Reading Activity Week #11 (due Tuesday)

Section 4.3

From this section I'll remember the goal setting guidelines. The main guideline to a goal is being realistic about it. When setting a goal you have to be realistic about everything involving the goal, such as the timeframe. Goals with longer horizons may be more difficult to achieve and may need to be broken up into smaller sub goals. The ability to complete the goal is important, and I think this fits in with being realistic. The goal set should be manageable enough to fit into your daily schedule and should not be disruptive. The last most important thing would be to start focusing on the behavior of change. Use reinforcement to increase the behavior and DRO to decrease the unwanted behavior.
I really liked how each guideline was highlighted. I think they are all as important as one another. I like that the guidelines are explained in its entirety and the examples given for each of them. I didn't dislike anything from this section. I viewed this as a helpful tool in guiding me to change my own desired behavior.
Certain ideas that arose while reading this section were directed towards my target behavior of studying at least one hour in each subject, five days out of the week. It helped me realize the steps I have done right and wrong.

Section 5.1
I'll remember that in order to measure a behavior, there has to be very specific target behavior. The target behavior needs to be defined. When its defined there needs to be a way to measure the behavior. The topography of behavior and the various behavioral classes often dictate how we will measure behavior. When modifying a behavior, you need to decide whether or not to measure all behaviors which serve the same function or just one specific behavior.
I really liked how the section gave questions about our own behavior that we are changing. I think that help a lot and made it easier to determine how to measure our own behavior. I didn't dislike anything about this section either. I think it is helpful to accomplishing our goal of modifying a behavior.

The target behavior of what I want to change is: Studying one hour for each subject five days a week. I would need to establish a baseline keeping record of the amount of time I really study in each subjects Mon-Fri.

4.3

1. The first thing that I will recall from this section is that goals need to be realistic. By setting a goal that is unrealistic you are setting yourself up for failure. I know that in order to be successful you need to asses what you can and can not do realistically. Through small steps and smaller goals the unrealistic goal might no longer be so far fetched. The next thing I will remember is that goals need to be manageable. I remember this one because it can be the hardest set back for me. If a person doesn't have the time to incorporate a new behavior into their schedule or have the resources to start a new behavior they will not be successful in their goal. Like being realistic a person need to self evaluate and recognize what they can handle and what their life cannot handle. The book mentioned that sometimes all you need is 20 minutes and when put that way it looks a lot more manageable then simply trying to find a chunk out of your busy day to find time to do the new behavior such as work out. The third thing I will remember is that sometimes goals can be disruptive. Like when you move away for school or a job. Your life is uprooted and you have to start new while also getting used to your new behavior goal. This is similar to what I will be coming up on in a couple years with wanting to go to graduate school. It is a goal of mine but will be disruptive in my everyday life with having to move to a new city and get used to it while attaining the degree that I want.

2. One thing that I really liked from the section was the part about a support base. This is when people believe in you can encourage you to accomplish the goals you have set. I understand how important it is to have someone believe in you to do something. Also if no one is there supporting you it is easier to make excuses to quit on your goal. If someone believes in you you are driven not to let them down and are more likely to be successful in your goal. I know that my family and friends supported me in my quest to lose some weight. This held me accountable and also have be a place to find words of encouragement to keep me going.

3. The thing that I disliked from the section is that there are many places along your journey they can set you off track. There are many aspects that need to be payed attention to in order to be successful in your goal. If you aren't realistic, have a time frame, have a manageable goal, the ability, or support you chances of failing increase. There is a lot to attain to and a lot of places to fall off track. It has taught me that I need to be aware of much more when setting goals. It has also shown me where I have gone wrong in past goals that have failed.

4. After reading the section about unrealistic goals I had the idea that maybe some of them aren't so realistic. I think that with the use of sub-goals a person has a better chance at achieving unrealistic ones. If it is something the person really desires I think there is a way for them to develop a plan of small goals to help them on their way. And if something is physically unrealistic there may be a goal similar to the previous one desired. If you cant be a astronautic maybe you can be an instructor or trainer.

5.1

1. The first thing that I will remember is that all behaviors have a function. They seek to do something, whether intended or not. Within these functions there are behavioral classes that may all serve the same function and they are topographically related. Which essentially means that they serve the same function. The next thing that I will remember is that context matters. Sometimes there are different situations in life that cause you to emit different behavioral classes, they may serve the same function but are essentially different. This needs to be monitored to see in what context the behavior is happening because the person may be able to manipulate the environment to eliminate something that is causing an undesired behavior. The last thing I will recall is the phrase serve the function where an object or situation serves the function to a certain behavior. For my specific goal of wanting to watch less TV a book would serve the function in decreasing the amount of TV watched.

2. One thing I really enjoyed from this section was that the history of an organism will dictate which topographies are used more frequently. This is based on whether the behavior was reinforced or punished. I liked this because logically it made sense. It you pushed a door with a handle and it did not open you are punished and next time will be more likely to pull a handle rather than push it and the topography was changed from pushing to pulling. This goes for a lot of the routine daily things we do and plays a big part in adjusting behaviors to elicit a new behavioral goal.

3. One thing I did not like from the section was that idea of a baseline. I feel like it may not be as accurate as we want. We want a baseline to see where we are at and measure if we are getting to where we want to be. But I think that once a person gets to the stage to measure things they have already decided to change a behavior and the initial baseline may not be representative of where a person started so they maybe discouraged when they look back and think that they have not come as far as they wished they had. In reality though they did, it is just that the baseline was not representative of the initial start.

4. The ideas I had during this section were about how to apply this knowledge to my own goal. It has made me think about the different behaviors that will serve the function of my goal to watch less TV such as reading a book, studying, or working out. I understand that I need to measure my progress and keep track of the context in which certain behaviors take place. The new information is making success in my goals to be more attainable as I read and apply new ways to achieve a goal.

5. To measure the behavior of watching less TV I will need to create a daily calendar with times listed on it. In the time slots I can track when I watched TV and add up at the end of the day how much TV was watched. This total time can then be applied to a graph that will show my progress or downfalls. I will also have a comment box in the calendar that I will be able to write the context for watching TV whether it was a good show, I was bored, or it was assigned. This will help me to track what may be leading me away from my goal. I will need to be sure to track the amount of TV watched right after watching it so that I don't forget to track it. I will also track what I do instead of watching TV so that I can tell if it is effective with keeping me from the TV,like if I get bored reading and go to watch TV I learn that reading is not an effective behavioral class.

