Reading Activity Week #4 (Due Tuesday)

1.5
This section will elicit a memory of three new ideas.

1. My mind has been manipulated into eliciting a memory of the idea of functional behaviors, or what a specific behavior is able to do/accomplish. It is a way that a person can emit a self evaluation to figure out multiple meanings behind one action. It is essentially the idea that every action/behavior could have been emitted for multiple reasons. The same action can elicit multiple reasons for occurring. I will elicit my personal memory of this concept because of the examples that we wrote on the lines that followed the text.

2. The first term introduced in this section of chapter 1 will also cause me to elicit a memory response for the concept of topographical levels. The idea that behaviors can be interpreted or defined based on what behavior is emitted on the surface. It’s the idea that some things may appear to emit an action that looks similar, yet the purpose of that action or the “function”, in reality, is different. I will elicit the memory of topography because I can relate it to the concept of a topographical map and the idea that topography represents the way things look.

3. The book’s emitting of the term behavioral class will also elicit a learned memory. I learned that behaviors can be sorted into various classes based on things like their function or topography. The example emitted by the book was a wave. Waves may appear basically the same topographically, thus they are categorized in a behavioral class together based on the topography they elicit. However, they may emit different functions. Thus, they can be categorized based on their functional. The eliciting of the wave example will help me to emit the behavior of remembering the idea of classifying behaviors topographically and functionally.

I really like the behaviors as they helped me elicit a memory of the text through my own personal examples and physically writing the concepts. I specifically liked the activity that had us emit a writing behavior of the target behavior of all specific things, such as washing dishes. That helped me to think about how specific and to the point the target behaviors really need to be.-especially in terms of the elicited example of John, the teacher in Maryland. I also like the summaries elicited at the end of each section. They help me organize my thoughts.

I found the writing exercise to be a little redundant which emitted a behavior of procrastination and annoyance. I dislike the verbatim nature of the writing activities-specifically of the idea of target behavior. While I realize that I stated that the focus on the idea of target behavior helped me, it helped me in the first writing section. I didn’t feel that it was necessary to elicit that many sections to write about the specifics. I think that the concept was too simple to require that much attention.

2.1
1. The general concept of discriminative stimuli will be the concept that I elicit a memory for more than any other. This is because it was more difficult for me to grasp initially. I will emit the act or behavior of remembering that the discriminative stimuli are essentially the antecedent. It basically sets the stage for the behavior that will specifically be reinforced or punished. In other words, I will elicit the memory of the idea that the discriminative stimuli are responsible for the increase of decrease of the frequency at which any given, specific behavior occurs-it is what helps to regulate behavior.

2. I will elicit the memory of the four reasons for a change in behavior. I will emit this behavior because the examples were easy to related to and (in the case of the reason-illegal), humorous. I liked the joke of saying that it didn’t even seem necessary to give an example. The writing activities that followed the text of the four reasons were very relatable. The ability to relate made it feel like it was pertinent and I emitted a great effort in remembering the knowledge. I especially liked the reason that it “bothered us”. That was a simple, no-brainer idea, but it really elicited an idea that helped to put everything into perspective.

3. I will also elicit the memory of reinforcement and punishment in terms of natural occurrence. I emitted the learning behavior of realizing that reinforcement is much more effective than punishment. The section about Skinner help to inforce the concept that new behavior is better learned through reinforcement. Punishment may help decrease an already occurring action, but reinforcement helps to teach new behaviors. He also presented the idea that punishment may simply display undesired behaviors. This concept with elicit a longer lasting memory because I can apply it to my life more easily than some of the other concepts presented.

I liked writing the examples about things that personally both myself and how I would change them. It helped me elicit a memory of the text through my own personal examples and physically writing the concepts. I really liked how I was able to elicit a plan for better myself while completely the assigned work for this chapter.

In terms of eliciting a felling of dislike toward a part of this chapter, I don’t feel that anything caused me to emit disdain. I really liked this section and I found it helpful. The only part that I found aversive was the section that had us restate the behaviors we wanted to decrease and then manipulated them into a way of reinforcement. I found it helpful, but I didn’t like having to flip back through the pages and elicit a new response for a previously answered question.

Terms used: manipulated, eliciting, functional behaviors, behavior, action, emitted, elicit, response, topographical, behavioral classes, functions, target behavior, discriminative stimuli, antecedent, reinforced, punished, concepts, and aversive.

Section 1.5
Prior to reading this chapter behavior modification in my opinion is confusing and not very easy to understand especially when learning all the terminology and the right way to disgust target behaviors. Another thing was manipulation in behavior modification. I have never thought about how we manipulate almost anything and everything we do. Three things I'll remember from section 1.5:

1.) After reading the chapter I became more familiar with the behavioral principles. My idea of behavioral classes is a specific behavior that needs to be specified as a target behavior.

2.)In the book topographical and functional were defined and described. These two are very similar, which makes it a little confusing to differentiate between the two. Topographical means the way the behaviors look. The book uses a wave as an example of topographical class of behavior. Functional means what the behaviors do or accomplish, for example opening a door there are many ways to doing so but they all belong to the functional class.

3.)The concept of target behaviors is sometimes hard to understand for me in different examples. The concept is to understand the context of each behavior that is being emitted. And to be very specific about choosing the behavior that needs to modified or manipulated.

I liked the example of the UNI student that took a behavioral modification class and went on to teaching, using some of the techniques learned. This example helped me understand target behaviors better and how specific they need to be. I didn't dislike anything in this chapter. I'm just taking everything in and trying to learn chapter by chapter.

Section 2.1
1.) I liked how we were given a chance to really teat ourselves and show what we have learned throughout the first couple chapters with the list of 10 behavioral terms. I was shocked when I was actually able to write down ten of them and still have more that I knew.

2.) I liked explanation for the naturally occurring punishment. I was not aware of how often the punishment and reinforcement occur, but basically towards everything each and everyone of us do.

3.) I really appreciated the fill in part for the behaviors we want to increase, decrease, and along with the target behavior ones too. This just really made it lot easier for me to put aspects of my life into the examples. Also gave me a chance to really think about self-reinforcement.

Like I stated above I really liked how we were given the chance to really relate back to our own lives and think about what we behaviors we need to emit in order to change. I didn't dislike anything from this chapter. I feel I cant dislike something I didn't already know. Because the only knowledge I have of it is what is in the book. Reading this chapters made me think about how to be more specific when it comes to modifying or manipulating behaviors. Also being aware of the different behavioral classes.

Terminology: Manipulate, Modify, Punishment, Reinforcement, Self-reinforcement, Target behaviors, Behavioral principles, Behavioral classes, Topographical, Functional, Concept, Emitted

1.5
1. Prior to reading this chapter I believed that behavior modification dealt mainly with the ABC's and reinforcement and punishment as a result of them. I have started to understand the different circumstances that go along with these such as positive and negative being giving something or taking something away. My ideas of the subject continue to grow with each chapter that I read.
2. From this section I will remember the difference between functional and topographical. It is easy to remember that functional is behaviors that serve the same function and along with that topographical behavior look similar but elicit different responses. The next topic I will remember is the talk about target behaviors. I previously knew that a target behavior is the behavior you are aimed at changing but I recognize now that it is very important that it be specific so that all parties involved understand what is being manipulated. The final thing I will remember is that a baseline is used to measure the effectiveness of a target behavior. If the behavior is not measured prior to manipulation there will be no way to know if the manipulation was effective in eliciting the desired behavior.
3. From this section I really liked the diagram at the end describing the four outcomes of trying to reinforce a target behavior. It made it easier to elicit a behavior of remembering the four outcomes that come from reinforcing a behavior.
4. I didn't like how superstitious behavior was mentioned slightly but not really explained. I get the general idea about it, but now I am just curious as to the specifics of how it comes about.
5. As with previous chapters this one has not changes my views on behavior modification, but simply expanded on the ideas I previously had. I am understanding all of the terms that come along with the ABC's and reinforcement and punishment, as well as how to make them more effective. It is still a learning process and there is always more to add to what I already know.

2.1
1. One thing that I will be able to remember is that reinforcement can happen naturally. It makes sense to me because we are constantly at the will of our environment and it causes us to elicit different responses. We must shape ourselves to meet the needs of nature. The second thing I will remember is that it is more beneficial to reinforce that it is to punish. People are more in favor of consequences that a favorable than aversive ones, so it makes sense that reinforcement would work better. The third thing I finally grasp is that establishing operations are linked to the consequence of a behavior by things such as satiation and deprivation. I understand now where it fits into the behaviors.
2. I like how the terms discriminative stimulus and establishing operations were fit into the ABC's. It makes it more clear to me that a discriminative stimulus goes with the antecedent and the establishing operation goes with the consequence. I had previously mixed these two up in my mind.
3. One thing I found aversive was that the same behavior can be associated with different antecedents and consequences defending on the context of the situation. It seems obvious that it takes place but it can be very confusing at the same time.
4. One thing that changed after reading this section was that I understand now that it is more favorable to reinforce a behavior than to punish it. I used to think of them as equal ways of manipulating a behavior but reinforcement seems to works better.

