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Please read sections 1.1 and 1.2.
After reading section 1.1, please respond to the following questions.
Prior to reading this chapter, what did you think about behavior modification? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? How has reading the chapter changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
After reading section 1.2, please respond to the following questions.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? How has reading the chapter changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Please fill out the boxes in the readings and bring them to class with you.
-Dr. M
Student Example:
For Section 1.1
The way I see it, manipulation of others, whether we call it that or not, is a natural part of human experience. We are all motivated by our desire to increase the pleasure and decrease the pain in our lives. We manipulate those around us, and even ourselves, in order to achieve these goals. So I'm not sure I can answer the question of whether manipulating the behavior of others is good or bad. I think this would largely depend on our motives and our means of doing so. As far as I understand, simply telling someone they should/shouldn't engage in a behavior can be enough to influence their behavior. As long as the behavior suggested doesn't harm the one it is suggested to or take advantage of them in a significant way, then I would argue that this manipulation is at least okay, if not categorically good. I understand that "significant way" is an extremely subjective term and will understand if others disagree on the exact benchmark that represents. Also, does the act of manipulation by definition mean that you are taking advantage of the person whom you are manipulation. I think if the answer to either of these questions is yes, then it is robbing the other person of their free will and is necessarily bad.
The three things I will remember from this chapter are that emit means to do or perform a behavior, that when a behavior is performed successfully in a certain context that behavior is likely to be repeated in that context, and that the antecedent and the consequences of behavior are closely connected. The first I will remember because I have been rather vocal about my dislike of its use in the blogs of the students from last semester. I now at least understand what it means and know why they were using it. The second I will remember because I found it very interesting and it seems related to certain aspects of social psychology and that is something I am very interested in. And I will remember the third because it makes a lot of sense and solidified the point for me very well. I can't really say I disliked anything about the chapter. It was too short for me to find anything to dislike. I think the chapter affected my beliefs about behavior modification minimally. Mostly, I will be sure to take into account the effect of context more often.
For section 1.2
The first thing I will remember from this chapter is the difference between punishment/reinforcement and punisher/reinforcer. I will remember this because it is something new to me and also because it is something most other people who haven't read this aren't likely to know. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is that smiling is a natural reinforcer of the behavior of smiling. I think this is neat and reminds me of that saying "Smile. It's Contagious." While the saying is a little cheesy, this information does seem to support this. The third thing I will remember from this chapter is the concept of valence. It is a completely new concept to me and I find it interesting, so I'm going to read over it some more and therefore will most likely remember it. I really like the explanation of the difference between punishment and punisher. This is because knowing this difference will be helpful to me in this class and will help me to avoid sounding unintelligent, something which is aversive to me. I didn't like that the chapter didn't provide an explanation/ example of positive punishment. I don't fully understand this concept and expected the book to explain it. In answer to the last question for this blog assignment, reading this chapter still hasn't changed my beliefs about behavior modification and I doubt they will. I think this is because the ideas presented haven't directly challenged my own beliefs and ideas. And somehow I don't think they will. The book is leaning towards the "Behavior Modification is Okay" belief and I agree with this. (Kyle)
For Section 1.1
I consider behavior modification to be a tool. I would compare it to any type of weapon. You can use a weapon to end a life or save a life. You can use behavior modification to train kids to be responsible adults. On the other hand cigarette companies can use behavior modification to get people to start an addiction that could last a lifetime.
I liked how in depth the look at the ABC's of behavior modificatiion was. I took Intro to Psychology, but didn't understand the importance of A and C. I also didn't realize the relationship between A, B, and C.
Three things I won't forget are that antecedents are powerful, antecedents plus consequences are even more powerful, and antecedents and consequences can yield different bahaviors. I will remember the phrase, "antecedents set the occasion for behaviors" because I see it everday. I work on a sweet corn farm and in the mornings we sort the corn before we put it on the wagons. We are looking for immature ears, hobo ears, or bug damage. The antecedent is what we hear from the boss about the condition of the field. Based on the feel of the outside of the ears, we decide if we should toss the ear or let it go on the wagon (the behavior). If the boss tells us that the field is new, then we are much more likely to toss ears that are marginal.
I plan on testing out the statement, "controlling the environment controls the behavior". I lead a workout group and will mess around with using different antecedents and consequences to get everbody to work their hardest.
The example of the antecendent (at the market) and consequence (bring home food) can have different behaviors reminded me of the workout group that I lead. I tell tell everybody to do max reps squats in 2 minutes and half the group will do full range of motion while the other half will do sloppy reps. Something I want to test is finding "universal antecedents" (cues) that will work for everybody.
One thing I didn't agree with was that behaviors can be dictated by the environment. I would say that behaviors can influenced by the environment, but aren't dictated.
The chapter didn't change the way I view behavior modification, it has just given me a better understanding of it. Section 1.2 will be in the reply.
Section 1.2
One thing I really liked was the combining of the ABC's and the different types of reinforcement. I took Intro to Psychology and learned about the ABC's and reinforcement, but didn't see how they went together.
Three things I will remember are positive/negative valence, reinforcement/punishment, and self-reinforement.
I will remember the term valence because I've heard of the concept in relation to dogs. If you tell a dog to come for a treat (ranked a 5 it's valence scale), but it's chasing a gopher (ranked a 7 on it's valence scale) then it won't come. I won't forget reinforcement and punishment and what they mean because of how often it was repeated throughout the section.
I enjoyed reading about self-reinforcement because it can be used by anybody to help them reach their personal goals. I can't wait to learn more about it.
The one thing I didn't like about the section was that all the negative/positive/reinforcement/punishment/aversive/pleasurable/etc... terms were kind of confusing. It seemed like it was slightly different that what I learned in Intro to Psychology. It will probably be explained better a little later, but it was just kind of a hard to understand.
For Section 1.1
I consider behavior modification to be a tool. I would compare it to any type of weapon. You can use a weapon to end a life or save a life. You can use behavior modification to train kids to be responsible adults. On the other hand cigarette companies can use behavior modification to get people to start an addiction that could last a lifetime.
I liked how in depth the look at the ABC's of behavior modificatiion was. I took Intro to Psychology, but didn't understand the importance of A and C. I also didn't realize the relationship between A, B, and C.
Three things I won't forget are that antecedents are powerful, antecedents plus consequences are even more powerful, and antecedents and consequences can yield different bahaviors. I will remember the phrase, "antecedents set the occasion for behaviors" because I see it everday. I work on a sweet corn farm and in the mornings we sort the corn before we put it on the wagons. We are looking for immature ears, hobo ears, or bug damage. The antecedent is what we hear from the boss about the condition of the field. Based on the feel of the outside of the ears, we decide if we should toss the ear or let it go on the wagon (the behavior). If the boss tells us that the field is new, then we are much more likely to toss ears that are marginal.
I plan on testing out the statement, "controlling the environment controls the behavior". I lead a workout group and will mess around with using different antecedents and consequences to get everbody to work their hardest.
The example of the antecendent (at the market) and consequence (bring home food) can have different behaviors reminded me of the workout group that I lead. I tell tell everybody to do max reps squats in 2 minutes and half the group will do full range of motion while the other half will do sloppy reps. Something I want to test is finding "universal antecedents" (cues) that will work for everybody.
One thing I didn't agree with was that behaviors can be dictated by the environment. I would say that behaviors can influenced by the environment, but aren't dictated.
The chapter didn't change the way I view behavior modification, it has just given me a better understanding of it. Section 1.2 will be in the reply.
Before reading about Behavior Modification, I believed that any behavior could be changed by reinforcement. I agree with reinforcement, especially positive reinforcement. I use it constantly in my life; when I babysit, help out people, or even just trying to find common ground bargaining with people. I believe this has a huge impact on Behavior Modification and that reinforcing a person can change a behavior for the better. I believe this because in my own life, it has worked. Think about when you are training a dog to go potty outside, we train a dog with a antecedent, going outside, then we expect the behavior, going potty, then the consequence is a treat. If we do this behavior over and over, they learn that when they go outside, they need to go potty.
Three things that I will remember from this chapter are that almost all behaviors be broken down in ABC's, ABC's are not linear, and changing the antecedent changes the consequence. The reason I will remember that all behaviors can be broken down into the ABC's is because there is always something that triggers the behavior, ending in a consequence. The consequence can be good or bad depending on the antecedent, that is why I will remember that the ABC's is not linear. Mentioning that, it is also the reason that I will remember that the antecedent can change the consequence. If you look at an ABC model, you will see that the arrows between the A, B, and C go bot ways but the arrow after C goes only to A. This obviously shows that A, B, or C can change only before it is brought back to the beginning of the model.
One thing that I really liked in the Chapter is how they described how the ABC model works. It was easy to read and was well put together. They gave many different situations and put it in the ABC model and also had you do the same as our own examples.
I really didn't dislike anything in this chapter, but I did notice that they used the word "dictate" for behaviors. I don't agree with the word's usage, but maybe they meant that they are influenced by or can be affected by the environment. Choice of word was not the best.
This chapter really didn't change my views. I didn't know about the ABC's but it really had a great part in broadening my perspective on Behavior Modification.
Chapter 1.2 in reply
Three things I will remember are positive reinforcement gain, negative reinforcement take away, and a person is able to self-reinforce themselves.
Positive reinforcement is a great way to "get" a behavior. If a child isn't potty trained and you would like to change that to being potty trained, that would be gaining a behavior. Usually, this is used in my own life to get a good behavior.
Negative reinforcement is a way to take away a behavior. Let's say the same child kicks and screams as you are in the grocery store, this would be great to take that behavior away. "If you do not stop screaming, I will take you home and you will not get a sucker." Negative reinforcement, taking away the behavior.
I believe that self-reinforcement plays a role in almost everyone's lives. In my own life, I used self-reinforcement in order to graduate early from high school. After I graduated in December, 2010, I went straight to North Iowa Area Community College. I was really determined to do well my first semester and I did. As it hit the fall semester, I started not to care and earned a 2.7 GPA.... That was probably the biggest blow to my GPA. Once spring rolled around, I told myself that if I had 20 credits I would get myself a 4.0 for the semester. At the time I worked three jobs and had just gotten engaged. Postive reinforcement got me to a consequence, a good consequence. I got to graduate after that semester with a 3.89 for the semester and a 3.23 for the whole time at NIACC. I reinforcement myself at first to just pass my classes. Now that I knew I could pass my classes, I told myself that I could get my Associates in Liberal Arts with a Human Services Cerificate. And now that I know I can do that, I know that I can get a Bachelors Degree. I just have to have little reinforcers along the way.
One thing I liked about the chapter was how they use the same ABC's model for the positive and negative reinforcement. It makes it easy for the reader to know one model that works in an endless amount of ways.
Their really wasn't anything I didnt like about this chapter.
It really hasn't changed my thought on behavior modification.
For section 1.1
Before reading, I believed that behavior modification was the most effective way of manipulation to yourself or others. The reason of my belief is from reinforcement. Whether it’s positive or negative reinforcement. I can say that I have used these techniques on myself and others.
Three things I’ll remember from the chapter are that almost any behavior can be broken down into the ABC concept, everything we emit (do) begins with an antecedent and ends with consequences, and once the antecedent and consequences are controlled the behavior can begin to be controlled. The reason I think I’ll remember these three things the most is because they seem to be the key to behavior modification in my opinion. Knowing that behavior can only be controlled after the antecedent and consequence are controlled plays a huge role in reinforcement, manipulation, and modification.
I really liked how in depth the chapter went into the ABC concept. I was able to understand the concept on a more personal prospective. Like I stated in an earlier paragraph, knowing that the A and C part needs to be controlled before behavior was very helpful. I didn’t really dislike anything in this chapter. One thing that bothered me was the word “dictate” referring to behavior. I don’t believe behaviors can be dictated by the environment. However, I do think that the environment could be influenced behaviors. This chapter has not changed my views on behavior modification. I will say it has helped me gain a better understanding of the key elements of behavior modification.
For section 1.2
Three things I’ll remember form this chapter are when the consequence of a behavior is reinforcing, the outcome of the behavior will increase, when the consequence of a behavior is punishing, the outcome of the behavior will decrease, and that self-reinforcement occurs when the reinforcer is self-delivered. These few things stuck out to me because I didn’t know how much of an impact reinforcement and punishment had on our decision making. This is helping me better understand how to modify and control my own behavior.
