s something that everyone does when they stop getting reinforced. Some of the YouTube videos that were posted about this topic were kind of funny because ordinarily we would never expect people in society to act in such aversive ways.
The material in this class has changed the way I view manipulation. In the beginning of the class, I remember Dr. MacLin asking the class how we felt about manipulation. Needless to say, many people thought of manipulation as something aversive. Now, I realize that manipulation is just part of our day to day society. Although to some it may seem wrong to “control” someone else’s behavior through these behavioral tactics, I think it is only fair to say that everyone manipulates everyone, whether they are aware of it or not.
A few topics in this class overlapped with what I was learning in other classes. The Little Albert Study was a topic covered in both my Applied Psychology course and my Clinical Psychology course. Punishment and reinforcement have also been mentioned in those classes, but much less in depth than what we have gone over in Behavior Modification.
I really enjoyed this class and thought many of the topics were very interesting. Three things I found the most interesting were as follows:
1) Language of behavior. I found that as we emitted a behavior of learning all of these different behavioral terms, it helped me in the class, in other classes, and in life as well. I found it easier to read books and things knowing these certain behavioral terms more thoroughly. Some of these terms include reinforcement, punishment, positive and negative, adversive and pleasurable, topographically similar behaviors, functions, manipulation, consequence, response, establishing operation, extinction, satiation, target behavior, emit, elicit, the list could go on and on! These are all important terms that can be used in our everyday lives as well as behavioral classes. I enjoyed expanding my vocabulary in this area and found this to be very interesting. I found these to be very helpful and good to know.
2) Another topic I found to be interesting was reinforcement. This is when the consequence following a behavior increases the likelihood of that behavior, whether it involves the adding of something pleasurable or removing something aversive. The first instance described is called positive reinforcement. When something aversive is removed, it is called negative reinforcement. Many things could be used to reinforce a situation. With positive reinforcement, someone could recieve praise for their actions, as well as things like candy, a prize, food, money, the list could go on and on. For negative reinforcement, chores could be taken away if a person shows good behavior or desirable behavior. It could also be many other things removed from a person's life that are negative so that it would increase the likelihood of that behavior. I enjoyed this topic because it helped me to see why reinforcement works with children in elementary school as well as people our age and older. I have also been able to use this in my life with my new puppy. I even used this tactic on my sister without her even knowing it. I told her that if she would start being nice to me I'd do her nails whenever I get the chance. It has helped our relationship a lot! (She's only 11, so she fell for it). Therefore, reinforcement can play a large role in life and I had never noticed this before!
3) The third thing I found to be very interesting was token economies. For some reason, this topic really intrigued me. Therefore, I emitted many researching behaviors of this topic whenever we were allowed to write about a topic that intrigued us. We just finished up the section on token economies and I found that they are used in many areas of life without us even recognizing it. A token economy is just what it sounds like. It is when a person is given tokens whenever the desriable behavior is emitted, and then those tokens can later be traded for reinforcements. I found that this is used in many places such as schools, retail stores, as well as restaraunts. These token economies in our everyday life elicit a certain behavior from us that we don't even realize. One example is at CHATS in the Maucker Union. We get a card when we buy coffee that if we get so many punches in the card, we get more coffee. Therefore, we end up buying more coffee from CHATS to increase our chances of getting this last coffee for free, which is our reinforcement after getting all of the "tokens," which in this case are the punches. Token economies are widely used in society and are even used in prisons, which I also found interesting. I hope to do more research about token economies some day.
I now know much more about behavior and psychology in general. I had already learned some of this stuff, such as reinforcement/punishment, and I had also learned about Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner before in my History class. These things still intrigued me, however, and I learned more about these things in this class than in others. It also took these things and went into more detail and furthered my knowledge as well. I now view psychology as something that takes place everywhere in life, especially the behavioral aspect of it. I can see reinforcement and punishment everywhere in our society and in my everyday life. I see behavioral terms everywhere. Even when I watch television, I'm always pointing out little behavioral or psychology aspects of the show. It's actually kind of fun! I have been able to apply certain concepts to myself and change some of the behaviors I've been wanting to change as well. I notice the token economies so that I don't always fall for them, which isn't a bad thing. Overall, I learned a lot more than I thought I was learning at the time about our world and Psychology in general.
I can apply this to many of my other classes as well. I've been especially noticing this in Macroeconomics. It's all been about supply and demand and our government. We are reinforced or punished by the actions of our economy in many ways. For example, our generation may be punished for the actions of the generation before us. Since we are so far in debt right now, negative punishment will take place in our future because we may have the benefits that our ancestors had taken away from us. This is just one of the many examples I have found in Macroeconomics. In Human Growth and Development, we talked about Skinner and Pavlov as well, so it was nice to have had more background on them also. Overall, I thought this was a great class to be able to apply this to other classes and to my life as well.
This class has elicited a learning response in me for several topics. However, the ones that I emitted a remembering response to the most were: superstitious behavior, self-directed change, and reinforcement/punishment.
Superstitious behavior was a fun topic that elicited an interested response in me. Since then, I’ve found several superstitious behaviors that I emit myself, or that I find other people emitting. I always thought that superstitious behaviors were just silly things, like emitting a behavior of avoiding cracks in the sidewalk or emitting a behavior of believing that a broken mirror will bring someone bad luck for seven years. I never realized, until I took this class, that me emitting a behavior of keeping my feet and hands under the covers to feel safer at night, was in actuality, a superstitious behavior. Now, when my husband emits a superstitious behavior such as holding the Wii control a certain way, I know why he’s doing it and, even though I don’t start a long discussion on it, I could if it became irritating to me.
Self-directed change is a behavioral process that is much harder to implement than I had thought it would be! I have found some self-directed change that is easier for me to do because it was easier to choose a reinforcement that would work well, but another self-directed change I had failed miserably. I emitted a behavior of trying to exercise more, but I failed to take into account the extreme aversion I have to exercising, and also failed to find a reinforcer that was reinforcing enough to overcome my aversion. A successful self-directed change that I was able to complete was that of changing my study habits in another psychology course so that I could get better grades on the quizzes. For that self-directed change, I was able to find a very good reinforcer (a drink from Chat’s) that overcame my aversion to studying a few minutes every day. Because I’ve been emitting more studying behavior, I’ve done better on my quizzes and am almost sure that I’ll get an A in the course! In the future, I now have a good way to try to change behavior that I don’t like emitting.
Finally, I’ve emitting a remembering behavior for the topics of reinforcement and punishment in general. In fact, my husband and I were having a discussion on our (maybe) future kids, and I was emitting a sharing behavior of how reinforcement works better than punishment but that punishment can be effective if used properly! Because of this, we’ve started discussing situations that we see with other children, and how can we effectively use reinforcement/punishment to correct it. The other remembering behavior I’ve emitted is that both reinforcement and punishment can be both positive and negative. I’ve even caught myself saying things like, “Well, I’ll just use a positive reinforcement then!” The first time I emitted that behavior, my husband looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but once I explained, he started occasionally saying similar things himself.
The material that I’ve emitted a learning behavior for has changed the way I see psychology and the world in general because I now realize that behavior can be changed pretty easily in most cases. I’ve emitted a learning behavior of realizing that when people say “You catch more flies with honey” they’re really referring to the fact that reinforcement works better than punishment. I understand now why people find it so hard to change their behavior, and this will be very useful as I prepare to enter graduate school and start working with patients during practicum and after I receive my license. While I may not emit a remembering behavior for all the specific terms, and I still am interested in the cognitions behind the behaviors, I will be able to elicit the desired behaviors from my future patients due to the principles that I will remember from this class.
The material I’ve emitted a learning behavior from in this class has complimented other classes because it has helped me to be able to change the things I need to in order to get a better grade because we emitted the behavior of learning about self-directed change. Also, I’ve emitted a behavior of avoiding procrastination because I’ve learned that the reinforcement that comes from doing things right away is better than the aversive consequences that come from putting things off until the last minute. Overall, this class was very helpful in teaching me ways to change mine, and others, behaviors, which is exactly what the class was supposed to be about.
This class has elicited me to emit the behavior of learning about behavior modification and how it relates to everyday life. I have been rewarded with learning information that can help me throughout life, not just a classroom. Although I thought some of the topics were aversive to me and I did not enjoy learning about them, most of the ideas discussed were pleasurable and interesting to learn about. A lot of these pleasurable topics I will remember for the rest of life.
The first topic I will never forget is during one of the first days of class when we discussed how all behavior is controlled. We engage in specific behaviors because we receive forms of reinforcement and we decrease certain behaviors because of punishment. If something we do gives us an aversive reaction, we tend to decrease the likelihood of that specific behavior being emitted again. When we partake in an activity or action that is pleasurable, we experience reinforcement which initiates us to increase the likelihood of that behavior being emitted.
When we discussed punishment and reinforcement, I learned that there is both positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. Positive punishment is when something negative is added in response to an undesired behavior. An example of this would be spanking. When a child hits another child and they are spanked, they are punished by adding something negative to decrease the occurrence of that specific behavior. Negative punishment is when something pleasurable is removed in response to an undesired behavior. An example of could be if a child does not eat their vegetables, they do not get to eat dessert. By removing the pleasurable stimulus of dessert, the child is more likely to decrease their behavior of not eating their vegetables. Positive reinforcement is when something pleasurable is added when a desired behavior has occurred. An example of this would be if a child does their homework, they get to watch an extra hour of TV. Since they receive something pleasurable for their desired behavior, they are more likely to emit the behavior of doing their homework. Negative reinforcement is when something negative is removed after a pleasurable behavior is emitted. An example of this could be if a child does their homework, they don’t have to eat their vegetables. Because they do not have to eat their vegetables, they may be more likely to engage in the specific desired behavior again.
I have also learned about the ABC’s of behavior. The A stands for the antecedent which is the situation which initiates a specific behavior. The B stands for the behavior being emitted. The C stands for the consequence of that specific behavior. I have learned throughout this course that any behavior can be applied to the ABC’s of behavior modification. An example of the ABC’s of behavior could be: A=in a classroom, B=Raising your hand=The teacher calls on you. Then with the ABC’s, we can learn if the behavior will be increased or decreased.
Finally, I have learned to talk behaviorally. I remember the first weeks of classes when we were told we were going to have to speak behaviorally. At first, it is a little overwhelming. I didn’t know how to use the words “emit” or “elicit”. I also had to get used to using “pleasurable” and “aversive”. Once you apply these terms to everyday language, it gets easier to use them on an everyday basis. This behavior talk elicited me to emit the behavior of doing something aversive at first which changed into a pleasurable consequence of learning more about behavior modification.
I think what I have learned in this class can help me not only in my academic career but also in everyday life. I have learned how to control different behaviors of others to my advantage (in a noncreepy way). For example, if my roommate does the dishes, I will reward her with praise and tell her she does a great job at doing the dishes. This will increase the likelihood of her emitting that behavior which can be an advantage for me. It has also added on to what I have learned in other classes at UNI. It helps explain some of the topics I have learned about in my social psychology class can be explained by the ideas of reinforcement and punishment. At first, I didn’t think all behavior could be controlled. Now, I think we emit specific behaviors because of the types of consequences we receive from them.
Taking this class has really elicited a remembering behavior of so many new things. A lot of the topics I have somewhat learned in other classes, but through the reading and researching things online I have emitted a remember behavior, which has elicited me to learn new things. There are many topics that I thought were quite interesting after emitting a reading behavior over this semester but the 3 most interesting topics were:
1)) The ABC’s of behavior modification: Learning about the ABC’s was very interesting because I realized you can use them in really anything, and in every situation. The ABC’s are Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence. The antecedent is what occurs before the behavior, the behavior is the target behavior that is being emitted, and the consequence is what happens because of the behavior. We used the ABC’s in so many situations, which made me emit a remembering behavior. Some of the examples of the ABC’s are:
A: Children Sitting in a classroom
B: Tommy hits Kimmy
C: Tommy gets time out
YET, there are some situations where the antecedent, behavior, and consequence can be different, that is really the fascinating part. You can have the same antecedent, and behavior, but different consequence, or you could have the same behavior and consequence with a different antecedent. An example of these would be
A: At a party
B: Tell a joke
C: People laugh
OR….
A: At a funeral
B: Tell a joke
C: People stare at you
I think that using the ABC’s can be extremely helpful for many people, and it’s interesting that you can use it in different situations and contexts.
2)) The second topic that I thought was interesting would be positive and negative reinforcement. We emitted a reading behavior over this topic in the beginning on the semester in section 2.2. Positive reinforcement is an introduction of a desired stimulus because of a target behavior. Positive reinforcement is also like praising someone or something for something they did. Some positive reinforcement can be verbal, such as giving someone a compliment or telling them ‘good job.’ Or a positive reinforcement could be more of an action such as, If Tommy takes out the trash then he gets to play his video games. I thought this topic was very interesting because it is used in so many different situations. Positive reinforcement elicits good behavior in schools and household as well. Also, another interesting topic with positive reinforcement that we discussed in class was with pets. This is also interesting to me because I always tried to train my dog, and even cat to do tricks. Using positive reinforcement like treats and petting really helps, and can contribute to better behavior, or elicit the target behavior you want someone to emit.
There is also negative reinforcement. This is when there is a removal of something aversive because of a target behavior that has been emitted. This relates to positive reinforcement considering in both situations we want the target behavior to increase. There are many examples of this that we learned about in class as well, and it can also be learned in schools and households. One really interesting thing about this topic is it can also be used in every like situations without us evening know. An example of negative reinforcement could be honking your horn. Say you are sitting at a light and it turns green. The person in front of you doesn’t move, so you emit a honking behavior. This is an aversive noise, so the driver of the vehicle in front of you moves. This is an example of moving something aversive to increase behavior (removal of aversive noise, to get target behavior: moving car). It is all really quite simple if you think about it, but that’s just the thing, people don’t think about it in their everyday lives. But this class has now made me realize how to relate positive and negative reinforcement to my life in general.
3)) The third topic that I found interesting would be the steps to self directed behavior. We learned that there are 7 steps to changing a behavior, and if you stick to these steps it will actually work! For example, when I did myself directed behavior steps my goal was to emit a work out behavior more often. The 7 steps to this program were:
1. Set a goal
2. Define the goal
3. Keep a record
4. Graph a baseline
5. Determine contingencies
6. Determine antecedent
7. Implement and adjust contingencies
I realized after making my first ‘rough draft’ of these steps, that I needed to explain them in more depth. I learned that if you make them simple then you really don’t have specific enough goals, which can limit the ability of you to actually achieve these goals to your best potential. I thought this was interesting because EVERYONE makes New Year’s resolutions, but majority of people do not stick with them throughout the year, and many do not even make it throughout the first month. If you make this 7 step program, and stick to it, than it can really help you achieve that goal.