Terms: Reinforcement, punishment, aversive, establishing operations, functional, topographical, discriminative stimulus, satiation, extinction, consequence, antecedent, elicit, manipulation, target behavior, baseline, superstitious behavior

Section 1.5
Prior to reading this chapter, I am beginning to think that using behavior terms to describe an action or to break down a behavior is actually pretty tough, which is a change from my initial thoughts when first starting the class. It just doesn’t come natural to use words like “manipulate the refrigerator” instead of “open the refrigerator”. The first thing I will remember after reading this chapter is the difference between a behavior and behavioral class. A behavioral class is much more of a general description such as saying he is running. When you describe a behavior you have to get much more in depth like how fast he was running or whether he was sprinting of jogging. Another key idea that I am going to remember is the difference between functional and topographical behavioral classes. Functional is just what the behavior does or accomplishes and topographical is how the behavior looks. I also learned the importance to defining a target behavior that is specific enough that anyone can recognize it. By doing so it makes it easier to record the behavior, punish or reinforce it, establish a baseline, and set a clear goal. I really like the use of examples to explain concepts in the chapter. I especially liked the example of waving to describe the difference between topographical and functional behavior classes. There wasn’t really anything in the chapter that I disliked. It was clear and concise which elicited easy reading. This chapter made me realize how description and precise I have to be when describing targeted behaviors.

Section 2.1
I will remember that punishments can be natural. It never occurred to me that punishment can be natural. Whenever I think of punishment, I always picture punishment being put into effect by an individual. I will also remember that we should use reinforcement instead of punishment whenever possible. Punishment simply displaces the behavior. It is actually surprisingly easy to change a punishment strategy into reinforcement. The last thing I will remember from the chapter is checking my ABCs by using “In context of…” to make sure that the whole equation works out. I disliked the review that was added at the end of the chapter. While it was a good refresher, I feel I could have just went back and reread the old chapters. Reading this chapter changed my opinion on using punishment as a first option in behavioral modification and especially in context of training an animal because that is normally what you do when the pet does something wrong.

Terms: Behavior, Manipulate, Behavioral Class, Functional, Elicited, Topographical, Targeted Behavior, Baseline Punishment, Reinforcement, Natural Punishment, Behavioral Modification, Context

Prior to reading the next sections in behavioral modifications I have found it a little difficult to understand the terminology but, using it more often with my peers or writing out sentences have helped me understand the terminology. Even though I find myself having to go back and refer to the definitions nonetheless it helps that the terminology is repeated throughout the sections. When I first heard about this class I had a preconception that this class would be about why individuals behaved the way they do, but after these past 4 weeks it has become clear this class is more in depth on behavior and how we can manipulate it. These first sections of our text elicited my view on how I observe behaviors among my peers and myself.

One thing I will remember are the terms topographically and functional, my friend and I emited a long discussion about the differences between the two. Until I finally understood what each one meant, topographical is a behavior that seems the same on the surface and functional can be considered as the category of the behavior such as unlocking a door v.s unlocking a restroom door. Secondly, I will remember how important it is to define target behaviors. Target behaviors are the behaviors that you wish to manipulate, a good target behavior is one that clearly states the topography, and the function in the context that it occurs. The more elaborate your target behavior the better, if the target behavior is not clearly defined it will then be subject to misclassifying the behavior. Third term I will remember from this section is inter-observer agreement. I recognize this term from previous classes such as research methods and clinical psychology. Inter-observer agreement refers to how well multiple observers can point out the same type of target behavior; this is another reason why having a good target behavior is important. Again like the sections before this one I enjoy being able to interact with the terminology.

2.1

First thing I will remember from this section is how reinforcement and punishment can be applied to everyday life. For example natural occurring punishment such as getting a sun burn at the beach when you forget to apply sunscreen.

Secondly I will remember the connection between the discriminative stimulus, antecedent, and elicit; they all have something to do with emitting a particular behavior. For example the discriminative stimuli are antecedents in that they tell us what behaviors will be reinforced or punished.

Third is the breakdown of the reasons why someone might change another’s or their own behavior. 1) They bother us 2) they bother others, 3) they may lead to problems, and 4.) They are illegal.

I actually really enjoyed this section of the book. It was very interesting learning about topographically vs functional.

One thing I will remember from this chapter is about the topographically vs. functional. Behaviors can look alike but the function of the behavior might not mean the same thing. Just like the example you gave about waving

Another thing that I will remember is that target behavior has to be very percice. If its not then we may not know what target behavior we are talking about.

Finally the last thing i will remmeber in this section is what intervention means. In the section it says that intervention occurs when the punishment is administered after the behavior occurs.

One thing I didnt like in this section was that the term inter-observer agreement confused but so if we could go over that in class that would be great so i can be more clear about it. Otherwise i really enjoyed the section in this chapter.

2.1

I felt like this section was a lot of review of what we already have learned plus a little bit more of information.

One thing I learned from this section were the four reasons to change a behavior. 1. they bother us. 2. they bother others. 3. they may lead to problems 4. they are illegal

Another thing i will remember is that Satiation reduces the efficacy of the reinforcement and that deprivation increases the efficacy of the reinforcer

Finally that context is a powerful antecendent.

There wasnt anything that I didnt really like about the chapter i liked that it kinda reviewed what we have learned and added a little bit more information. Overall I liked both of the sections that we had to read and actually learned a lot of information as well as reviewed it all.

Section 1.5

1. Previous to reading this section I had already learned that the target behavior was the behavior of interest you were trying to manipulate. However I don’t think I fully comprehended how precise you had to be when describing or defining the target behavior. Not only do you have to explain the behavior topographically, which is how the behavior looks, but you also have to explain what the behavior is trying to accomplish, which is functionally defining it. On top of these two descriptions the context in which the target behavior is occurring should also be described.

2. A new concept that I learned and will try to remember is the baseline concept. This is when the behavior that is going to be either reinforced, punished, or put through extinction is recorded to see how frequently it is occurring. This provides a type of starting point for the intended behavior modification process to begin.

3. Another new concept I will remember is intervention. This is when a consequence is administered after the target behavior occurs. I had no idea that when a reinforcement or punishment was applied there was a term for when this occurred.

I liked the concept of inter-observer agreement. This is basically where it all comes together into play. It is the knowledge of the target behavior for everyone involved. This is also why describing the target behavior so precisely is so important. When the target behavior is clearly defined and it is being observed, everyone who is observing should get the same number of times the behavior occurred. When they do it is considered high inter-observer agreement. We are working with this in my research methods class right now. Each group had to functionally describe what gossip looked like then we had to go out and observe a small group and record how many times these behaviors occurred.

I disliked the concept of superstitious behaviors. This is when a target behavior is reinforced both when it actually occurs and sometimes when it does not. The superstitious behaviors are just unwanted behaviors that randomly come about because of random reinforcement. I just don’t like the name superstitious behaviors for this concept. It doesn’t seem like it should fit.

Section 2.1

1. The first thing that jumped out to me in this section was the reasons people want to change behaviors. They were because the behavior bothered the individual, the behavior bothered others, the behavior may have led to trouble, or the behavior was illegal. These reasons seem like common sense and I probably could have came up with my own reasons very similar but until I saw those in the section I never really gave it much thought.

2. The concept I’m going to try to remember is discriminate stimuli. This is when a certain stimuli affect the likelihood of an individual emitting a certain behavior. The discriminate stimuli is an antecedent. The book gave the example as a classroom being a discriminate stimuli for yelling loser because it decreases the likelihood of someone emitting this behavior in this environment.

3. I also will remember establishing operations and its effect on consequences. If an individual has reached satiation for the reinforcement the consequence will have little to no effect, and vice versa if the individual is deprived of the reinforcement it will be much more effective.

I like the idea of taking the reasons we want to change a behavior and making them happier as to implement more reinforcement then punishment. The reinforcement version included the behavior makes us feel better about ourselves, makes us more pleasant to be around, keeps us out of trouble, and are legal.

I disliked how the entire section seemed to be review. It was good practice but it made it extremely hard to find stuff to wright about.