I really liked the explanation of self-reinforcement, because I use self- reinforcement to improve myself and reach my goals. Last year I was determined to graduate with a two year degree. In order to do so I had to take nineteen credits in the fall and twenty-one in the credits in the spring. My behaviors became repetitive and in the end I pushed myself. I graduated in the spring and I believe the only reason that was is because used self-reinforcement. I didn’t have anything to dislike about this chapter, I think it explained everything in good detail. Also it gave good explanation of positive, negative, and self- reinforcement. Again I don’t think by reading these chapters have changed my views on behavior modification. It has on broadened my perspective of it. I have a better understanding what behavior modification intels.
Section 1.1
Prior to reading this section I thought behavior modification was a way to change or manipulate certain behaviors to get a more desired outcome/behavior from the individual. There is no particular reason other than the title that I thought this was behavior modification’s definition. The three main things that stuck out in my mind also happened to be my three favorite things about the section. The first included the ABCs (antecedent, behavior, consequence). This was drilled over and over throughout the section saying how literally every little behavior no matter how minute follows this structure. I liked this because it allows us to then look at every behavior and break it down to not only examine the behavior itself but what brought it about and why some behaviors are only acceptable at certain times. Which leads to the next piece of information I really liked and will take away; the fact that a behavior can stay exactly the same but if you change the antecedent, which could be the place/environment the behavior is occurring, you can get a completely different consequence. I find this funny because I’m constantly being told that I don’t have a filter and the real thing behind that is I just don’t get why we can’t say certain things in some places. I mean I kind of do, but I’m the weird person that will tell the stupid joke at a funeral. The last thing I liked is the concept of controlling the antecedent and the consequence to control/direct a behavior. I got spanked a lot as a kid and reading this section just makes me feel that there really isn’t any reason for spanking when there are other options, especially when you can control the environment in the first place. The one thing I did not like was the fact that the vocabulary words seemed to be confusing and complicated. For example they did not want to use the words negative, but instead aversive. After reading this section however, I never realized how much the manipulation part of a behavior could entail. I thought it was simply a matter of positive/negative rewards and punishments and how to use these effectively to get the best results. I am now finding out it can involve things as simple as changing the setting of the behavior.
Section 1.2
The three main things I will remember from this section start with the two concepts of reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement being the positive thing that tries to increase the behavior, and punishment being the negative that tries to decrease a behavior. I will remember these two because this is what I originally thought behavior modification was all about. The last thing I will remember is that a punishment can involve taking away something pleasurable or giving something aversive. This is a good concept to me because again it states you do not have to spank kids you could simply take away their video games for a week or something. My favorite thing from this chapter is the concept of valence. Valence is the psychological value an individual has on any certain item. I like this concept because in essence how we view all punishments and reinforcements is in our own minds. Again the thing I didn’t like in the chapter dealt with the vocabulary. I didn’t like how they appeared to be so strict with reinforcement, reinforcer, and reinforcing being a verb, noun and adjective. It gets way to confusing for me because I mix them up. Lastly, this chapter really didn’t change my views on what behavior modification is because it was about the whole punishment verses reward concept.
Section 1.1
Before reading this chapter I thought behavior modification was a great way to think about how to change others. If you don't like the way someone is behaving you would use reinforcement to change it. I thought behavior modification was primarily about reinforcement.
One thing I wil remember from this chapter are the ABC's. They are an important tool in behavior modification and can be used in other areas of life. I will remember using the terms positive and negative are not the best terms to use and that I should use pleasurable and aversive instead. I will remember these because although they almost mean the same thing in every day vocabulary they are different when it comes to using them in behavior modification, and they can make a big difference. I will also remember that the antecedent is important. The behavior you emit in one place may have a totally different consequence in a different place. What I really liked about this chapter was the chart in the ABC's. It helped me to be able to better understand what as being said because I had to actually use it to do the assignment. I also liked how it was easy to read and understand. Reading this chapter has helped me see that there is more to behavior modification than just manipulation or reinforcement, there are other factors that come into play.
Section 1.2
I will remember that a reinforcer can occur naturally or that it can occur through and reinforcement procedure. I think this is important in understanding how much our behavior effects our lives whether it be natural or by deliberately doing it. Also, I will remember that punishment can occur deliberately or naturally as well. It is important for the same reason knowing that a reinforcer can occur naturally or deliberately. It is important for me to remember that consequences can be both pleasurable and aversive. I know that I am use to thinking that a consequence has to be something aversive. I liked the part about self-reinforcment because before this class I don't think I realized that self-reinforcement actually does occur. I also have a better understanding of what it is because of this chapter. My views haven't really changed because it was mainly about punishment/reinforcing to get a desired behavior or consequence.
Before reading sections 1.1 I thought that behavior modification was basically the study of why people do what they do. I thought that it was that way because of TV shows, movies, and other college classes I have taken. I was interested in this area of study because of the fact that my dream is to be in the FBI and study why criminals do what they do. I feel like this class will help me move towards my dream. After reading section1.1 I found three things to really stick out in my mind because of the fact that the book stressed their importance. First I got the hint that the ABC’s are important. The book is even named after this tool. I learned that the ABC’s stood for Antecedent (Before), Behavior (Behavior), and the Consequences (After). Second, I found a sentence to really stand out to me it talked about how positive and negative mean something completely different in behavior modification language so instead of using those words we are supposed to use pleasurable or aversive. I am going to remember this just because it seems like something that is going to confuse me longer down the road. Thirdly, I didn’t really think about the ABC’s having a feedback loop, but when I read that it really made it easier to understand because of the fact that I could put them in any order and they would make sense. One thing that I really liked about this section was the fact that it gave you examples to help you understand the relationship between the ABC’s. I honestly don’t think there is anything in this section that I didn’t like because the section was straight forward and didn’t make anything hard to understand. My thoughts are still about the same on the topic of behavior modification because it does this section did say that we are going to be able to see why some behaviors happen.
After reading section 1.2 I will remember that it is important to remember the words reinforcement and punishment and there different forms. For example, like the way they are as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Another thing that I will remember is that reinforcement is used to increase the chances of a behavior, while punishment is used to decrease the chances of a behavior. The second thing that I will remember is about positive and negative valence. I will remember this because it goes back to section 1.1 and the fact that I shouldn’t get positive and negative valence confused with pleasurable or aversive. Positive valences are things that are pleasant, desirable, or attracting, while negative valence is unpleasant, undesirable, or aversive. The third thing that I will remember is the fact that consequences and antecedents have a strong relationship. I will remember that because it was repeated in both sections 1.1 and 1.2 so obviously it must be something that I should keep in mind. Something I really liked in this section was the fact that they explained how self-reinforcement can basically out way punishment. The one thing I didn’t like about this section was that it felt a little bit repetitive with information. I guess if I didn’t read both sections 1.1 and 1.2 in the same day than it might have felt more like a refresher, but when reading them in one day I felt like they repeated a lot of information from the prior section. After reading section 1.2 my understanding of behavior modification has grown. I am now starting to understand some of the vocabulary, which is helping me develop my understanding of what behavior modification really is. I am starting to get how to manipulate someone into doing or not doing something. This section has gotten me to this mindset because of the fact that I am getting more information.
Before doing the reading I basically had a simple idea about what behavior modification was. I though it was simply changing behaviors to elicit favorable responses because this is what we mainly hear about when talking about it. The first thing I will remember about section one was the way the ABC's are set up to help you remember them correctly. It is a clever tool that helps me to understand their meaning better. The second thing I will easily remember is that the environment has a strong impact on out behaviors. This one resonates with me because it is easy to see how the external things happening around you are affecting how you act. It happens all the time, like on a gloomy day I tend to feel lazy and not want to do anything. The third thing I will remember is that by changing the antecedent or consequence we can easily manipulate the behavior and change it to a more desired one. This seems like something worth remembering considering it is the whole basis of this class. The thing I really liked was how linked the ABC's are. I find it intriguing that by simply changing one of the ABC's you create different actions for the rest of them. It gives good insight as to how easily behavior can really be manipulated. The one thing I don't like is that it seems easy to mistake some of the vocabulary and use them in the wrong context. It will surely be a thing to work on. This chapter didn't really change what I thought about behavior modification, it just put reason behind what I thought about it. The chapter defined a lot of things that I can now put meaning to.
From section two I will remember that self reinforcement comes from reinforcers provided by you to make a behavior more likely to happen again. I will remember that positive and negative refers to giving or taking something away, not the emotion it gives off. Likewise, I will remember that reinforcement and punishment refers to making a behavior more likely or less likely to happen again. I really liked how the book seemed to go into a lot of detail to make sure that the different uses of the terms were not too confusing. It seemed to want to make it as easy as possible to understand because it is a subject that is easily confused. I didn't like how reinforcement can involve something aversive and punishment can involve something desirable. It seemed to be the opposite of everything just explained and it confused me as first when I was reading through it. Once again the chapter served to add to what I already knew about behavior modification but didn't really change my previous beliefs about it. It keeps adding to my knowledge about it rather than changing my thoughts.
Section 1.1
Before starting the chapter I had the notion that behavior modification would be more focused on lessening negative behaviors in favor of creating more positive ones. I believe I had that idea just based on how I perceived how a class called behavior modification would be like and I got the idea that this would be something that I could use to enforce "good" behaviors in one of my nephews who I babysit from time to time; who seems to be hitting his terrible two's in full stride. The first thing I will remember (and really liked) was the emphasis on how any behavior can be broken down (Thus the ABC'S), and how easy it was to start breaking down behaviors of my own roommates. Which in the long run can hopefully help in creating good habits and reinforcing those ideas so that they stick. The second will be how just by changing the enviroment (the antecedent) you can get a completely opposite outcome and consequence. Finally the last thing I won't forget about this chapter would be the fact that manipulation is brought up as not being a totally horrible thing. I believe that popular culture/ society has given the idea of manipulation as soley a bad thing. Which it can most definitely be, but in the right context manipulation can lead to a good thing. It's christmas eve and your 4 year old is bouncing around waiting for santa. By telling them that santa won't come with presents unless they sleep you get them to get needed sleep (and the same applies for you the parent!). So I believe like most things in life its not black and white, but more along the lines of being in the shades of grey. I really enjoyed the chapter and didn't find much to really dislike. After reading the chapter I suppose I see the broader effects of behavior modification now then just being used in certain negative situations. Now I know that the ABC's can be used in pretty much any situation.
Section 1.2
One of the most memorable things from this chapter (and coincidently my favorite thing I learned) to me would be the idea of naturally occuring reinforcement/punishment Which in theory seems like such a simple thing to be truly memorable, but I believe that its the idea is so remarkable. I find that I tend to be over analytical and observant sometimes and I guess the idea that every little thing we do can be broken down and reasoned is astounding! another thing I will remember is the idea that punishment can be positive or negative. It's by default that we usually think that punishment equals something bad, yet we can gain something from said punishment (like the splinter example) which leads to positive punishment. The final thing I'll remember would be the sections on self-reinforcement. This really seemed to click with me because I feel I did some of the things listed to help me lose weight. After high school I decided I needed to lose some weight and I pushed myself to achieve my goals and when I hit a milestone I would reward myself. This also unknowingly at the time had me using the ABC's as well! I really couldn't find something I disliked in this chapter except it took a bit to get my head around the concept of positive punishment but otherwise I enjoyed this section! This chapter helped in my understanding of reinforcing a behavior as opposed to sticking with just punishing bad behaviors. I think that I'll try reinforcing positive behaviors instead of just using varying punishments from now on.
For Section 1.1
I think it is essential to talk and learn about behavior modification because there are people and animals (such as pets), that do things that are not good or considered normal. With behavior modification we can look deeper into the issues and help change and possibly prevent them from occurring in the future. It can be used wrong however, like when someone manipulates someone to do something bad for their benefit, and that’s when things can get murky. The first thing I will remember from reading this chapter is the ABC’s, Antecedent (before), Behavior, and Consequence (after). I will remember this because it says it will be used throughout the whole book but also because the book explains that for every behavior we do there is always an antecedent and a consequence. Since this class is based on behavior this will stick in my mind. The second thing I will remember is that the ABC’s are not linear. They can be connected with other loops that drive the arrow back around. I find this easy to remember considering I did not know this and I learned something new. The third thing I will remember is that in most situations we can control the before and the after. The before pertains to the environment and by controlling the environment we can control the behavior. I will remember this because it relates to things I do as well as things people around me do. Also it allows me to have a broader view in regards to my own behavior. The thing that I liked most about this chapter was the ABC’s and the examples that were given for them. I liked this because it gives me easy ways to break down my behavior as well as others behaviors to help me understand it more. The thing I disliked about this chapter is basically the same thing I liked but in a different way. The chapter talks about different ways to look at behavior and predict it and now I feel that when I watch TV or go to work I will be constantly making notes in my head about situations and possible outcomes related to behavior. The things that I originally thought were very basic and now that I have read the chapter I have broader view of what behavior modification consists of. The ABC’s are an easy way to break down the behavior into, before, behavior, and after. I also know now that if we can control the antecedents and the consequences we can begin to control the behavior.