After emitting a reading behavior of all the sections, and taking this class, I have really learned that behavior modification relates to the world everyday! I already briefly discussed this above, but one reason all those topics were interesting are because they do relate to everyone and everything, and that just fascinates me. You can look at any situation and relate it to behavior modification. When I started taking this class, one of the first questions Otto asked was ‘What types of things modify our/your behavior.’ I was stumped, and really had no idea. But now I could name off so many things. I remember one of his examples was the clock. I didn’t understand at first, but now I do. The clock modifies our behavior because it tells us when to do things, such as wake up, eat, go to class, go to work, leave work, etc. This just shows that something so simple, a clock, can modify our behaviors. I also now emit a behavior of looking at the simplest things and relating them to this class, and psychology in general. I have also realized that this class will elicit me to emit more of a reading behavior on certain topics that I found interesting. Also, I honestly think this class is reinforcing to my future, especially when I have kids. This class has made me look about the world differently, considering I see reinforcement and punishment everyone I go. Overall, I think I learned a lot in this class, and it is going to make me think differently of how psychology works in the world.
Some of the topics that we discussed and emitting a reading behavior about in this class was a repeat, but a lot of what I read was more in depth than what I learned in other classes. In intro to psych you start off learning about the basics, like positive and negative behavior, but we never really went in depth and did practice examples. Most of the classes that I am in now are psychology courses, so everything really relates to each other, but now I have started to notice that these topics that we learned about also relate to my family services courses I have taken as well. Emitting a reading behavior over these topics in this class as helped me in my family services classes, and it actually makes me feel smart knowing that I know so much more then what we are learning. Also, the self directed behavior that we learned about has helped me with other classes I am in. The self directed behavior steps have helped me achieve positive reinforcement in that I get my homework done, and study for test, which means I get good grades, which will help increase my GPA.
Overall, this class was extremely interesting and helpful! The readings were interesting and the practice examples were a good way to make sure I really understood the material; also it made the reading not as aversive as it could have been!
Behavior Modification elicited many new concepts for me. I was unaware of what to expect from this class, based on its name, but I was very pleased with the amount of work that needed to be emitted in order to receive points, and elicited many new concepts that are reinforced in the real world that many people do not notice in their day to day life.
The first topic that I found to be the interesting during this semester was reinforcement. After emitting the behavior of reading the Reinforcement chapter, it intrigued me to apply reinforcement to more situations with my mom, roommates, friends, and boyfriend. I enjoyed watching the YouTube videos in class that demonstrated reinforcement and the consequences that followed, whether they were desirable or aversive. Positive reinforcement can be a powerful tool to use while parenting. Many parents resort to punishment because they are simply reacting to their frustration. However, after emitting the behavior or reading this chapter I learned that reinforcement can be more powerful than punishment. In the Reinforcement chapter, it says reinforcement can be used to introduce a desirable stimulus, contingent upon emitting a target behavior, with the goal of increasing the frequency of a response. By emitting the behavior of demonstrating a positive stimulus, there is an opportunity to introduce a desirable stimulus. Reinforcement was really interesting to me because I think it could be emitted more frequently by parents, siblings, friends, professors, etc. and would be must more effective than punishment.
The second topic that I found interesting was the language of behavior. After emitting the behavior of speaking differently and using different terms, I actually feel more educated. It was difficult to reinforce myself to continue to use behavioral terms, but using them in the reading activities and blogs was a great way to practice. I believe it is important to expand your vocabulary as much as possible in order to have more productive conversations as a desirable consequence.
The third topic that I found interesting was self-directed behavior. Self-directed behavior occurs when we exert our free will to choose a behavior that we want to increase or decrease, according to the chapter. After emitting the behavior of reading this chapter, I found this to be a very important concept to understand. Life is not always easy and some people develop bad habits as an aversive consequence. Self-directed behavior can help an individual emit the steps necessary in order to change their bad habit, when they are ready. Self-directed behaviors changes are more effective, in my opinion, because you are your own reinforcement. You are free to make your own goals, interventions and contingencies. This was really interesting to me because I have developed bad habits and emitted the behavior of modifying what I was choosing to do to myself. With help along the way (by choice) I believe it is possible for anyone to overcome their aversive habits.
The material that I have learned in this class has altered my thoughts on behavior. It made me think back to many of the Psychologists that I learned about in History & Systems. Psychologists from the past elicited new ideas that were somewhat radical during those time periods. It made me wonder what reinforced their thoughts and behaviors. It also made me wonder if they were worried about the desirable and/or aversive consequences that would accompany their behaviors.
In this class I have learned material that applies to other Psychology classes that I have taken. After emitting the behavior of taking Applied Psychology, I felt much more educated about how Psychology relates to advertising, behavior, work, relationships and so on. I feel Behavior Modification also applies to many different things in life that you may not expect. Such as Health Promotion Programs, magazine advertisements, restaurants, bars, furniture stores, etc. Behavior Modification is everywhere, constantly. Behavior Modification also applies to the Biological Psychology class that I took. That class was filled with information about different behavior disorders, mental disorders and case studies. Behavior Modification methods could be emitted during a counseling session, hospital visit or any other situation that would involve reinforcement from a therapist or psychologist.
This was a great class and filled with useful information. I will emit the behavior of continuing to use behavioral speak as a reinforcement to expand my vocabulary.
1) After emitting a behavior of taking this class, I have learned many new behavioral concepts. Three behavioral modification concepts I emitted a behavior of taking special interest in are: positive and negative reinforcement, the ABC’s of behavior modification, and schedules of reinforcement.
Emitting a behavior of reading the section concerning positive and negative reinforcement elicited a great interest in me, because these (like many of the other concepts discussed in class) can be applied to our daily lives, and interacting with other individuals. I can emit a behavior of using positive or negative reinforcement to increase a desired behavior from my roommates, my gymnasts, my future children, and co-workers. Positive reinforcement occurs when an individual emits a behavior of giving another person something (praise, toy, snack, etc) when that person emits the target behavior, to increase the frequency in which that target behavior is emitted. Negative reinforcement involves an individual taking away something aversive/undesired to increase the frequency of the target behavior being emitted. We learned in class that reinforcement is more effective than punishment, when trying to increase a target behavior. As a coach, and a future parent, I plan to implement these learned concepts with my students and future children to obtain the target/desired behavior being emitted by them with great frequency.
The second concept I emitted a behavior of taking a particular interest in were the ABC’s of behavior modification. I thought this was an effective and easy method to learn how to break down the basic components of behavior itself. I viewed this concept as a ‘before-during-after’ breakdown of every behavior emitted. The “A” emits a behavior of standing for Antecedent, or the ‘before’ portion of the breakdown. The “B” emits a behavior of standing for Behavior, or the ‘during’ portion. Finally, the “C” emits a behavior of standing for Consequence, or the ‘after’ portion of the breakdown. We learned in class that the “A” (antecedent) doesn’t just mean the location or setting of where the behavior is being emitted, because that might not be specific enough. This concept alludes to the fact that different antecedents can elicit different behaviors and consequences. For example, A= in classroom (not very specific) could elicit a variety of behaviors like B=reading a book, B= doing a math problem, B=taking a test, etc. Each of these various behaviors would elicit different consequences. I thought this concept was interesting because, it almost emitted a behavior of being profound while so simple. Every behavior can be broken down into these ABC’s. We don’t have to emit a behavior of being aware of the ABC’s at work, because the ABC’s don’t elicit behaviors. Behaviors occur because of the ABC’s, naturally.
The third concept I emitted a behavior of finding interesting were the various schedules of reinforcement. Within this concept, there are a few different schedules which elicit different behaviors from individuals. A continuous reinforcement schedule occurs when a target behavior is reinforced almost every time it is emitted. This behavior rarely happens, but is usually emitted by an individual when ‘training’ an organism to emit the target behavior with greater frequency. Another schedule of reinforcement is intermittent reinforcement. This schedule occurs when an organism reinforces a target behavior every so often. This schedule elicits an increased frequency of emitting the target behavior by an organism because the organism doesn’t know when they will be reinforced, so they continue to emit the target behavior hoping to obtain the reinforcer. Intermittent schedules of reinforcement are more effective than continuous reinforcement. A good example of this schedule is slot machines in a casino. Slot machines emit a behavior of bringing in the majority of money to a casino. Individuals continue to emit a behavior of inserting money into the machine to obtain a larger sum of money, while the machine reinforces the individuals every so often to keep them emitting the target behavior. The different types of intermittent reinforcement are fixed or variable, and ratio or interval. A ratio schedule requires the organism to emit the target behavior a certain number of times before being reinforced. An interval schedule requires a certain amount of time to pass before the organism is reinforced for emitting the target behavior. Ratio and interval schedules can emit a behavior of being fixed or variable. A fixed schedule emits a behavior of requiring the fixed amount be held constant. For example, a slot machine reinforces the individual EVERY 12th pull of the lever. In contrast, a variable schedule emits a behavior of reinforcing on the average of 12 pulls. So a person may be reinforced on the 10th pull, or the 14th pull, but on the average of 12 pulls. The variable schedule elicits a higher frequency of the target behavior being emitted because it keeps the organism guessing. The same occurs for our interval schedule, the organism can be reinforced every 12 minutes (fixed interval), or on a variable interval schedule which would reinforce the organism on the average of 12 minutes (10 minutes, 14 minutes, etc). I emitted a behavior of finding this concept interesting, because I didn’t realize how many types of schedules were involved in reinforcing organisms.
2) I have emitted a behavior of learning a lot from this class, and have found myself emitting a behavior of applying it and referencing it in my daily life. When coaching gymnastics, I have emitted a behavior of seeing a change in my students when I began consciously implementing more positive reinforcement practices during practice. I have emitted a behavior of training my dog to emit target behaviors with greater frequency, due to reinforcement schedules rather than punishment. When I watch TV and movies, I am more aware of the ABC’s of behavior being emitted by the characters than I was in the past. This class has made me realize how much I don’t emit a behavior of seeing how every behavior can be broken down into basic components. The concepts were usually simple in theory, but are a HUGE aspect of our daily lives, and I had never emitted a behavior of taking notice of them. I enjoyed this class because the concepts discussed can be directly applied to all of humanity, unlike some other psychology classes where the information can only be applied to specific populations.
3) I have emitted a behavior of taking many other psychology classes at UNI. Many of the concepts discussed in this class have been discussed in other classes, but only briefly and minimally. Until taking this class, I was always confused about the differences between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment. I can now emit a behavior of understanding the differences, and explaining the differences to others. I was already an individual of the cognitive behavioral perspective, but now I emit a behavior of understanding how important the behavioral aspect is to that perspective. This class has been helpful because I now have a deeper understanding of concepts that are discussed in many other areas of psychology. I have even found myself emitting a behavior of using the behavioral terminology learned in this class in other psychology classes. I have enjoyed this class because I plan to emit a behavior of using the concepts learned in this class in my future interactions with other individuals.
What are three topics that you found interesting during the semester? Why?
All of the topics discussed this semester were very intriguing to learn and understand. I found the three subjects of self-directed behavior, rule governed behavior, and positive reinforcement applied most to my life, so I found that it was interesting that I emitted these behaviors on a daily basis. Self-directed behavior is behavior that is focused on oneself and can be a long or short term goal. I have always had many goals throughout my life, but never knew “appropriate” steps to accomplish my desired behavior. I really enjoyed this section of the class because I was able to fix aversive behaviors in my life and change them into self-direct desired behaviors. Rule-governed behavior has always been subconsciously in my life because of my Jewish religion and my day to day activities such as stop lights, signs, and socially acceptable rules. I never knew that my day to day life behaviors had a specific term until this behavior modification class. The third subject of positive reinforcement may be my favorite because I think that if more children, criminals, and adults were positively reinforced (which is the behavior of increasing a desired behavior by addition of something) our society would be a better place. I hope that by understanding and learning how these terms work, I can better my future behaviors and the people around me also find ways to succeed pleasurable behaviors.
How has the material you have learned in this class changed the way you think about psychology and the world in general?
The material I have learned in this Behavior Modification class has changed the way I think about psychology and the MY world because I have learned so much about my own behaviors and how to modify behaviors around me. I found that it is so much easier to focus on the behavior and ways to use positive reinforcement to help change aversive behaviors into desirable ones. Behavior modification can be used in any setting, and I think that this type of psychology should be used in professional settings to help the world succeed in positive ways, and in our own personal lives. I really have enjoyed learning the material in this class and hope to continue the knowledge I have learned.
How has the material you have learned in this class, complemented what you have learned in other classes at UNI?
The material I have learned in this class has complemented my other psychology and criminology classes because the behaviors of criminals and juvenile delinquents have aversive behaviors that need behavior modification to help better their lives in general. The behavior modification I have learned makes me understand my other classes more, because of the criminals “mind” and reasoning for committing certain crimes. Many of these criminals have never experienced any reinforcement in their lives from peers, parents, or friends. The only behaviors these criminals experience are negative punishment in prison, jail, or in their home environment. My other classes of psychology and gender also portray the many behavior differences between men and women and how we experience different desired and aversive behaviors. The terms, definitions, and steps have taught me that I can better the world around me and focus on flaws within my own behaviors.
What are three topics that you found interesting during the semester?
After taking this class and by emitting a behavior of blogging over assignments, I found that the three most interesting topics were the ABC's, reinforcement vs. punishment, and learning about token economies.
ABC's- I learned it is more simple to manipulate or change behaviors by breaking them down into the ABC's (Antecedent, behavior, consequences). Of course we tend to use the ABC's almost everyday with our decisions we make, but sometimes we are unaware of the outcomes and consequences that can affect our behaviors. If we use the ABC's for everything we do, it's easier to control and predict our behavior and the behaviors of others.
Reinforcement vs Punishment- The main reason on why people can manipulate and change others behaviors or their own is because of reinforcement or punishment that is involved. I have learned that reinforcement is usually the most effective way in changing ones behavior but punishment can also be rewarding depending on how harsh it is. There is positive and negative reinforcement in which positive is adding a desired stimulus (praising someone) and negative reinforcement is removing an aversive stimulus. These two types of reinforcement can be found to be very effective in certain situations. The two types of punishment are positive punishment in which an aversive stimulus is added (speeding ticket for speeding) and negative punishment in which a desired stimulus is removed. I believe punishment should be used when absolutely necessary but in behavior modification, we learned that positive reinforcement is the best way to manipulate behaviors. There are also four main reasons on why we would want to manipulate behaviors. 1. The behaviors bother us 2.The behaviors bother others 3.The behaviors may lead to trouble 4.The behaviors are illegal
Token economies- Learning about token economies was very interesting to me because they are used almost everywhere we go (I just didn't know they were called token economies until this class). Token economies are a great way to elicit behaviors that people do not usually emit in doing but could eventually lead to become a natural behavior for some. For example, when we learned about the token economies of the Waterloo School District giving out paws and golden tickets in return for prizes when emitting a positive behavior, it may elicit children to act behaved and more friendly towards their peers. Eventually, when the token economy comes to an end, some students may have learned that being positive is rewarding even if there are no tokens and prizes. Token economies seem to be effective and hopefully can be enforced in more schools to decrease bullying and reward friendliness and positive behaviors.