Terms: target behavior, topographical, functional, baseline, behavior, reinforced, punished, extinction, behavior modification, intervention, inter-observer agreement, superstitious behaviors, discriminate stimuli, emit, antecedent, establishing operations, consequence, satiation, deprivation

1.5
Prior to reading this section I had no idea of the different levels (topographical and functional). I always thought it was more about modifying and understanding behavior not classifying it under specific levels. I also never realized how important it is to be specific when it comes to defining the behavior correctly, but I can see now after reading this chapter how it can have an affect on everything. One thing that I will remember topographical behavior class: the way things look. Having the example about the hand waving was very helpful in better understanding the term. This stood out to me because I have never really thought about classifying behavior in this way. Another thing that I will remember is target behavior, and how important it is to be precise and specific. The example about the teacher trying to correct the "disruptive behavior" was helpful because it really made you try and pinpoint exactly what the disruptive behavior was especially if your trying to correct it you need to know what it is first off. Lastly, understanding the importance of the context of the behavior. For instance, in a previous section we talked about how telling a joke at a funeral would be inappropriate. Also standing up and walking out of the classroom would be acceptable during a fire drill but not during class. Context matters. One thing that I really liked that was included in this chapter was the little graph/chart about behavior/reinforcers. Being able to see a diagram of it and not just reading words from text helped me better understand it. One thing that I wish would have gone into more detail about would have been topographical classes of behavior. It was difficult for me to come up with multiple examples of this. After reading this I now know that there is such a wide range of information there is to learn about behavior modification, and that its not all about reinforcement, etc.

1.5: Three thingss I will remember:

1. I will remember the fact that there are different behavioral classes that can be either functional or topogrpahical. They realte, but mean different things. I will remember this when describing target behaviors, keeping in mind some behaviors appear the same (topographiclly), but have a different functions.

2. I related baseline to the bases in baseball. Your starting point is at a base. In the behavioral world the baseline is the starting point which is recorded before a procedure is inflicted.

3. The importance of inter observer agreement will stick with me because it plays such a huge role in the succcess of a behavioral procedure. Confusion could occur on both ends if observers are not in line with one another.

I liked how this section reviwed extinction. It cleared up how it works. I now know it is a possible consequence of bad inter observer agreement.

I disliked the vauge mention of superstitious behavior. I may have a different, and not so accurate definition, in my mind, which caused it to appear vauge.

2.1

1. B.F Skinner believed people learn nothing from punishment. I will remember this because I found it interesting in the sense that I personally would not come to that concluion naturally thus far. I can see why he thinks this way, but in my mind, I'd have said people do learn from it.

2. I will remember differential reinforcement of the other because I will think of it in terms of making the usually punishable behavior into something different, different being reinforcing.

3. I will remember to link signs with discrimitive stimuli because in my mind they essentially are "signs". They tell us what to do. People and environments do this all the time. Street signs are just very blunt versions of this.

I liked that we were asked to use behaviors we personally wanted to change. It got me thinking about ways I could modify.

I dislike the concept of establishing operations. I keep thinking that I understand it fully, then I misuse it when trying to put in my own mind what they are exactly. I need to further consider this concept.

Prior to reading this chapter, I was very confused about behavior modification. It is a confusing topic and there is always more and more terminology that is used to define it. I think by continuing to read each of these sections, I am starting to understand the meaning of behavior modification more and more.

section 1.5

The three things that I will remember from this chapter:
1. Behaviors that look similar are topographical. I found this very interesting and very true. An example would be that waving could mean hello or goodbye but it can also mean that you are waving to get someones attention or waving a big away from you.

2. Behaviors that lead to the same outcome are called functional classes. This means that when you go to turn the knob on a door, we're not always trying to open the door, we may be trying to lock it.

3. A good target bahvaior is one that is defined clearly enough so that anyone would recognize it and would understand it when they saw it. An example that was used in the reading was students were talking to other students when they should be watching the teacher.

I really enjoyed the whole section. I feel like everything was explained well. i also liked that they used an example of a student that went to UNI. I found that to be interesting. There wasn't anything that I didn't like.

After every section I read, it doesn't really change my look on behavior modification, but more so expands the meaning of behavior modification because so many terms are being added to the meaning.

Section 2.1

1. There are 4 reasons to change a behavior. They are
1. They bother us
2. They bother others
3. They may lead to problems
4. They are illegal
Examples of each one would be:
1. She tried to eat all of her food but the portions were too big to she got uncomfortablly too full
2. Jake is always late for class
3. Studies show that if you cheat in high school, then you will cheat in college
4. Shoplifting is illegal

2. It is better to reinforce then to punish. BF skinnner said that new behaviors are more likely to be learned when reinforcement is used and that nothing is learned with punishment.

3. Discriminitive stimuli are antecedents in that they tell us what behaviors will be reinforced or punished. An example would be:
A- Stop sign
B- Stop
C- No ticket

I liked the part that involved the 4 reasons to change a behavior. I found that concept very interesting to read about and wonder if it works and if you can change a behavior because of it. There wasn't anything that I didn't dislike in this section.

Terms: Topographical, functional classes, target behavior, reinforcement, punishment, discriminitive stimuli, antecedents

1.5- Prior to reading this chapter I thought that behavior modification was more complex then what I had thought. Before this class began, I thought bmod was just about manipulating someone’s behavior. Once I started reading the chapters I realized that it is much more. The things that go into it, such as deprivation (withholding a stimulus that serves as reinforcement), or establishing operation (alteration of the environment which serves to increase the chance that the reinforcer is, indeed, reinforcing) are things I never imagined. These are just a small part of bmod but it opened my eyes to more things to come.
Three things that I will remember from reading this chapter are one, behavioral classes. I will remember this because I wasn’t well aware of it in the first place. As mentioned in the chapter these classes on the outside, may look the same but what actually may be happening may be different. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is using behaviors to correct behaviors. The example about John looking at disruptive behaviors to find a way to correct them makes me remember to look at specific behaviors(whether aversive or pleasurable) to find the one I want to change. The third thing I will remember from this chapter is the baseline. I will remember it because it is used to see if the behavior intervention has succeeded or failed. This means if you are to give a dog a treat after it has stopped barking, does the dog continue to stop barking once a treat is given?
One thing I really liked about this chapter again was the examples. The definitions and words that go along with the definitions can be pretty good but with the examples to follow and then having us test ourselves to see if we really know them, I feel that I am really learning and understanding the content.
There was nothing in this chapter that stuck out that I disliked. Everything I read seemed to make sense to me.
Before reading this chapter I didn’t know much about topographical behavior (the way it looks) or functional behavior (what it accomplishes). After reading this chapter I have more knowledge on the matter and understand what to look for.
2.1- Three things I will remember from reading this chapter are one, the 4 things that allow us to manipulate behavior which include, the behavior bothers us, the behavior bothers others, the behavior may lead to trouble, and the behavior is illegal. I will remember this because it is the answer to the biggest question so far, which is: Is manipulating someone ok? Turns out it is. The second thing I will remember from this chapter is that reinforcement (or punishment) needs to be firm. You cannot manipulate someone’s behavior if your strategies just work for the time being. For example if you give a dog a treat for sitting that treat has to be powerful enough to continue to work. The third thing I will remember is that you do not want to cause satiation. If you give the dog to many treats in a day for other things, a treat for sitting will not work as a firm reinforcement because he can get treats for different things.
One thing I really liked about this chapter was at the beginning where you had to remember the terms used so far. This was a good refresher for the start of the chapter and made it easier to pick up from where we left off in previous chapters.
The thing I found undesirable about the chapter was its reuse of writing exercises. When there is one or two I find them to work and help me understand what I had just read but after 4 or 5 I get annoyed and find them aversive.
This chapter has changed what I originally thought of behavior modification by showing me desirable outcomes of manipulating someone. For instance, if the behavior they are doing is illegal.

Terms: functional behavior, topographical behavior, aversive, desirable, pleasurable, reinforcement, punishment, manipulate, satiation, undesirable, deprive

Prior to reading 1.5, I was having some difficulty understand behavior class. Reading chapter 1.5 elicited me to ponder how I can describe behavior class specifically, consistently, accurately, and effective.

I feel the “a wave” example assisted for me to apply meaning and some guide for understanding behavior class. This example also assisted in illustrating the meanings of topographical and functional respectively and used in collaborating each their styles of description.

I like the “a wave” example, this happened to attend to my most confusing term, behavior class, directly and in a way the kept my attention.

I do not particularly enjoy the usage of [we] pronoun throughout most each page of this chapter. One can refrain from an individual’s sense of some exclusion ( ie: [we] [not we]) by utilizing less centered pronoun communication, I feel. Thanks!!