Section 1.2
The first thing I will remember from this chapter is that we use reinforcement to increase the frequency of behavior and we use punishment to decrease the frequency of behavior. I will remember this because it is a key part in manipulating some ones behavior and relates directly to the ABC’s. If you want some ones behavior to continue you reinforce it and if you want it to stop you punish it. The second thing that I will remember from this chapter is praising someone for doing dishes may lead them to doing dishes more. I will remember this because this is a problem for me at the moment. The third thing I will remember from this chapter is the term valence and how it can be desirable in one situation but can often turn itself around and be undesirable in the next. I will remember this because of the desirable or undesirable outcomes you can get from it. Once again I liked how the information was given and then below it there were examples for you to do to see if you understood the material. I think this is very helpful and keeps you on the right path in the reading. The thing I disliked about this chapter was the increase in vocabulary. I found myself reading paragraphs twice to make sure I understood their meanings. The boxes below the readings helped with it though. This chapter has changed what I thought by catching me up on all the vocabulary and terms such as valence, which is the psychological value placed on a person and self-reinforcement which happens when an individual creates a consequence for themselves.
I feel behavioral modification is a very useful tool. I do not have any moral objection to using behavioral modification to manipulate people because in the end everyone still has freedom of choice and decision.
I will definitely remember the main concept of this chapter (section 1.1), which is the ABCs of Behavioral modification. Before reading this chapter, I did not realize how much the setting and who we are around affects the behavior we emit, but thinking back it does so very much. I act differently when I am around someone of authority such as my parents or a police officer than I do someone who is not like my friends or siblings. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is the behavioral vocabulary used. Some of the vocabulary I learned are: antecedents, aversive and salient. Antecedents is the condition occurs before a behavior that affects the consequence; be it a specific setting or the presence of a person. Aversive is used to describe unpleasant consequences or reactions and salient is another word for strong. I also learned to use the words pleasurable and aversive when describing responses instead of using positive and negative. I didn’t really dislike anything about the chapter, but if I were to get critical the only complaint is that it may have been a little “overkill” with examples and describing the ABCs since it is a fairly simple concept to grasp. Although, I do understand it is the building block to behavior modification and is very important it is justifiable. One thing I did like about the chapter is the initial example of telling a joke at a party and then at a funeral. The situations provoke a very different response making it very easy to understand how important the antecedent is to the consequence. Reading the chapter has changed my opinion on behavioral modification because I didn’t realize how much there is to it. Whenever I think of behavioral modification, I think of just positive reinforcement and punishment. After reading this chapter I have come to realize there is much more than once thought of.
In section 1.2, I will remember using punishment is an effective way to help deter a unwanted behavior, but another way to mold one’s behavior is by using reinforcement. I also learned that valence can be positive or negative act performed by a person, which shapes way we behave through pleasurable or aversive feedback. I also will remember that reinforcement can be brought on by one’s own self. I never really thought that self-reinforcement as a reason we keep acting the way that we do. I always just thought of behavior being shaped by the society and interactions around us. I didn’t really dislike anything about this chapter either. The only input that I would suggest to improve the text and make it more understandable is putting simple definitions of the vocabulary on the bottom or side of the page as a quick reference instead of having to reread a large portion of the page to remember the meaning of the word. This chapter did not change my views of behavior modification because I had already had the general knowledge of the concepts that were addressed in this chapter.
I feel behavioral modification is a very useful tool. I do not have any moral objection to using behavioral modification to manipulate people because in the end everyone still has freedom of choice and decision.
I will definitely remember the main concept of this chapter (section 1.1), which is the ABCs of Behavioral modification. Before reading this chapter, I did not realize how much the setting and who we are around affects the behavior we emit, but thinking back it does so very much. I act differently when I am around someone of authority such as my parents or a police officer than I do someone who is not like my friends or siblings. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is the behavioral vocabulary used. Some of the vocabulary I learned are: antecedents, aversive and salient. Antecedents is the condition occurs before a behavior that affects the consequence; be it a specific setting or the presence of a person. Aversive is used to describe unpleasant consequences or reactions and salient is another word for strong. I also learned to use the words pleasurable and aversive when describing responses instead of using positive and negative. I didn’t really dislike anything about the chapter, but if I were to get critical the only complaint is that it may have been a little “overkill” with examples and describing the ABCs since it is a fairly simple concept to grasp. Although, I do understand it is the building block to behavior modification and is very important it is justifiable. One thing I did like about the chapter is the initial example of telling a joke at a party and then at a funeral. The situations provoke a very different response making it very easy to understand how important the antecedent is to the consequence. Reading the chapter has changed my opinion on behavioral modification because I didn’t realize how much there is to it. Whenever I think of behavioral modification, I think of just positive reinforcement and punishment. After reading this chapter I have come to realize there is much more than once thought of.
In section 1.2, I will remember using punishment is an effective way to help deter a unwanted behavior, but another way to mold one’s behavior is by using reinforcement. I also learned that valence can be positive or negative act performed by a person, which shapes way we behave through pleasurable or aversive feedback. I also will remember that reinforcement can be brought on by one’s own self. I never really thought that self-reinforcement as a reason we keep acting the way that we do. I always just thought of behavior being shaped by the society and interactions around us. I didn’t really dislike anything about this chapter either. The only input that I would suggest to improve the text and make it more understandable is putting simple definitions of the vocabulary on the bottom or side of the page as a quick reference instead of having to reread a large portion of the page to remember the meaning of the word. This chapter did not change my views of behavior modification because I had already had the general knowledge of the concepts that were addressed in this chapter.
For Section 1.1
Prior to reading this section, I wasn't really sure what behavior modification entailed. I thought that it was a way to change and modify one's behavior, but I didn't exactly realize what that meant.
After I finished reading the section, a few pieces of information really resonated with me. One part I remembered had to do with manipulation. The reading asked whether manipulation was a good or a bad thing. That question in particular really made me think, and after a while I realized that I manipulate others literally on a daily basis. I learned that manipulation is not necessarily always a bad thing. One can manipulate others in very helpful and beneficial ways. Another thing that I will remember from reading this section is that different situations with the same exact behavior can lead to completely different consequences or outcomes. If you tell a joke at a funeral, versus telling a joke at a party, you might find unpleasant reactions instead of people laughing at what you said. The final piece of information from the section that will really stick with me is that I should get in the habit of using the terms 'pleasurable' and 'aversive' when explaining outcomes because 'positive' and 'negative' are very specific words. I will remember these three things in particular because I was able to apply them to different situations in my life. They were easy to relate to.
One thing that I especially enjoyed in this section was being able to fill out the practice examples for the ABCs of behavior modification. I liked that the examples started out with the antecedent and the consequence already filled out, so I just had to fill in the behavior. Then, as the section progressed, it allowed me to fill out my own antecedents, behaviors, and consequences based on what I had done today. I thought that this was really helpful because being able to relate something to my own life always makes it easier for me to learn and remember information.
One thing that I disliked from this section was the fact that in day-to-day life people are usually unaware of the ABCs of behavior modification. It is crazy to realize that because life is made up of situations and behaviors and outcomes. I did not like reading that because it made me feel kind of ignorant to the ways in which maybe others have manipulated me. I think it opened my eyes and I will now be on the lookout for the different ways in which the ABCs of behavior modification are at work in my life.
After reading this section, I became aware that behavior modification indeed does have something to do with behaviors and their outcomes. I also learned that different consequences could stem from different antecedent events and the behaviors in which they elicit. I also realized that the ABCs of behavior modification could really be applied to almost any event in life. All of the information that I read in this section really gave me the basics on what behavior modification is.
For Section 1.2
From this section, there are a few pieces of information that I know I will remember. The first is that reinforcement can indeed involve something aversive. Reinforcement does not always have to do with desirable or pleasurable outcomes. The second thing that I will remember is that punishment can involve something desirable. Punishment does not always have to do with undesirable or aversive outcomes. A final bit of information that I know I will remember is about valence and how it refers to the psychological value placed on a person, place, or thing. For example, “The puppy was adorable,” indicates pleasurable valence whereas, “His breath smelled horrible,” indicates aversive valence. I know that I will remember these three pieces of information because they especially stuck out to me when I was reading the section. I really learned something new about punishment, reinforcement, and valence.
One thing that I really enjoyed from this section was when self-reinforcement was discussed. I think it is neat that people can reinforce their own behavior, even if they get an aversive consequence or outcome from someone else. Therefore, if the self, no matter the consequence, reinforces a behavior then it may continue to be repeated.
One thing that I disliked from this section was trying to come up with examples of punishment involving pleasure and reinforcement involving aversion. It was especially difficult to do this at first, although it got a little easier by the time I finished doing the practice examples. I hope that this will become a more automatic ability by the time I get deeper into the course material!
By reading this chapter, I have added more and more on to what my original idea of behavior modification was. Now I have realized that reinforcement and punishment both play large roles in the ABCs of behavior modification. I have also started to see that there are both pleasurable and aversive sides to almost everything as well. I hope that as I continue reading I will find out more and more about behavior modification and what it entails.
Sec. 1.1
Before reading this i assumed that changing ones behavior would be a rather complex process of formulating a specific sentence, with a certain amount of words. However, after reading I noticed that it isn't that difficult. It is all about reinforcement, or punishment. I had drawn my false accusations from the little information I know about hypnotism, and felt that they were similar; but because behavior modification does not alter ones conscious state, they are very different. There are many things from this fist section that i found interesting, and committable to memory. One thing would be the ABC's of behavior modification, and those are; antecedent, behavior, and consequence. The fundamentals of behavior modification. One must have a good understanding of these components to successfully modify, or understand someones behavior. Antecedents particularly important because they can affect the behavior, and consequence. Setting is very important to the behavior and consequence and it can alter both of them. I also become aware that controlling someone's behavior is as simple as controlling the antecedents (setting) and the consequence. I also learned the difference between emit, and elicit. Emit means the behaviors that people do, and elicit mean behaviors that people make occur. I will remember these particular things from the reading, because I found them to be interesting. They are the things that make up behavior modifications. I didn't really like the example, I thought that their were a few to many, nor did I like that some people think that behavior modification is "controlling" people. Through behavior modification, you wouldn't be able to make anyone do anything that they wouldn't normally do. Eliciting someone to do their dishes is not forcing them to do something they wouldn't normally do, it might just get them to do it sooner than they would normally do them. This section just gave me more information into behavior modification. It also helped clearly introduce the ABC's in an easy to understand way.
Sec 1.2
We should not use positive or negative to describe someone's behavior, because those words mean specific things in behavior modifications. I also remember that reinforcers and punishers are what drive behavior modifications. People react to pleasurable, or aversive feelings, and that is how you can alter their behavior to get them to emit certain behaviors. I also learned that people can self reinforce their own behavior. For example someone laughing at their own joke reinforces to them that it was funny, even if no one else laughed. I liked that in this chapter many real world examples were used, to help understand the text. I found that these examples put the information into manageable information that was easy to grasp due to its relevancy to my every day life. I dislike the repetitiveness of this section, I felt like this could have been combined with section 1.1 due to the information being very similar. Although, I must admit that separating them into two sections did help me focus on the important factors in each section. I personally felt like much of the information in section 1.1 was practical the same as information in section 1.2. This section showed me that a reinforcement could be aversive, I found this to be interesting. I also didn't know that someone could self-reinforce, and found this to be a useful tip in my own life. I'm very excited to get to learn more, and piece all this knowledge together.