Terms: manageable, realistic, goals, behavior, disruptive, functions, topographically, sub-goal, behavioral classes, emit, undesired behavior, serves the function, history of an organism, elicit, baseline, measure

In Chapter 4.3 1.I learned the importance of goals, to be realistic and set good guidelines to increace or decrease the frequency of target behaviors. This is important so you can distinguish between functions and the served function for the behavior you wish to decrease. There may be ways of decreasing the frequency of a behavior by emitting other behaviors. 2.When you make goals they must be realistic and managable so you are able to achieve and make corrections to without quitting. This helps the process of eimiting the steps. 3. The timeframe is another important step one must take. This helps with your goal settings and makes it more precise with the behavior you want to emit. 4. One of the things I liked was the sub-goals which is when you have a goal that is harder to achieve and you break it down to easier steps to accomplish. I have been using this already but I found it works. 5. One of the things I did not like about the goals was that you do have to be realistic and realize your own abilities with some goals. It is hard if not impossible to achieve some goals which I have a hard time accepting. Some of the ideas I had while reading this chapters was making my own personal goals and looking at the functions of what I do with my undesired behavior I wish to extinquish. This has put into context the steps I must take.

Measuring behavior
1.This chapter put into context behaviors that may be elicited by antecedents. When you put into antecedents some triggers may be emitted by you. 2.It is important to record your baseline behavior so you are able to understand and recognize the patterns of behavior. Some of these behaviors are reinforced by the antecedents. By recording the behavior and how you are feeling will help identify the reinforcers or punishments of your behavior. 3. One of the important things to remember is to make goals, especially realistic ones. 4. One of the things that I really liked was that the behavior of an organism plays an important role for the organism. Extinction is hard emit and elicit and extinction burst are common when trying to train yourself to do it. 5. One of the things I am not going to like but is good for the process is measuring the behavior on scale and recording. This is very useful and just by recording can impact the way you interact. This is going to be a process that will take motivation and continous reinforcement by myself to be done, but after awhile it will become natural, and interval reinforcement can be used to maintain my goals.

Although I have one behavior for class which is to decrease the frequency of playing chess online. I am currently collecting my behavior baseline for other aversive behaviors, so I can do a behavioral intervention for myself. I am currently collecting data on my eating habits. Although I do not want to go on a diet, I am writing down all the food I eat for each meal and how many plates I consume. My goal here is not to count calories but to not overeat or eat too fattening for myself. This goal consists of eating healthier foods and reducing my food intake. I am writing this all down and will be able to compare and chart the amount of food eaten, and the health of it.

Terms: manageable, elicit, behavior, antecedents, topographical, sub-goal, undesired, measure, baseline behavior, beahvior intervention, target behavior, reinforcement, frequency, target behavior, continous reinforcement, extinction, extinction burst, punishment, aversive, triggers, goals, abilities, functions, distinguish, realistic, timeframe, history of organism

Response to section 4.3
Prior to reading this section, I have thought much about goals in assigned readings. I liked this section on goals and the multiple ways that an individual may consider when setting them. I may remember that the section discussed sub goals. I believe that breaking large goal up into small goals may be an efficient way to be realistic about accomplishing a large goal. The text also discussed this topic of a goal being realistic. I liked the reference to the Sidney Poitier film, Lilies of the Field, and am curious to learn more about that. I may also remember the section discussing disruptive goals. I feel that some goals do need to be thought out more than others, for the safety of an individual. I feel no need for hypotheticals here, as mentioned in the text, because goals are subjective. I may also remember the topic of support base. Individuals who support others in their goals may be patient and honest. I liked the idea of joint goals, as well as the idea of individual goals. The examples used referred to exercise routines and team sports, which I felt was a good way to express a team goal with individual sub goals. One thing I disliked about the section was the absolute statement that if accompanying persons do not support in one’s goal, that that goal will be harder for them to achieve. I believe that this may be true in some cases, however not all cases. Some strive on independence and may even find it easier to work alone.
Response to section 4.4
Prior to reading this section, I thought about target behavior and this chapter goes into further detail about this matter. I may remember that this section revisited a notion of behavioral classes. When this term was first introduced in earlier readings, I was unsure of its meaning. With repeated readings, I have learned that within a behavioral class, various behaviors may exist that are functionally related. I may also remember again reading about context as it relates to behaviors. I believe that environment is important, and this section again puts an emphasis on situational cues. This section also again discussed measuring behavior. I feel that it is important that this topic was a part of the reading, as we will be using the technique in upcoming classes. I liked to read about the function of behaviors in this section. I feel that some behaviors, sometimes, may be emitted with a reflection of its functions. To modify behavior, one may ponder its meaning and function to better understand what elicted such behavior. I felt that this section was informative, and anything I disliked was due to personal bias.
Terms: goals, sub goals, behavior, behavioral classes, environment, context, measuring behavior, emit, elicit, functions
SMW 10.30.2012

4.3
When finding a behavior to modify it is important to remember to make sure the goal is realistic. I will commit this to memory because if the goal is unrealistic more than likely it will not be achieved. I will also emit the behavior of remembering that some goals have subgoals. For example my behavior that I want to elicit the behavior of modifying is to emit the behavior of no longer biting my lip. In order to do this I need to find a different behavior to emit when I am bored, stressed, or in deep thought. Another piece of information of the aversive behavior must be manageable. To keep my behavior manageable I will have to do things that will keep me from being bored but aren't disruptive to others. I thought this chapter was very informative about the importance of goals and how to make sure they can be achieved.

5.1
From this chapter I will emit the behavior of remembering that a behavior need to be measurable in order to modify it. If it is measurable it is easier to tell if you are succeeding or failing at modifying the aversive behavior. To measure biting my lip I could measure how often I bite my lip. I could also keep track of the antecedents that elicit the behavior. I will also remember that all behaviors have a function. Biting my lip functions as a stress reliever, keeps me from being bored and helps calm my nerves depending on the antecedent. I thought the content of this chapter was very informative on how to measure your behavior.

Terms: behavior, measurable, modify, antecedents, function, elicit, emit, aversive, disruptive, sub goals, manageable, realistic, unrealistic

Section 4.3

This reading elicited the memory of these three concepts on the importance of goal setting:
1.) Set goals that are realistic and that can be achieved. Many factors need to be considered. Is the goal something I can do? Do I have the resources, ability, time, and support? People are less likely to support or help if the goal is unrealistic like winning the lottery before the age of 30.

2.) Larger goals tend to take more time to achieve than smaller goals. Breaking down the larger goals into smaller, sub goals will get more support from friends and family. Including this, the smaller successes can be reinforced as they occur instead of waiting for the larger goal to be achieved. I have a goal to get my master's degree in speech-pathology but that will take a long time to reach so I break it down into smaller goals: graduating at a 4 year college, getting into grad school, completing graduate courses, and finishing my internship.