How has the material you have learned in this class changed the way you think about psychology and the world in general?
The material I have learned from this class has changed the way I emit in doing certain things and every time I see or hear something that reminds me of the material, I think about the situation and it brings me back to behavior modification. An example would be whenever I go to Pita Pit (which is a lot) I always bring my pita card with me and it reminds me that this is a token economy in which it's giving me points every time I use it and I will be reminded that I can soon receive a free pita or free chip which elicits my behavior of wanting to go back again. Or whenever my roommate is taking a long time to get ready and all our other roommates are ready to go out long before she is, we just leave her and go without her and this has manipulated her behavior every time to get ready earlier or not take as long because she knows we will leave her again. This material definitely relates to Psychology and the understanding of how certain things work. Everything must be broken down to be understood and with changing of behaviors it's using the ABC's in which anyone can do. I will remember the different types of reinforcement and punishment whenever I am trying to train my dog to do something or not do something or even in the future when I have kids. I will use different techniques of behavior modification. Maybe it may even be manipulating my spouse to do something as well. Who knows but the point is that behavior modification has taught me a lot and it will be useful throughout my life.
How has the material you have learned in this class, complemented what you have learned in other classes at UNI?
The material I have learned in this class relates to some of the material I have learned in other classes. Like, the use of the Maslows Hierarchy of Needs model. Understanding the different levels in which to meet the self actualization stage. Understanding others can help change and manipulate behaviors. I have also learned about the Little Albert Study in most of my classes and also about Pavlov and classical conditioning. Many other of my classes relate to this one but overall this one has been the most helpful in understand WHY people elicit certain behaviors and the different ways to achieve goals and sub-goals to accomplish these behaviors.
Overall this class has been very beneficial for me and I have learned a lot by emitting a writing behavior of examples throughout this semester and I have learned much about behavior speak and different B-mod terms as well. Hopefully I can take the material I have learned and use it whenever I need to change a certain behavior or the behaviors of others.
Overall I really enjoyed this class and the many things that I have learned from it. Some of the items I found to be most interesting were reinforcement, punishment, and superstitions.
Reinforcement is the process of emphasizing a behavior by rewarding the individual performing that behavior so that there is an increase in frequency of that behavior occurring again. The reason I found reinforcement so interesting is that there are so many ways to reinforce a person’s behavior. Most important is deciding whether or not to implement either positive or negative punishment. Prior to taking this class always thought of reinforcement in a positive way, as in receiving something pleasurable, rather than negatively, taking away something which is aversive. Now I realize that implementing either can be effective in trying to increase a person’s target behavior.
I also found punishment to be very interesting. Like reinforcement, this can also be thought of as positive or negative, as in either receiving something which is aversive or something being taken away which is pleasurable, respectively. Behaviorally defined, though, it is something which completely eliminates the behavior which is being punished to be considered punishment. Typically, parents use punishment to eliminate aversive behaviors from their children, such as talking back or not listening. These behaviors, though typically decrease in frequency (hopefully), are never really eliminated and may continue past high school. Also what is surprising is that research has shown that reinforcement is much more effective at modifying a behavior than punishment, especially when considering corporal punishment. I have never found corporal punishment to be a good idea, for the sake of the children, but it has been shown that this could in fact make modifying a behavior much more difficult.
I also find superstitions to be incredibly interesting. Prior to taking this class, I thought there was no purpose to my superstitions and that they were all in my head, not that it was a function of positive reinforcement. After reading the class material evaluated my behaviors more in depth and discovered why I believed the way that I did. The superstition which I remember most was my sock superstition in volleyball. After we won our first game, I would continue to wear the same socks, every game that we played. In behavior modification speak: I wore the socks and won, I attributed this to my “lucky socks” and was positively reinforced for wearing them. While the notion that my socks were the reason I performed so well is ludicrous, it is nice to know that there is a psychological explanation for why I did what I did.
This material has definitely changed the way I look at the world. Now I find myself watching others and evaluating the behaviors which they are doing. I typically even place them into the ABC’s. I watch for either positive/negative reinforcement or positive/negative punishment and determine whether or not I think the behavior will increase in frequency. The place I catch myself doing this the most is at work. I will watch parents with their children and sort of judge them on whether or not I think they are doing a well-enough job at keeping their children well-behaved and the reason they are doing such a poor or good job. I even find myself implementing a positive reinforcement schedule at work. We have a basket of stickers behind the counter, if a child was well-behaved throughout the visit I will reinforce that behavior with a sticker, if not they will get no sticker.
While I have learned a lot of material throughout this semester, what I think will be most helpful from this class was the amount of writing that I have done. It used to be very difficult for me to hammer out a three-page paper, simply because I could not formulate sentences very well and put them all together to form a beautifully written paper, not in a very short amount of time at least. Now it is quite the opposite; I can finish a three-page paper in around thirty minutes and it is very well written. Looking back at my work from last year and comparing it to what I have finished this year, it is like night and day.
This class has also helped me to realize that I have a voice and what I have to say is important. Last year I wrote papers because I had to and there was nothing more behind them. I am now more passionate about what I am writing and try if possible to write about something I care about and which interests me.
This class finally taught me that it can be fun to learn, you just may have to dig a little deeper in to the material you’re studying.
Behavior modification has been a very beneficial and interesting class. I have acquired knowledge that has given me a better understanding of the world. I will particularly remember three concepts that were discussed in class: discriminative stimuli, reinforcement and punishment, and target behaviors. These three concepts are memorable because they can be applied in real life situations and were mentioned numerous times throughout the class. Discriminative stimuli are present everywhere. A discriminative stimulus is an antecedent that elicits a certain behavior in someone or something. Discriminative stimuli basically provide information about what to do. Discriminative stimuli are found in many different forms. For example a discriminative stimulus can be a stop sign or even a sink. A stop sign elicits a stopping behavior in individuals, and a sink elicts a washing of the hands behavior. I found this concept interesting because I realize that discriminative stimuli are present all around me. Discriminative stimuli manipulate my behaviors every day. I also found reinforcement and punishment interesting because my behaviors are manipulated everyday by reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is a process that increases the frequency of a target behavior. In contrast, punishment is the process of decreasing the frequency of a target behavior. A target behavior is the behavior of interest that is modified by reinforcement or punishment. I emit certain target behaviors every day that are either reinforced or punished by something. For example, the target behavior of studying is reinforced with good grades. Because the behavior of studying elicits a desirable consequence, I am reinforced to continue studying in the future.
The concepts discussed in the text have given me a better understanding of psychology and the real world. I now realize that processes are constantly occurring and manipulating behaviors. The concepts discussed in this class explain why individuals emit certain behaviors or act the way they do. With this knowledge, I can now successfully manipulate other peoples’ behaviors, and even manipulate my own behaviors. I no longer think of manipulation as an aversive process; I now think of it as something that can be positive, beneficial, and necessary.
Since I am a psychology major, I hear about behavior modification almost daily in my classes. In my History and Systems class, Thorndike, Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner were discussed. Thanks to this bmod class, I was already knowledgeable of these prominent individuals. Behavior modification was also discussed in my Abnormal Psychology class. In Abnormal Psych, the professor and textbook explained how reinforcement and punishment can be used to treat individuals with abnormal disorders. We also watched a video in the class that used systemic desensitization to cure individuals with phobias. Behavior modification is constantly occurring, so I am thankful that this class has given me a better understanding of the world and the processes that are taking place. I will forever remember the terms and use them in future classes and everyday life.
The three topics that I found interesting this semester were self-directed behavior change, functional analysis, and changing the antecedent.
Self-directed behavior change elicited interest from me because most of us have been doing self-directed behavior changes all of our lives but not always correctly. I found it interesting to find out the exact behavioral steps for self-directed behavior change and the steps gave me insight into where I have gone wrong in the past when trying to alter a behavior. I think one of the most overlooked steps in self-directed behavior change is defining the goal as a set of target behaviors. This is important because defining target behaviors gives step by step instructions of how to achieve the goal and it is easy to tell if the behavior was emitted or not oppose to a broader goal or behavioral class such as “exercising more.”
Functional analysis elicited interest from me as well because it is pleasurable to me to think of motivations behind behaviors and the factors that elicit certain behaviors. Functional analyses made behavior modification more interesting to me because it added more factors to think about in a behavior instead of the simple idea of one antecedent eliciting a behavior which results in a consequence. Functional analyses exemplify the complexity of behavior. The one aversive characteristic of functional analyses is that functional analyses are long and tedious to write down. If you are not analyzing your own behavior, there are multiple factors and influences that could influence a behavior that you have to include. For example, the function of going to college serves several different functions even though it appears to be the same topographically. Going to college is also influenced by several factors that may be personal to the individual such as parents’ level of education, desired career, cultural expectations, and so on.
Changing the antecedent elicited interest in me because it is a simple way to elicit an alternative behavior. This idea was pleasurable to me because changing the antecedent does not utilize punishment or reinforcement it simply changes the circumstances to make the individual more or less likely to emit a behavior. Also, changing the antecedent can also be a way to almost ensure a certain behavior will occur. For example, if an individual would like to emit the behavior of wearing shoes with arch support then changing the antecedent by removing all shoes without arch support ensures that the behavior will emitted.
The material learned in this class has enhanced my understanding of behavioral psychology in general. I understand the terms everyone learns about in Intro to Psychology so much more such as classical conditioning, modeling, reinforcement, punishment, the principles of learning, and so on as a result of this class. This class also enhanced my understanding of behavioral terms such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment, and antecedent. I understand these terms in a more in depth manner then I even knew was possible. I also learned to distinguish the difference between the psychological use of these words oppose to the lay use of these words. This class also changed my understanding of the world in general. As a result of this class, I now see how easily a behavior can be changed under the right conditions and how to foster those conditions. I also notice the ways that behaviors are manipulated.
This material has complemented my other classes in several ways. This class has aided my understanding of behaviors in mental illness. Understanding the function of a behavior as well as the antecedent makes the behaviors of individuals experiencing a mental illness more understandable. This class has also helped me understand history because many events in history were due to a certain historical climate which is essentially an antecedent. Understanding the antecedent helps tie information together. The material also helped in studying for classes in general because it gave me the tools to elicit certain behaviors in myself.
The class behavior modification really surprised me in terms of how interesting it would be as well as how much I would be learning. Initially coming into this class I thought that it sounded simple and must be a boring easy A. Once I found out that this was going to be a hybrid class I will admit that I was a bit intimidated. I have always been bad at taking online classes and I am usually subjected to bad grades as a result because it makes the class much more difficult for me. I was caught off guard when I started to learn very early on that this class was difficult for me because I had to continuously review the material. I really liked the challenge that this class brought to me as well as how fun Dr. Maclin made learning. As for the class being mainly online, I found that to be convenient and helped me concentrate better.
The first topic that I found interesting this semester is Differential Reinforcement of Other. The example given to us in class illustrates a woman who wants to quit smoking. She then realizes that she can suppress these craving to smoke by chewing on a straw. Another example can be chewing gum to try and stop biting your nails. Learning about this is important because it can teach alternatives to compulsive and addictive behaviors.
The second topic that I found interesting this semester is the ABC's of Behavior Modification. It is knowledge that a person will emit a behavior and get a certain reaction out of it, but the ABC's really help define the steps of behavior and breaks them down so that they can be more easily understood. B.F Skinner puts emphasis on the ABC's by stating that all behaviors can be broken down according to these components. The A=Antecedent, B=Behavior, C=consequence. A good example of this can be related to doing poorly on a test. A person may go to a party, stay out all night and miss their test for the next morning. A=Going to a party, B=Not going home, C=missing test. Overall, the ABC's are good for breaking behaviors down.
The third topic that was interesting to me this semester is token economies. I have always known that our economy operates off of money but I did not think further than that. It was interesting to learn that it is used a lot with children especially in school settings. If they act how they should be, they may be rewarded with candy and various treats. In society token economies are very popular with restaurants or clothing stores.
As an extra topic, I also really enjoyed learning about extinction. It is a given that after a bit of time a person will stop emitting a behavior and will give up if it is not reinforced. A good example of this in class was the video of a man trying to get out of the elevator. After so long of pushing the button, the elevator would not open. This then led to extinction of the behavior of trying to escape. Extinction burst is when the person starts to emit the behavior that is trying to receive reinforcement.
All of these topics were interesting to me because it explained a lot of behavior processes. The material learned in class this semester has changed the way I think of psychology a lot. In all, psychology is mental but I did not know that these mental processes were made up of various components. It may be easier to understand the world now that I understand many behavioral terms. As for learning the behavioral terms, I have never learned about these in other classes. I have learned about the traditional reinforcements, positive and negative punishment, but anything beyond that has not been discussed to my knowledge. As for people that were discussed in class, I have learned about psychologists such as Pavlov and Skinner. This class really builds off of what I have learned of these people and it will continue to help me as I take more psychology courses.
After emit an analyzing behavior of all the material that we covered in class there are three principal topics that I found very interesting this semester: Learn the ABC of Behavior Modification, have a deeper knowledge about Reinforcement and Punishment and understand how to do a Self-Directed Behavior.
When we are emitting a learning behavior of Behavior Modification, we have to know three basic concepts: Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence. If we don`t like the consequence we will try to modify our behavior and to modify our behavior we have to understand when, where and how we produce the behavior (antecedent). These three concepts are together so we have to have a deeper and clear understanding to emit a successful modification of our behavior or someone else behavior. We have to identify every antecedent that are conducting to the undesirable behavior and we have to be very specific about the behavior that we want to change when we control this two first concepts the consequence will probably be the desirable.
When we try to change a behavior we have to choose how to do it, with reinforcement or punishment. Both are used and are effective however nowadays reinforcement is most used, principally in schools with children. When we use reinforcement means that we will add something, if we use a punishment we take something.
Understand how to do a Self-Directed Behavior and apply in my life I think helped me to get all the concepts that we learn in class. To emit a self directed Behavior I had to follow 7 steps: Set goal, Specific Target Behavior, Keep a record, do a Graph Baseline, Determine the contingencies, Determine antecedents and Implement and adjust contingencies.
I found these topics very interesting because I could use them and apply in my life.
When I emitted the behavior of taking this class I had some notions about what we could learn but I was really surprised with the new concepts that I learned and the way that we had to study for the class helped me and make it easier for me to understand the material. I think that what I learned in this class is very useful in my future as psychologist and will help me to be a better observer.
This class is an important part of my base in Psychology and I really want to work in this area. Is related with my other classes because I m learning how to conduct a therapy and behavior modification is the goal of it in many occasions.
Taking Behavioral Modification in the hybrid format has been one of the most personal rewarding classes I have taken in college. Being given opportunities to apply what I have learned in class to the real world made it all seem worthwhile.