1.1
Prior to this chapter I knew a little bit about behavior modification, at least the basics. I knew that through certain reward/punish systems we can learn and teach to disuade others or ourselvse from bad behavior and reinforce good behavior. I had seen it in training animals and even in parents raising children. You have it at the work place and literally every phase of your life. I personally haven't done a whole lot to modify my behavior consciously but obviously these things happen naturally/automatically.
I obviously will remember the ABC's from this chapter as it seems it will be revisited time and time again. I will remember the question posed of is using behavior modification manipulating someone. I would agree that it is and though sometimes manipulation is a bad thing, I think that in this context it is a good thing. You are only trying to better someone. One thing I also hope to remember is the difference between elicit and emit, though I'm pretty sure i already knew that.
I really like how the chapter keeps things simple. It takes the basic's and lays them out for you without getting too complicated however the simplicity is also what I didn't really like about the chapter. Besides the technical terms it all seems like common knowledge. I will obviously take away the ABC's and the definitions but for the most part it wasn't really anything new.
1.2
The things I will take away from this chapter is it's "reinforcement" on making sure you understand the words reinforcement and punishment are verbs. I will remember what it means when you are describing something or someone's valence. I will also take away how it breaks down the difference between negative punishment and negative reinforcement and how they involve taking away something with positive and negative valence.
I really like this chapter's practice examples because it helps you to better understand the different terms and situations by coming up with your own and not just forcefeeding you examples that someone has already come up with. I couldn't think of anything that I didn't like about this chapter. To me it really gets accross the point and the meaning of all the terms and helps you to know the difference between all of them.
This chapter has changed how I viewed bmod because it has helped me put terms to things I already knew. For instance, I know that when I got my first speeding ticket my parents took my car away. I know why they did it, but know after reading the chapter I know that it is an example of Negative Punishment.
For Section 1.1:
Before reading this chapter I thought behavior modification was similar to controlling how people act and how to control them. I thought that basically because of the name Behavior Modification. The three things that I will remember is, first, the antecedent set the feeling of the behavior that is about to take place. The behavior then causes the consequence. Secondly, it is ok to manipulate or be manipulated and we often find that word to be negative but in fact it is how we change or continue a behavior. The third thing that I will remember the ABC's fully connected and based on your behavior you will either choose to continue doing it or decide to stop based on the consequence of your actions. The one thing that I really liked from this chapter was learning that we are in fact manipulated using the ABC's and that we use the ABC's constantly in our everyday lives. I think that it is an interesting concept and has helped me to see things differently. I don't believe that there was anything in this chapter that I didn't like because it was all interesting. Reading this chapter helped me to change the way I feel about behavior modification slightly because it is how we can modify the behavior of yourself and others and that is how I perceived, however, I thought it was much more complicated.
For Section 1.2:
The three thing that I will remember from what I read in the chapter, first, the difference between reinforcement and punishment and how the can be used to have different consequences to a behavior. Second, is the term valence and how it is described a psychological value that we place on a person, place, or thing. Also, that there is a positive and a negative valance. The third thing that I will remember from this chapter is reinforcement can be some thing that is undesirable and punishment can be pleasurable. I think that its important to know the difference between them and how they are used. I really liked the expansion on the ABC's and getting a better understand on how reinforcement and punishment is used, because it helps me to better understand the ABC's. I still have not disliked anything in these sections yet and I believe its because I enjoy learning about the various ways of modification. Reading this chapter it has helped me to better understand the behavior modification in the sense that it used everyday and all day. We are shaped by behavior modification and that is normal and not something to be afraid of or shy away from.
Section 1.1
Before reading this section, I always thought that behavior modification had to do with ways we can change certain behaviors. I also thought it had to do with manipulating people into doing something differently which connected with reinforcement.
One of the things that I will remember from this chapter is that the environment has a strong impact on our behavior. If we control the environment, then we control the behavior. It's like wherever you go, you control the outcome. Another thing I will remember is that manipulation is not something that is always bad. We can change behaviors in a good way and manipulate people into doing something good and not always something wrong. The last thing that I learned was that when we try to control the antecedents, then we can control the behavior. Wherever we go, we are able to control the behavior and the outcome. The one thing that I really liked about this chapter was learning about the ABC's and how it works. I found it very interesting and can't wait to try it out. There wasn't anything that I didn't like in this chapter. This chapter didn't change my thought on behavior modification, it just gave me more information and a lot more to think about.
Section 1.2
One thing that I learned in this section is that when using reinforcement, it is more likely to increase the frequency of the behavior. For example, if you you wash the dishes then you get money. Another thing that I learned is that punishment is used to decrease a behavior. An example of that is, if you play loud music, we bang on the wall. The last thing that I learned is that all behaviors have consequences. It can either be a good consequence or a bad consequence. Something that I really enjoyed was how they went more into depth about punishment and reinforcement. I have learned about them before but never really understood the meaning or how to put it all together. I feel like the examples and terminology that they used really helped me to understand. They also stated that desirable outcomes had to do with reinforcers and aversive had to do with punishers. I really enjoyed reading this section and there wasn't anything I didn't like. I still feel like this section added to my knowledge about behavior modification. Not only is it about the ABC's but it also has to do with reinforcement and punishment.
Chapter 1.1
Before reading this chapter, I thought that 'behavior modification' had more to do with how an individual could develop the skills to "modify" their attitude in any given situation. The reason I thought this was because I hadn't considered how behavior could be interpreted as an action. Obviously, the three things that I will remember from this chapter are:
1) Every action that every person does is a direct result of an Antecedent, a Behavior, and a Consequence.(ABC)
2) Although ABC is a constant pattern that happens daily, people don't take notice of their behaviors.
3) Any behavior could lead to different consequences depending on the antecedent.
These things will be easy to remember because ABC is going to be the foundation of this class. I really liked how easy this chapter was to follow; the language was simple, the activities put the lesson into a real-world perspective, and the letters 'ABC' are really easy to remember. However, I disliked the constant repetition of the ABC example boxes because the information was easy to grasp, so I felt that one explanation would've been enough. This chapter did change what I thought about behavior modification because I thought it would be about attitude, but it clearly will go much deeper than that.
Chapter 1.2
The three things that I will remember about this chapter are:
1) Reinforcement and punishment are not the same thing even though they are thought to be similar.
2) Reinforcement aims to increase a desireable consequence and punishment aims to decrease an aversive consequence.
3) Pleasureable consequences can result from a punishing behavior and an aversive consequence can result from a reinforcement behavior.
One thing that I liked about this chapter was how examples were used to help explain these new terms that actually occur in real life. Being able to apply these principles to my own expereinces will help me understand the material better. One thing that I disliked about this chapter was how it implied that behaviors are a direct result of a person's environment because I don't think that is entirely true. I don't think that anything in this chapter really changed my belief about behavior modification since this chapter was just an extension of the first one. I am looking forward to all the new things that I will learn as the semester progresses though.
For Section 1.1
Prior to reading this chapter, I thought of behavior modification as the situation or something that makes behavior happen more, something that modifies behavior. I thought of it as a process of reinforcing. Reinforcing in that, you give someone something to modify their behavior. I divided it into two ways, one that, something can modifies a person to get a bad behavior and two that something can modify their behavior to do good things. The reason for this is because; something has to cause another thing. There is a phrase that says, “Everything has a reason.”
There are many things to remember but, the three things that I will remember are; one, to know where to joke, because if I do not do it at the right place, the consequences will affect me and the people around me. The second is that, consequences of talking on the phone outside and talking on the phone in the library are different. Third is that, knowing the antecedent makes the behavior and the consequences a lot more predictable. The reason is that, remembering these things will help me better understand and add to what I already know about reality.
I like how the ABCs were explained in details. I like how when you know the antecedent, you can predict the behavior. I also think that knowing the A can make you come up with a lot of guesses to what the B may be.
The reading this chapter changed what I originally thought about behavior modification in many ways. It not only changed the way I thought about it but, added more to it. I never really learned the ABC. After reading this chapter, I used what I already know to what this chapter has. For an example, the process of making jokes at certain location and the consequences. I knew those but the process that it goes through such as the Antecedent, Behavior and Consequences are those that I was not familiar with. But I now understand it.
Section 1.2
Three things that I would remember are as followed; I will remember that most of our everyday behaviors that we emit are governed by two basic behavioral principles Reinforcement and Punishment. Either one of them can be negative or positive. I will remember that, punishment is a procedure used in behavior modification to decrease the frequency of a behavior. Punishment is also used to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring after the antecedent. I will also remember that behaviors have consequences. This is what people are not aware of, and it is that, everything you do has consequences. Taking your anger on someone could lead to some body getting hurt.
One thing I liked was the quote that states “Reinforcement is an integral part of behavior modification,” (From section 1.2). For an example, I told my roommate to take my girlfriend to church since I had to work early in the morning. After coming home, the first thing I did was to thank him for what he had done. So, by thanking my roommate after taking my girlfriend to church when I went to work will reinforce him to do it again next time if I ask.
What I disliked was that, I didn’t get the valence part because it wasn't explained in more detail. Besides that, everything else was explained and I well understood it.
Reading this chapter has made me to better understand what goes on within the behavior modification scenario and how this term or word is used everyday that we do not take notice off. As stated in section 1.1, this has helped understand and also added to what I already know about psychology. This is good!!!
Section 1.1
Before reading this chapter, I thought behavior modification sounded pretty cool. I thought this because I have younger siblings. If I could control their behavior, I wouldn’t have to fight with them or hear them scream for mom. The 3 things I will remember about this chapter are a )that by controlling antecedents we can set the occasion for a particular behavior, b) that knowing an antecedent and a consequence makes behavior predictable and c) that the ABC’s aren’t linear; the can run in circles. I will remember these 3 things because they interest me. They interest me because they explicitly say very important things about BMOD. I really liked the examples because they were very easy to understand and follow. I can’t think of anything I disliked. Reading this chapter hasn’t changed my original thoughts about behavioral modification. If anything, it strengthened my excitement to learn about this class.
Section 1.2
3 things I will remember from this chapter are a) that reinforcement and punishment both have nouns and adjectives along with verbs that all mean the same thing when applied to BMOD, b) that there are natural and procedural reinforcers and punishers and c) that valences are qualities given to nouns. I will remember these things because they are important to this chapter. One thing I really liked about this chapter was the part about self-reinforcement because I think it’s pretty cool you can manipulate even your own actions. I can’t think of anything I disliked about this chapter. It wasn’t too long and didn’t take much time, so that was nice. Again, reading this chapter has only peaked my interest about this subject even more.
Section 1.1 Response
Prior to reading this chapter, I felt that behavior modification was a very important aspect of my life. Looking back on choices that I have made, I realize that certain outcomes have been a result. I feel that I will remember multiple things from this chapter.
First of all, I may remember that it is stated that "it is simple to manipulate or control one's own behavior or someone else's behavior." It is important for me to remember that at any given moment, one may be trying to manipulate my behaviors. I feel that I have known this for quite some time, but this was reminder. An example: If an individual walks away from me when I am speaking about a specific topic, I may discontinue discussing the said topic with this particular individual in the future. This may be out of fear that I will feel the same rejection I felt the first time I tried to speak of the subject. This fear may be considered a manipulation.
Also, in a previous post, I mentioned that I had a hard time grasping how to CHANGE an antecedent,since the definition I found referred to a past event, however, this chapter spoke of controlling an antecedent, which does make more sense to me. To control an antecedent, one may be "setting an occasion." An example of this may be an individual placing candles and flowers around a room, in an event that a behavior of a marriage proposal will bring a hopeful consequence of an answer "yes."
Something that I will remember from this chapter was the language used in some of the examples. "How easy it is to control YOUR behavior." Although I understood the point that was being communicated, I feel that "you" statements are dangerous. Some individuals reading this material may not find it easy to control their own behavior. I am reminded of a person with Tourette's syndrome or Schizophrenia, just how simple would it be for them?
One thing I liked about this section was the correlation between behavior and one's own enviroment. I feel that in some circumstances, when I change my surroundings, I change my behavior. One thing I disliked about the section was the statement that said "In day to day life, we are generally unaware of the ABCs." I am not sure if I agree with that statement.
Section 1.2 Response
Things I may Remember:
Adjectives are different than verbs. Verbs are different than nouns. Nouns are different than Pronouns.
Reinforcement is a procedure. Punishment is a procedure.
Reinforcement may involve something aversive.