3.) Some goals may be disruptive or life changing. My goal to get my master's degree will be disruptive to my life because I may or may not have to move in order to complete the smaller goal of getting into grad school. Even though this goal is disruptive, it is still achievable. My family and I may not like it, but it is a smaller goal that needs to be accomplished in order to achieve the large goal.

I liked the part about changes to the antecedents can be major downers with a behavioral change because some are not anticipated or planned for in advance. This happens to me all the time. I have a goal to do an ab workout for twenty minutes, five days out of the week, but I've been running into some bumps along the way. I have homework and tests piled on that I wasn't prepared for, thus causing me to have a hard time achieving any part of my goal.

I did not like the suggestion of using competitive games to motivate people to do a behavioral change. I am not a fan of people making bets on each other and announcing a winner at the end of the "game."

This all just makes me think a little bit more about my large goal of getting my master's degree and how much it's going to affect my life. My relationships are going to take a big hit and so is my finances.

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Section 5.1

This reading elicited the memory of these three concepts on the importance of measuring behaviors:
1.) You cannot study something unless you can measure it. Behaviors cannot be changed without a clear way to measure the successes and/or failures. Why would I try to do an ab workout five days of the week if I do not have a way to determine if I'm succeeding or failing? It would just be a waste of time.

2.) All behaviors have a function or do something. Every behavior a person emits has a purpose to it. Some behaviors, though different in appearance, have the same purpose because they are within a behavioral class. For example, people use different forms when waving to someone. Some may move their hand side-to-side while others may wiggle their fingers. This could also be an example of a topography.

3.) The context, environment, or situation matters when considering topographies of behavior. In certain instances, when trying to open a door, I may not open it the same way I usually do that has worked for me in the past. For example, when I am having a rough day or it's cold outside, I usually kick the door instead of taking my hands out of my pockets.

I liked the idea that our automatic behaviors are dictated by our history of behavioral contingencies. What worked for us in the past often tells us that it will work again in the future, thus causing us to emit that very same behavior.

I did not dislike anything within this section. I thought it was self-explanatory with good, clear examples. Made me think about every possible behavior I've emitted.

This section makes me think about my physical behaviors I emit on a daily basis. I haven't been consciously aware of what I'm doing and that what I'm doing always serves as a function or purpose.

To measure my behavior of doing an ab workout for twenty minutes, five days a week, I plan to write down every time I do any kind of ab workout (since the physical behavior looks different depending on the person doing it) and how long I did the workout right after I have finished. This way I will know if I emitted the behavior and if I should be reinforced. I want to be able to graph and see my progress.

Terms: Emit, Elicit, Behavior, Set Goals, Realistic, Reinforce, Sub Goals, Disruptive, Antecedents, Measure, Topography of Behavior, History of Behavioral Contingencies, and Serves as a Function

4.3
Three Things I Will Remember From This Chapter:
1. When setting a goal and a timeframe be realistic. The smaller the goal generally the shorter the amount of time will be needed to achieve it.
2. To make a large goal much more realistic, achievable, and feel closer you can break it down into several sub goals, which means small goals that are more short term that work towards the longer term large goal.
3. When setting a goal keep your ability in mind. For example, since I am 5’9” male a goal to be a professional volleyball player is very unlikely.

One thing that I did like about this chapter is the organization of it and the main points were also highlighted. When I disliked about this chapter is I can’t say I really learned anything new. I think a lot of this is common knowledge. While reading this chapter I kept in mind some of my life goals and aspirations. For example, I would like to become a professional hip-hop dancer and while I believe I am very good, it is very unrealistic to achieve such a feat.

5.1
Three Things I Will Remember From This Chapter:
1. Every behavior people emit have a function. Although we may not think about it when the behavior is emmited. We manipulate the environment in some way shape or form no matter how small or great the effect.
2. In most cases the history of the organism dictates the topographies of a particular behavior that dominates, which is the reason we use some more than others. The history is often formed by reinforcements and punishments.
3. When measuring a behavior, the target behavior must be something that can be recorded consistently and with accuracy. A good example is the behavior I am trying to change. I would like to get more exercise. I measure the amount of exercise by the amount of time I spend doing so.

One thing I liked about this chapter is that it is relating heavily onto the behavioral change that all of us are currently recording a baseline for. The thing that I disliked about this chapter is all of the information is revisited from the past chapters. While reading the chapter I thought about how much the antecedant effects whether the behavior will happen or not.

The behavior I am trying to change is to get more exercise. I measure the amount of exercise by the amount of time I spend doing so. It is also important to record the days that I do exercise to see if a pattern arises.

From this chapter I will remember that when you make your goals they should be realistic. Another thing I will remember is that different goals take different amounts of time to achieve. Lastly, I will remember that you must determine if you have the resources to complete the task. These are all important! One thing that I liked from this chapter was the part about finding someone who will support you and encourage you in achieving your goal. This is a very important because its hard to do things alone. One thing that I didnt like very much about this chapter was all of the fill in the blanks because not all of them were things that I wanted to think about and take time to fill out. Something that I thought about while reading this chapter was about how I want to be an attorney. I was going through all of these little check marks in my head as I was reading.

In section 5.1 I will remember that it is important to determine how you are going to measure your behavior. The second thing that I will remember is that every behavior has a function, I have never thought about behavior like this before but it makes sense. Lastly, topographical behaviors and how it may have the same purpose it looks differently when it is being emitted. One thing that I liked about this section was that it revisited some things we have learned about in the past and went over them to refresh our memory. One thing that i disliked about the chapter was that there was no summary. After reading through the chapter going over the summary is always helpful to me. Something that I thought about while reading was how I am going to measure my behavior I want to change. I decided that the best way to measure it would be by the percent of homework I have assigned compared to the percent of homework I get done before midnight.

Chapter 4.3
The first thing that I will remember from this chapter is how important it is to break down large goals into subgoals. I will elicit a remembering behavior for this information because if a goal is too broad and would take a long time to accomplish, using reinforcements and punishments to stay on track would increase the chances of achieving an ultimate goal. The second thing that I will remember from this section is that having the ability to accomplish a desired target behavior is essential to achieving success. It is important to remember this because if a long-term goal is completely unrealistic and outside of a person's known abilities, it won't be attainable. Finally, the third thing that I remember from this chapter section is having a strong support base really contributes to the ultimate consequence of the behaviors a person emits to achieve their desired target behavior. This is important because if no one supports a person's decision to change a habitual behavior, they will be less likely to try and change, even if it would be for the better. One thing that I liked about this section was how easy it was to understand because it was broken up into short, explanatory sections. One thing that I didn't like was how it seems that the only way to really change a behavior is to follow a set list of unchangeable rules. This chapter made me think about my goal for our class and how my subgoals are to be met weekly in order to give myself reinforcement.