This chapter changed what I thought about behavior class information being presented in a knew individual way. How a person is inspired to classify behavior can be inspiring.

Term% behavior class, classify, topographical, functional, communication, sense, elicit

After reading section 2.1, please respond to the following questions.
What are three things I will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why?

I think I will remember elicit and emit. The hierarchical charts are nice visuals. I was reinforced that reinforcement is a process which is a fine way to put it for memory sake, I feel.

What was one thing that I really liked that was in the chapter?

I enjoyed the quick review sections offered to reflected in on some pedagogy from chapter 1.

Why? What was one thing that I disliked that was in the chapter? Why?

I did not value the example subject matter used in with the story lines and the behavior. I just don’t enjoy imagining anyone in those actual situations so it is difficult for me to desire use as a memorable analogy for learning.

How has reading the chapter changed what I originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

I learning about contingent perspectives and potential identification on a factor such as being an utmost in influence/inspiration, wow! Thanks!! –ebs- 9/11/12 @ 1947hrs. Centric Time

Term% elicit, emit, reinforced, reinforcement pedagogy, inspiration, contingent

Section 1.5

As I read this chapter, I won’t say what I thought about behavior modification but what I didn’t know about behavior modification. I didn’t know that behavior had topography. I also didn’t know that behavior had functional level. I have emitted behaviors in the past that I didn’t think mattered. Also, reading this chapter has reinforced me into being self-direct with my behavior and with friends.

The three things that I will remember are as followed:
I will remember that not all behaviors, while similar in their topography or surface structure lead to the same outcomes. I will also remember that when trying to categorize or call an individual disruptive, you have to know the target behavior, do not generalize the person. You have to elicit the behavior specifically. Last but not the least; I will remember that there are behavioral classes that describe patterns of behaviors. For an example, a kiss can be translated into many things. There can be a welcoming kiss, there can be a goodbye kiss and or etc, but all are categorized in one class known as “kiss.” The reason for remembering these three things are because, they help me better understand human behavior.

One thing that I really liked was the functional classes of behavior. The reason for my like is that, first of all, I did not know that a behavior can be emitted in a category. An example will be opening the door of a car. There are many ways a person can open a car door. Some have convertibles, some cars have doors that roll up, some have doors that are pulled and etc. All of these are in a functional group called “opening the door,” just as in the “kiss” group. I didn’t really see anything to dislike. Everything was interesting. One of my favorite terms was target behavior. I knew when a person is classified as disruptive that they must be doing something wrong. What didn’t really paid attention to before was that, in order to classify or call a person disruptive, you have to really know what exactly they are doing. I like this term because it makes a person be specific of the behavior that is being accused of. Such as, is the person chewing gum or yelling in class?

I would say that nothing really changed my thought negatively but positively. As I read these chapters, my thought about behavior modification increases. I am learning how to classify a behavior. It has also made me realized that I have been mad for nothing. This has helped me kind of tell why exactly I get mad sometimes over things. So, this is improving my knowledge.

Section 2.1
I will remember the definition of punishment in detail. I’ve always thought that punishment involves hurting a person in order for them to stop what they are doing. But I have come to learn that “punishment” involves a lot of things. Now I know that punishment involves the decrease of a behavior. For example, knowing that eating a lot of burgers can hurt your stomach; the punishment will be you reducing that behavior of eating a lot of burgers next time. So in order word, you punish the behavior for a healthy life style.
I will also remember the four reasons to change behavior. My reason for that is, even though we say that we are free to do anything, there are some things that when we do them, even with our free will, will affect us and the people around us.
I have the will to be late at work, but if I do, I am hurting myself into putting myself into a position of being fired.
I would remember differential reinforcement of other (DRO), which is when you change a behavior from one that would originally be punished into one that would be reinforced. An example will be my eating burger as previously stated, that telling someone they need to reduce the eating of the burger, you are actually telling to stop or it will affect them.

One thing I really liked from this chapter was that, as B.F. Skinner mentioned, that children need to be reinforced for a negative behavior to be extinct. For an example, if a child fights at school and are punished for that behavior, Skinner said that, it is not that the child will stop the behavior. But in order for them to stop that behavior, they have to be reinforced. His point is that, they will still fight outside of school. So, to make the behavior extinct, you have to reinforce them in giving them something for good behavior. I do not dislike anything; I am enjoying this use of terminologies.
Reading this chapter has helped me know discriminative stimulus. Because I do not want to get a bad grade from this course, I do my homework. So, discriminative stimulus affects the likelihood of me emitting my going to the library and doing my homework. So, this chapter has helped a lot into understanding terms and how to use them.

Terms used
Topography
Functional level
Emitted
Reinforced
Self-direct
Elicit
Behavioral classes
Classes of behavior
Emitted
Target behavior
Differential reinforcement of other (DRO),
Punished
Extinct
Negative

1.5
Prior to reading this chapter I have thought that behavior modification is interesting. And I still do, using the medical terminology more and more is starting to help me get used to it and become more familiar.
Three things I will remember from this chapter are:
1. Topographical behaviors are behaviors that look the same. Like stretching your arm in the air. To some people it may look like you are trying to get their attention but you could really just be stretching.
2. Functional classes are behaviors that lead to the same outcome. And its different from topographical behavior because they are actions that have the same outcome.
3. There are four outcomes that could happen when trying to reinforce a target behavior.
One thing that I really enjoyed about this chapter was how it went on to explain some of the newer terms. Like the difference between topographical and functional. How it has was nicely explained in the chapter.
In this chapter there wasn’t really anything that I disliked. There were a few things where I wished maybe there was a little more explanation of examples but there were enough that I got the point.
I am still learning when it comes to behavior modification. There isn’t much that I like to make assumptions about or think that I know because then I feel like it’s harder to accept new information.
2.1
Three things I will remember from this chapter are:
1. 1. There are 4 reasons to change a behavior: They bother us, they bother others, they may lead to problems, they are illegal.
2. It is better to reinforce than to punish. Because it is easier to recreate a none desirable behavior into a desired one.
3. Satiation and deprivation are establishing operations which can alter the effectiveness of the consequence. Satiation is more when a subject is satisfied and deprivation is more keeping a major reinforcement away from a subject so that reinforcement is more reinforcing.
What I liked about this chapter is how we put the terminology into a better perspective with the charts and examples.
One thing that I disliked about this chapter was that I was tired and wasn’t really into blogging. But nothing was wrong with the chapter I enjoy the book. But in general I don’t like how researchers starve animals for their research cause I wouldn’t want someone to starve me for their amusement.
Terminology: Satiation, deprivation, reinforcement, reinforcing, behavior, reinforce, punish, topographical, functional, target behavior.