Punishment may involve something desirable.
one thing I liked in the chapter was the discussion on self-reinforcement. In order to stay positive about myself and my actions, I may praise myself and this is important to me.
One thing I did not like about the chapter was the use of "you" statements.
This chapter hasn't really changed how I feel about behavior modification, but I am keeping an open mind!
Section 1.1:
In the first section I found a lot of things interesting. Before the reading I thought behavior modification was basically forcing someone to change their behavior. I also thought it was associated with negative punishments. I really liked learning about the ABC's because I had never realized how much it is a part of our lives. There wasn't anything that I disliked about this section. Three things I will remember from this section is that the ABC's are always involved in our life, there are more than just negative ways to influence behavior, and that it is not difficult to influence behaviors. I also learned that the context of our behaviors have a major impact on the outcome. I learned a lot of things from this section about the strategies for reinforcement.
Section 1.2:
Three things I learned from this section are that reinforcement and punishment are different things. Even though they are different they both still take time to change behaviors. They are not the same because punishment is a negative reinforcement designed to stop the behavior. One thing I liked about this chapter was how the differences between punishment and reinforcement. I found this chapter interesting and there was nothing that I did not like. I really enjoyed learning more about reinforcement and punishment.
Section 1.1
Prior to behavior modification, I didn’t realize how in-depth it was. I didn’t realize there were so many different parts that went into behavior modification, such as the ABC’s of behavior modification. I didn’t realize this for modifying behavior seems to be a simple concept, just trying to get someone change the way they act with a few simple steps.
The three things I will remember from this section are the ABC’s of behavioral modification, emitting behavior is something we do, and that the environment has a strong impact on behavior. The ABC’s of behavior modification will always be remembered because it’s always influencing us, and always around us. There is behavior in every aspect of life; therefore there will always be an antecedent and consequence. Secondly, I will always remember that emitting behavior is something we do, and this emitted behavior is followed by a consequence. When thinking of the word emit, I think of things that leave an object, such as a behavior leaves an individual. Thirdly, remembering the environment has a strong impact will be remembered for the environment has an impact on all aspects of life, ranging from the what an individual wears each day to the type of food we eat.
One thing I really liked about the chapter was it was full of information, but was broken down into smaller, easier to understand parts. This holds true when explaining the ABC’s of behavior modification, giving lots of examples so one can really understand it. There really was not one thing I didn’t like. It wasn’t too long or too short, just the right length to read.
After reading this section, my thoughts on behavioral modification have changed. I have begun to see there is a lot more involved within the modification than just a few simple steps.
Section 1.2
From this chapter, the three things I will remember are that reinforcement increases the frequency of behavior, that punishment decreases the frequency of behavior, and that reinforcers are things, nouns, and are tangible and desired. Remembering reinforcement increase the behavior is easy because when working with children, like a nanny, one must remember that in order for the child to do their chores, the child will most likely want a desirable outcome, or incentive. The same holds true for remembering a punisher. When working with children, things tend to not go right at least once or twice a day, so a punishment is used to decrease the behavior, such as timeout. However, to remember that reinforcers are things, nouns, and are tangible and desired, this is remembered coincide with remembering what reinforcement is. Going back to the nannying example, the child is going to want a tangible and desirable item, something they can physically obtain. From this, it will be easy to remember that the reinforcer is a thing, noun, tangible, and desired.
One thing I liked how the book explained the usage of pleasurable and desirable over positive and the same for negative. It just showed that the words positive and negative can have an influence on ones view on the topic at hand. However, one thing I disliked how the section said “we will discuss this later” because when reading, it is sometimes easier to give a small description of what the topic is, instead of just brushing over it and continuing on.
Alongside the first section, my view of behavioral modification is just increasingly changing, and seeing that behavioral modification has a lot more than just a few more steps. However, this chapter showed that although there is a lot of information, it is quiet easy to understand once one applies it to their daily lives.
Section 1.1
Before reading this chapter I thought behavior modification explained why people act the way they do. I thought it focused more of social norms and how people can change others opinions. However, I didn’t realize that behavior modification occurs more in your everyday life than you think.
The three things that I will remember from this section are all focused around the ABCs of behavior modification. It states in the book how behaviorists such as B. F. Skinner believe almost all behaviors can be used in the ABC components. The ABCs stand for A (antecedent), B (behavior), and C (consequences. The first thing I will remember is how every behavior a person emits (does) there is an antecedent and consequence. For example, the book explains how telling a bad joke (behavior) has an antecedent (at a party) and a consequence (people laughing). The second thing I will remember is how the ABCs are not linear. This means the ABCs are allowed to connect to one another and have a “feedback loop” as stated in the book. This is allowed because the relationship between the components will always be there. The third thing I will remember is environment is a big part to behavior. It explains how the environment (antecedent) can control how the consequences will turn out. They can either be pleasurable or aversive as stated from the book. A few things that I liked about this chapter were how it started explaining what words was acceptable to use and what words were not. I think it is important to start using these terms correctly. The second thing I liked about this chapter was the examples that were provided in the lectures. It helped me have a better understanding of what was going on. There wasn’t anything I disliked from this chapter, mostly because I am really interested in these topics. After reading this chapter I realized behavior can be controlled by other components (for example; the environment) than just by other people.
Section 1.2
The three things I will remember from this section are all focused around reinforcement and punishment. The first thing I will remember is how to use all there different forms. For example; reinforcement is the verb which involves procedure, reinforcer is the noun, and reinforcing is the adjective. This chapter pushes how important it is to use terms correctly. The second thing I will remember is reinforcement can occur naturally or occur through the reinforcement procedure. In the book it gives a great example of reinforcement occurring naturally. If you were to smile at someone and they smile back that will increase the probability. An example for reinforcement procedure would be praising a roommate for taking out the trash. This will also increase the probability. The last thing I will remember from this chapter is how to use positive and negative valence. It is important to remember positive valences are things that are pleasant, desirable, or attracting, whereas negative valence is unpleasant, undesirable, or aversive. Otherwise things will get confusing if you do not use them correctly. I have always been interested in learning more about reinforcement and punishment so I found to like this chapter a lot. I think it is interesting to know you can use certain procedures to increase the probability of things. One thing I disliked about this chapter is I felt like there were a lot of different examples that at some point I would get confused on what was different from each term. I think if you focused on one example and changed it around for each procedure it might have been easier to understand. This chapter didn’t really change how I felt about behavior modification. It did make me realize how important it is to use vocab correctly and also explained better how reinforcement and punishment worked.
Before I read this chapter the only thing I really knew about behavior modification was the ABCs we learned in class and the little bits of information I learned from the students’ blog entries from last semester. I see behavior modification now as a way to manipulate people to do things. One thing I will remember from the 1.1 reading is that the antecedent “set the occasion” for a behavior to happen. The antecedent decided whether or not the behavior is appropriate. Telling a joke at a funeral will not be party approved by most people, but if you tell a joke at a party people will like it and maybe even encourage you to tell more. This sticks with me because there are a lot of times in life people do not think about the setting in which they are saying something. There are many moments we don’t think about what we say before we say them. The context in which we do things is important because if you are not carefully you could offend another person or get yourself in trouble. I found it interesting that we need to use the terms pleasurable or aversive instead of positive or negative. This sticks with me because I never would have thought that there would be a problem with using positive and negative, but by using the terms pleasurable and aversive we are being more descriptive about the type of reaction that is created. One last thing I remember about this chapter was that if we know the antecedent and the consequence, we can most likely predict the behavior. There is more than just one behavior someone can do, but it makes it a lot easier to narrow the options down. I really liked that this chapter made me think about the things I do every day. We use the ABCs of behavior modification every day without even realizing it. The first example I could of was when I have wanted my parents to get me something like when I was little, at the store I would be good and obedient, so the consequence was that I receive the candy bar I wanted. It is really easy the compare behavior modification to parenting. I didn’t really like the use of the words ‘emit’ and ‘elicit.’ It was hard for me to remember which was which because they are not words I have ever used in my every day vocabulary. The chapter made it easier for me to understand behavior modification and how it is applied in my life. We talked about the ABCs in class, but by reading the chapter my confusions have been cleared up a lot.
The two main things I will remember from this chapter are what reinforcement and punishment are. Reinforcement is the procedure that increases the occurrence of a behavior. Punishment is the procedure that decreases the occurrence of a behavior. These were the main things talked about in this chapter and almost everything in the chapter relate back to these two terms. Another thing I remember from this chapter is the term valence. Valence in a positive way should be described as pleasant, desirable, or attracting. Valence in a negative way should be described as unpleasant, undesirable, or aversive. This sticks with me because it is not a word I have not heard before. I enjoyed the Xbox example that was used in the reading. If playing Halo is a pleasurable thing for a person than punishment that person by taking it away is aversive for them. It is a negative punishment. I did not really enjoy reading about self-reinforcement because I felt like it was a pretty simple thing to understand, doesn’t really need to be described. This chapter on behavioral principles made me realize how many ways reinforcement and punishment can be used on someone; there are a lot of variable that need to be considered.
Section 1.1
Prior to reading this chapter, I thought behavior modification was merely manipulating others' or my own behaviors. Boy, was I wrong! Behavior modification is constantly happening in our lives. It's not just our behaviors we're manipulating, it's also the antecedents and consequences. Three major points in this chapter I will remember start with the ABC's of behavior modification. Almost all behaviors can be understood and broken down into these components. I also will remember that these components are not linear to each other but rather connect with a feedback loop. The order won't always be A then B then C. Thirdly, I really focused on the idea that controlling the antecedents can "set the occasion" for a behavior or controlling the consequences can determine if a certain behavior will happen in the future at the same antecedent. This happens in our lives daily but we usually are unaware of it. I really liked the examples that were given for the ABC's. They helped me understand how each connect and how simplistic it really can be. I also liked being able to practice coming up with my own, but I also didn't like trying to figure out behaviors I emit. It was a lot harder because we are almost programed to think critically. Why is it so hard to write down something as simple as breathing? I mean, I breathe don't I? After reading the section, I got a bigger picture of what behavior modification is. We're not only manipulating behaviors but the consequences of our behaviors and the antecedents. I'm also interested to learn more about how the environment can elicit certain behaviors.
Section 1.2
Three components of the section I will remember will have to be the reinforcement procedure, punishment procedure, and the valence. Why you say? Because these procedures happen on a daily basis in our lives whether we're aware of them or not. The reinforcement procedure is used to increase the frequency of a behavior rather than decrease it with a punishment procedure. A valence is a way of describing the psychological value placed on a person, place, or thing such as being desirable or undesirable. For example, "the chocolate ice cream was good." Thus the ice cream was a desirable valence. I really liked the section about self-reinforcement because I give myself a consequence for several behaviors, especially relating to school. It helps me motivate myself to get stuff done. The book uses the good expression "give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done." I think it's a very good way to understand that you can reinforce yourself, not just others. I really didn't dislike anything that I read because I truly enjoy learning this information. After reading this section, my thoughts on behavior modification weren't affected because I got a better understanding after the first section.
Section 1.1
Prior to reading this chapter, I had some knowledge of what behavior modification was but was not completely aware until the assigned reading. I thought behavior modification dealt with measuring one's behavior, which it does, so I was half right but I did not completely know it all until we learned the ABCs of behavior modification. Three things I will remember from this chapter is that in our daily life we use the ABCs without knowing it, we subconsciously just do it. The environment plays a huge role on the way we behave as humans. An example we had in the reading was you are at a party and you tell a joke, most people are going to laugh. However, you do the same behavior by telling a joke, but are at a funeral; most people are not going to laugh they are going to get angry, give you dirty looks, or possibly even kick you out. Another thing I learned is manipulation is not always negative. It's funny because before this class my mom and I were talking about how it's bad to be manipulative, she disagreed. She started to explain that "killing people with kindness" is manipulating people but in a good way. I was shocked and realized she is right. I liked getting the practice in of the ABCs, you never truly realize that there are antecedents everywhere and that affects your behavior and then the consequences. There was honestly nothing I disliked about the chapter, it was very easy to understand and I enjoy having something to follow along with that I can make my own examples up with.