Chapter 5.1
The first thing that I will remember from this chapter section is that 'behavioral classes' refer to emitting different types of behaviors that will result in a target consequence. It is important to know this so that we know how to categorize behaviors to ultimately allow us to build schemas in our conscious minds. The second thing that I remember from this chapter is that lots of behaviors also have a topographic contingency. This also helps contribute to categorizing behaviors to become habitual. Finally, the third thing that I will remember from this section is that every behavior 'serves a function,' whether to reinforce, punish, cause an aversive response, or just maintain a present behavior. It is an important fact because whether we recognize it or not, every time when we elicit and emit behaviors, we are doing so for a reason. One thing that I liked about this chapter was how it reminded me of past concepts that haven't been discussed for awhile. One thing that I didn't like was how in-depth a person has to get if they really want to achieve a big goal. An idea that I got from this chapter was how it may pertain to losing weight because there are so many factors that contribute to the possible success or failure of that kind of goal.

Terms used: elicit, behavior, reinforcement, punishment, target behavior, support base, consequence, emit, behavioral classes, schema, topographic, contingency, aversive

Sec 4.3

1. When you are setting a goal, you have to be extremely specific, beyond just your target behavior. When you are trying to change your behavior, this includes time. Time is essential to behavior change, because when you set your goal, you should schedule it. Meaning, your change should be on a time limit. The reason I saw this as important was because it was stressed and was given considerable thought.

2. Goals should also be realistic (manageable), this may seem like a no brainer but for many people, they don't know why realistic really is. Child hood dreams, while good, and fun; are not realistic. The number of children in the world who will actually grow up to president is extremely small. The ability to do the goal is also really important, it is extremely unrealistic to set a goal of going back in time, because that is physically impossible. The reason I thought this was important, was that people are most likely to set goals, that they think they can achieve when in reality they are so far out of reach; that the goal, is really just a far off dream. This is likely to make people frustrated, and give up on changing behavior.

3. Goals are only achieved if you have the proper resources, and support. If no one in your family supports you changing your lifestyle to vegetarianism, then that goal increases in difficulty. Also if you don't have the money to buy enough vegetarian food to support you in living, then the goal will be unmanageable. All of these things work against you if not provided. So before you start your goal, in the planning stages you need to make sure you have all the necessary components. I though this was important for much of the same reason as the previous. People often overlook the small detail when setting a goal, but it's the small details that make up the majority of the behavior change. Together they are also extremely important.

I liked the writing and examples of this section, (except for the last part that I am confused on) it was very enlightening. I dislike nothing, as I though this section was very well planned out.

Sec 5.1

1. Topographies: These are characteristic of a behavior, for example: there are many different ways to wave, and each one might mean something different that is a topography. Topographies are important for determining what a behavior means, and what behaviors you should emit, to convey the clearest message. I felt this was important because it helps people understand behaviors. It is also important for when you want to change your own behavior, examining the topographies, will help you decide on the behavior to change.

2. Behavior Classes: Behavior classes are a broad category that houses your target behavior. It is important to recognize your behavior class, so that you know that your target behavior is not a behavior class. I find this extremely important when you alter your behavior because if you don't know the broad spectrum (behavior class) you can't narrow down your behavior (target behavior).

3. Functions: These are things that a behavior might do. For example chewing on your fingernails might relieve stress, or boredom. These are the functions of chewing on your fingernails, the reasons why you do it. The function of eliciting a door handle, is to open it, so you can emit yourself to go inside. These are important because knowing why you do something is essential to changing the behavior. If you chew on your fingernails only when you are bored, the next time you are bored you might find something to do; besides chewing your nails.

I liked that there was some review in this section, its always great to go over knowledge learned in the past. There is nothing I particularly disliked in this section.

While reading these chapters I thought of how each behavior term might effect someones behavior, and then I put that into perspective on behaviors I wanted to change myself.

Measuring the behavior of working out. I would definitely chose to measure this behavior by time spent in the gym, and the number of days gone per week. Because I'm not looking to lose weight that would be an inappropriate measure because it does not correlate with my target behavior.

Terms: Behavior, Behavior Class, Target Behavior, Emit, Elicit, Functions, Measuring, Topographies,

4.3
Three things I will remember from this section:
1. When setting a goal you want to be realistic. It’s important to set goals that are possible. Its not that unrealistic goals don’t happen they are just less likely to happen. I honestly feel that I would want to set a goal that I can achieve so I can feel accomplished.
2. When setting a goal it’s also important to have a support group. If you don’t have people to believe in you or be by your side it will be harder to achieve your goals. It’s also helpful that if your goal is challenging then it’s important to find supporters who have achieved this goal to help you.
3. There are many guidelines to setting a goal:
-Realistic
-Timeframe
-Have Sub Goals
-Achievable
-Ability
-Manageable
-Disruptive
-Maintenance
-Support Base
I really liked this section because it gave you great pointers on how to set a goal and be able to achieve a goal. It was very helpful
5.1
Three things I will remember from this section:
1. All behaviors have a function. They do something. This section gave a great example about eating junk food and how it has a variety of functions such as; 1. Easy to get or prepare. 2. Some junk food is cheaper than real food. 3. Our friends are eating junk food and we want to hang out with them. Ect.
2. Context matters. The context or situation you are in matters when considering topography as a behavior. The example they gave in this section explains it very well and makes it easy to understand. It talked about approaching a door with a handle/knob the topography of door opening behavior may be different from the no handle door.
3. The best way to record information about a behavior is to carry a small notebook around with you and record the information right away. It’s not a good idea to base it off a memory because our memory isn’t perfect and also we can forget and we can get memory interference which can alter what we recall happened in the day
These two sections were very interesting to read and gave a lot of great information about setting goals and going about measuring a behavior. There really wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about the sections. They provided a lot of information and made it very clear about how to go about setting a goal and how to go about measuring a behavior.

4.3

One thing I will remember is that goals need to be realistic. I remember my mom telling me a story once of a little boy she had in her preschool class that said when he grew up he wanted to be a hamster. This goal is obviously not very realistic. I think that people should reach for their goals even if they may seem out of reach and break them down into steps, but they still need to be realistic about the situation.

Another thing I will remember is that goals need a timeframe and that one has to make sure there is enough time to complete a goal. An example I thought of is when people are getting married they might want to lose weight. If they only have a couple of months until their wedding, it might not be very manageable to lose a lot of weight, especially if they don’t exercise regularly. If they started exercising more in advance then their goal would fit a realistic timeframe.

I will also remember that goals also have things that can disrupt them. I think for me one of the biggest disruptive things is sleep. If I want to get up in the morning, often I don’t and just sleep and push off whatever I wanted to do until later. I also think social time with friends is more valuable then doing homework, which is a disruption. I think all goals have disruptions, and it’s something that we have to be ready to fight and not let us not complete a goal.