Sec 1.5
I think behavior modification is something anyone who is willing to learn, can do. I also believe that behavior modification can greatly impact your own life, as well as those around you. Behavior modification is a useful tool when you are studying, or working; because it can help you increase, or decrease a certain TARGET BEHAVIOR. Behavior modification is something that everyone deals with in their daily lives, but they don't see it at modifying their behavior.
Three things I will remember from this section:
1) When you want to increase, or decrease a TARGET BEHAVIOR, you have to be extremely specific. Every detail matters, including the context. It also matters if the behavior is used for something else, and encouraged under different circumstances. For example talking in class might be a bad, or a good thing. It depends on the context the situation is in. If the students are taking in class during a lecture, when they are supposed to be listening; then that behavior is UNDESIRABLE. However, if the students are talking in class when they are supposed to be working in small groups, that behavior that was undesirable now becomes encouraged, and rewarded. The ANTECEDENT is very important, and can't be overlooked when you are attempting to alter someones behavior.
2) Behavior Classes vs. Behaviors: BEHAVIOR CLASSES are broken down into two similar categories. TOPOGRAPHICAL, and FUNCTIONAL behaviors. These seem the same, but are very different. Topographical behaviors are behaviors that look the same, the example used in the text was waving of hands. There are many different ways to wave a hand, but all of them look similar. Functional is what the hand wave actually means. When we wave our hands we wave them for many different reasons, to say hello, goodbye, go away, etc. The real difference in topographical and functional, is that functional behaviors don't all look the same on the surface, but they all end with the same result. However, topographical behaviors all look the same on the surface, but might mean different things, or end with a different result.
3) I really liked the clearance between topographical and functional behaviors. Although, I did have to read this section a few times, to really understand the meaning. This section made a difficult subject, easier to grasp. The definitions alone were not enough to help me understand the true difference between these two like subjects. I am pretty comfortable with these two words now, and think I could spot the difference.
4) This section seemed particularly heavy on the type-o's, and while I understand how, and why they happen, they do sometimes confuse me. But, I always figure it out so it's not that big of a deal.
5) My views of behavior modification has changed in that now I see it as becoming a little more precise and complicated. It is really starting to become specific, in understanding, and categorizing behavior. In the beginning I was waiting for it to be more confusing, because the simplicity of the ABC's had me nervous that more complexities were on the way. Also the importance of a target behavior is really shown in this section. To give a reinforcement, a target behavior must be known. This was one of the most important messages from this section, and will be prevalent
Sec 2.0
I think behavior modification is primarily used on others, to get them to ELICIT the behaviors desired. Rarely is behavior modification turned onto yourself. Behavior modification uses punishment, and reinforcement to get TARGET BEHAVIORS to change, or to get someone to EMIT a different behavior. Behavior modification is probably the most useful in school settings, where there are children. I think behavior modification might work best on children, who can't fully understand what is happening.
1) Something I won't forget is that when you turn a undesirable behavior into something that is desirable it is called DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF OTHER (DRO). This is when you take a behavior that would normally be PUNISHED, and turn it into a behavior that is going to be REWARDED. For example: If a child was spitting instead of punishing them for spitting, you might reward them for not spitting. That takes the previously AVERSIVE behavior, and makes it DESIRABLE; because the child is going to want the reward.
2) B.F. Skinner believed that punishment should never be used to get a child to stop EMITTING an UNDESIRABLE BEHAVIOR. Instead turn that behavior into a DRO and reward them. Skinner believed that punishing a behavior would only prevent that child from emitting said behavior in the place the punishment took place. For example: If a child was kicking at daycare, and punished; they might continue to kick on the playground. However, if you turn the kicking behavior into something positive, then the child is likely to make that behavior EXTINCT.
3) DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULI affects the antecedent, and actually changes it. I thought because it was a discriminative stimuli that it would effect the behavior, just because behaviors are what we are wanting to modify. discriminative stimuli are often found in everyday life, however we don't see them as such. One of the most common places to see 'ds' are in signs, because they change our behaviors.
4) I enjoyed the continuation of knowledge about behavior modification, and found the real world references helpful. It is interesting to know that behavior modification is so relative to our daily lives, and that we are being unconsciously modified everyday. It seems like everything we do affects our behavior, and even the signs on a coke machine can EMIT us to do something. Behavior modification is an important part of our daily lives for keeping us safe, and preventing injury. For example a stop sign elicits you to stop, so that others can go. Even the times of day elicit different responses from us; at noon (lunch time) many people elicit hunger, and at night people elicit sleepiness. Behavior modification is very intertwined with our world, and daily lives.
5) There was nothing I really disliked about this section…Good Job
-Travis

section 1.5
I use behavior modification techniques with my son on a daily basis. I was skeptical at first but when I actually started using the things I was being taught by my sons psychologist, I realized that they were working. I just had to be patient and give them time to work because they don’t work over night. The first thing I will take from this reading is the functional vs topographical. I never realized how many things I do that may look the same but serve entirely different functions. The second was target behavior. It is extremely important that you have a specific target behavior. If you don’t know what your target behavior is how can you even begin to modify it? I also felt that knowing what the baseline is would be something I’ll take from this reading as well. You always have to have a starting point. Knowing what your baseline is will help you to determine if your positive or negative reinforcement is working or not. Hopefully you will be able to get the target behavior to extinction. I liked reading about the descriptions. When trying to describe things you know what you do and we make assumptions that people do things the way we do. That however is not always the case. When reading further into the chapter, I realized I had forgotten certain details that I just do and don’t even think about. As I continued reading through the chapter, there wasn’t anything that I particularly disliked. After reading this section, my thoughts about behavior modification haven’t changed much. I am realizing that it is building onto what I have been taught previously.

section 2.1
The three things that I will take from this chapter are actually four things. These are the reasons that we change behavior. 1) the behavior bothers us as an individual, 2) it bothers others, 3) it can cause trouble, and 4) it may be illegal. When thinking about changing behaviors, often times I think it is easy to forget that there may be more than one reason we want to change something. Reading this reminded me of that. I liked how right off the bat, we were asked what terms we remembered from the previous chapter. When I saw the number ten, it made me a little worried but I surprisingly had no trouble remembering at least ten terms. It made me feel good to know that I am retaining what I am learning. It was very difficult to come up with behaviors that bother other people. I think most of us would like to think that we aren’t annoying to anybody.

functional vs topographical, function, target behavior, baseline, extinction, descriptions, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,

Section 1.5
1) Prior to reading this chapter, I thought behavior mod was more about modifying behavior. However, a big part of this chapter made me realize that behavior mod is also recognizing behaviors and realizing when/where these behaviors are acceptable and when they are not. If they aren't, than changing the behavior can be done after figuring out the exact context of which it is acceptable.
2) Three things I'll remember from this chapter is one: not all behavior has the same function/purpose even if the behavior looks that way topographically. I never even thought about all the different functions a wave can serve ( or other behaviors) until reading this section.
Two: A person must be very specific when looking to change/modify a certain target behavior. John had a problem doing this at first, but like him, I realized through the example the book gave that you really do have to clarify percisely what specific behavior you'd like to change.
Three: To change a behavior, the person acting out the unwanted behavior needs to know exactly what behavior they are doing that is disliked. The observer than needs to be consistent with his reinforcement/punishment techniques or there could be a case of relaspe.
3) One thing I really liked about the chapter was how clearly the examples were given, making it easier to understand the material. Especially the new vocabulary.
4) Honestly, there wasn't anything I disliked about the chapter. It was all really well written out and the explanation of the material was easier to understand than other chapters.
5) Like I said in my response to number one, I originally thought behavior mod would be a class teaching us how to modify behaviors, but it's a lot more than that. It's learning how to look at certain behaviors, how to classify them, how to use different techniques to shape them, etc.

Section 2.1
1) One thing I'll remember from the chapter is the four reasons to change behaviors and the four ways to look at how to change thse behaviors using reinforcement. 1) Behavior bothers us/Make us feel better about ourselves. 2) Behavior bothers others/ Make us more pleasant to be around. 3) Behavior may lead to trouble/ Keep us out of trouble. 4) Behaviors are illegal/ They're legal.
Another piece of information that I will remember is Skinner was right when he said using reinforcement is better than using punishment. The best part about Skinner being right is is we can almost always turn a desired response by using reinforcement.
The last thing I'll remember is that the consequence affects the antecedent, when using the ABC's. You went over this in class and after reading this, it made even more sense to me. It explains why going over our answers is important.
2) One thing I liked about this chapter is the explanation of how the A-B-C's effect each other. Since the A-B-C's can be used with any behavior, the more I understand them, the better I'll do on my clip assignments.
3) One thing I disliked was when the chapter went over how Skinner starved his pigeons using the "Skinner Box" technique. Although I didn't like the starvation of the pigeons, he did get useful feedback from his experiment.
4) I originally thought that using punishment could be just as useful, if not more, than using reinforcement. As Im reading the material though, I'm seeing that using reinforcement is the better option because if we want a desired response, we must first get a desired behavior.

Terms used in both sections: Desired Behavior, Target Behavior, ABC, punishment, reinforcement, consequence, adecedent, topographically, function/purpose, context.

1.5
Prior to reading chapter 1.5 I mostly thought of behavior modification as a way to manipulate a person using punishment and/or reinforcement. I thought of it in terms of something we can do, not something that could happen from our own choices. In this chapter I learned that we can modify our own behaviors. We talk in class about how we can use it on other people, but I never thought too much about how I can use it on myself. This is called self-directed behavior. A term I remember from this chapter is topographical. This is a way to describe a behavior that can be done in different ways, but still look similar on the surface. The example the book uses is waves. Waves can be done in different ways, but they all types of hand gestures. It made me really think because I never thought about how many things have multiple means or multiple ways of being done. I will definitely remember that one needs to be very specific and descriptive when explaining target behaviors. There are many ways one can be disruptive in a classroom, so if you are not specific about what you need then you cannot fix the unwanted behavior. It is too broad of topography. An average person needs to be able to understand what the target behavior is. This makes a lot of sense. We cannot spread knowledge if it is not written in an understanding way. Lastly I found intervention as an interesting term because it is a word I hear many, many times but in a different context. Intervention happens when a consequence is given after a behavior happens. This is easiest to understand in terms of an alcoholic. We always hear that when someone is an alcoholic they need an intervention in order to convince them to go to rehab. This could require the use of reinforcement or punishment. I really liked being given a chance to practice target behaviors and how to better describe the wanted target behavior. I didn’t like how confusing it is to figure out the differences between functional and topographical behavioral classes. I don’t completely understand it. It was hard to wrap my head around the concept. This chapter has broadened my understanding of behavioral principles. It has shown me that you really do need to very precise and specific.
2.1
One of the things I will remember from reading this chapter is that I learned that is not the whole story, we use behavior modification without even knowing it. When we go outside without a coat and then receive a cold because of this, we will probably not repeat this action again. This is a punishment. Also that behavior modification can occur in the natural world. The weather affects us and can control us in some ways like how long we are outside. The last thing I remember is the four reasons we change behavior. It seems like something very important as I was reading. They are: behaviors bother us as individuals, behaviors bother others, behaviors may lead to trouble, and behaviors are illegal. I honestly cannot think of another reason someone would change a behavior. I really liked that the end of the chapter went back over the ABCs; this way of thinking is difficult to get used to. The review really benefitted me; it helped me retain more knowledge. I disliked the section where we were supposed to write out in sentences the ABCs. I still don’t feel completely comfortable with this and I am not sure I do it very well. This chapter changed how much I could remember about behavior modification. It was nice to have the extra review over the ABCs. The more examples I hear the easier it will be to remember more information about behavior modification.