Section 1:2
I enjoyed reading the examples of how to reinforce or punish someone to get them to do what you want. It can't get much better then that, huh!? Another thing I do love is how in class you make someone who is late tell a joke, instead of getting mad and making a scene; I think it's genius. I liked comparing the example about how the mother took away her driving privileges because she got a speeding ticket, because that is exactly what happened to me in high school. It definitely worked. After reading this section, I realized how important it is to praise someone after they have done something good, so they know they did a good thing. Or on the other hand, if someone has done something immoral or wrong you should punish them, so they hopefully will not do it again. My perspective on manipulating people has completely changed. Now I can start getting my boyfriend to do more things by reinforcing him with praise, he-he!
Section 1.1
I think behavior modification is actually a very complex concept. I took this class thinking we would talk about why people act the way they do, whether from past experiences, societys expectations, the way a person was raised, etc. This chapter made me realize that the environment can have a major impact on a person's behavior and the same behavior can have different consequences, as well as different antecedents.
The first concept I will remember from reading this chapter is for every behavior we display, there is always an antecedent and consequence. Many other psych classes I have taken have gone over breifly what the ABC's are, but this chapter broke it down and understanding it became easier with the examples that were used. Another interesting point this chapter presented is that unless the consequence of our behavior is unpleasant, we may not even notice them. Examples given were upsetting the clerk vs. going outside without a coat on. It makes sense! The third piece of information I'll remember is that the ABC's relationship is not always A than B than C. I'll remember it because it surprised me. I am also somewhat confused by this, but at the same time, the examples given made sense. I understand that if someone were to tell a joke at a funeral, they would probably recieve a sour look. However, if not in ABC order, would someone at a funeral avoid telling a joke in fear of recieving a sour look? So the behavior in this case would be not telling a joke?
One thing I liked about this chapter is how it does show that the same behavior can have different consequences, depending on the antecedent. It makes sense if you raise your hand in the classroom vs. a street corner, the reaction or consequence will be different.
One thing I disliked about the chapter is that it says the controlling the environment controls the behavior of the people in it. I somewhat agree, but do not think all behavior is controlled just because they are in a certain place. For instance, if an underage person goes into a bar and their is a cop standing out in front of it, the underage person could still risk using an id of someone of age and drink. The cop being there may make them more aware of their environment, but their behavior could stay as they intended.
I originally though behavior modification was more of a simple concept, but after reading this chapter, I can see that it is anything but. There is a lot more that goes into a person's behavior than what I thought. I also thought of manipulation as a bad quality so I am anxious to learn more about how you can use manipulation for a positive outcome.
Section 1.2
The first piece of information I'll remember is positive and negative valence. It was easy to come up with examples of my own after reviewing what the terms mean and looking at the examples from the chapter. Reinforcers and punishers also stuck out because growing up, my parents would use them to get my siblings and I to realize what behaviors were desirable and what behaviors were not. The term "self reinforcement" was the third piece of information I found to be interesting because I had never really thought of my own behavior and started to think about my past behavior and the reactions I recieved from my friends or peers. It started to make sense why I act a certain way with one friend group than I do with other friend groups.
One thing I really liked about this chapter is how it went into more detail about the relationship of the ABC's. It showed examples of how A and C effect and have an impact on each other.
I couldn't think of anything I really disliked about the chapter. Maybe if you gave a few more examples before we did our own on certain sections, it may have helped me realize if I was understanding the material or not.
I originally thougt of punishers and reinforcers as ways to enhance/change a person's behavior when it came to behavior modification. However, I realized they can also be used to help maintain behavior as well. My parents used to give me an allowance for helping clean the house weekly. They used the money as a reinforcer to ensure that I would keep the house clean.
1.1: Before reading the section, in my mind I had a more complex model of what behavior modification may be. I expected it to be very complex and involve lots of analyzing. I thought this way mainly because I understand humans to be so very complex. I figured modifyinfg human behavior had to be very complex as well. I expected a complex system, deep thinking, and subject analyzation. From the section I will remember the joke example. It made the concepts of Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence clear to me. Secondly, I will consider antecedent to be the circumstance or occassion. Prior to reading this, I was a bit confused about how to describe the antecedent. Lastly, I will remember that not all behaviors result in the same consequences. This depends upon the antecedent. I really liked how brief the section was. It wasn't drawn out, yet the conepts came across clearly. I'd have liked to hear more about Skinner. I'm big on knowing a bit of background on the big names in whatever topic I'm studying. This was the only thing I did not like. This section made behavior modification less of an analytical headache. This chapter made it appear more simplistic. I think that before I read this section, I was looking at factors about the person that were not needed to modify behavior. Basically: I was making it more complicated than it needed to be.
1.2: From this section I will remember how to distinguish between reinforcement and punishemnt. I remember in my introductory psychology class, freshman year, I mixed the principles up and was unable to give good examples of them in my papers. I now understand that reinforcers are the potitive outcomes and punishers are the aversive outcomes. I'll remember it because it will help me decide whther punishment orr reinforcement best fits my issue when I'm trying to fix it. Secondly, I will remember that there are negative punishments and negative reinforcments. I was very confused about this back in my intro. course, but I can now quickly say that it's all about removal within the two procedures. I will remember this simply because I was able to re understand it in its proper sense, which feels good. I will also remeber the joke example about self reinforcement. For some reason, the joke examples work very. We all know that person who isn't funny, yet is always being "funny": self reinforcement. May as well just let them laugh on. I am glad that after reading this section I was able to distinguish, without confusion, reinforcement and punishment, along with what negative means in reference to both procedures. This changed my view on how to use both prcedures. There was nothing I disliked about the section, and I liked that we were able to make examples as we went through the section. This helped a lot when it came to really getting what each procedure is.
Section 1.1
Prior to reading this chapter. I was curious as to how scientists go about understanding behavior. To analyze something that is essential to everyone's core personality is an enormous task. If our actions and behaviors can be analyzed purely in scientific terms, this shows that humans are mechanical, and who we are is a representation of what we have experienced.
It was interesting to note that most behaviors go unnoticed in our daily routine. Even though all behaviors can be broken down into simplistic "ABC's", we go about our life in a linear pattern most decided by reinforcement or aversion to previous actions. For example: if i was at a crossroad and had the choice between two roads, one that is very neat and paved, and the other being rocky or muddy, I obviously will choose the former. However, if I am walking to class and I come to this crossroad, I will unconsciously choose which path due to my previous experience with the intersection.
It was very interesting when you started talking about how to control behaviors. You can't directly make another person's decision, but you control the environment in which they make the decision. You can control the A and the C. For example, if you were mailed a letter asking for a monthly donation for poor children, you would probably throw it in the trash. However, if you were in the neighborhood of some poor children and you saw how deprived they were, you would be more willing to give them money. You're controlling the antecedent and changing their behavior.
It was interesting to see how you had to explain why controlling behavior wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Most people have the presumption that controlling someone else's behavior is a bad thing, but this is not always true. Think about your government. Your actions are repeatedly being controlled by the government daily. However, no one would seriously consider that the government is inherently bad.
One thing I didn't like about that chapter was the word "emit". This might sound nit picky, but to me emit sounds and reads very similar to "omit", and it made me confused a couple times.
What changed my mind about behavior mod was the sheer simplicity of behavior and how it can be analyzed. Using the ABC's simply but accurately displays how a behavior is formed.
Section 1.2
From this section, I will remember the ways to control someone's behavior with my actions. I can decrease the possibility of an action if I punish the action or praise the opposite. On the other hand I can increase the possibility of an action if I praise the action or punish the opposite.
I will remember the work valence, and how it quantifies the emotional value we place on objects. For example, I have a negative valence on doing coursework.
I enjoy having these exercises in the chapters. They solidify the content from the section by reiterating the point and using examples we can produce. However, I dislike that the exercises take up a significant portion of the section.
Something that changed my idea about bmod was that punishment could involve something desirable or reinforcement can involve something aversive. I always that the punishment had to always involve something aversive and something desirable for reinforcement.
Section 1.1
Before reading this chapter I had somewhat an idea of what behavior modification is. I remember in previous classes I’ve taken how we would talk about how to train a rabbit to put coins in a bank for example. I understood the concept of taking small steps in order to achieve that type of behavior, but I never really applied it to my life. I thought behavior modification was cool to use in training animals to do tasks but I never thought about it much past that point.
Three things I will remember about this chapter is obviously the ABCs (antecedent, behavior and consequence) since that was a very important point in this chapter and it is necessary to understand how they work in order to understand why people might do the behaviors they do. I like how there were boxes to fill in with my own thoughts, especially the one where I had to come up with my own antecedent, behavior, and consequence. It is kind or crazy how often I emit behaviors that are so instant that I don’t even realize that I do it because I’m so like robotic in my ways. One of the boxes we filled in I put for the antecedent that I was in my room. For the behavior, I put getting on my computer to get on Facebook, and then the consequence is that I don’t get any homework done at that time. I think of so many times when that’s what I do instantly when I go into my room and get on Facebook. I don’t even think about what I could do instead, it’s just a behavior that is so engrained into my mind that is instant. There was not anything I particularly disliked in the chapter. I liked all the examples that were given and like I wrote earlier, how we were able to fill in our own ideas and thoughts. I think the text was easy to understand which is helpful. I also liked how easy it was to apply the terms and ideas into my own life and see how much the environment around us impacts us.
I have basically already covered how my thoughts on behavior modification has changed, but I understand now how much more behavior modification and the ABC’s are applicable to not just training animals, but also our own behaviors as well. It makes me more excited to keep reading more about we are influenced by the situations and environments we are in and if I can get better at catching myself emitting a certain behavior.
Section 1.2
I will remember reinforcement and punishment. I thought it was funny how if one praises a roommate for doing the dishes, it is more likely that the roommate will do it again. I think I’ll start doing that more to get people to do things for me that I don’t want to do! There are so many instances where we only do things because we know we’ll get a reward at the end. Punishment is good too though; I think it helps teach us when to not do things like touch a hot stove. When I was writing my examples of punishment that is involving something that is ordinarily pleasurable, they were all dealing with something that I feel like many teenagers go through. For example, getting a cell phone taken away because one texted over the limit, or getting an earlier curfew because one was late. I feel like in that stage in our lives there is a lot of reinforcement as well as punishment that our parents have to keep using in order to keep some teenagers under control.
I also will remember valence. Valence was defined as a psychological value placed on a person, place, or thing. I know when meeting people for the first time, if they’re mean or kind of snotty towards me, I won’t talk to them again or at least my likelihood of talking to them goes down. That is an example of undesirable valence, and I think it happens a lot in college student’s lives when were meeting people at first. An example of desirable valence would be like the paths I take to walk to class because they are easy and the quickest route in my mind, and I always get to class on time. I also think an example of desirable valence would be clothing stores in malls. I used to work at American Eagle, and there is a lot of strategic planning when the workers are setting up the store for a new floor set. I didn’t think of it then, but if the store set up is not appealing then people won’t come in and ‘browse’ while we try to get them to buy clothes. It is also good valence when stores have all these deals going on where you buy so many of this and you get all of that free. It influences people’s behaviors by giving them that pleasant valence where they want to keep coming back to get good deals or shopping in the store. I think this also ties in with reinforcement in that people want to keep coming back because they think they are getting good deals on whatever they’re buying.
I liked the ability to keep practicing what I was reading about. I think being able to have to think of my own examples helps me be able to remember the content better. I felt like this chapter was a little harder with trying to keep all the concepts straight. There was a bunch but the examples helped me understand them. This chapter has helped me understand more about what behavior modification is, and how there is a lot more factors that can influence a behavior.
1.1
I thought that people acted certain ways in different situations. But usually I would think that everyone is a little different on how they could act. Some people grow up in different homes where the polite thing to do in a certain situation would be so and so, while others were brought up that you were supposes to be vocal about your opinion and not let others walk over you. I will remember that knowing the ABC’s you have a more likely chance to manipulate someone’s behavior, because knowing what the situation and consequent may be it will control how a person behaves. Second I will remember that depending on the antecedent a certain behavior can result in two different ways, because of the joke scenario if you tell the joke at a funeral you will have a different consequent than if you tell the joke at a party. Third I will remember what the ABC’s are, because we went over what A B and C were separately. I really liked in this chapter how when a vocab word was first used the more “simple term” was in parenthesis afterwards. That way there wasn’t any guessing at what the word really means. Reading chapter 1.1 didn’t change my thoughts about behavior modification drastically. I didn’t know anything about the ABC’s of behavior but when explained they made a lot of sense. Also everything in the reading just helped to explain and take what I was already guessing further or prove it to be the truth.