I liked that this chapter was reader friendly. It was easy to understand. There wasn’t anything I particularly disliked. I liked how all these things tied together into goals and that we need each part for a goal to be successful.

5.1

One thing I will remember is that all behaviors have a function. This is interesting because sometimes I think we emit certain behaviors that we don’t think serves a function, but in the long run it actually does. For the example in the book it asked what are some functions of driving fast, and I think something that comes to mind is we’re running late or want to get somewhere quicker. As I thought about this example more I thought of maybe if someone is having a baby or if a grandparent just had a bad fall. There are many different functions that can happen for this behavior and that was just one behavior!

Another thing I will remember is topography of behavior. I recall from previous chapters when we discussed this and I believe one of my examples was opening up a window, and how there are many different ways one can open a window but they all have the same goal. Another example I thought of was getting into a car. There is opening the door, or pushing a button on the door to open it, pushing a button on the remote, or breaking a window or something drastic like that. They are all different behaviors, but have the same target behavior of getting into the car.

I will also remember measuring behavior. This is important because without doing this task then it would be impossible to be able to change a behavior. I think this is important for us right now as we are keeping a diary of our behaviors right now too. I’m curious to know if many people are using a technological device to record their behavior of if people are writing things down. I think it is also important to be very specific to the target behavior so there’s no way one can wiggle out of the desired response or change.

I like the review refresher this chapter basically was, but at the same time this was something I disliked. I felt kind of like there wasn’t anything new to go over so that’s why we’re just reviewing. I think that this was good because we kind of summed up some things from various other chapters and now I am able to make the connections to why this helps with what we’re doing now and how it relates to behavior modification.

The behavior I’m changing right now is my study habits and how I want to study more for tests in advance, and right now I’m just studying every day, regardless if I have a test coming up or not. I’m measuring it by recording when I do my homework or study for a test each day.

4.3
For this section I'll remember that when setting goals you should always set realistic goals. If you set the goal of joining the NFL and you've never exercised a day in your life... mayhaps you should rethink this idea. You need support to be successful at achieving your goal, and if your friends and family think it's just a lost cause then you'll most likely fail. Another point (in this case two) would be the time frame of your goal and the subgoals. I believe these go well together. Larger goals like lets say becoming a doctor will take time. It's rather unrealistic to think you can be a M.D in 2 years afterall! So by setting subgoals you can make the larger goal seems much easier. Like graduating High School, getting into college and then Med School etc.. That way you keep your goal realistic and what not. The final thing I'll remember is you have to have the ability to achieve this goal. Not everyone can be a professional athelete just like some are not meant for graduate school. Everyone has their own strengths and they have to be able to know them to determine where they want to go in life. I really enjoyed how blunt this chapter was to get the point across on how to properly set a goal, and there wasn't really anything to dislike.
5.1
I will remember that all behaviors have functions. A similar example from the reading, running. Off the top of your head you might think that the person is exercising. Yet the person could be evading the police, trying to get help, etc. It just shows that every behavior has some purpose beyond one we just imagine as an everyday occurance. I'll also remember that behaviors have to be measured to have any hope of being changed. If you can't record in some way how you improve or decline you can't really tell if you're improving so what would the point be in trying to modify the behavior? Finally I'll remember that you should record a behavior as soon as its emitted. Due to how busy and crazy your day becomes you could forget at the end of the day. Then it'll lead to assuming you kept on tract with your behavior modification, when you probably havne't! In this section I really liked how old terms were brought back and modified with our new knowledge. The only thing I had an issue with this chapter is I'm still slightly unsure about how Topography really works but I'm sure it'll be clarified in class. As I read the sections I had some good ideas on how to aid my own modification of my study habits!

Terms: emit, behaviors, ability, goals, support, subgoals, timeframe.

Section 4.3

I remember the concepts of timeframe, sub goals, and joint goal. The timeframe or the amount of time needed toward the goal and the planning of sub goals actually work hand in hand. In order to figure out the time needed for a long-term goal we need to know how much time is needed for each step toward the goal. On the other hand, if there is a time limit for a goal we would know that we only have certain amount of time for a stage of sub goal. Hence sub goals help planning for the time and work needed. The joint goal is something we experience less often in a classroom setting, but it could be more relevant in work places. Many organizations have this kind of goals for employees. I can pay more attention to this kind of goals in the future.

I like those stories provided as examples to explain some concepts, such as the bus ticket or the Lilies of the Field. They show the reader some situations that can happen in real life. They let the reader relate to the idea more easily. I dislike the last statement in the summary section. It recommends the DRO we learned before but differential reinforcement was never mentioned in this section. If we put something new at the end of the text, then that last part would not be a summary of the text, right?

I think some of these goal-setting guidelines can be combined, so they would look more organized and easier to remember. Maybe few related items can be put together, or we can name a larger category of features and then put similar items in that category. For example, being realistic and achievable are quite similar conditions, and so are being manageable and not disruptive. If these items are ordered they would be easier to remember.

Section 5.1

I remember the function of behavior, topography of behavior, and measuring behavior. These are all topics we have learned before, so revisiting the same materials makes them more memorable. The last sentence in the section is the best thing I saw in the entire class. It says "Summary to be provided later." I am so happy that I can finally skip the repetitions of summaries for the first time. Since there are already abundant exercises throughout the text, there is really no need to summarize every single section. A summary is only beneficial when it follows a section with lots of new material. We do not need a summary of exercises.

Now that exercise is mentioned, on the second page there is a paragraph I did not like. It reads: "Generate some examples of behaviors within a behavioral class that serve a similar function in everyday life:" Is this really a paragraph? Or should it be inside the exercise square we usually see?

This section gives me the impression that we could move it forward. If we put this section of measurement before the section of self-directed behavior, we can have a better idea of measuring behavior before we dwell on the steps of changing behavior. That would make more sense, because we would how to measure behavior before trying to change it.

As I mentioned before, the behavior of eating fried chicken can be measured as frequency of buying fried chicken or the number of pieces eaten in a period of time. So the record could be the number of purchases or pieces eaten each week.

4.3
One thing I will remember from the chapter is that it is important to set a timeframe for accomplishing your goal. A timeframe will help ensure you accomplish your goal and also ensure that you do it in a reasonable amount of time instead of wasting it. Another thing I will remember is the importance of sub goals. Sub goals act as stepping stones while working toward your end goal. Sub goals are things that must be completed in order to achieve your desired end result. A third thing I will remember is the importance of maintenance while working toward your goal. Things may change while working on your goal and you may need to adapt to those changes. Maintaining an appropriate atmosphere for accomplishing your goal in spite of the curveballs life can throw at you is an important step. One thing I liked about this chapter is the amount of detail that was put into explaining each of the guidelines for accomplishing a goal. One thing I didn’t like is that some of the guidelines seem to be very similar to each other and may be able to be combined with their similar guidelines, such as a goal being achievable and you having the ability to accomplish your goal. One thing I thought about is how the various guidelines can be applied to my attempt at accomplishing my goal for this class.