Terms: self-directed behavior, punishment, reinforcement, topographical, target behavior, intervention, functional, behavioral classes

Prior to reading these sections, I did not believe behavior modification was so complex. These readings are eliciting a surprised reaction and causing me to emit the behavior of being surprised.

Section 1.5
This reading will elicit three things into memory:

1.) Behaviors can be defined by separating them into two distinct behavioral classes, topographical and functional. A behavioral class that is topographical are behaviors that appear similar on the surface but do not share the same function or purpose. An example, I emitted a waving behavior to get my friend's attention which elicited my friend to notice me. However, a man emitted a waving behavior to say goodbye to a small child at the store. A behavioral class that is functional are behaviors that serve the same function or purpose, but the behaviors look topographically different. An example, I manipulated the door knob by turning it to the left to elicit an 'opening' behavior so the door emitted the opening behavior. The man manipulated the door by pushing it in to elicit an 'opening' behavior. These both belong in a functional behavioral class of 'opening a door.'

2.) The language of behavior is very precise. Target behaviors need to be clearly defined for both the person emitting the behavior and the person reinforcing or punishing the behavior so there is no confusion. The person reinforcing or punishing the target behavior needs to be able to spot the behavior and reinforce or punish it appropriately so the behavior being emitted will increase or decrease. If the reinforcer is just passed out even when the target behavior doesn't occur, the reinforcement procedure will be weakened because everyone will be confused.

3.) An intervention occurs when a consequence is given after a target behavior occurs. The intervention can involve reinforcement or punishment. It is important to have a clearly defined target behavior in order for the intervention to work properly. The diagram shows how there are several outcomes depending on if the target behavior is emitted or if the target behavior is reinforced or punished.

I really liked the diagram because it helped me visualize how defining the target behavior precisely is so important when it comes to trying to manipulate behaviors. It helped sum up most of the section in a easy-to-understand manner.

I really didn't dislike anything within the section, but the term, intervention, confused me because it sounds basically like the same thing as an reinforcement procedure or punishment procedure.

This chapter has proved to me that behavior modification is not a simple idea but that it is a very complex process that includes many other concepts within a concept. There are several terms that interrelate with one another, and there are several terms that are in their own category.

Section 2.1
This section will elicit these three concepts into memory:

1.) B.F. Skinner believes that reinforcement should be used whenever possible because nothing is learned with punishment. Eventually the punishment will just cause the behavior to be emitted in a different context where the behavior is less likely to be punished. Yes, the behavior will decrease in the context of when the punishment was given but won't decrease the behavior in other antecedents. An example, a child is punished for fighting in school so she stops the fighting behavior in school but then will take the fighting elsewhere since it is not acceptable in school.

2.) We manipulate behaviors for four reasons (address with punishment):
1. The behaviors bother us, the individual
2. The behaviors bother others
3. The behaviors may lead to trouble
4. The behaviors are illegal
OR (address with reinforcement)
1. The behaviors make us feel better about ourselves
2. The behaviors make us more pleasant to be around
3. The behaviors keep us out of trouble
4. The behaviors are legal

This shows that we don't necessarily manipulate behaviors we want to decrease, but behaviors that we want to increase.

3.) Discriminative stimulus affect the likelihood of emitting a target behavior. For example, in the context or presence of a discriminative stimulus such as a stop sign, we emit a stop behavior to avoid getting punished by the law. The discriminative stimulus, the stop sign, elicited the stopping behavior. We, the people driving, emitted the stopping behavior to avoid a ticket. Sometimes the discriminative stimulus is ignored like when a pop machine is out of order and we still try to get a pop. I remember this the most because I always ask about the consequence of ignoring the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs. What if I wore a shirt and shoes but didn't wear pants? Would I still get service?

I really liked the examples for deprivation and satiation because it helps clarify the difference. There is a truth to having too much of a good thing. Being given a certain reinforcer too much, too often can cause one to no longer enjoy the reinforcement.

I'm starting to dislike how often particular terms and their definitions are repeated. I'm beginning to feel like I'm reaching boredom with these terms and leaving frustration behind. "Frustration just means that you are in the process of learning (boredom means you learned it already)."

My thoughts on behavior modification have not been dissuaded for I have not learned enough new material to change my thoughts. I believe I will continue to think behavior modification is more complex than I had ever imagined it would be.

Terms: Elicit, Emit, Target Behavior, Behavioral Classes, Topographical, Functional, Reinforce, Reinforcer, Reinforcement, Reinforcement Procedure, Punish, Punishment, Punishment Procedure, Intervention, Consequence, Antecedent, Context, Discriminative Stimulus, Satiation, and Deprivation

1.5
Prior to reading the chapter, I understood that having a specific target behavior was important but not that it could be misconstrued so easily. I didn’t think of how easily a behavioral class could be taken as meaning a different behavior from the one I intended to describe. One thing I will remember from this chapter is the difference between topographical behavior classes and functional ones. Behaviors can be topographically similar based on how they look on the surface while not being functionally similar because they accomplish different things. Another thing I will remember is the important of specifying the target behavior so that it won’t be misunderstood, as I stated earlier. A third thing I will remember is that there are four possible outcomes that can happen when you are trying to reinforce a behavior. If the target behavior occurs and the reinforcer is delivered, then reinforcement will occur. If the target behavior doesn’t occur and the reinforcer is delivered, then the subject of the reinforcement will learn unwanted behaviors which may interfere. If the target behavior occurs and the reinforcer isn’t delivered, then extinction will occur. Finally, if the target behavior doesn’t occur and the reinforcer isn’t delivered, then nothing will happen. One thing I liked about this chapter was the diagram showing the possible outcomes of attempting to reinforce a behavior. One thing I disliked about this chapter was the section about inter-observer agreements. It was a little confusing to me and took a few readings to understand but I feel that I understood it after that. Reading this chapter has changed my approach to describing the target behavior. In the future, I plan to try to be as specific as possible when describing the target behavior so that there will be no confusion.

2.1
One thing I will remember from this chapter is the four reasons to change behavior: they bother us, they bother others, they may lead to problems, and they are illegal. I will also remember that reinforcement is preferred to punishment in most cases. You can decrease negative behaviors by replacing them with positive behaviors through reinforcement, which works better than using punishment. A third thing I will remember is that discriminative stimuli are antecedents and that a good example of discriminative stimuli is a stop sign. One thing I liked about this chapter was that it reviewed what I learned in the previous chapters very well and showed me how much I’ve learned already. I didn’t dislike anything about this chapter; everything was explained well and fairly easy to understand. This chapter has made it easier to relate behavior modification to everyday life, particularly with the four reasons it listed for changing behavior.

Terms: target behavior, behavioral class, topographically similar, functionally similar, reinforce, reinforcement, reinforcer, antecedents, discriminative stimuli

Section 1.5

Before I read these sections, I thought behavior is what we see it is. Yet these sections helped me understand that the same behavior may come from different motivations. There is also a possibility that the same motivation will be expressed through different means, which lead to different consequences.

The three things I remember in this section are topographical behavior class, functional behavior class, and context. They describe three important aspects of behavior. The term topography means the observed action here. Function, on the other hand, refers to the intention behind the apparent behavior. Finally we also need to pay attention to the context, or the environment where the behavior occurs.

I like the differentiation between the topography and the function of behavior. It reminds us that motivation and behavior are two separate things, and that things are not necessarily what they seem to be. People with the same motivation can have different behavior, and people who behave similarly may have different intentions.