The first thing that I learned that has stuck with me has been the idea of self-directed change and modifying my personal behaviors in an effective manner. I think that having understood the basic foundations of the processes that actually work has been and will continue to be greatly beneficial to me in the future. The most critical aspect of these steps has been the tracking and maintenance of progress. My past downfalls have occurred has been down the road once I've been emitting a particular desired behavior for a while and I just kind of forget about it and fall off. Tracking it and keeping detailed reports of progress not only keep it fresh but it provides encouragement to see the changes slowly but surely happening. The second big thing that I have learned in this class is the drastic importance of being VERY specific when it comes to describing target behaviors. Too often do people want to change a behavior in themselves or others but then have a horribly vague description of what they want the actual change to be. I recently was talking to some buddies of mine about a behavior we all wanted to increase in frequency, namely being more intentional and dedicated in the things we pray about. People threw out the general idea of pray more or to pray for the same thing for a long time, all of which were poorly described target behaviors. I was able to steer the group using what I had learned about behavioral modification techniques to clearly define our target behavior, the reinforcers, and ways to track our progress. It was great to see how applying specific target behaviors can practically work. The third, but certainly not the last idea/tool that I carried away from this class was the idea of the ABC’s of behavior. I know that we learned these way back at the beginning of the class but they have been a great help throughout it. Breaking any behavior process in to Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequences has helped me identify many every day behaviors that I beforehand would have been stumped by. This tool has been especially helpful in diagnosing the news that I check up on daily. Through using the ABC’s it helps me to determine in a country’s policies are really going to change anything, or if the Occupy movement will accomplish anything, or if a criminal’s bad behavior will actually be influenced by their punishment. It has carried itself above and beyond what I thought it could have initially.
The material that I have learned in class has certainly caused me to view the world in a much more behavioral way. I am constantly question why myself and others behave the way they do. I am always wondering ‘what was the antecedent for that?’ when I observe very weird behavior. The other day there were people yelling profanities at everyone from their car as they drove by. What on the earth preceded that? And who would reward/reinforce such behavior? In terms of psychology it causes me to slow down before jumping to conclusions. Especially when I am presented with instances where people have psychological disorders it makes me slow down and break it into behavioral terms rather than just simply giving them a quick diagnosis. This has been a good thing for me and has made me think more critically of simple and complex events.
Yes, much of the material I have learned in this class has gone much further in depth on basic principles that I have learned in other classes. The first example that springs to mind is Pavlov. This is the first thing most people learn in Psych 101 but we covered it in much breadth and depth. Another thing that we covered and built upon was basic behavioral principles. I learned about BF Skinner in History and Systems and now I have learned what his principles actually were. Bmod has been a great class and has added a whole lot to my understanding of human behavior and psychology.
This class has elicited me to think a great deal more about behavior modification. Before emitting a learning response form this class I had always viewed behavior modification in terms of manipulation, which I saw as a bad thing. Now I know that behavior modification is much more.
If I were elicited to think of three topics that reinforced my learning in this class I would say the most interesting were discriminative stimulus, token economies, and extinction.
1) Discriminative stimulus: this topic was interesting because it elicited me to look at my day-to-day world differently. Discriminative stimuli are things that elicit a specific reaction in us. However, if we didn’t know what these stimuli were or what they were associated with the stimuli would mean nothing to us. An example we were given was a traffic light. If you were raised in a civilization that was unfamiliar with traffic lights you would not know what the three different colors mean. For most people the color red is obviously used to elicit the behavior of stopping, yellow to yield, and green to go. When you think about it these are just colors. It is our conditioning and association of these colors with specific behaviors, which makes them discriminative stimuli.
2) Token economies: I found this topic interesting because it finally put a name to type of behavior modification that I was very familiar with. Everywhere you have a high possibility of being under a token economy. I have participated in many token economies myself and before taking this class had no idea what they were actually doing. It interests me to know how to set one up and how you can increase their effectiveness. It also elicits me to think about how effective token economies are. Since they are everywhere you would think that would mean they are very effective.
3) Extinction: this is another behavior modification term that clarifies my understanding of things I have experienced myself. Everybody has experienced some form of extinction. When we went through the phases of extinction it was entertaining to see how true they were because I can recall times when extinction has occurred. Before taking this class I had never emitted the behavior of thinking of extinction as a form of behavior modification. However, through our discussion on this topic I can clearly see how it is.
Most of the topics we covered in this class are things that I can emit the behavior of observing in the real world. It is interesting now to witness an event where behavior modification is being used because now I understand what is happening and how it is working. The material from this class is very applicable to daily life and I think that helps in reinforcing my learning of this material.
The material covered in this class was very different from what I have learned in my other psychology courses. Fist it more applicable to daily life. Second it is very specific. However there were times when I noticed a similarity. For instance, in my History and Systems class we talked about some of the key figures that pioneered some forms of behavior modification. Also in both classes we discussed Thorndike’s puzzle box. We had learned about the puzzle box in BMOD first so when we went over it in H and S I knew what the professor was talking about and I could add to my understanding of it. The ABC’s of behavior modification can also be used to help me understand some psychological processes I have studied on other classes. For instance, I can know write things out in terms of the antecedent, the behavior being emitted and then the consequence.
Three topics that I found very interesting from Behavior Modification were classical conditioning, extinction, and discriminative stimuli.
During classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes correlated with a consequence or conditioned response. This correlation will turn the neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus which will elicit an unconditioned response. One example of this I discovered during class was a clip from the TV show, The Office. In the clip, Jim conditions Dwight to expect (and need) an Altoid whenever he hears the sound of Jim's computer rebooting. In this case, the neutral stimulus of the rebooting sound becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits the unconditioned response of a bad tasting mouth by using the conditioned response of receiving an Altoid. The rebooting sound and the Altoids have a positive contingency because the rebooting sound elicits the addition of an Altoid mint.
Extinction is the process that occurs when a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced. One example of extinction that I found while taking this class was extinction in the form of a broken vending machine. When a vending machine is functional, one inserts money and presses the button. Usually the behavior of pushing the button is reinforce by the reception of food. However, when the vending machine is broken, the behavior of pushing the button is no longer reinforced. The subject then undergoes extinction. During the extinction process, the subject will emit the target behavior numerous times, followed by other varied and strange behaviors, as well as aggressive behavior. This is called an extinction burst. In the vending machine example, an extinction burst might look like pressing the button numerous times, followed by looking in the food flap or kicking and pushing the machine.
A discriminative stimulus is a stimulus that proceeds and forewarns an aversive consequence to a target behavior. It can be used to punish that behavior in the future. One discriminative stimulus that I came across during this class was an example from the book we read in class: Don't Shoot the Dog. In the book, a dog trainer was trying to get a dog to stop digging through her garbage, however she didn't want to continually punish the dog. So, once when she found the dog digging in the garbage, she added some vanilla to a bottle of water and sprayed the dog in the nose. The vanilla scent was a neutral stimulus that she used in conjunction with the aversive consequence of getting sprayed in the face. To the dog, the scent of vanilla became correlated with getting sprayed in the face, making the dog avoid the scent, thus making the vanilla scent a discriminative stimulus.
I enjoyed learning about these terms because, as you can see from the examples, they can be used and seen in everyday life. Things like classical conditioning and discriminative stimuli could be very useful to me in the future when I am training a pet or taking care of children. Also, when seeing the examples performed in real life, knowing the forces behind certain behaviors can be kind of amusing, like being in on a joke that no one else understands. At the beginning of class, we discussed how behavior speak was like a completely different language. I think knowing the language of behaviorism will make learning in my other psychology classes easier, plus it's just another language I can say I'm fluent in on Facebook.
This course made me think a lot more about the behavioral side of psychology. It is the first class, I've really taken that had anything to do with behavior specifically. It made me see, especially due to the blogs we did using news articles, that most behaviors, both animal and human, can be broken down and explained. Things that I learned in this class can easily be tied in to my other psychology classes. In my biopsychology class, I learned about how classical conditioning has an effect on the bodies of drug users and how some drug overdoses can be explained due to classical conditioning. In developmental psychology, we discussed how reinforcement is better for molding child behavior than punishment is, and the different methods of punishment and reinforcement, like token economies, that are implemented in child care facilities. In my social psychology class, we learned how advertisements use persuasion in the form of conditioning to correlate positive feelings with their product.
I can also take the things I learned in this class and implement them into my own life, like using the self-directed behavior model to make reaching goals more realistic. I have also learned how to direct the behaviors of people around me in a way that would not be rude.
Overall, I really enjoyed behavior modification and I think I will remember and be able to implement these terms in my own life in the future.
Emitting the behavior of taking behavior modifications has elicited me to remember many concepts and ideas I have learned throughout the semester. I found most everything we learned and read about interesting and applicable to my life, but the three concepts I will remember most are:
1.The bread and butter of behavior modifications, the ABC’s of learning. This was a great way for me to understand that every behavior a person emits has an antecedent, the behavior, and a consequence to that behavior. I used to think that a consequence was always a bad thing but I learned that it can also be positive because there always has to be a consequence to a behavior but it doesn’t always have to be negative. An example of a positive consequence:
A: Professor tells you there will be a test next class period
B: Study a lot for the test
C: Get an A on the test
The ABC’s are used in every situation in life and therefore are a very useful tool for me to understand.
2.The second concept that has really helped me lately is when we learned about positive and negative reinforcement. I nanny for four children and sometimes it is hard to keep them under control. By emitting different varieties of reinforcements their aversive behaviors decreased. Giving the children simple praise seemed to excite them and make them view their behaviors and my reaction in a positive way. Positive reinforcement is known as an introduction of a desired stimulus because of a target behavior. So by giving the kids praise I was emitting the behavior of positive reinforcement.
Negative reinforcement is the removal of something aversive because of the target behavior. I use this technique with the kids when they misbehave I take one of their privileges away for the day. For example, if the oldest boy does not finish his chores or walk the dog that day I don’t allow him to watch television or play video games before bed. Even though he hates it, it seems to work because he is much better at completing his chores daily for me. These reinforcement techniques have helped me control the kids and their behavior without truly upsetting them and they have no idea how I’m altering their behavior, so that’s wonderful!
3.The third thing I found very interesting and useful is the token economies we just learned about in class. I had no idea that throughout my childhood and still to this day I am affected by them. They can be extremely powerful in classrooms and help to elicit good behavior from kids. They can also teach responsibility. If the right token is used the kids can also learn some management of money or possessions without knowing it. Token economies has also helped me control the behavior of the kids I nanny for. The younger girls get excited when they get a sticker on the board for completing something asked of them or doing something nice for their siblings or others. At the end of the week I calculate the stickers and we decide what treat they can have for their good behavior throughout the week.
Overall this class was very informational for me. I learned a lot of things that I can apply to my daily life. I have raised my GPA this semester because I made it my target goal and used the techniques I learned in class. I find myself using behavior speak when I’m out of class. Which is wonderful because it makes me sound really intelligent! But also because it means I learned something in this class and can use it in my life and not just on paper. I enjoyed the blogging and applying the concepts we read about weekly in our reading assignments. I am excited to continue using all the behavior modification techniques I learned in this class!
The concepts and principles discussed in this behavior modification class has elicited a complex thinking behavior from me about all aspects of everyday life and how so many seemingly simple behaviors we all emit during a typical day are related to behavior modification. After emitting a reading behavior for all of the sections we discussed the three topics that interested me the most were reinforcement, punishment, and token economies.
I found reinforcement and punishment especially interesting because even before taking this class I thought reinforcement was the best procedure to use when trying to elicit a specific behavior from someone or something, as opposed to punishment which I mainly just thought was cruel and didn't teach people or animals what the correct behavior was. This class has reinforced that belief of positive reinforcement especially being more productive at helping someone or something learn what behavior was acceptable and unacceptable in certain situations. It has also helped me learn that punishment is largely ineffective, especially if the punishment does not occur directly following the aversive behavior. I also found these two concepts interesting because they are both so deeply rooted in our everyday lives. We are punished and reinforced for every behavior we emit such as, speeding, running red lights, studying for tests, raising our hands, and holding doors open for other people, among many of behaviors. Another reason I found reinforcement and punishment interesting is because depending on the antecedent the consequence of a target behavior can either be reinforced or punished, which is something that I never really thought about before. Such as telling a joke, at a bar you would most likely be reinforced, but at a funeral you would most likely be punished.
After emitting a reading behavior about token economies I found that topic extremely interesting as well. Token economies are used in many different situations and settings but I loved emitting a reading behavior about token economies in schools. Thinking back I really don't remember token economies being used in my grade school, but I think it is a great idea. I like how it teaching children responsibility, independence, organizational skills, and which target behaviors are socially acceptable. This topic also made me think about when I have children how I could teach and reward them when they emit a certain target behavior, while also helping to establish their independence and responsibility.
This class has changed the way I look at psychology and the world in general by making me realize that behavior modification is involved in every aspect of our lives. Behavior modification can be used in a variety of psychology fields, and looking back I think behavior modification was a part of every psychology class I have taken. It can be applied to social psych, abnormal psych, psych of gender differences, and learning just to name a few. I also realized that behavior modification is used in every aspect of our everyday lives. For every behavior we emit we are either reinforced or punished for it, and oftentimes the consequence of a target behavior really depend on the antecedent.
Besides behavior modification being involved in some way or another in every one of my psychology classes I have taken, I also think that by understanding behavior modification in more depth I can look back and understand certain concepts from other classes more clearly. The class that comes to mind is psych of gender differences. While I was taking that course I never really thought of the behaviors that both men and women emit in terms of behavior modification. While taking that class I was aware that certain behaviors were considered acceptable or unacceptable for men and women in certain cultures. However, after taking this class I look at it like this, from the time we are born males and females are constantly reinforced and punished for the behaviors they emit, thus shaping what kind of person they turn out to be, and ultimately shaping the beliefs of an entire society.
After taking the class Behavior Modification I emitted a learning behavior that the class was not only rewarding in the sense of gaining information, but it was also rewarding in the fact that you can use that information in the world outside of the classroom. My three main toppics that I really enjoyed in this class were learning the ABC's of behavior modification, reinforcement and punishment, and lastly I liked learning about th edifferent terms and languages of behavioral modification.
My first topic that I enjoyed was the ABC's of behavior. The reason I found this interesting was because you could take things that happened in your world and break them down into what fit into the ABC's of behavior modification. This helped to explain why things would happen by fitting them into an antecedent, the behavior, and the consequence of the behavior.
The second topic that I enjoyed would be reinforcement and punishment. The reason this was interesting to me was because punishment and reinforcement could help you to manipulate someone's behavior to increase or decrease the frequency of it.
The final topic that interested me this semester would be the language of behavior modification. I feel like now that I have all these terms at my disposal I can put meaning to things that happen around me. This also helps because then I can communicate with other people that have had the same experience as me, kind of like a second language.