1.2
I will remember that a punishment or reinforcement is natural while the punishment procedure or reinforcement procedure is something that you intentionally do on purpose, because of the examples with a natural reaction like smiling or an intentional action like banging on the walls. Second I will remember that positive valence is a quality that you like about something whereas the negative valence is when there is a quality that you dislike about something. Finally I will remember a negative punishment is taking something away, because negative is minus something. But there is also negative reinforcement which is a good thing because you could take away something negative and be left with something desirable. I kind of started to second guess myself with all of the same like words between reinforcer and reinforcement it just started to get confusing. Still after reading 1.2 what I thought about behavior modification hasn’t really changed. What I have read only verifies what I have already learned from past classes.
Before reading chapter 1.1 I thought behavior modification was more about changing behavior. Just by decoding the title, modification can be defined as a small alteration, adjustment, or limitation so adjusting behavior. I also learned in previous psychology classes about classical conditioning and operant conditioning. One of the main points that stood out to me in this chapter was just learning all about the ABC's of behavior and what they stand for. A standing for antecedent, B for behavior, and C for consequence. Knowing this key parts of behavior open the door to learning how to manipulate others behavior and also that the A, B, and C are all interrelated. Another thing that stood out to me in this chapter is the fact the behavior can be manipulated so easily. I have never really though about it before reading this chapter and taking this class. Also the relationship between having the antecedent and consequence makes picking a behavior to go in the B blank much easier. These things stood out to me when I was reading because they were all things that I can apply and use in my everyday life. The main idea that I really liked learning more about what was just the whole concept of the ABC's and how behavior can be organized and explained. Understanding this is just the foundation for what we will learn the rest of the semester. There wasn't anything that I didnt like in this chapter. Everything that was mentioned was beneficial in helping me better grasp the information. The little fill in the blank boxes helped a lot also! I thought I understood the information but when it came to applying it it made me think more in detail about it and make sure that I really did understand. After reading this chapter my view of what behavior modification has changed, I now think its more about understanding and explaining behavior.
In section 1.2 there were many things that I will remember. One of the main points that stood out to me was that both punishment and reinforcement are involved in the behavior and consequence parts of the ABC process. I have always thought of it just being involved in the consequence phase but after reading through this and thinking more into it I can see how it is used in both steps. Another piece of information that I will remember after reading this is the information about naturally occurring punishment and reinforcers. This just illustrates the point that so much of our behavior is controlled when you aren't even aware of it. Self reinforcement is one of the topics that was mentioned that stood out to me. If more people could employ this technique and be successful at it I think it would be a lot easier to get along and improve yourself. One thing that I really liked learning more information about was reinforcement with something that is using aversive/punishment with something that is typically pleasurable. This really caught my interest because it is something that could be easily employed on children at work or my little puppy. One thing that confused me was valence. I don't understand how valence is related directly to the ABC's of behavior. After reading this section I now view behavior modification as such a useful tool to understand. Being able to successfully use punishment, reinforcement, and self reinforcement could maybe help people be able to take their lives in their own hands and have more control over life and maybe over others too.
1.1
Before reading this section, I didn’t think of behavior modification as something that could relate to almost any action in life. I thought of behavior modification as something you go out of your way to do, not something that naturally occurs every day in normal situations. The three things I’ll remember the most from this section are that the ABC’s are constantly happening, whether we’re aware of it or not, the antecedent can cause a behavior to have completely different consequences, and the ABC’s aren’t linear, but instead connected by a feedback loop. The thing I liked most in the chapter was the charts indicating how the ABC’s worked and that they were interactive throughout the section to help ensure that I understood how they worked. I didn’t particularly dislike anything in the section; everything was fairly simple to understand.
1.2
This section didn’t really change my views on behavior modification at all, as I’ve covered most of the things discussed in the section previously in other classes. The three things I’ll remember from the section are the differences between reinforcing and punishing, the term “valence”, and that reinforcement can also be self-inflicted. I hadn’t considered in the past that reinforcement could be self-delivered but it makes sense. I liked the term “valence” because it was new to me but described something familiar that I never had a specific word for in the past. I also liked the continued use of diagrams to help convey how the things discussed in the chapter function. I didn’t dislike anything in this section either.
Section 1.1
Before reading the chapter, I thought this class is about the mechanical process of changing behavior, such as stimulus and response. I assumed that we will spend a lot of time on simple actions, as the course title suggests. The word "behavior" implies simple action to me.
As I read on, I found three important concepts. The first is the importance of antecedent and consequence. The text points out their influence on behavior. The second is the feedback loop. It shows that the consequence can in turn becomes the antecedent of the original antecedent. This process thus becomes a continuous loop that repeats the behavior. The last one is using the terms pleasurable and aversive to describe events. I believe that defining something as positive or negative can be difficult sometimes, so using different terms can avoid confusion in the future.
I like the idea of feedback loop. It shows that we can not only break down actions into single elements, but also shift the focus to inspect exactly which element causes another. The footnote of the box describes exactly what I dislike in the chapter. I don't like manipulating people, and I don't like to be manipulated either. I usually prefer that people just leave me alone and don't bother me. Yet after reading this section, I realized that some manipulations came from good intentions and can be beneficial, such as directing traffic to avoid a crash. Now I understand that modifying behavior is more important than it seems.
Section 1.2
The first interesting concept in the section is the varieties of the words "reinforce" and "punish." I guess an English professor might have different opinions about the usage of these words, but at least we can get a sense of different occasions where these words are used. The second concept is the term valence. It becomes a confusing term when we add the positive or negative adjectives to it and then put it next to reinforcement or punishment. Thus we can describe events more easily by using words like "pleasurable" and "aversive." The last one is the term self-reinforcement. This is really an intriguing phenomenon, as people can award themselves for what they have done. I guess this mechanism will be further explored in the motivation class.
I like the example of scratching black board as an unpleasant experience. I remember seeing people doing that in comedies. Interestingly, the responses of the actors brings good mood to the audience. Maybe this event is also affected by its antecedent. I don't like the example of water boarding. I think not all students taking this class can completely understand this example. It needs more explanation. I'm now more aware of the positive and negative attributes applied on reinforcement and punishment. I can tell that modifying behavior is more sophisticated than it appears to be.
Section 1.1
When I thought of behavior modification I thought about correcting negative/bad behavior into good/positive behavior. I associated this with the reward/punishment system. If the desired behavior is achieved the subject is rewarded, and if the negative behavior persists then they are punished in some way. This system would make the connection of the good behavior being pleasurable and the undesirable behavior being associated with something negative.
One, the ABC’s of course! I already had known about behavior and the consequences that result from the behavior, but adding in the additional element of the surroundings was just something I hadn’t taken into consideration. Not that I didn’t think it wasn’t important, I just never thought of it because the examples I would think of for ‘behavior modification’ would just be: behavior = what outcome? The examples in the chapter made it easy to see why antecedent can have such a big impact on behavior. Making it as easy to remember as ABC will help me later on to not to forget about the antecedent aspect of behavior modification. Two, pleasurable and aversive not positive and negative. I think I will make the mistake of using the wrong terminology at least twice before the semester is done. It’s so easy to use the words positive and negative because we could use them almost daily. I will admit, using the word ‘aversive’ daily would be a challenge. Three, I like the fill-in-the-blank boxes. For me personally, I retain information better and understand concepts when I have to work with them and put them into practice. Having to actually use what I just read about helps put ‘hands on learning’ into the chapter.
I liked that this chapter because it was short, simple, and to the point. I know the first chapters are to help just get the basics down, but this chapter laid the ABC’s out nicely. Many first chapters of other books try to either squeeze 100 years of history in fifteen pages or give definitions to words that will be used throughout the book. This one was easy to read and almost even easier to remember.
If I have to choose (which is hard to do because there was a lot I liked about this chapter), I would choose that the ABC’s will only get more complicated and that I know I will use ‘positive’ instead of ‘pleasurable’ and ‘negative’ instead of ‘aversive’ at some point. I will try not to.
I don’t feel that reading the chapter has changed what I originally thought, just added to it. It will be interesting to read about how the environment impacts behavior. What terminology to use isn’t much of a change since the words could be swapped out for each other rather easily.
Section 1.2
One, the difference between ‘naturally accruing’ and ‘procedure’ when it came to reinforcement and punishment. The ‘procedures’ had to be planned out so that the function of the consequence would either increase or decrease the frequency of the behavior. While the ‘naturally accruing’ consequence is something that almost seems random or daily, like it wouldn’t have as big of an effect compared to ‘procedures’. Two, valence. I thought it was simply likes and dislikes, but instead it has to do with pleasurable or aversive outcomes. Three, self-reinforcement. Each person is different and how they self-reinforce their own behavior would tell why one person persists in one behavior and another person does not.
Like the chapter before, it gave the opportunity to the reader to be active. It’s easy to read twenty pages of black and white terminology then forget it once you put the book down. But if you actually have to use what you have read, apply it to whatever situation/exercise is given, and then write it down. I feel like I have actually learned something instead of just read it.
This chapter got into the more complicated terms which had me re-reading some of the paragraphs again slowly. These are the kids of terms that you think you know what it means, then you take another second to think back because the words can be misleading. ‘Reinforcement’ and ‘punishment’ can change their meaning depending on if there is a ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ in front of it.
This chapter didn’t change my perception, but I was somewhat happy to go over the terms again. I remember some of the material from other classes, so it was nice to review and have it in my notes for future reference.
1.1
Prior to emitting a reading response on section 1.1 I had emitted a behavior of enrolling in this course prior, however I do remember first thinking that behavior modification was most likely some type of psychotherapy used to modify or manipulate a behavior. More specifically I thought it to be a tool to change aversive behavior; it didn’t occur to me that it could be used as a tool for positive behavior as well.
The first thing I will remember from section 1.1 is the ABC concept. It’s the basic building block in behavior modification. I also will remember that it is not linear in that it’s simply not the antecedent then the behavior then the consequence. There is a full circle happening where the consequence will have some type of impact on the antecedent. The second thing I will remember is the vocabulary terms pleasurable and aversive. Re-reading through this section elicited a remembering behavior of first learning these terms and getting comfortable using them in place of positive and negative. Lastly, I will remember the vocabulary terms elicit and emit. These terms continue to stick in my head and have become fairly easy to use as I become more familiar and comfortable with behavioral speak.
I can’t say there is one particular part that elicited a more pleasurable response while reading this section than any other part. The section as a whole was very helpful while I emitted a learning behavior on behavior modification. I was able to get a good base of information down before getting to in depth. One thing I found to be slightly agitating was some of the exercises or practice examples. Although they are extremely helpful to become familiar with the concepts of behavior modification, they became a little monotonous.
After emitting a reading behavior on section 1.1 my initial impression of behavioral modification has changed slightly. I enjoy the fact that manipulation, although we as a society have come to use it as aversive language, is something that is not always used in such a way. It really amazes me how simply you can change or alter ones behavior simply through understanding and applying schedules of reinforcement or punishment. I would have to say it almost seems like having a magic power or gift.
1.2
The first thing I will emit a remembering behavior on from section 1.2 is the concept of reinforcement and punishment. At first the terms seem very simply and you may want to take them for granted, however once you start determining whether it’s positive or negative reinforcement or punishment things get a touch deeper. I consider these two terms to also be part of the building blocks of behavior modification and I can say I use them, especially with my employees more often now that I know how to correctly administer a procedure. The second thing I will take away from this section is the concept of naturally occurring versus procedures when it comes to reinforcement and punishment. The break down and examples in the text really helped me emit a leaning behavior on the subtle differences between the two. Lastly I will emit a remembering behavior on the concept of self-reinforcement. I rather enjoyed this section because I often find myself in situations where I need to self-reinforce in order to accomplish goals or obligations. I also found it interesting that because of self-reinforcement normal punishment procedures may not work, as in the example from the text. Normal punishment did not work because the man telling the joke was using self-reinforcement.
One thing I really liked about section 1.2 was just getting more comfortable in knowing the terminology within behavior modification. For example learning the difference among reinforcement, reinforce, reinforcing. The same goes for punishment, this is essential that we learn this now because it forms the base for the rest of the course. There wasn’t anything I really disliked from the section but I did seem to have a bit of trouble emitting a learning behavior on negative reinforcement. For some reason this concept took me a little longer to wrap my head around than the others.