One thing that annoys me is the inconsistency of the term behavioral class. At first it is called that way, and then later it became "behavior class." I think an educational publication should be consistent in its terminology. Once a term is defined the whole text should stick to the same spelling.

After reading the section I realize the difficulty of observing animal behavior. We can write down what we see, but the reason that causes the behavior is really open to interpretation. We need to gather more evidences from various sources, such as an experiment, before we can determine the true cause of a specific behavior.

Section 2.1

The three concepts that are impressive to me are the reasons to change behaviors, the complimentary behavior used in Differential Reinforcement of Other, and establishing operations. The reasons listed in the text really put the purpose of this class in perspective. In fact, I think the order of the text should be rearranged so we can talk about these reasons in the first class. As we have seen, students got into arguments about the purpose of this course during the first week of class. If this section is moved to the front, such conversation could be avoided in class.

The method of DRO is very useful. Instead of punishing people all the time for undesirable actions, we could motivate them to do what they should do. This approach can be quite useful in education as shown in the text. This is the second time we visited the procedure of establishing operations. After this repetition I have a better idea of how to make reinforcement effective.

I like the graph of eating hamburgers in this section. It proved my hypothesis about the satiation effect of reinforcer. I wrote the hypothesis for the Section 1.4 part of my post under Reading Activity Week #3.

I dislike the example of free feeding weight just above the photographs of pigeons. The sentence says "if we starved you to 10% of your free feeding weight..." Is that really possible? I think even if I die of starvation I still won't be that light. Or did you mean ninety percent?

After reading the section I finally know the purpose of this course. The reasons to modify behavior are the foundations of why we need to learn about all these techniques. The method of DRO will also be useful when I try to avoid certain behavior.

Terms: consequence, topographical behavior class, functional behavior class, context, Differential Reinforcement of Other, establishing operations, reinforcement, satiation, reinforcer, free feeding weight

1.5
I found this chapter section to be the first difficult one to read. Not because it was written poorly, or because I couldn’t follow it, but because new information I haven’t heard before was contained within it. I look forward to Thursday’s class so that I can hear more examples of topographical behavioral classes and functional behavioral classes. I understand the definitions of both terms: the former describes behaviors that look alike but serve different functions, while the latter refers to behaviors that look different but serve the same purpose. While I understand this, I am having terrible trouble coming up with examples to write down for the next class. I hope I don’t get called on so I can hear others’ examples. Oh, and this is what I liked about this section: the fact that I’m learning new things.

The first thing I’ll remember from this chapter section, even though I cannot provide great examples for either, is the difference between topographical and functional behavioral classes. The second, and most important thing I’ll remember is to narrowly define the target behavior, and I mean narrowly. This is what I wrote for “washing dishes”: After eating, I rinse my dish/silverware of any foodstuffs, open the dishwasher, and place it on the rack. After my final meal of the day, dinner or dessert, I add soap and run the dishwasher. In the morning I empty it, putting the clean dishes in their respective spots and repeat the process. Finally, I’ll remember to be careful not to list behavioral classes as behaviors. At the very least I’ll try my very best not to do this in classwork from this point on.

My only complaint about this section is its lack of examples. I like that each section includes one example with each term introduced. But in this chapter I needed more than one to help me define topographical and functional behavioral classes.

2.1
It’s difficult for me to come up with things I learned in this chapter section. I feel like this was more of a review after chapter one. One thing I can think of is the four reasons for changing a behavior: not liking it within ourselves, not liking it within another, potential for trouble, and illegality. I like these reasons for altering behaviors; I feel they sum up the ethics of behavior modification nicely.

I wish I had more to say about this section, but I definitely feel that it was a review more than it was an introduction to new information. My comprehension of terms such as establishing operation, satiation, and deprivation has increased. I understand that deprivation is an establishing operation that increases a reinforcers reinforcing properties, while satiation means the reinforcer is no longer reinforcing because it is no longer desirable having been used so much. I like that this opening chapter section reviewed the topics of the last chapter because I feel my knowledge and understanding has increased, even if slightly.

1.5

We have been learning a lot about behavior modification thus far. I think it is very complex and that we still have a lot to learn. Some terms we have gone over are: punishment and reinforcement, as well as target behaviors, satiation, deprivation and extinction. I feel like it is a lot of terms, but that as we continue on it will be easier to make sense to why these terms are important and it will be easier to use them more frequently.

After reading this chapter, one thing I will remember is topographical. Topographical was described as a behavior that looks similar, but might have different meanings. An example I used was a punching action. It can be used out of anger to punch someone, or people might lightly punch someone to say ‘hi’, or it might be used to push a button, or to hit a wall out of frustration. Some of the actions can also act a reinforcer, like one likes the feeling of punching people. It could also be a punisher such as breaking a hand when punching the wall, which they would then have a response of pain and probably would not do it again. The action is very similar, but the end result can be very different.

Another thing I will remember is functional. Functional means that the behaviors might be different, but the outcomes are similar. An example I immediately thought of is when answering a phone. We can pick up a receiver the old fashioned way, or one can flip open a phone to answer, or one can push a button on the phone, or sliding the touch screen a certain way as well. I’m sure there are other ways I didn’t think of too. They are all different ways to do the same thing.

Lastly I will remember inter-observer agreement. I have done research for a professor, so I know how important it is that the researchers are consistent with how they act or what they say, otherwise it could skew the results. It can be very frustrating if one researcher is rewarding and reinforcing a behavior, but then someone else comes in and they are not reinforcing the same behavior, thus causing the participant to become confused and go into extinction.

I liked the table for the behavior chart showing what could happen depending on what the participant does and whether or not they are reinforced. I also liked that this chapter was a lot more focused with what we read about, instead of a ton of terms being thrown at me. There wasn’t anything I disliked.

After reading this I have been able to understand more about how behaviors can be defined as, and read more about how this can be applied to research and why it is important to be consistent.

2.1
I will remember the four reasons to why behaviors change. I thought it was funny that the last one is because they are illegal. I wonder how people who cheat on tests and things like that have enough guts to go through with it. It stinks because if they get away with it, they will just be reinforced to continue to do it because their consequence of doing well without giving much effort is pleasurable to them. It frustrates me how many people do get away with this activity and don’t think anything of it. I wish I could elicit a smacking in the face behavior. Ha. The reasons made me think of so many times when like I know I’m going to be around a certain group of people, I manipulate my behavior to act in a certain way that would be pleasing to them and not aversive so that they enjoy being around me. It happens all the time, and a lot of the times I don’t really notice that I am changing my behavior.

I will also remember that it is better to reinforce with reinforcement then punishment. The example I used was that I wanted to decrease the amount of time I spend on facebook, which is all the time right now. When I rewrote the behavior into using a desirable behavior I put after I get my homework done, then I can get on facebook as a reward. That sounds so much more pleasing then I can’t get on facebook. This also makes me think back when I was in high school. I was on the golf team, and I kind of dreaded the meets. My high school was a smaller school so I was automatically on varsity, which was fine, it was just that sometimes I had to play with some girls that were really serious about the sport, and I was not. I enjoyed it and had fun with it, not really caring if I did horribly. Anyway, as a reward for suffering through a long meet, our coach would take us to Dairy Queen afterwards to get ice cream and cheese balls. He was reinforcing the behavior of going through the meets, and rewarding us for doing it by giving us food. I know it definitely motivated me more to put on a happy face and go through with it.

Finally, I will remember the importance of context. The example I used when we made up our own was being in the union as the antecedent, and then talking to friends as the behavior, with laughter as the consequence. In that context talking to friends in the union elicit laughter and reinforcement to keep talking. For punishment, I had the classroom as the antecedent, talking to friends as the behavior, and then disapproving looks as the consequence. In this context, talking to friends will elicit bad looks, and will likely decrease the times I talk during class.

I liked learning about why behaviors change. I didn’t like that this chapter was kind of repetitive with the information and having us do the same activities as we’ve done in other chapters. I like the ability to review information and having to recall what I’ve already learned, but when it’s the same activities over and over again, I get satiated. My thoughts have changed in that I know more why behaviors change now. Which is cool.

Terms: topographical, response, functional, reinforcer, punisher, inter-observer agreement, consistent, behavior, reinforced, punished, elicit, manipulate, aversive, reward, context, antecedent, consequence, satiated

Section 1.5

Before reading the chapter, I thought that behavior modification was just focused on changing behavior to fit the social norm.