The material in this semester has changed my view of behavior modification entirely. The reason I say this is because I came into the class with a complete disapproval of modifying or manipulating someone else's behavior. From the first class until now I have changed my view because everything in our world can be broken down into manipulation. This shows that manipulation is not always bad.
This class has complemented every class that I have been in at UNI up to date. The reason for this is because all of my classes involve behavior modification. An example of this is the grading system. This is used like if you emit the behavior of studying and taking tests etc. you will be reinforced by a good grade in the class. This has happened in all of our classes even before college. Some classes even in grade school involved a token economy of sorts that would reward us for a target behavior desired by the student.
Behavior Modification has proved to be a very reinforcing class. Months ago, I emitted the behavior of signing up for this class, and my consequence of this behavior is the better understanding of Behavior Modification and it’s relation to the world. Although I found the entire class very interesting, the three topics that I was most interested in were governed behaviors, token economies, and the self-directed behavioral program. In the section covering rule-governed behaviors, one thing I will be sure to remember is that governmental laws don’t always elicit these behaviors. Not only do many people respect and live by the law our government has set for us, they also follow rules established by our society, culture, holiday family traditions, our friends, and ourselves by emitting certain behaviors. A person has several different sources of rules, and, depending on the consequences, it greatly affects our actions and behaviors. I think it is very important that everyone understands why they behave the way they do. In order to modify our behavior or to fully understand our behaviors, we first must recognize the causes and factors, our antecedents, in which lead to them. Token economies were also another topic I happened to find very interesting. I wasn’t aware of how common they are in our society until we read about them. Token economies work in reinforcing the increase or decrease of a behavior, which can be applied to large groups of people. After I emitted the behavior of researching several examples of a token economy, it was obvious how they play a large role in elementary and middle schools, as well as the business industry. It’s also very interesting how many token economies I am currently under. From punch cards to sales competitions at my job, it seems I am being reinforced (sometimes positively, sometimes negatively) by some of my everyday behaviors. Finally, another topic I was especially interested in was our self-directed behavioral programs. By completing this activity, it elicited me to emit a target behavior of not procrastinating! This program was very helpful in my understanding of behavior modification because it listed a specific outline of how to implement a new behavior. After completing the outline of my anti-procrastination program, it was very self-reinforcing to know that I had designed a program myself and that it fit my wants and needs. I knew exactly what to do and what to expect. This definitely helped me to decrease the frequency of my procrastination behavior.
Obviously, this class has definitely added to my understanding of psychology and the world. One consequence from my behavior of taking Behavior Modifications is that I know how to be specific. When speaking of behaviors, and psychology in general, it is very important to be as detailed and specific as possible. Once someone has targeted a specific behavior, it is much easier to grasp the entire nature of the behavior. Once we have identified a specific target behavior, we can, for instance, establish detailed behavioral program. This class has also helped me realize why people behave the way they do. Simply understanding the antecedents of a behavior can explain so much. Sometimes, we do not even take the time to understand this, even though it proves to be a key step in behavior modification. And, overall, I think this is an important concept to grasp – not just for psychology majors, but everyone!
Behavior Modification has helped me in my other classes as well as my daily life. For example, satiation of the use of behavioral terms and examples has helped me incorporate this same level of satiation in other classes. When I emit a behavior of constantly using behavioral terms, my understanding for these terms drastically increases. By doing this the entire semester, it has transferred to other classes, which has proved quite useful. I now know how to increase or decrease the frequency of certain behaviors I tend to emit during other classes by going through a self-directed behavioral program. I believe that Behavior Modifications can be applied to almost any aspect of someone’s life, especially the information I am learning at UNI. For example, I am a philosophy minor, and I’m currently taking a class called Knowledge & Reality. Just in general, it is very important in philosophy to be specific and precise with your words. This is highly relatable to Behavior Modification, since we must also be specific and precise with what we say. Overall, this class has taught me many things about myself and the people in my life.
After emitting the behavior of taking B Mod, the three topics that I found most interesting are the ABCs of behavior, reinforcement and changing the antecedent. I say these three because they are the most relatable to my everyday life.
The ABCs of behavior simply and effectively break down any behavior into three parts. Antecedent, Behavior and Consequence. The antecedent refers to the setting, or circumstance. Behavior is self explanatory, the behavior that is emitted within the antecedent. The Consequence is the response to the behavior. Any behavior that I emit or see can be broken down into the ABCs so this makes it very useful to remember.
Reinforcement is defined as an increase in the strength [or frequency] of a response following the change in environment immediately following that
response. There is positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves the addition of a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a target behavior. Negative reinforcement means to remove an undesirable stimulus upon emitting a desirable behavior.
Changing the antecedent means just what it says. Changing the circumstance in order to in turn change the behavior. One example that was used in class is unhealthy eating. Keeping large quantities of sweets in the apartment is going to enable you to eat unhealthy. Changing the antecedent would mean to not keep as many sweets around or none at all and keep more healthy snacks. This would elicit you to change the behavior of eating unhealthy.
The material in this class has changed my view on behavior. I previously didnt know that so much of our "small" everyday behaviors occur simply because we are conditioned to emit those behaviors. Also being the typical person, I've generally assumed that punishment is the way to go when attempting to change target behaviors. But as we learned, it isnt punishment, but reinforcement that changes behavior. These ideas and more pretty much have changed my view on people and their actions.
This information from this class has supplemented previous classes in a sense that it explains why we do what we do. For example, last spring I took Psych in Gender Differences. In that class we discussed how men and women differ. The materials presented in Bmod explained how that occurs. Boys act like boys because parents create that environment, buying them trucks and action figures while girls act like girls and dress like girls because they too react to their environment. Also, Behavior Modification has also enriched my understanding of Pavlovian conditioning. I have found myself looking at my own behaviors in a completely different light now. It still somewhat surprises me that every single behavior can be broken down into the ABCs. Sometimes when doing blogs, I'd turn the tv off to improve the circumstances so I could get it done. Or when I'd have some studying to do, I've gone to a place with very few or no (if possible) distractions.
Taking Behavior Modification elicited many different thinking behaviors in my life. The first topic I found interesting was a good start to understand the more complex information.
1. The ABC's can occur in any fuction and everyday life situations. It can eliminate an aversive behavior or it can increase the frequency of a desired target behavior. You have the option of changing the antecedent, the behavior or the consequence. The ABC sequence happens every single day in our normal lifes, but we are unaware of this. My job for myself is to elicit a more aware perspective of the behaviors and functions of people in my life.
2. I also liked refreshing on the term negative reinforcement. For some reason, I always see this term as an aversive behavior and categorize it as a punishment, even though it's opposite of that. It was good to retouch on the fact that even though the person may be getting "punished" in a negatively way, they are still being elicited a reinforcement behavior that will make them emit the behavior again, perhaps in a different way so they can be positively reinforced.
3. My absolute favorite was learning about token economies. When we applied token economies to our own lives, it was amazing to see how many I fall into, such as attending class because attendance is taken or going to work because of my schedule. Token economy awards will either reinforce or punish our behaviors that we're emitting. The extinction process can be used by token economies, but it can also be a positive award as well.
My view on psychology after taking this class has changed in a positive way. I learned how easy it is to manipulate or monitor a person's behavior. I learned how you can secretly reinforce or punish your roommates/friends for their behavior, by focusing on their target behavior you like/dislike and using the token economy system. I learned that reinforcement is always the better route than punishment. And I've noticed that talking behaviorally is used a lot, but goes unnoticed due to the fact that people don't know much about it.
Behavior Modification has helped me understand some of the other psychology classes I have taken. For example, it explained why Skinner did his project and why he chose the certain punishment/reinforcement principles. It will help me emit an open behavior on the others around me and help me with changing an aversive situation, in a nonchalant way. It also helped me focus on my self-directed behavior and be able to emit a changing behavior. Instead of constantly punishing myself for not completing a task, I've learned to break down the task into steps and award myself for completing each step. Basically, behavior modification is everywhere and it applies to everything and every class, not just psychology classes. It is very insightful, helpful and positively rewarding.
After emitting the behavior of fulfilling the requirements and finishing the class, there are three topics that I felt were the most interesting compared to the others. First there was the simple idea of positive and negative reinforcement. This was a very simple thing to grasp, but I found it very enjoyable to learn about and to apply my own thoughts to. We had many different assignments where we had to find examples of this, whether it was the aversive negative reinforcement or the pleasurable positive reinforcement. Either way we had to look at it, I enjoyed working with this aspect of the class. The second topic was the idea of extinction. This is a term that I have been exposed to many times in my life, but I was never really taught the exact meaning of the word. It is always interesting to take the definitions we are given in this class and apply them to our lives. Many of them are going to be daily experiences, even though we don’t always realize that. The final term thing that I felt was the most interesting to learn about was the application of the ABC’s to the real world. I didn’t realize that you could apply something as simple as an antecedent, the behavior and the consequence to literally every behavioral experience that you have in your life. Just thinking about the fact that there is always an antecedent leading up to your behavior is pretty fascinating to me because you never really look at the small details of your everyday activity. The fact that there is a distinct behavior for that moment in time and that there is a reason you acted that way, along with there always being the presence of a distinct consequence that will result from your behaviors. Breaking things down like this is something that I enjoy doing, and being able to do it with our behaviors was a fun experience for me in this class.
What I have learned in this class has changed the way I think about psychology and the world in general simply because I did not know these concepts were applied to both of them so often. In my other psychology classes, we use the terms that were learned in this class many times and I know I never would have noticed them or even knew what most of them meant had it not been for what we learned here. When looking at the world, as stated above, I find it interesting to be able to apply the ABC’s to my everyday life. It just amazes me how many times this can be applied considering your life is constantly filled with your behaviors and the consequences that can result from your choices. It makes you think, can you sit down and think about what you need to do in order to act this way and think about the situations you need to put yourself in to allow yourself to make the decisions you want? All of this can be thought about in behavioral terms, and it is really cool.
Again, as stated previously, I have been able to understand my other psychology classes at a new level because of the terms and situations I have learned about in this class. Almost all of the other psychology classes you can take will somehow relate back to behavior modification because psychology is connected to people’s behaviors. This is how you can determine the psychological state of another person. This class definitely helps me connect all of my different classes together and allows me to better understand what I am really being taught.
After emitting the behavior of taking behavior modification, I have learned so many new and practical concepts. To me, it is very hard to narrow it down to three interesting topics. During this class, I learned a lot of information that can be applied to everyday life. I not only learned this, but I also learned how to manipulate behavior and found out that it is not a bad thing!
1)The first topic that I found very interesting was the concept of the ABC’s. After emitting several behaviors, (reading, examples, exercises, etc.) I am not more aware of the importance of the antecedent, behavior and consequence. Because this class challenges us to emit behaviors that we wouldn’t normally emit, I feel like I learn a lot more. For example, when we would receive points for during in our reading assignments it encouraged me to emit the behavior. This is very important because if I had not done this target behavior, I would not understand the ABC’s as thoroughly as I do now. The one thing about the ABC’s that I will most likely remember is that once we are able to control both the antecedent and the consequence, we are able to manipulate behaviors. This is so vital in the whole idea of behavior modification. If people don’t realize this, than it will be extremely hard to elicit behaviors from other people and themselves.
2)Another topic that elicited a positive feeling for me was the self-directed behavior steps. During this section, I learned how to set up and plan out how to change a behavior. The behavior I chose to modify was exercising. In the past, I have tried several things that ultimately lead to failure. However, after being in this class for a couple of months, and learning the appropriate steps in behavior modification, I was able to reach my goal of exercising more frequently. These were the steps included in the self-directed behavior: 1) Set goal, 2) define the goals as a set of specific target behaviors, 3) Keep a record, 4) Graph a baseline, 5) Determine the contingencies, 6) Determine the antecedents, and 7) Implement and adjust the contingencies. The thing I liked most about this topic was that the steps were very simple. After breaking down the different steps, I was able to emit my target behavior more effectively. After emitting my target behavior, it elicited a feeling of success and happiness! In most classes you attend, take tests and move on. However, this class allows you to actually apply concepts and topics to your life which is very beneficial!
3)The final topic that elicited an interesting feeling was the topic on token economies. I have always sort of known about token economies, but I really never understood the importance and extent of them. The assignment I remember most clearly was when we were required to emit a behavior of reading an article on token economies. After emitting a reading behavior, we had to explain what a token economy was and explain how they were effective. Later on in the semester we were given another assignment on token economies; expect this one hit a little closer to home. I really enjoyed how the article we read about was an actual token economy that was in place in a school in Evansdale! Most times when we emit behaviors of reading it is easy to just go through the motions. However, when the topics are relevant and can actually be put into place they become more interesting.
After emitting the behavior of attending class regularly and reading the material, my view about psychology and the world in general has changed. First of all, when I tell people that I am a psychology major they always assume I can read their mind (it’s so frustrating!) But they don’t ever ask me, “so how are you going to manipulate my behavior this time?” which I think is more plausible. Not to say that I can manipulate everyone’s behaviors, but the material I have learned in this class gave me the foundation I need to emit behaviors that elicit pleasurable behaviors in other people. The material I learned has also changed the way I think about the world in general. Whenever I am at a shopping center or grocery store and see a kid throwing a temper tantrum my heart rate increases. I use to be so nervous that I would be the one who has the screaming kid. However, I am now more prepared to take on the challenge of being a parent (in the future of course) because I have learned the steps and tools that I need to manipulate behaviors. I don’t have all of the answers or a magical cure for badly behaved children, but I do know the ABC’s and I feel like that will help drastically.
The material I have learned in this class has complemented what I have learned in other class in many ways. First of all, I learned that manipulation is not always aversive. For instance, in my criminal justice class we were assigned a group project. I was able to use the ABC’s to manipulate my group members to do a good job on the project which led to us getting an A. After the project was done, I explained to them the concept of behavior modification and they were all very stunned that it actually worked! Another area that it has helped and aided me is that I now know how to positively reinforce my classmates. I am able to reinforce them for behaviors which are pleasurable and therefore the consequences tend to be pleasurable as well. One area that this class has helped me with is in my relationships with friends and family. I now know that when I positively reinforce behavior, the target behaviors are more likely to occur or increase in frequency. In the past, I would use positive punishment by yelling at my boyfriend for not cleaning or doing other things around the apartment, but now I know that it is more effective to use positive reinforcement and to avoid using punishment whenever possible.
After emitting a Behavior Modification class taking behavior, I have learned many things. Three things that I particularly enjoyed emitting a learning response to were: the ABCs of behavior modification, self-directed behavior, and token economies.
The ABCs are the basis of behavior modification. I will go through this step-by-step. A is for the antecedent. An antecedent is the environment or situation that elicits a behavior. B is for behavior. The behavior is what is emitted given a certain antecedent. C is for consequence. A consequence is what happens in result of the behavior. A consequence can reinforce or punish the emitted behavior and cause it to either increase or decrease in frequency.