5.1
I will remember that all behaviors have a function and it is important to define specific behaviors because behavioral classes can function differently when they are applied to a different context. I will also remember is topography of behavior. As stated previously, context for a behavior is very important. The book uses an example of opening a door; some doors must be pushed to open, others must be pulled or have a handle or doorknob twisted first. A third thing I will remember is the importance of measuring your behavior when attempting to accomplish a goal. You must decide how you will measure the behavior and how you will represent the collected data. You must also decide whether behaviors of the same behavioral class will be counted towards your goal or not. One thing I liked about this chapter were the examples used to illustrate how the various topics might be applied to every day behaviors, such as those I stated previously. One thing I didn’t like was that this topic didn’t seem to have very much new information and mostly seemed focused on review. The chapter didn’t really inspire any new ideas other than the same ones I had from section 4.3.

I will measure my amount of studying by recording the time that I study, from start to finish, in minutes and putting that data into an excel file to graph once I compile enough to do so. My definition of study time should prevent the need to account for any wasted time while studying (time spent being distracted by various things, etc.)

Section 4.3
Three things I'll remember from this chapter are:
a)Setting a goal that is realistic. I'll remember this because I have set goals for myself, like new years resolutions, and they have failed because they were unreachable.
b)The idea of having subgoals. I'll remember this because you can't just jump into reaching your ultimate goal, and I think it's a good idea to reward yourself with reinforcement as you're reaching your overall goal.
c)Disruptive goals, because even though they will be harder to achieve, they are still doable, as long as you are willing to change your lifestyle in some ways.I feel like this concept is a hard one for smokers or alcoholics to grasp, because even though they want to change a bad habit, they often can't/won't change anything about their lifestyle.
One thing I liked about the chapter was the layout of it. It was very easy to follow and fill in the boxes. I felt like it was put into words that were easy to understand.
One thing I didn't like was that it made me look at the goals I have for myself now and made me realize I need to change some of them to be successful (this could be a good thing too).
An idea I had while reading this chapter was I don't think people allow themselves the appropriate amount of time to reach a goal. For example, often with people who want to loose weight, want to see overnight results, and when they don't, they become frustrtated and give up!

Section 5.1
Three things I'll remember about this chapter are:
a)Measuring and Defining the target behavior go hand in hand. I'll remember this because I don't think you can really have one without the other. I think measuring your target behavior after you define it will lead to more postitive outcomes for reaching our desired target behavior.
b)All behaviors have a function. I'll remember this because a) it was underlined and b)knowing what functions lead to a certain behavior will help you when you are trying to modify or change the behavior (like you said).
c)The importance of specifiying what behavior you'd like to increase or decrease beacause there are lots of different behaviors in a behavioral class. The examples given made this easy to remember.
One thing I liked about this chapter was the examples that were given. Made the material that was provided a lot easier to understand and relate to.
One thing I disliked about the chapter is that we went over this in class, so now I feel myself getting a little confused on some of the information cause they were explained differently.
No new ideas came up after reading this chapter.

The target behavior I am trying to change/modify is working out more by doing cardio and more strenght training. I'll measure this by keeping a diary of the total percentage of the amount of time spent at the gym.

Terms used: target behavior, realistic goals, unreachable goals, subgoals, reinforcement, measure, behavioral class, disruptive goals, modify.

section 4.3
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why?
1. The first thing that I will remember is that when people set goals for themselves, they often times will unknowingly set unrealistic goals with good intentions. Setting goals that are achievable is one of the most important things a person can do when setting goals.
2. Another thing I will remember is that even we may have the best of intentions when setting goals, they are many times too broad or generalized and we don’t put any sort of time frame on them. For example, as a new year’s resolution people will say I want to lose 30, 40 or even 50 pounds. This is with the best intentions but do these people really stop and think about how they are going to achieve this? Are you going to exercise, cut back calories, lift weights, or just be more active? Are you cutting out all junk food or only sugar and candy? If you are, what counts as junk food? All of these are things that have to be taken into account.
3. Thirdly, I will be sure to keep in mind that when setting my own goals, that they are plausible goals that can be achieved without disrupting my life or the lives of others around me.

What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why?
I really liked how this chapter explains what each part of setting and achieving a goal is about. Most of us know how to set goals and many times we fail and then we give some sort of excuse as to why we failed. An example would be saying you couldn’t lose weight because healthy food is too expensive and you couldn’t afford a gym membership.

What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why?
There wasn’t really anything that didn’t like about this chapter. It was very informative but at times challenging when realizing there have been many times that I have set goals and failed miserably because I didn’t follow some of these very basic guidelines.

What were some ideas you had while reading the chapter?
This section really made me stop and think about previous goals I have set for myself. Looking back I now understand why I had failed. I had the best intentions but I didn’t have a plan of how I was really going to achieve that goal. Previous goals I had set for myself had no time frame and were too generalized.

section 5.1
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why?
1. I will remember that every goal requires behaviors to change our current behaviors to help towards achieving the specific goal. There are certain behaviors that we emit to get to our desired behavior.
2. Secondly, I will remember that whatever the target behavior or goal is must be able to be measured. This is important because it allows us to track our progress towards our goal. This way we are able to see if the behaviors we are emitting are working or not.
3. Being specific about your goals and behaviors is key. The example of opening a door in the sections is a very good example because not every door opens the same way. Some doors have handles, some have door knobs and some simply swing open by a simple push.

What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why?
I liked the examples given to explain context and how to measure our goals. I think that these are very important because you are trying to ensure that we not only understand what we are reading but that we are also comprehending and able to apply what we are learning to every day events that take place in our lives.

What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why?
There wasn’t anything that I particularly disliked. However, giving examples of things can sometimes be difficult. It may not be as hard to come up with one but sometimes three can be a bit much.

What were some ideas you had while reading the chapter?
After reading this section, I feel like I have a better understanding of what it takes to achieve a goal. There are many things that play a factor in or ability to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to understand these things and make a conscious effort to apply these things.

4.3
I really liked the introduction to this chapter, describing the young man trying to take any way to get to any place, and also the quote. It made a lot of sense to me that when we make goals we make them very broad and don’t really define them very well, this makes it very hard to measure our success and we lose interest or feel like we aren’t accomplishing anything (aka New Years Resolutions.)