This section has again shown me that there is many levels to behavior modification and by manipulating the slightest variable or introducing a reinforcement or punishment procedure can have drastic results. I can say that these sections have elicited me to use more behavioral speak not only in the classroom and while doing homework, but also in day to day activities.
Good morning. Any comments after this are considered late. Have a great day!
Prior to reading this chapter I didn’t really know what to think about behavior modification other than that you try to get a person or animal to do what you want them to do somehow, basically modifying their behavior like the title of the class says.
Obviously the first thing I remember from the chapter are the ABC’s of Behavior. A being antecedent, like the context; B being the behavior; and C being the Consequences (of said behavior).
The second thing I remember are the terms pleasurable and aversive. I think I remember them best because I already kind of know what they mean, so it’s easier for me to put them in place of using positive or negative. Although, I’m sure I’ll still slip up and say the consequence was positive or negative when I should be using pleasurable or aversive consequence.
The third thing I remember how everything is really connected. What I mean is, by doing the exercises; I noticed that there really is a correlation between every part of the ABC set up. It’s kind of like algebra. As long as you’re given two of the variables you can figure out a version of the third. As long as you’re given A and B, A and C, or C and B you can figure out the missing variable. I think that’s pretty cool.
I really liked that I could link the ABC thing to math in a way. I’ve always been really good at math, especially algebraic math. Using math made it a little easier for me to understand and grasp just how the ABC method works. It’s nice to be able to connect something you’re learning to something you already know.
It’s hard for me to come up with something I disliked from 1.1. The only thing I can say I somewhat dislike is that I have to learn to replace words like negative and positive with words like pleasurable and aversive. It’s just going to be hard to get used to at first I think. Other than that I haven’t really found anything I’m too sour about.
I guess I’m not entirely sure that it’s “changed” anything, because I didn’t really know what to think about it in the first place. However, it certainly has added to my knowledge of behavior modification and I like that it seems simple, but I wonder if (like the last question in the section asks) it’s a bit more complex than just using ABCs or is behavior more complex than that. It’s strange to think that our behaviors are so simply determined.
The first think I remember from this part of the chapter (1.2) I read are the reinforcement and punishment. The first thing I thought was oh joy more behavior lingo. But because I already knew what reinforcement and punishment meant it wasn’t that bad. Reinforcement is used to increase frequency while punishment is used to decrease frequency of a behavior. I liked the example of reinforcing the roommate to do their dishes.
The second thing I remember Valence. Again I have to remember to use words like pleasurable or desirable and undesirable or aversive instead of positive and negative again. Basically pleasurable valence is something we have placed great value on and we like it. On the other had aversive valence is something we have placed very little value on and we don’t like it very much. I’ve always knew that this (valence) happened, but now I have a word to use to describe what is happening when something is liked or disliked.
The third thing I remember is the whole self-reinforcement concept. The way I look at self-reinforcement and punishment is kind of through weight control. I believe I made this connection, because I am the typical young, white, female who gets constantly reminded by media and society that I have to be skinny, not too skinny; fit, but not too strong; and so on. So in order one might try to reach this goal is to give themselves reinforcements or punishments for meeting a goal or not. Basically when one is self-reinforcing one is the reinforcer who is reinforcing with a reinforcement or punisher who is punishing with a punishment.
I really like that there are places to fill out ourselves. It’s making it a bit easier for me to understand how everything works and fits together. By doing the little activities on the page I actually have to think about it and why I put whatever I put. It makes it seem like I’m not just reading a chapter and thinking about other things at the same time (which I’m guilty of doing a lot). Making us write and give examples makes me feel like I’m learning and understanding more.
One thing I really disliked about this chapter is that it’s so hard to remember that antecedents can be anything; it doesn’t have to be a certain place. An antecedent can be anything. It’s just hard to grasp the concept of what exactly can be the antecedent. Because it basically seems like the antecedent can be anything and you just have to wing it.
This has changed what I thought behavior modification is because it’s way more complex than I thought it was in the first chapter. Forget what I said about the ABCs of behavior being simple!
I retain from 1.1 that in context of this course; A implies antecedent, B implies behavior, and C implies consequence
I maintain that in context of my individual person: I implies Individual
I feel behavior modification is a shy attempt at potential modifications in one's behavior, not exactly designed to influence one’s own values. The implied “control” is a fallacy, I feel. Control is a dying leaf on a strong tree rooted in inspiration, I feel. I feel that a person may not take kindly to being told of being ‘controlled,’ unless by one’s own self for the sake of one’s own value identity. I think the “simplicity” of the ABCs overlooks bias and discrimination on behalf of an assuming individual “observer” who may likely have not even been inspired by professional experts in understanding and valuing individual confidentiality, relationship boundaries, safety, mandatory reporting, bystander weakness, and alike.
I do not feel observations should leave oneself one’s self until individual researchers are certified in how to document objectively, with respect and dignity. I feel strongly about these issues. {} and {} get modified. Safety and Confidentiality get valued, by one, by me.
I gather in 1.2 that ‘popular’ reinforce are ice cream, candy, and money. No one has sex, apparently. Just joking, laughed, but seriously, have sex and talk about it, safely.
I really enjoyed page and discussion on self-reinforcement, I was relieved to read this and look forward to more bound in one’s self or myself. I have privacy concerns. Can we use case studies or personal experience accounts for Thursday blogs instead of whotube? I think so. Thanks!! 8/29/12 @ 1726 hrs. Centric Time. Op. Mine Own.
I find behavior modification interesting. The knowledge that everything we do, every behavior we emit, is controlled by something in our environment is on the verge of overwhelming. Stopping and going at a stoplight, immediately checking your cell when the obnoxious ring goes off, and leaping from your desk in high school as the bell rings: these are all conditioned behaviors that we all exhibit. Our lives are filled with stimuli waiting to elicit certain responses from us.
The first section of this chapter was pretty basic (as it is the first section of the first chapter), and I feel covered the ABCs of behavior well. They are something I will remember for the rest of my life, most likely. In addition, I will remember to use the terms “pleasurable” and “aversive” in lieu of “positive” and “negative”. This will make life easier, I’m sure, as “positive” and “negative” are used namely to describe punishment and reinforcement. The third thing I’ll keep in mind for the rest of this class and probably my career is the idea that if we control the environment we can control the behavior. I’m already familiar with this idea, of course. But, I can already feel that this course will engrain it in me forever.
One thing I didn’t like about this section is the broad application of the word antecedent. This section seemed to use it as a synonym to “environment” or “location”. I grasp that the environment cues the behavior, and is therefore a part of the antecedent, but I do not believe that just because I was in the market I paid for food and brought it home. I guess, I feel that the examples themselves were rather broad. I’d rather say:
Antecedent: stomach growls
Behavior: look in fridge for makings of a meal
Consequence/Antecedent: realize I need to go shopping
Behavior: go to the market
Consequence/Antecedent: find foods to bring home
Behavior: pay cashier for my items
Consequence: bring food home
Is it possible I’m just being picky? Most likely. I can do that sometimes. On that same note, I would like to say that I find it interesting we can predict the behavior if we know the antecedent and consequence. This will be a very useful concept whenever I need to design experiments.
Before reading the chapter, I knew behavior modification would basically be about manipulating yourself or others. I have never had a problem with the idea of manipulation, the way I see it, is there will always be some type of manipulation. Even now using the computer the color schemes, where things are placed on the screen, and even how the keys on the keyboard are placed. It is all manipulating; the color schemes are designed to catch my attention to certain things. The keys on the keyboard are placed in specifically the order they are because it has been broken down into the easiest way my brain can memories and be able to type the fastest. I believe most things from the time we are born we are being manipulated and manipulating others. For example as babies we would cry when we are hungry, to bring attention to us and let our parents know it’s time to feed us.
The things I will remember from this chapter is the basic break down of behavior modification ABC, Antecedent, behavior, consequence. I have never really thought that behavior can be broken down so simple. Although I am sure there are instances that are much more complex.
What I liked most about this chapter was its examples it was easy for me to understand, the layout of the graphs and most importantly the space that is provided for examples this makes it more hands on. I found it interesting to learn the new vocabulary although, it might take some getting use to I can see how it is important to use specific words. For example, using the terms pleasurable and aversive instead of positive or negative to describe consequences.
The chapter didn’t so much change what I originally thought about behavior modification, but it did change how I perceive observations when I do observe others behavior.
After reading section 1.1, please respond to the following questions.
I thought behavior modification would be a class about how to manipulate people with behavioral tendencies, and complex theories. The human mind is a powerful thing and trying to manipuliate it will take time and patience with certain behaviors. 1. The first thing I will remember about the chapter is the 3 steps of ancedent, behavior, and consequence. They are the basis of understanding and changing behavior in people. 2. Another important thing I learned in this chapter was the jargon with words we use to understand behavior with positive and negative behaviors. This helps us understand without being confused with our terminology of positive (pleasure) and negative (aversive). 3. Another important lesson learned is how the basis of human behavior can have multiple outcomes with different situations. I like how we can reduce many things down to a basic structure to understand and change our behavior. I do not like that people can and have been manipulated be others and it is a thing that is done on a regular basis. This has changed my outlook on behavior and I have taken steps to utilize these lessons to start beavhioral changes in me and others.
This chapter had a lot of useful information and 1.punishment and reinforcement are strong ideas to identify and sway a person. 2. Some more words of positive and negative valence which are pleasure, attract, desirable which give a better understanding of positive valence. The negative are unpleasant, undesirable, and aversive. These help to understand and not get confused with other meanings of the words. 3. Self-reinforcements are behaviors that have been reinforced by yourself. I like this chapter because it goes more into depth about behavior.
Prior to this chapter I was thinking of behavior modification in terms of a specific designated and structured type of therapy. In other words I thought of it as something done in a designated time and place that was purposeful and deliberate. I thought of it like that probably because I’ve learned about behavior modification in the context of counseling practice and specific theory.
One thing that stood out to me and that I will remember the most actually was throughout the text and the overall purpose of the first chapter and that was that we all participate and use behavior modification every day. This to me was a…well ‘duh’ moment. Something that never occurred to me but once stated I could see wherever I went. Another concept that I will remember is another fairly simple idea but one that made a lot of sense when made concrete; was that all behaviors we emit have a consequence and the context or antecedent can affect or change the behavior we emit. Along with this concept is that environment or the antecedent can actually determine what our behavior will be or likely be. I was having bizarre thoughts at the time of this exercise which actually worked to my benefit later when I reread my responses as they helped to make the ideas more concrete. So for example I’m in the market and the behavior I emit is to shop which will have the consequence of having food to take home. On the other hand while I am the market and I decide to go against what the environment tells me I should do or how I should behave and I bring in a llama things will go decidedly different as I will get kicked out (and possibly admitted). Then I will hopefully learn that in the environment of the market it is not ok to bring in a llama and if I want the consequence of bringing home food I will have to emit a more acceptable behavior that will elicit the consequence I will like.
In this chapter I really liked the first question about manipulation. It really made me think about what behavior modification really is. I think the word manipulation brings up a negative connotation but it was interesting to view it in the context of something we do every day, such as say thank you and smile when someone makes us breakfast. I really can’t say there was once particular thing I disliked about the chapter. Like I mentioned before, my thinking on behavior modification changed from seeing it as one event in therapy to an everyday inescapable reality that all behaviors are essentially created and controlled by context (antecedent) and consequence.
The things I will remember about the next chapter are very inter-related. The whole idea of punishment and reinforcement being a natural part of our everyday life is kind of amazing concept for me to grasp. I guess I mostly viewed punishment and reinforcement in terms of parenting but to see them as ways our behavior is controlled and changed is well…kind of freaky. I guess I don’t like to think that I can be controlled by anyone or anything but to put it the viewpoint of a naturally occurring phenomena in nature as well as human interaction its very cool. Another component to punishment and reinforcement that I will remember is that something that could be a punisher, when taken away can work to reinforce and likewise with a reinforcer. It was just a different way of looking at these processes that hadn’t ever really occurred to me. And again to go along with the same concepts before the introduction of the idea of reinforcement and reinforcer as being different was something that stood out to me as being an important concept to grasp. If anything I disliked the seemingly repetitiveness of concepts but I understand the reason for this…especially as we are all about behavior modification. I think this chapter has helped to change how I see punishment as not a parenting procedure or to be seen as a negative consequence but rather another tool in behavior modification.