I found this interesting because it’s what all behavior modification is based off of. It is everywhere and is used in everything without people really understanding what’s going on. Not to mention, that I thought it made the rest of the material that much easier to understand because of it being in the underbelly of every concept we discussed in or emitted a reading response to in this class.
Self-directed behavior may be the most interesting thing I emitted a learning response to in this class because it is something I feel like I could be better at. There are seven steps to follow for self-directed behavior. These steps are:
1. Set a goal
2. Define/Specify the goal as a set of Target Behaviors
3. Keep a record
4. Graph a baseline
5. Determine Contingencies
6. Determine Antecedents
7. Implement and adjust the contingencies
I believe that everyone can benefit from learning these steps. If we all emit these steps, we can be able to change anything bad about ourselves. That seems pretty important to me!
The concept of a token economy is genius. It is used everywhere, in stores, schools, and jobs. The basics of a token economy are that a desired behavior is rewarded with some kind of token that can be used to “buy rewards.” This positively reinforces behaviors causing the elicited behaviors to increase in frequency by the people who participate in the token economy.
This is interesting to me because I know it works well in the store or school settings. I’m currently active in a token economy at GameStop like I mentioned before in a previous blog and they are now where I go first if I want to buy a game. As far as the school setting goes, I know my brother constantly behaves well in school because of a program that reinforces such behaviors.
I believe that the information I was elicited to learn in this class caused me to emit a thinking behavior about psychology in a different light. I used to think that therapy resulted in giving a patient the right kind of medicine to help them with whatever psychological disorder messed with their head. Now I know that there are other ways. Patients can be taught new behaviors that can help and can very well bring the disorder they have to an end. Also, I can use behavior modification for any situation. I will be able to teach my kids how to behave in an appropriate manner someday. I can also use it to make my roommate do its share of work around the apartment by reinforcing those behaviors or punishing them when they don’t do it.
At UNI, I have been learning about behavioral psychology a lot this semester. We have talked about classical conditioning and modeling in my Introduction to Psychology class, and in Abnormal Psychology, we have learned about different behavioral therapies. When we would talk about those things, I would always have what I learned in Behavior Modification in the back of my head and would be able to understand the subjects easier.
At first I wasn’t so sure of what to think about this class. I didn’t know what to expect or if I would understand how to apply what I had learned in my everyday life. But, in fact that was the easiest part. One of my favorite aspects to this class was that it actually contained useful information! What I learned in this course isn’t just going to fade away and forever be forgotten after this semester. I can and have been able to apply it to my life.
The first topic I found interesting was what we started with in the class, Learning the ABC’s of Behavior Modification. I found it very interesting how we can take any behavior and break it down into the antecedent (sets the occasion for a behavior to occur), the behavior (actually emitting the behavior), and the consequence (the outcome elicited after the behavior was emitted). This idea of a behavior being broken down really helped me understand how to begin thinking about this course. I also started applying this idea of the ABC’s to my own behaviors emitted in my every day routine. Different antecedents can set up the occasion for different behaviors to be emitted. Another concept that was interesting with the ABCs is that behaviors are only acceptable in certain situations. For example, one would not tell a joke at a funeral but it would be completely acceptable to tell a joke at a party.
The second topic that I found interesting was positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. I had learned these concepts in previous psychology classes, but this class really went into it more in depth helping me remember it and apply it to my life. I found out that I can manipulate not only my behavior through punishment and reinforcement, but I can manipulate others’ behaviors as well. What other class teaches you that! This was definitely my favorite topic of the class.
The third topic I found most interesting was the language of behavior. The language of behavior is very precise. This was really hard to get used to at first, but now it comes naturally. I even find myself using behavioral speak around my friends! One example of a behavioral term is topographically vs. functionally similar behaviors. For example, behaviors that are topographically similar means they look the same on the surface but they are being emitted to serve different functions. Whereas, some behaviors look topographically very different but are being emitted to serve the same function.
I used to think of psychology as just observing behaviors and why people do what they do. It’s much more complex than that and it’s not always just about other people, it applies to our personal lives as well. I have been able to enforce ideas of reinforcement and punishment quite a few times in my everyday life. For example, when I’m home my brother always lets our bathroom get really messy. Whenever he cleans up anything, I reward him by complimenting what a good job he does and I let him have a snack. Every time I do this, it increases the frequency that he cleans up the bathroom. This is an important skill that I will be able to use throughout my whole life.
The material that I have learned in this class has complemented what I have learned in my dynamics of human development class. In that class we learn about the development of children. There was in fact a small section on reinforcement of children and how it affects their behavior and personality as adults. Reinforcement is very important for children but it is also important that they are only being reinforced for the right reasons. Reinforcement needs to be done immediately after the child emits a pleasurable behavior and never for an aversive behavior.
All in all, I really enjoyed my experience in this class. I would definitely recommend it to future students. The best part about this class was that the knowledge we learned is something that not only was easily applied to other classes at UNI but it is something I will personally be able to apply to myself for the rest of my life!
After taking Behavior Modification there were several topics that caught my attention throughout the semester. I really enjoyed learning about the ABC’s of behavior. I never realized how many behaviors could be broken down into these three steps. I know that we emit many behaviors in everyday life, but I didn’t realize that little thing we do can be broken down. I just never thought of these things in that much of detail. I always thought of behavior in psychology as something that just involves maybe a child acting out or the reason someone is upset about something, but it is so much more than I thought it was.
Another thing I found to be interesting was reinforcement and punishment, and the terms that go along with them such as extinction, discriminative stimulus, etc. I always remember there being a chapter on reinforcement and punishment in many of my typical psychology classes; however it was never in much detail. I always got confused with the whole positive and negative thing. It seemed so confusing, but after this class I don’t think I could forget the difference between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.
The final thing I found to be really interesting was the self directed behavior section. I’ve always wanted to figure out how to emit a behavior change, but it proves to be difficult. Now, after learning this I have not only learned the steps it takes to change behavior, but that in changing behavior you must be specific and precise. It is hard for us to narrow down our behavior and make something very specific when making goals such as New Year’s Resolutions. We then end up trying to figure out why we failed these goals, and attributing the failure towards lack of motivation or whatever else. It could simply be because we weren’t correctly following the proper steps in order to change these behaviors. I can only hope that in the future I’d be able to change my behavior or help others be able to change their behavioral goals.
This class took what little information I did learn about behavior in other classes, and took it a step further. You never think about why you stop at stop signs or why you do certain things until you actually break the behavior down. I also have realized how difficult it can be to change behavior for many people or changing others behavior, but I have learned that if done properly you can change pretty much anyone’s behavior (but don’t let them know you have these skills, they won’t like that much). I actually even used many of the terms we used in class and applied them to a personal situation of mine. I had a recent break up with a boyfriend and I actually broke down how I felt about the events into behavioral terms and for some reason it helped. I used terms such as reinforcement, extinction burst, extinction etc. I’m not sure if it fit completely into the situation, but I enjoyed taking what I learned in class and applying it. I also think I might be able to get a puppy now seeing as my biggest problem with puppies was that I didn’t know how to train them well. My new learned behavioral techniques might come in handy. Overall, I found this class to be very useful and only enhanced some of the terms used in other classes. I think the best type of class allows you to be able to use the things you learn outside of class, and this would be one of those classes.
From this class the biggest thing I will remember is the use of punishment and reinforcement. We greatly focused on these in every aspect of this class. I learned that you can truly change the behaviors of people around you by using these without them even knowing it. Through the reading I will remember that reinforcement is a better choice when trying to modify behavior. The use of reinforcement creates a more desirable feeling in the person being modified and therefore they are more likely to continue the wanted behavior. It is also good to remember that when trying to modify your own behavior you must use punishment and reinforcement to obtain your goal.
This class also elicited a remember response in myself in the use of deprivation. I believe that this is extremely useful when trying to change a behavior. Deprivation happens when you take away something that is reinforcing. When you take away something that is reinforcing, ex. food, the person experiencing the deprivation will do almost anything to get it. This results in getting the person/animal to emit in the target behavior. Deprivation can be used in many situation for example; a mother can deprive their child of television until they clean their room. The child does not want to clean their room at all but they have a strong desire to watch TV which results in them doing the undesired behavior.
Token economies will be another topic I believe I will remember far after I graduate college. In token economies, you can reinforce behaviors with the use of tokens. The tokens can be anything and can be turned in for more reinforcers. I will always remember this because it can virtually be used for any situation. I can use token economies with my future children, coworkers, and even myself. Right now in my life, I plan on using a token economy to benefit my workout schedule.
This class will help me in my relationships outside of school and in school. I have come to realize that it is not simple to change behaviors but it can be done. I came into this class because I did not like some of the behaviors I was emitting and wanted a way to change them. This class will help me do just that. I have also realized that instead of having confrontations about things to get them to change, I can simple reinforce people (or punish) to get what I want. This may sound demeaning but it is simply a way to better your lives and possibly the people around you.
I have taken some psychology classes before this one but this one is by far the most interesting and the best to apply to my everyday life. The knowledge of psychology that I previously had was further added upon in this class. It will help me improve my grades in my other classes at uni because I will be able to change behaviors of laziness and procrastination. All in all this is an amazing class because it teaches you things you can use in real life.
After emitting the behavior of taking Behavior Modification, I am much more educated in the subject. Some of the class was review, but this just elicits a stronger memory behavior and I feel a lot of the previous knowledge I had is now strengthened. I really was not sure what Behavior Modification would consist of, but I am very happy I chose to take it. I enjoyed nearly all of the topics discussed, but I emitted a stronger liking for three specific topics.
1) The first topic I found interesting was examined in the first section of the book. I really enjoyed learning the ABCs of behavior modification partly because it is arguably the most important topic of the class. Without learning the ABCs, it would be very hard to receive an A in the class even if maximum effort was emitted. Another reason this section elicited a strong memory behavior is the fact it can be applied to almost any life situation. If a concept elicits a connection between its main idea and previous knowledge, I am able to remember that information fairly well. I found it very interesting that a certain formula can be applied to nearly every situation. In some antecedents, a certain behavior may be very appropriate and elicit a reinforcing consequence. Other times, that same behavior will elicit an aversive consequence.
2) The second topic that elicited more interest than the average topic was the language of behavior. The concept was a difficult one for me to grasp when we initially emitted the learning behavior. After I became more familiar with the use of the different words, I was able to emit this behavior more frequently. Not only did it help to understand material in class, but it also made me feel much smarter. I incorporated behavior language in papers that I wrote for other classes I am currently taking. It definitely elicited some awkward moments trying to talk using those words in front of the class, but I would say it was worth it. Continuing to use them in blog posts and on the handouts elicited a stronger memory behavior.
3) The third topic that elicited interest was the concepts of reinforcement and punishment. I was definitely aware of these ideas before taking the class but I would not have been able to put a name to the concepts. They are very important to everyday life because reinforcing and punishing are vital in communication. It is essential in training both animals and people who become a little frustrating by not obeying. Although these concepts are closely related, they are not equally effective. We have learned reinforcement is more effective than punishment. This is something I never would have guessed before taking this class. The natural reaction when someone is emitting an undesirable behavior is to get angry which could very likely lead to punishment. Reinforcement is a much more desirable form of modifying behavior because it is much more effective. There are two forms of reinforcement: negative and positive. Positive reinforcement consists of adding something desirable when the correct behavior occurs. Negative reinforcement is when something undesirable is removed to create a pleasurable consequence.
This class has definitely changed how I look at not only psychology, but also the world. The class reinforced what I had already learned in previous classes by reviewing the works and theories of famous names in psychology. When I emitted a learning behavior this time, however, I could relate to it differently because it was told from a behavior modification standpoint. It also helped me in other psychology classes because it gives such great background information from a behavior modification point of view. After taking this class I also recognized reinforcers and punishment all over in our society. I also realized I emit these behaviors on a daily basis. I actually have been able to manipulate some of my roommates at a higher rate because of content from this class. I have learned punishment may work temporarily but reinforcement is more effective in the long run. This is important to know because punishment comes more naturally when one is trying to change another’s behavior. Although it is more common, reinforcement works at a higher rate. Applying this to anyone’s daily life will undoubtedly elicit an improvement in communication skills. I can also apply the goal-setting behaviors to different parts of my life. If I want to reach a goal in a certain amount of time, I will know the steps to take to reach that goal more easily. As long as I follow the steps we discussed in section 4.2, I will reach whatever realistic goal I set. This can help greatly in other classes to prevent from emitting a procrastination behavior.
This class elicited many things from me. One being the language of behavior modification itself. The course also elicited many remembering factions that I will use in other psychology classes but in life as well.
I really enjoyed learning about the importance of goals. We have all learned overtime that setting goals are very important to achieve the end result. What I learned in this course is that most goals are not specific enough. If we can break down our goals into sub-goals, give them a good timeframe, make them realistic, ask the question is the goal achievable?, do we have the ability to reach the goal?, we should make the goal process to be manageable, identify if the goal process will be disruptive, and be prepared to tweak your goal process after doing it a while as well. This gives anyone a great foundation for setting and achieving goals.
Schedules of reinforcement elicited a pleasant remembering process as well. I really did not know the difference between CR, FI, VR, FR, and VI, now I have a good idea about them all. It is interesting when you get into a subject and learn different language to support the topic. For instance, VR will elicit a high steady rate of responding with
marginal pause. A few months ago I would have had a vague idea what that meant, now it almost seems like second nature.
And one of our final topics elicited a remembering behavior for when I was an education major. Token economies are interesting. Not only for the classroom, but how they are used in our everyday life. From credit cards to coupons, punch card to miles or dollars to use on our products or services…..its very interesting that these are used on a daily basis, and most people do not even realize it.
I cannot say that the material learned has changed the way I think about psychology; I think it has broadened my overall understanding of psychology. On the other hand, looking at the world under the microscope of behavior modification is intriguing. Especially if you are watching something on TV, more than likely a comedy, you might catch yourself breaking the scene down into the ABCs, or trying to figure out if it was positive or negative punishment or reinforcement. It gives us a philosophical outlook on what is around us.
This class, as well as the other psychology classes complement each other very well. I believe that the department is all on the same page, want the students to reach the goals they have while giving them the most rounded insight into psychology and behavioral science. Being that I have not taken very many classes here at UNI, the whole rotund of classes that have taken in the past fail in comparison to the classes I have taken at UNI. I honestly believe that our professors have the best interest in mind for all of their students that want to learn.
What are three topics that you found interesting during the semester? Why?