1) Functional vs Topographical. Topographical behaviors are behaviors that look similar even when emitted by different people. While functional behaviors are behaviors that look the same but result in a different outcome. I just thought how the two categorized different behaviors was interesting with the examples they gave for both behavioral classes. 2) Inter-observer agreement. I had a lot of trouble with this in my Stats class last year. The assignment was to go out (in our groups), find another group and sit by them and record the conversation that the group we were observing was having. It was VERY awkward because we had to of looked suspicious for two reasons; one: we first stood in the Union trying to find a group to observe. We were there at a weird time so there weren’t that many groups to choose from. Two: a group of three girls sat down next to a group of two girls and the group of three girls hardly said a word. When we were done ‘collecting data’, we soon learned that we did NOT have good inter-observer agreement because all of our notes looked so different that it almost looked like we listened to different conversations. It was a good learning experience in the end for what to do when ‘collecting data’ or doing a social experiment. 3) Behavior Occurred by Reinforcer Delivered table. I think it was a easy way to make a paragraph describing four outcomes understandable. I also liked it because the way it is set up is exactly how we set up a table multiplying positive and negative numbers in middle school. All you have to do is replace ‘Yes’ with + and ‘No’ with a -. Two positives make a positive and so does two negatives. While a positive times a negative makes a negative.

I liked the Behavior Occurred by Reinforcer Delivered table. Written out it was understandable but the table is an easy way to draw it out with less words.

I was having a little trouble with some of the fill-in-the-blank spaces. I don’t know if I just need more examples from the book or a better understanding of the different types of behaviors. I am still having trouble seeing many behaviors as parts and in categories because I have never had to look so deeply into it before.

It hasn’t changed it much, I think I just have more details now.

Section 2.1

1) The four reasons to change a behavior. It starts with ourselves (the feelings or consequences we experience after emitting a behavior), then moves to how the behavior affects those around us, then into the community, then handled by the state. I would like to see if there is a general consensus about what behaviors fall under what reason. Are there some behaviors that only reach stage one while other behaviors are more likely to make it to stage three before changing it is even considered? Does personal awareness of a behavior like being late help the person keep it at stage one? While someone who is not personally aware have to get to stage three just to know there even is a problem? 2) B. F. Skinner felt that reinforcement was a better way to change behavior then punishment because punishment would just lead to emitting the behavior in a different context. I can see where he is coming from with the explanation in the book but I just want to know more on how he would plan to use this with kids. If we are constantly reinforcing good behavior won’t the reinforer being used experience satiation? 3) Satiation and Deprivation. I liked how the hamburger exampled showed that deprivation can make the food more appealing when hungry but then turn aversive when the subject has had too much food and satiation occurs.

I like the practice with the fill-in-the-blank, even if some of it was review it was still helpful in keeping up the basic skills of identifying the ABC’s.

Nothing really stood out as something that I didn’t like. A lot of review but I like review so this chapter wasn’t bad from my view.

Going in depth with some of the concepts and how they can be used to every day helps identify behaviors that I didn’t know I could contribute to certain antecedents or stimuli.

Terms: functional, topographical, emitted, behavioral classes, inter-observer agreement, consequences, reinforcement, punishment, context, satiation, deprivation, aversive, antecedents, and stimuli.

1.5
Before I read this chapter I was beginning to think that we were discussing practical implications for behavior modification and while I knew that terms were important this chapter clarified the reason that the terms and behaviors need to be defined specifically and narrowly.
The first part that stood out to me was the topic of behavioral classes and target behaviors, before I really didn’t understand the difference. After the example of the disruptive behavior and then seeing all the behaviors that fell under that heading I began to understand the differences and the importance of describing specifically the behaviors in question i.e. target behaviors. The next concept that stood out to me was the stress on specifically defining the target behaviors because we can ‘mis-categorize’ behaviors that are different from one another, just because the description wasn’t descriptive enough. Along with that is the role that researchers play and the need to be consistent. If the people reinforcing or punishing the behavior don’t have the same idea of what the behavior is because it wasn’t specific enough could cause a big problem and cause the study to be flawed.
I like the portion of the chapter where we were to describe the behaviors. After I got done writing I felt like I did a great job of being very detailed but as I read on I realized how much I didn’t include and how easy it is to not be precise and how that changes the meaning. So that was a very good example for me because I was actually participating in it, and also whenever I don’t do things right I remember it more. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like. The beginning of the chapter was a little confusing to me at first but as it went on the examples helped me to understand the concepts and terms.
From this chapter I learned how its vital that we first know and define the behavior we are trying to modify.
2.1
Before reading this chapter I thought that punishment and reinforcement were equal in their affect. I guess the reason I believed this to be true is that I was punished and reinforced as a child and I thought bother were fairly effective and also as we have been talking about these concepts we’ve been talking about them as the same but having different purposes.
The portion that talks about B.F. Skinner saying we should ‘always use reinforcement whenever possible,’ and that new behaviors are only learned when reinforcement is involved was very interesting. As my husband and I have been recently talking about our future techniques in parenting, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to use reinforcement first then if we had to then use punishment. In the same vein as reinforcement is the idea of differential reinforcement is the idea of normally punished behavior into a reinforced behavior. I will remember this, because I wondered how I could do this before reading the chapter so it was cool to do practical examples showing how to change it from punishment to reinforcement. The other part that I will remember is the concepts of derivation and Satiation and honestly its mostly because of the pictures of the pigeon. I just tend to remember things that are paired with pictures. Although the example of the hamburger being less desirable because of satiation made a lot of sense in terms of the number of hamburgers someone would eat, as well as deprivation and not having it for a couple of weeks makes the stimulus more desirable. The thing I really liked about this chapter was actually the use of pictures to illustrate the concepts because like I said before I learn and remember ideas when I can associate them with an image. There wasn’t anything about the chapter I disliked or could critique, it was all very interesting and I like the repetition of ideas. I learned from this chapter that reinforcement works the best to establish a new behavior while punishment can help to decrease a behavior.

posted for BW:
Reading Activity Week #4 (Due Tuesday)
Before reading this section, I did not know that there were two levels that behaviors could be evaluated and defined on. I always just thought behavior modification was just reinforcement and punishment and nothing else really to it. One thing I will remember from the chapter is what behavioral classes are compared to the actual behavior. I liked the example they used to describe what a behavior class is and this is why I will remember it. They used the wave example. There are a million different ways to wave to someone. You can wave them to come over to you. You can wave them to say hello and/or good bye. You can wave as someone as they are passing you in a car (the one finger wave). The wave would be the behavioral class, and the actual specific kind of wave is the behavior. Another thing I will remember from this section is that there are two kind of behavioral classes. There are functional behavioral classes and topographical behavioral classes. I will be able to remember the difference because the word functional points to the function and what is actually happening. The example they used was opening a door. The function of actually opening the door is the functional behavioral class, but you may have to push or pull the door open, being the topographical behavioral class, the way it looks to do the function. Another thing I will remember is what a target behavior is. This is something you are looking for in the subject that you want to change or modify. These are easy to remember because these are the behaviors you want to target so you notice them so that you can try to change them. something I enjoyed about this section is it gave us real life examples, from eyes of a college student that I could understand rather than a regular text book giving me things that go way over my head. Something I did not like about this section was the chart about behavior occurring and reinforce delivered. It was a little hard for me to understand at first. I looked at it with some friends and we figured it out, but at first it seemed a little complicated. There Is a lot more to b-mod than I had originally thought and this has shown me that.
Something I will remember from this chapter is that there are four main reasons why we want to change behaviors. the reasons are the behaviors bother us, bother others, may lead to trouble, and/or are illegal. I will remember these because it seems very logical that people would want to change behaviors for these reasons. Just thinking about myself, I change my own behaviors for these reasons. I will also remember the difference between elicit and emit. Elicit, for example, would be the stop sign telling you to stop. This is what is promoting you do to the behavior. Emit is actually doing the behavior. Me stopping at the stop sign is an example of me emitting that behavior. Something else I will remember from this chapter is what satiation is. This is when after doing something over and over it becomes less pleasurable. The example they gave was eating a hamburger. Having one or two hamburgers for lunch is nice, but then trying to eat a third may not be as good since you are probably already close to be full if not already. One thing I did like about this section were the graphs and pictures and flow charts to help me organize the information in my head. Things like this really do help me learn better. Something I did not like about this chapter was the length. This was one of the longer chapters and I just got tired of reading after a while. I learned that there is a lot more thought put into changing peoples behaviors than what I had originally thought myself. You have to have a reason, a way to change it, and the person has to actually emit that change for a period of time before it will be changed for good.
Terms: reinforcement, punishment, behavioral classes, functional behavioral classes, topographical behavioral classes, target behaviors, elicit, emit, satiation