I will emit a remembering behavior of how to make longer term goals into smaller parts called Sub Goals. This breaking down of a goal into sub goals that can be reinforced made a lot of sense to me. I think we as humans really like instant gratification and while sub goals aren’t right away gratification they make it easier to see a target which we can easily achieve in order to get the reinforcer. I think that a lot of things like New Year’s resolutions are long term goals that we don’t really reinforce ourselves soon enough or often enough so we tend to fall out of them.
I will emit a remembering behavior on questioning the target behavior with realistic questions, such as do I have the ability, do I have the resources, etc. The ‘look before you leap’ phrase stood out to me a lot as I am very much a ‘leap before you look’ kind of person…quite literally at times (jumping off a cliff when hiking isn’t a great idea if you wanted to know.) So it is important for me to understand that maybe some of the things I have tried to achieve in the past didn’t get accomplished because I didn’t properly look at the variable…among other things.

I will emit a remembering behavior on the understanding of maintenance as it pertains to changing behavior. Maintenance is the hardest part of a goal for me. After a goal is accomplished I congratulate myself and then slowly but surely go back to exactly what made me want to change in the first place. So reinforcement of the target behavior is even more important as we maintain our behavior and as enough time has gone on it seems that we get in a behavior niche--well I guess it would be better to say we have conditioned that behavior to be a part of everyday living and is engrained into our history.
The thing I didn’t like about this chapter was the part about a goal being realistically achievable. Yes I think it is important that we don’t get caught up in something that can’t EVER happen, but I think a lot of people get defeated before they start thinking that it isn’t realistic looking around them. For example it isn’t realistic that I will be a Hollywood star and I could not set that goal right away but it also takes away the capacity of humans to be creative, work really hard, and with some luck be able to do something that most people didn’t think was possible.

5.1

I really liked the part about what changes could be made to New Year’s Resolutions that previously didn’t work (I know I’ve talked about it a lot, but I think it is a fascinating phenomenon.) I think this helped me go back and see how specifying, defining, and measuring is so important to the success or failure of a behavior change.

I will elicit a remembering behavior when emitting a behavior of coming up with a properly defined target behavior by thinking about measuring. (that was confusing) It made a lot of sense to me to define and figure out how you will measure a behavior at the same time. When I was thinking about a behavior it helped me be more specific about what exactly will take place when putting it in the context of having to measure it.

I will emit a remembering behavior about the functions of a behavior, in particular a behavior we want to change. I guess I never really thought that the behavior we want to change has a function and that was why we are doing it. When thinking about this I took my behavior that I want to increase which is exercising and looked at what I do instead of it. I sit in front of the T.V. and veg. Why do I do this? Because it is entertaining, relaxing, and I don’t have to feel the least bit uncomfortable. This is actually really important to understand because we have to kind of combat those good feelings associated with the less desired activity and implement good feelings with the more desirable behavior.

I will emit a remember behavior about behavior in the context of seemingly insignificant aspects. Its easy not to think about seemingly mundane things that happen every day. What we need to understand is that those ‘mundane’ things contribute significantly when put together. Things like the context of the behavior, the topography, and the history of the person.
The behavior I want to change is to increase the number of times I exercise in a week. I would measure this behavioral goal by first using frequency, so I would increase the number of times I exercise to four times a week. I would then define the measure of time that would need to occur for it to be considered ‘exercising’ which would be 30 minutes. Then I would need to define exercising as exerting energy by moving my body and producing sweat in the context of a gym/weight room…this isn't intended to sound dirty.

4.3
IMPORTANCE OF GOALS
Of the nine parts that outline what a goal should be, I’ll remember to include subgoals, to make my goals manageable, and to keep up maintenance. The best way for a procrastinator to accomplish tasks, is to break them down into smaller tasks. That way, I feel accomplished when I do something small, and am driven by whatever reinforcer I receive to do the next task. Next, I need to get better at finding time for goals, like bike riding. An issue that causes me to stop pursuing goals is promising myself to accomplish it at a certain time, and then getting interrupted/distracted and never completing the task. Then I never make up for it later because my stupid brain (oxymoron?) then reasons “oh, I missed the time put aside for this task, so I guess I’ll just have to do it tomorrow. Can’t make it up now.” Finally, I need to keep up maintenance. I sometimes forget to account for changes in the environment, like weather, missing alarms, or illness. This is another weakness my mind takes advantage of and reasons I skipped, oops, I’ll do it tomorrow. This needs to stop!

I liked how blunt this section was. What makes up a proper goal was listed and briefly described, and that was the chapter section. We all know we like short chapters. However, I didn’t like that some of the subjects weren’t very detailed. For example, I would have like more examples of maintenance. There were a few mentioning scenarios one must account for, but how can we rectify such holes in planning? Some ideas I had include bringing a rewarding snack (like a pickle, as discussed in previous posts) to reward a more challenging, uphill bike ride; keeping track of my progress on the calendar I use to track chores, exams, and the like; and, on weather-permitting days, going for at least a 20 minute bike ride before dinner.

5.1
MEASURING BEHAVIOR
To begin, I will remember to think about the function of the behavior I’m looking to change. What does it accomplish? For example, I would like to stop biting my cuticles. Do I do it only when I’m bored? Does stress factor in at all? Do I tend to do it to pass time more in class, at home, or at work? And when I figure that out, what can I be doing at that location in lieu of biting my fingers? Next, I will make sure whatever reinforcer/punisher/supplement behavior “serves a function”. To continue with the finger-biting example, chewing gum could serve the function of reducing my cuticle-biting behavior. Knitting or crocheting at home or playing with a small ball could also serve this function. Finally, I will keep in mind to write down any progress made toward goals IMMEDIATELY! In Psych and Law I learned all about memory decay and interference, and I know better than to believe my memories carry any integrity (I know they have some, but it’s best to assume they don’t). I can recall numerous times when I struggled to remember details that had occurred that very day. It’s best to just record the progress as soon as possible.

I liked how this section, while heading a brand new chapter, is still building of the past section. I feel like I’m slowly absorbing how to modify my behaviors, and not in a bad way. This is just the right pace to allow me to take in all this information. Nothing really stood out in this section for me to criticize. Multiple grammatical complaints, but who cares? Ideas that occurred to me during this section include keeping a post-it by my bike lock key to remind me to write down my progress when I return home; trying to see my bike in the functional light of getting me where I need to go instead of my car, on the days there’s good weather of course; and buying pickles so that eating them can “serve the function” of increasing my bike riding behavior.