The three topics that I found interesting were token economy, the ABCs of behavior, and reinforcement and punishment. I found emitting the behavior of reading about token economies to be pleasurable because I found it easy to relate to the real world. I thought that it was an interesting topic because I will be able to use it in my life whether it is for me or one day with my children. I think that token economies can be useful in manipulating behavior and it is a good example of positive reinforcement. The second topic I found interesting was the ABCs of behavior. I thought that this was interesting because I found that you can apply it to every situation in your life. Because everything has the antecedent, behavior, and a consequence if you just look closely enough and dissect the situation. I thought that was very cool to look at and be able to find examples from my own life to insert into the ABCs of behavior. The third topic that I found interesting was the chapter about reinforcement and punishment because before emitting the behavior of taking this class I always just saw it as black and white. I thought that if you take something away its punishment and I thought that punishment was only a negative thing. I also thought that reinforcement was just giving someone a “prize” when they did something positive. I had never been taught to look outside the box and see that it’s not all black and white. When it comes to behavior modification there is shades of grey so to speak. I found it to be very pleasurable to learn all about the positive and negative of both punishment and reinforcement and to be able to apply it to my life.
How has the material you have learned in this class changed the way you think about psychology and the world in general?
The material in this class has completely changed the way I think about everything because now I find myself applying all the things that learned in this class and applying them to my everyday life. Now when I watch TV or a movie I see examples of token economies, reinforcement, punishment, and the ABCs of behavior. I also find examples throughout my day at work or school. I especially apply it at work because I work with children who have psychological and behavioral issues and I emit the use of positive and negative reinforcement with them. For example I try to increase the frequency of them completing their morning tasks on time so I will reinforce them with little things like being able to pass out the papers at their morning group or be first in line on the walk to school. I also remembered the section about knowing what the children like and dislikes. So if they like to play basketball, but dislike reading; I can give them 30 minutes of basketball for 30 minutes if reading. I really enjoyed this class because of the fact that I can relate it to my life so much and it made it easier to learn by having examples from my life.
How has the material you have learned in this class, complemented what you have learned in other classes at UNI?
Since I am emitting the behavior of obtaining a psychology degree and I am in quite a few psychology courses this class complemented my other classes quite well. In fact in the last week of one of my classes my teacher asked the class if we think that we all have free will which is something that we talked about in behavior modification at the beginning of the semester. A girl was called on and she gave the same answer as we did in our class. I just sat their smiling because for once I knew exactly where this professor was going with this discussion. In my other psychology classes we also discussed reinforcement, punishment, ABCs, and token economy. Actually now that I am thinking about it I think that most of things that we learned in behavior modification I was able to apply to in some way to my other classes. This class has really increased my frequency to learn because I felt positively reinforced when I was actually able to use the things I learned in class in my real life.
Emitting a behavior of taking this Behavior Modification class has elicited many different behaviors in my day to day life. There are many topics that while emitting a reading behavior on, elicited a curiosity and interest in me so it is difficult to choose just three.
1.) The topic that will stick with me the most and that I will emit a behavior of applying to various life scenarios is the concept of the ABCs of Behavior Modification. The ABCs elicited a pleasurable response because it was not just a psychology concept; it was something that we could actually apply to real world incidents. It now makes me stop and think about the behaviors that I am going to emit or the behaviors that others emit and how they can be manipulated. I often apply this concept at work in the restaurant and it has since made my life much easier, as far as emitting a behavior of dealing with the employees anyway.
2.) The second concept I found to be the most interesting and in the same aspect, the one that I will choose to emit myself or get others to emit is that of Reinforcement and Punishment. At first while emitting a learning behavior on this topic, I thought how difficult could this be, it seemed very elementary. I soon found out how complex the simplest of terms could be in Behavior Modification. I have always been one to choose to reinforce rather than punish and emitting a learning behavior on this topic confirmed that this is what I should continue to do. It is almost always easier to reinforce a behavior, either positively or negatively to increase the frequency of getting the desired behavior rather than to use punishment. Although, being a realist, I understand that there is always going to be incidents where punishment is necessary.
3.) Lastly, I will go on to use a whole new array of vocabulary that Behavior Modification introduced me to. From elicit to emit, reinforce to punish, pleasurable and aversive, to positive vs. negative. Now I realize that some of these words I have emitted a behavior of using before, but Behavior Modification gave them a whole new meaning in the way they are behaviorally emitted.
The material I have emitted a behavior of learning on this semester confirmed that Psychology is still the right field for me to emit a studying behavior on. It elicited a feeling that psychology can be very applicable to real life incidents. Although I have enjoyed emitting a learning behavior on the subject of psychology, I had little opportunity to apply it to real life occurrences. This course gave me a whole new tool set to go forth and do so. I have many times since applied the concept of positive and negative reinforcement at my job. Using this concept with employees has worked wonders and I have been able to share my knowledge with my co-managers and have elicited them to use it as well.
The material I have emitted a learning behavior on in this course goes hand in hand with many other psychology courses I have already emitted a learning behavior on. As I near graduation and come close to finishing up my psychology courses, it is like getting enough pieces in a puzzle together to be able to see the picture. It is hard to establish where one class ends and another begins anymore as so much of the material has overlapped or built on as the semesters went along. Parts of Behavior Modification elicited a remembering behavior of many of the psychological figures in history such as Watson, Thorndike, and Skinner to name a few. It also elicited a remembering behavior of terms that were covered in my more social psych courses. I rarely spend much time outside of psychology courses anymore, but there was one time where I was a communication major and I have already used concepts from both fields in my line of work at my restaurant. Psychology has given me this tool set from which to work with and the communication side has shown me who to execute these tools in the best way possible.
One topic in which I elicited a predominant learning behavior-during this semester-is concept of satiation. Prior to Behavior Modification, I did not know about this topic or those related-at very least, I didn’t know the terms associated with the actions. The only time I ever heard of the term satiate what when talking about food. For the reasons of it being something new and somewhat of a challenge at first, I appreciated the topic. I further enjoyed learning about it as it is closely related to two other new topics: extinction, extinction burst and establishing operations. I think this information was most valuable because it changed the way I think about training animals, children, and even people in general. I had heard about the contingencies of positive and negative punishment and positive and negative reinforcement in my other classes, but I never thought about the breakdown of the details related. The way in which I learned about these terms best was through Aesop’s fable of the crow emitted in the first chapter of our text.
The story of the crow tells about a crow that is dying of thirst so he’s emitting a behavior of looking for water. Because he has been deprived of water, the deprivation is an establishing operation as it will make the water more enjoyable or reinforcing when/if found. When the crow finds a pitcher that has water in it that he can’t reach he is very upset. He is going through extinction as the pitcher usually topographically means that these is accessible water, but in this case, there functionally wasn’t enough water for him to reach. Since the crow is in desperate need of water, he goes through extinction burst in which he thinks of all of the different ways to get the water. He then uses a new method of dropping pebbles in the water to bring the level up. Each pebble that is dropped in causing the water to rise is a positive reinforcer of the behavior. When he finally reaches the water, his enjoyment of it is elevated because of the established operation and he is reinforced. The crow can then drink until he is satiated or no longer wanting anymore water. All of the above elicited concepts that I learned about this last semester where new and contributed to the concept of satiation.
The story of the crow ends with him drinking until he’s had his full of water. The idea of being “full” is essentially what satiation is. Once the crow has had all the water that he wants, giving him more water will no longer be pleasurable or reinforcing. When training dogs, you don’t want to give them too big of a treat for each trick because otherwise they may become too full and no longer interested in the reinforcer. If someone were to reinforce children with candy, they would want to give them small pieces. For example bit sized candy bars rather that full or king sized ones. The level of satiation is the point in which someone no longer finds the reinforcer enjoyable. When training someone/something that is the point in which it becomes important to find a new reinforcer.
The idea of satiation helps me outside of the classroom with the idea of dating. It is important not to give away too much information on the first date. Otherwise the date will feel like they know everything about you and why would they need a second date if they are already satisfied.
The Second Topic in which I found a great interest is in the ABCs of behavior. We CONSTANTLY used this idea throughout the entire semester and if I didn’t feel like a mater in applying this, I would have failed to learn anything in class. When in a situation, almost all behaviors I choose are because I considered the potential consequences. Further, I love that one single situation or consequence can completely control or change the behavior that ensues.
Example:
A=At School
B=Gets invited to Tommy’s house
C=has a good time
This would be positive reinforcement as the addition of going to Tommy’s house brought something pleasurable. However the same antecedent and behavior may have a different consequence that effects future decisions.
A=At School
B=Gets invited to Tommy’s house
C=has a horrible time!
Now this is positive punishment as the addition of going to Tommy’s house brought a bad or aversive consequence. What’s more is that this semester I learned how each step may have a profound effect on one or more of the parts of the ABCs. A behavior could completely change the consequence and antecedent could completely change the behavior and possibly the consequence and may other similar combinations of evens will affect the different variables of the ABCs (antecedent, behavior, consequence)
Thirdly: I emitted the behavior of learning about the steps of directed behavior and New Year’s resolutions. This elicited a great interest to me as many of my behaviors are self-directed and these steps helped me to better the effectiveness of my behaviors. There are 7 steps to directed behavior and they actually increase the rate of success in achieving a desired behavior (When done correctly)! The steps are as follows:
1. Set a goal
2. Define the goal
3. Keep a record
4. Graph a baseline
5. Determine contingencies
6. Determine antecedent
7. Implement and adjust contingencies
While working on my self-directed behavior of working-out, I learned the importance of having in-depth descriptions of the specific target behavior. If target behaviors are loosely defined or kept simple, it is easy to blow them off or find loop-holes around the behavior. I really liked learning about the 7 steps because it is something that so many people, including myself, fail at least once in their lifetime. These steps, when specifically defined and followed may be the most important or helpful concept learned in class this semester.
The materials from this semester changed the way I think about the field of psychology in general as I now find it even more useful in my day to day life. Unlike other subjects, I actually notice myself applying psychology to my life on a daily (at minimum) rate. It’s great to know that the things I’m learning actually account for something. I like that what I learn in psychology can actually be used-unlike some other subjects in which I have to devote my time.
As far as the materials I have learned complementing information from other classes at UNI, I would argue that I know use much of the terminology when thinking about the work that is required and why I should do it, how it will benefit me functionally, and what the best way to go about completing it would be. I have also used the terminology and concepts in my emails with professors. For example, toward the end of this last semester I sent emails to all of the professor for the classes in which my grade was perhaps within a point or a percentage of the next letter up. I told them-truthfully-how much I had learned this semester and how much I had enjoyed their classes and the opportunity to learn with them. I further thanked them for all of their and all that I have learned. In reinforcing them and all of their hard work, I was in turn also positively reinforced (even in a class in which the professor offers no extra credits and is firmly against grade adjustments). Granted in all of the situations I had had perfect attendance, no late work, I had gone to the professors office at least one with questions, and I was within 5 points of bettering my grade. Still, I was reinforced as in every case my grade moved up to that next letter or +/- better. That is the best way in which I can say I emitted the behavior of applying the materials from this semester to my other classes at UNI in a complementary way.
Terms: Contingencies, reinforcement and punishment, satiation, extinction, ABCs, Antecedent, behavior, consequence, topographically, functionally, elicit, emit, aversive, pleasurable, establishing operations, extinction burst, behavior modification, emitted, elicited, self-directed behavior, baseline, goal, target behavior, 7 steps.
I used: positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment-->as a couple more terms that I forgot to include in the list =]
Taking Behavior Modification caused me to emit several different thinking behaviors. These thinking behaviors elicited a positive feeling for me, as i emitted a behavior of learning as well. One thing i enjoyed emitting a behavior of learning was the ABC's. This process is simple, yet can be tricky if you don't learn it correctly and put in enough time to think about how the steps connect. I now like to emit a behavior of applying the ABC's into problems in my everyday life. Another thing i enjoyed emitting a behavior of learning was the concepts of reinforcement and punishment. These can be negative or positive, and this took me awhile to figure out the differences between them. Once i could correctly identify what was negative reinforcement, positive punishment, etc., i elicited a feeling of accomplishment. The blogs became easier to do, and in every behavior problem i came across i was able to point out the different types of reinforcement and punishment. I think it is very important to be able to tell the difference between these because if you say something incorrectly, people may have no idea what you are referring to or trying to accomplish. The third thing i enjoyed emitting a behavior of learning in this class is the concept of token economies. I never really knew what this term meant until i read about it. I also never realized just how many of these token economies i come across on a daily basis. I elicited a positive feeling when learning about token economies because i found that they can either be very simple, such as a sticker for reinforcement in a classroom, or a bit more complex, such as a reward system in a clothing store. I like learning about things that are interchangable with many different situations, and this would be token economies. The information i have emitted a behavior of learning in this class has definitely changed the way i view psychology and behavior. This class opened my eyes to the endless ways that behavior can be changed or modified. I never realized that some simple behaviors can be changed in not many steps at all. I also had never really been interested in learning about behavior, simply because i had never learned about it in-depth. Now that i have emitted a behavior of taking this class, i really would enjoy learning more about behavior. I also see that i can modify my own behavior and i know all of the steps to do so. Everything we learned in this class relates to everyday life and it is easy to apply all of the concepts to behavior problems. Since i am a psychology major, many of the topics we discussed have related to things i have emitted a behavior of learning in many of my other classes. These could be things such as names of people, certain terms, or the steps to apply to a problem. However, there were other things that correlated to my other classes. Learning about behavior has helped me in my other classes by learning why people emit certain behaviors, and how we can change these behaviors if needed. The ABC's also correlates to pretty much all of my other classes because this can be applied in a numerous number of situations. Behavior modification has helped me understand behavior much better, and i am extremely happy that i took this class. Overall it was a wonderful learning experience, and i know that i will take many things away from this class.
This class has emitted me to learn many things. Three topics that I found most interesting was the ABC's of behavior, the process of making goals, and token economies.
I found the ABC's interesting because it was a simple concept that could break down complicated situations, such as learning how the antecedent (A) can affect the behavior (B) which causes the consequence (C) and that by munipulated one of these you can change the consequence or the behavior.
I found the process of making and reaching goals very interesting and helpful. Knowing the 7 steps and following them increases the chances of you making a clear realistic goal and reaching that goal. I found it very interesting how simple these steps are and how well they work as long as you follow them!
Another topic that I found interesting was token economies. After understanding what this was and how it worked I realized how many token economies there really are in everyday life, and how many that I actually participate in. It was interesting to see how well they work in manipulating our behavior to get more tokens, whatever the tokens may be.
This material has helped me a lot in the field of psychology by emitting me to learn and understand more about behaviors. This makes it easeir for me to now manipulate others or my own behavior.
This material has covered many of the same things that my other psychology courses have such as learning about the different psychologists and many of the same terms. However, I feel like this class has taught me to better apply these things to real life and to really consider and understand the meaning of how and why things work. For instance I never realized how much of my behavior is being manipulated by either reinforcement or punishment. I have had a great learning experience in this class and I actually feel like I am actually going to use what I have learned.
3 topics I found interesting:
the ABCs of behavior modification elicited ease when trying to emit the behavior of modifying my own behaviors. This elicited more efficiency in emitting the behavior of modifying my behavior. This also elicited ease in emitting the behavior of determining the antecedents and consequences of many voluntary and involuntary behaviors.