MEASURING MY BIKE RIDING BEHAVIOR
To begin, I need to establish a baseline. This involves recording my current bike activity so that I have something to compare future results with my original behavior. I would record my activity as approximately how many minutes I biked for, whether the terrain was more uphill, more downhill, or basically neutral (ups and downs, or flat), the weather/wind, how tired my legs/lungs are, and whether or not I was reinforced with a pickle or a rewarding downhill ride home from class. I would begin recording this information on my calendar after I had established a baseline; while doing the latter, I would merely record how long (in minutes) each ride was, and whether it was uphill, downhill, or neutral.

4.3
I will remember the advice to keep your goals realistic. Don’t cut yourself short, but be reasonable with your goals. Everyone wants to lose 20 pounds in a week, but that’s not very realistic. I’ll remember the lesson taught from the movie Lilies of the Field, that other people notice when goals are unrealistic, maybe more so than you do. However, if you truly believe that your goal is obtainable, and you have the motivation to do so, than ignore them.
Another thing I will remember is to have sub goals within your overarching goal. If you want to stop smoking, a good sub goal would be to cut down to a half of pack a day or a couple a day. If you achieve your sub-goals, you make steady progress and eventually succeed in your overall goal. I will remember the good quote, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Eating an entire elephant seems absolutely unrealistic, but if you are persistent and steady with your progress, it is inevitably possible.
This also kind of relates to keeping goals realistic, but knowing if you are truly able to achieve the goal. To know this, you have to have a firm grasp on who you are and your abilities, but making goals that you aren’t able to achieve is counterproductive, and always lead to heartbreak. One example you talked about was that if you are colorblind, you aren’t able to be a jet pilot. If you are colorblind don’t have the goal of becoming a jet pilot because it’s not in your abilities.
I really liked the fact that a lot of these sections are advice given to avoid common pitfalls of creating goals. Inexperienced goal setters always fall into these pitfalls; being unrealistic, not giving yourself enough time, not being persistent, and not creating sub goals to see progress. By giving us this advice, you help us by making sure we are successful in our goals by avoiding these pitfalls.
What I didn’t like about the chapter was that it was completely comprised of advice, which helps, but there really was nothing directly related to behavior modification concepts.
A lot of the ideas that were going through my head were remembering times where I did fall into these traps. Everyone makes unrealistic goals. Everyone hopes to lose weight a lot sooner than possible. However, there are some traps that I haven’t fallen into yet, and it may have saved me from future trouble.

5.1
One thing I will remember from this chapter is how to measure your behavior. When most people make goals, they really only keep “mental notes”, and try to remember how many times a behavior is emitted. However, by using physical data, you are able to get an accurate assessment, but you are also able to compare present data to past data by graphing and looking at the trends. Your mental notes may have noted that you haven’t emitted the behavior a lot today, but you really can’t know how that relates to two weeks ago. Also charting shows progress, and seeing progress gives you some motivation to keep on modifying your behavior.
I will remember the topography of behavior. When people want to change a behavior, they usually define it broadly, as a behavior class. More experiences individuals are more specific in their definitions, as you have described in previous chapters. However, to truly dissect a behavior, you have to analyze its topography. You give the example of opening a door. Most people know what opening a door entails, and they think that’s a very specific behavior. However, there are different ways to open a door, and different doors that require different methods of opening. By noticing the different behaviors, you are able to obtain a much more specific behavior to modify.
I will also remember how these two concepts can apply to one another. Your example states quitting smoking. There are different ways of quitting smoking, like chewing nicotine gum or using a nicotine patch. If the patch is less effective than the gum, but you can only use the patch, that matters. In your data it will show a low modification to behavior, but you are going at this the right way, just with the wrong materials.
One thing I liked about this chapter was that it came back to some concepts. These concepts changed my perception of behavior. The topography of behavior is to behavior modification as a microscope is to biology. It really goes in depth of the behavior and analyzes it at a deeper level.
One thing I didn’t like about that chapter was that it was missing a summary, but I’m just being a complainer.
One way I will change my measurement of reading literature is reading comprehension. I get distracted very easily, so if I read while in a crowded room I won’t soak in much. However, if I’m reading in a quiet room, I read much better. For this I will only measure pages read when I am in a quiet room. This way I know that the reading that is done is effective.

week 11

4.3

I really enjoyed the beginning of this chapter, with the short story about the young man getting a ticket from a bus stations. Unfortunately, for him he was unable to get a ticket simply for the fact he did not know where he wanted to go to work after graduating school. The point of this short story is to point out that you can not succeed in something if you do not have a goal in mind to strive for. This story actually reminded me of a quote from Albert Einstein “ If you want to live a happy and full life, tie it to a goal. Not to a person or thing.” Both story and quote portray the importance having a goal is. Second thing I will remember is when an individual wants to accomplish a goal it is important to keep in mind that you need to set a timeline of when u want to accomplish the goal. If the goal is a long term goal making smaller goals to reach that goal might be a good idea for example if you have a term paper that is 20pg long due at the end of the year. It might be a good idea to want to break the paper up into 5 sections that you can achieve throughout the semester. Of in my case my goal is to lose 30lbs in a year. I can break up the 30lbs into maybe 3lbs a month, I have actually broken this goal down into smaller goals such as staying within 1700 calorie diet a day and trying to exercise more. Third I will remember that it is important to keep in mind that the goal needs to be one that can be reachable and within the individuals abilities in order for the individual to achieve the goal. For example it would not be realistic for me to have a goal to lose 20lbs in two weeks. For my goal of maintaining a 1700 calorie diet it will take determination, persistence, and thinking healthy; which I believe I have full ability to have these characteristics. There really wasn’t anything I disliked about this section although it has got me thinking a lot about my goal to maintain a diet.

5.1
From this chapter I will emit the behavior of remembering that a behavior needs to be measurable in order to modify it. Also it is easier to tell if i succeed in my behavior change or not, it is important that the behavior that I want to change is a target behavior. In my case it would be the amount of calories i consume daily. Secondly it is important to to record the behavior right after it happens, for example right after I finish a meal I can then upload what i eat to myfitnesspal an app on my phone that calculates what everything I have eaten by calories and also keeps track of how many calories I still have left for the rest of the day. Lastly it is important to have a base line when measuring your behavior, in my own case my base like was 2000 calories and I wanted to keep it down to 1700 calories. A baseline should be established before beginning a behavioral intervention. It is important to keep in mind that a baseline is a record of the amount of the behavior of interest that is currently being emitted, like the starting point.
I enjoyed this section, it made me think about all the functions dealing with my behaviors and how i can measure my own behavior intervention.

My behavioral goal is to stay under a 1700 calorie diet in hope to achieve a bigger goal I have in losing weight. I will measure the calories by using myfitnesspal which I can update as soon as i finish a meal. Even though myfitnesspal will make a graph of my progress for me I would still like to input the data into an SPSS document.

terms
sub-goals
realistic goals
measures of behavior
behavior
emitting
emits
function