Systematic desensitization elicited a lot of comfort and interest in using such a method to elicit a decrease in anxiety. By emitting the behavior of repeatedly exposing myself to the symptoms I feel while anxious or things that elicit anxiety in tandem with emitting the behavior of meditation or other relaxation techniques, the elicited association with anxiety-provoking stimuli while emitting the behavior of meditation results in relaxation as a consequence because one cannot be simultaneously anxious and relaxed at the same time.
Extinction seems to be the most prominent behavioral phenomena in my life at the moment. I’m constantly selecting desirable target behaviors and then rewarding myself for them. However, because I know I am terrible at being consistent with changes in my behavior, I stop rewarding the target behavior after awhile. This always leads to extinction. I eventually stop emitting the desired target behavior because I am not rewarding myself for said target behavior. This is what usually inhibits my successful behavior changes.
How has the material changed the way you think about psychology and the world in general?
A lot of my psychology classes have been classes focusing more on social/environmental/experiential influences on behavior. This class seemed to take more of an approach that made it seem like all behaviors can be modified with certain methods, which is true, but I’m not convinced that ALL behaviors can be modified this way. Punishments may be reinforcers for some people, thus making the reinforcers punishers for them.
How has the material you have learned complemented what you have learned in other classes at UNI?
Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this class was more straight forward ABC of behavior rather than taking a more experiential/environmental approach. I felt a little frustrated that behavior could be manipulated and broken down so easily, and I’m still not convinced! Obviously a lot of behaviors can be manipulated this way, some needing a more complex manipulation program like goal-directed behaviors. But, this class definitely elicited some comfort in the notion that I had the power to manipulate the undesirable behaviors I emit that are harmful to me by determining the antecedents of the target behavior and then implementing a consequence that is complementary to the behavior. This class also elicited more interest in my cat’s behaviors and how easily I could manipulate her into not knocking over full water classes and not pooping outside of her box anymore. All in all this class was useful! The knowledge I gained in this class definitely added to what I already knew about behavior modification from other classes. The blogs were something new and different for me as well.
After emitting a behavior of taking behavior modifications with Professor Maclin I learned many terms that relate to a behavior, but the three terms I think are the most important are the ABC’s, reinforcement, and punishment. Everything we do from typing this blog to walking to class everyday has an antecedent, behavior, and consequence which make up the ABC’s of behavior modification. Antecedents are what emit a specific behavior to occur such as being on a tennis court emits the behavior of playing tennis. The behavior is the action that is being emitted and the consequence is the result of the behavior whether it’s positive or negative. There are many different ABC’s and each emits a consequence that can be altered or diminished completely. To modify a behavior one must decide if they would like to increase or decrease a behavior. The best way to do either of these tasks is to use positive or negative reinforcement. Reinforcement is to alter a behavior with the addition of something desirable to the subject whether it is a treat for a dog or an allowance for doing chores. To take away or decrease the function of a subject is a term called punishment which may also use positive or negative relations. Punishment is less likely to increase or decrease the behavior as taking away anything can be very negative.
Behavior modification has changed many ideas in my head towards psychology in the fact that everything a person does in the life emits a behavior modification technique. All it takes is the right combination of ABC’s and a person can change the outcome of almost any behavior. Some great examples we learn are training animals, roommates, and even children to become more functional in society in our own eyes. It also helps in many cases to emit behaviors around UNI in the fact that changing behaviors can help change a pesky roommate, study more efficiently, and create more effective goals. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and look forward to use my newly acquired behavior modification techniques in the world to elicit new and efficient behaviors.
After emitting the behavior of reading this final assignment and thinking back on our behavior modification class I decided that the ABC’s of modification, extinction, and punishment were the most interesting things to learn about in class. The ABC’s of behavior modification were by far the most interesting thing that I learned because it allowed me to take what was seemingly a complex and hard behavior to understand and break it down into smaller, simpler behaviors. This idea was a great a reinforcer for me to come to class while we learned about it because it really helped me understand why children did certain things. I have never understood children and their behaviors but I was easily able to understand their simpler behaviors and behavioral chains after learning and then using the ABC’s. The reason I say children is because their behaviors are much easier in my mind to view and breakdown than an adults.
Extinction was a great reinforcer to keep me going to class. It came up in many of our conversations and in the readings at the end of class. After emitting the reading on extinction I immediately thought it was one of the more interesting points of the class because of its unusual nature. The idea that we emit behaviors over and over again in different ways to be reinforced during an extinction period intrigued me and makes me wonder about free will. I hold to the belief that extinction behaviors shouldn’t happen if the person knows they are having their behavior modified because they can choose to try and receive that reinforcer or not. But as I learned in class I was apparently wrong and many people and animals fall into extinction bursts while trying to find out why they are being reinforced for their previously reinforced behaviors. The idea behind extinction is so simple I found it actually fascinating.
The idea of punishment was introduced to use very early in the class and we have been hearing about it all of our lives, if not experiencing it. After emitting a learning behavior on punishment in our behavior modification class I saw punishment in a new light. I grew up in a weird system of punishment and reinforcement that I look back and severely dislike. I wish that the people who helped shape the person I am today would have known more about the reverse effects of both positive and negative punishment before using those techniques. That’s the main reason why I find punishment so interesting in this class. I know that for the rest of my like I will have a dislike for punishment and if I ever am in a position to shape who someone becomes I will know better how to not use punishment.
The material in this class has changed how I look at psychology a lot because it has shown me that not everything in psychology is based on solely interpretations of someone’s feelings or simply understanding the results of some super huge battery of tests. It helped me understand a whole new field of psychology (to me) and better helped me understand why people take the actions that they do and that not everything that people do is some long thought out idea but more of impulsive actions reacting to a stimulus. This class complimented my learning at UNI by allowing me to better understand other psychology courses which will help me to graduate!
After emitting the behavior of reading this final assignment and thinking back on our behavior modification class I decided that the ABC’s of modification, extinction, and punishment were the most interesting things to learn about in class. The ABC’s of behavior modification were by far the most interesting thing that I learned because it allowed me to take what was seemingly a complex and hard behavior to understand and break it down into smaller, simpler behaviors. This idea was a great a reinforcer for me to come to class while we learned about it because it really helped me understand why children did certain things. I have never understood children and their behaviors but I was easily able to understand their simpler behaviors and behavioral chains after learning and then using the ABC’s. The reason I say children is because their behaviors are much easier in my mind to view and breakdown than an adults.
Extinction was a great reinforcer to keep me going to class. It came up in many of our conversations and in the readings at the end of class. After emitting the reading on extinction I immediately thought it was one of the more interesting points of the class because of its unusual nature. The idea that we emit behaviors over and over again in different ways to be reinforced during an extinction period intrigued me and makes me wonder about free will. I hold to the belief that extinction behaviors shouldn’t happen if the person knows they are having their behavior modified because they can choose to try and receive that reinforcer or not. But as I learned in class I was apparently wrong and many people and animals fall into extinction bursts while trying to find out why they are being reinforced for their previously reinforced behaviors. The idea behind extinction is so simple I found it actually fascinating.
The idea of punishment was introduced to use very early in the class and we have been hearing about it all of our lives, if not experiencing it. After emitting a learning behavior on punishment in our behavior modification class I saw punishment in a new light. I grew up in a weird system of punishment and reinforcement that I look back and severely dislike. I wish that the people who helped shape the person I am today would have known more about the reverse effects of both positive and negative punishment before using those techniques. That’s the main reason why I find punishment so interesting in this class. I know that for the rest of my like I will have a dislike for punishment and if I ever am in a position to shape who someone becomes I will know better how to not use punishment.
The material in this class has changed how I look at psychology a lot because it has shown me that not everything in psychology is based on solely interpretations of someone’s feelings or simply understanding the results of some super huge battery of tests. It helped me understand a whole new field of psychology (to me) and better helped me understand why people take the actions that they do and that not everything that people do is some long thought out idea but more of impulsive actions reacting to a stimulus. This class complimented my learning at UNI by allowing me to better understand other psychology courses which will help me to graduate!
I thoroughly enjoyed this class and it has affected how I view my everyday life significantly. I remember many more than three things from this class; however, there are three big concepts that I remember.
1: The first thing that Behavior Modification elicited me to remember is that most behavior, if not all, is warranted by the ABC’s. The A is antecedents. These are the situations or stimuli that elicit target behaviors. The B is behavior. These are the target behaviors and are very specific so that they are recognizable even to different people. C is consequence. For every behavior there is a consequence. The consequence should either increase or decrease the target behavior. Which one it elicits depends on whether the target behavior is desired or aversive. If the target behavior is desired, then the consequence should act as a reinforcer. If successful, the reinforcer should increase the desired behavior. There are two ways you can elicit an increase in a target behavior through reinforcement. You can emit positive reinforcement, which involves the addition of a desirable consequence/reward in order to increase the target behavior, or you can emit negative reinforcement, which involves the removal of an aversive consequence if the desired target behavior is emitted. In order to decrease a target behavior that is aversive or unwanted, you may emit punishment. Just as reinforcement involves both positive and negative aspects, punishment does as well. If you emit positive punishment, you are emitting an addition of an aversive consequence in order to elicit a decrease in the target behavior. If you emit negative punishment, you are emitting the removal of a desired consequence in order to elicit a decrease in the target behavior. Using the ABC’s of behavior allows us to functionally analyze target behaviors so we can pinpoint the antecedents of the behavior and hopefully modify it. I emit remembering this mostly because it is applicable to almost every behavior. If you can’t figure out why a target behavior is being emitted, attempting to list the ABC’s of that behavior can help.
2: The second thing I emit remembering is that target behaviors must be defined very specifically. In order for a target behavior to be recognized, you must be able to fully define it. Since many situations involve different members/parties being involved in behavior modification, one thing might not mean the same to one person as it does to another. Say I want to modify my talking loud behavior. This may mean I talk loudly when I am on the cell phone, or in a certain place to me. To someone else, this may mean they talk loudly in different settings. I would need to emit a definition that would make it extremely easy for anyone involved to recognize. If I wanted to modify my behavior of talking loudly while on the cell phone in my dorm hallway that would need to be listed as my target behavior so everyone could recognize it. Doing this also makes it possible for me to emit graphing the baseline behavior easier. There is no question when I am or am not emitting the target behavior when I define it clearly. Once I graph a baseline, the clear definition will allow me to track the behavior during intervention effectively. I remember this well because we talked about a lot of examples that may occur during intervention in elementary schools. In elementary schools there are many individuals interacting with the modification process. Modification may only occur for certain people if everyone involved does not have the correct idea about what the target behavior to be modified is. The child will then learn that they can emit the aversive behavior or not emit the desired one with specific teachers, parents, administrators, etc. I never truly realized that the behaviors I attempt to modify were so broad until I took this class.
3: The third thing I emitted remembering is that there are different functional classes of behaviors and different topographical classes of behaviors. Different functional classes of behaviors means that two different behaviors may look completely different (topographically) but serve the same function. An example of this may be waving to say hi and shaking hands to say hi. Both serve the function of saying hello but look completely different. Different topographical classes of behaviors means that two behaviors may look the same but serve completely different behaviors. An example may be hugging to say hello and hugging to show affection/love. The hug may look the same (topographically) but serve different functions. It is important to recognize these differences when trying to functionally analyze a target behavior for modification. If you do not realize why a behavior is being emitted, or mix up why it is being emitted because you do that behavior for a difference function, it can really elicit problems with intervention and eventually cause a failure to successfully modify the behavior. I think this is extremely important to remember because you may think something wrong, like a boyfriend hugging a female friend to say hello or because they have known each other for a long time, yet you think that the function of the hug is to show intimate affection. This could cause major problems, so it has definitely stuck in my mind to ask why the behavior was emitted before jumping to conclusions.
This class, as mentioned, has very much influenced and changed the way I think about psychology and the world. Every day I am using something from the class to figure out why someone emitted a specific behavior, or how I can actually use the behavior modification techniques to make my life better. I have a difficult boyfriend sometimes, so I actually have started to think about his motivations or reasons for emitting certain behaviors differently. It has actually caused me to emit understanding for a lot of behaviors that I got upset about before. I also have been able to successfully modify some behaviors that were problematic. This class has elicited me to look deeper into everything going on around me and try to see the difference between functional classes and topographical classes of behaviors all around me. I also actually emitted realizing that I had emitted punishment way more often than reinforcement and I didn’t like how I was acting. It has helped me like myself more because I can self-modify this behavior.
The biggest way the class elicited me to link my classes was this semester when I was also taking Motivation and Emotion. There are so many overlaps between the classes. I began to integrate what I had learned from both. I found myself emitting behavioral speak in papers for Motivation and Emotion and even on the final! It has changed how I think about the material and what viewpoint I come from. I also found myself trying to integrate concepts from Motivation and Emotion into behavior modification classes. A big component of this was when we learned about the different needs for motivation. The different needs would play a big role in behavior modification because those may pertain to the different functions of target behaviors. In order to fully functionally analyze target behaviors, you must figure out the motivation behind them. This class elicited me to realize that I was very happy I took both classes at the same time.
For Chelsea:
After emitting the behavior of taking the class Behavior Modification I found that the class was very rewarding and provided much information. My three favorite topics that I emitted the behavior or doing work and research on are Discriminative stimulus, the ABC's of behavior modification and finally the idea of token economies especially in classrooms. I thought the discriminative stimulus was enjoyable because I didn't realize how much we are sort of controlled everyday by the simplest thing one would never notice unless pointed out to them.
I enjoyed the ABC's of behavior modification after emitting the behavior of reading them because they are the heart and soul of behavior modification and is like the underlying rules or stipulations on how many of the other topics we discussed work. Without this information the other topics would have been much harder to understand and possibly implement. It is also fun to know to elicit someone to emit a behavior you wish them to do.
Finally I found the topic of token behaviors that I recently emitted the behavior or writing about interesting because I am pursuing a career in counseling psychology within the criminal justice system. If I end up doing what I hope to do in my future I think a token economy may be a good plan to help some of my students that have behavioral issues. I also found it enjoyable because I was once subjected to a token economy and for me it worked as well as it could with the problem it had.
This course has elicited me to think about the world a lot differently. I now emit the behavior of looking at simple things that no one notices and thinking about how that may elicit a behavioral response from people. It also taught me about how I can alter my own aversive behaviors especially those that are a jeopardy to my health. Behavior modification altered my thought about psychology by introducing a new theory to use and think about when working with a client or a student instead the old ways in which were are elicited to use all the time.
I found several times throughout the semester in my other courses that we mentioned something dealing with behavior modification or noticed something in a classroom that elicited me to do something maybe set by a teacher or a standard that I would stop and emit a behavior of analyzing that behavior and thinking through the ABC's of that particular behavior. The class where this came up the most was Applied Psychology because we talked about the different theories on psychology and the cognitive/behavior theory is about altering behaviors to deal with the clients problems or issues.