By now you should have been able to log in and comment on the blog site. What we would like you to do now is to go to the following page and read some of the comments left from the students in the class before you.
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/12/week-16-final-assignment.html
After reading the posts please answer the following:
Which posts did you like the best? Why?
Has reading these posts changed your idea of what behavior modification is? Why or why not?
Based on these posts are there any specific topics you are interested in learning?
Thanks,
--Dr. M
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/12/week-16-final-assignment.html
After reading the posts please answer the following:
Which posts did you like the best? Why?
Has reading these posts changed your idea of what behavior modification is? Why or why not?
Based on these posts are there any specific topics you are interested in learning?
Thanks,
--Dr. M
Example Response:
After reading a few of the posts form week 16 of last semester, I really enjoyed the post by livesimply. As I had mentioned in the week #1 assignment, the use of behavior modification language was most intriguing for me. Livesimply posted a thorough response, and what I liked about it is that I could see that she was purposefully using the appropriate language while giving examples that made the concepts easy to understand. Reading the blogs was a great refresher for me, and I found that reading them caused me to remember how to think in behavior modification terms. My first experience of Behavior Modification was enlightening. I remember feeling as though I had been given a better vocabulary for the way I already saw the world. I found that the behavioral approach to viewing the world had a way of eliminating some of the "magic" that once defined the world around me. Understanding the antecedent in a situation, and how it provokes a behavior makes it a lot more difficult to be enamored by ideas like love at first sight, or believing in an all-powerful unseen force in the world. By learning the ABC's, it did help me to be more aware of the techniques that companies use to get people to be consumers. Overall I found that I became somewhat disenfranchised from the world as I developed the language of behavior modification.
All of that being said, this is a new year. I don't think that learning this language absolutely has to result in disenfranchisement. Instead, I believe that it has the ability to cause us all to be better informed about the subtle interactions that occur between us and our worlds. This semester I would like to better understand the idea of extinction and extinction burst.
(hoofouvre)
After reading some of the posts from week 16 of last semester’s class I really enjoyed Mary Schmidt’s post. She was very thorough in her description of the class and gave some really good examples. I am a visual learner and the fact that she used the story about the crow, dog, and child was very effective in getting me to understand satiation and extinction. She also uses a very vocabulary that relates well to the behavior modification class. I liked the fact that when she would use a word like satiation she would then follow up with what it meant or give an example of what the word meant. It was helpful to me because I didn’t know what a lot of what she talked about meant. I feel like her post was helpful in giving me an introduction to what is to come in the behavioral modification class.
I don’t think that reading these posts has changed my ideas of what behavioral modification is, but it has definitely made my knowledge of the topic grow. A lot of the posts talked about the ABC’s and before reading the posts I didn’t know what it was. I now know that A is the antecedent, B is the behavior, and C is the consequences. I can definitely tell that the ABC’s are going to be a big part of what is to come in this class. I honestly just knew the basics of behavioral modification and now I am starting to get a feel for the vocabulary and methods that we will be using in class.
I am excited to learn more about the ABC’s based on what the students from last semester said because of the fact that they said they could use it in everyday life. They also said that it was a simple way of breaking down a situation, which I think will be very helpful in my future. I feel like this class is going to be really interesting and I am excited to learn more about the ABC’s, extinction, and satiation.
After going through some of the posts from week 16 I found that I was really interested in what Tasha J was saying. She talked about that subjects of superstitious behavior, self directed change, and reinforcement/punishment. These topics resonated with my own life and I was interested with what I could learn from what she was saying. She went into detail about what each subject was and defined it for us. Then I really liked how she finished up with a story about how the topic was directly linked to her home life. She was able to give an introduction to what these three subjects were while also providing how they can be relevant to any given persons life. I also liked how she was able to incorporate the right vocabulary to give me an introduction to how things are described in the behavior modification class.
Reading through the posts have not really changed my mind on what behavior modification is. I had a general idea of what the class would be. I would say that reading them has broadened what I think behavior modification is. It is not as cut and dry as I thought it was before and it involves many different types of behaviors and techniques aimed at altering the responses of others. I think that reading through these has prepared me a little more for what to expect to gain from the class.
Specifically from the post I really liked I found the superstitious behavior topic to be really interesting. I know that we see these behaviors all the time and it would be really insightful to understand why we act in those ways. Also When she talked about punishment and reinforcement it made me really interested in learning more about how to elicit the right response from someone by just using those tactics. It seems crazy to me how easily we can manipulate people into giving the correct response to I'm just really interested in learning what works and what does not.
The post I liked the best was from Paige B. I liked her post because, she talked about how easy it was to apply what she learned into her everyday life. I hope that what I learn in this course will be useful in my life as well and I want to be able to remember the information for years to come. I honestly have no real idea what behavior modification really is so these posts have given me a little taste about what this class is going to be like and the things I’m going to be learning about in Behavior Modification. I’m certainly looking forward to learning more and how it applies to my life.
Based on these posts there are a few topics I am interested in learning about. I want to learn about the language of behavior. I’ve never even heard about that before! So I’m looking forward to learning about it. I’m also interested in learning about positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. I’ve kind of learned about these in other classes, but I’m looking forward to going in a little deeper.
After reading through the posts I found three posts that I found to be interesting because they were explained clearly and talked about interests that I find to be intriguing. Taralee's post was clear and explained how she felt at the beginning of the semester. I am happy to see someone had the same concerns I do. Rezinr talked about self-directed behavior which is a topic that I am really excited to learn about. Beckabk wrote at the end of their post about how they are taking criminology and psychology classes and how this class has improved the way they are learning the material. As well as Beckabk, I am a psychology major and minoring in criminology and am going to enjoy tying this class to my current and future education.
These posts have given me a better understand of what behavior modification is because, I am not extremely familiar with this topic. After reading the posts I can't wait to get started and expand my knowledge. I find more comfort in seeing how the students were fluently using psychology terms because I hope that I will have the same comfort.
The specific topics I am interested in learning is self-directed behavior because I want to be able to use the information in my future career with helping people adjust their lifestyle. Learning the ABC's seems like it has really helped past students so that is interesting topic to learn.
After reading through some of these past students posted I would have to say I really enjoyed m.anderson's post. Not only this person talk about the token economies, reinforcement, and the language of behavior; they also talked about how they simply learned about psychology and behavior in general. They talked about how they could applied what they have learned in this class to other classes and life in general. I like knowing that a class is going to be useful to me, that it isn't just a credit to get me closer to my degree. I like the idea that a class is really going to help me and that I will be able to apply it to my life.
These posts reassured me that this will teach me a lot and that I can apply to my life, whether I choose to continue with psychology or I pick a different profession. I feel like what the students said about this class is a lot like what I expected them to say, especially after hearing some of the behaviors we will talk about from Tuesday's class.
I am interested in learned about superstitious behaviors and why we do them. It is will be interesting to learn about simple parent techniques that can help when I become a parent someday.
After reading the posts, the one I like the most was Lauren Kirby’s post. The reason I like this post is because of how she explained the materials in detail. I also like this post because of how she gave examples of what she was talking about. I like how she said that, there are certain places where behaviors are accepted. For an example, she said that, you cannot make or give a joke at a funeral ceremony but you can do that with your friends. When we pay a child for doing their homework, we are reinforcing that behavior. We are modifying it into that; the child will expect money or so after doing their homework. Reading these posts I will say helped improved my knowledge of behavior modification. It helped me kind of remember the things that I have learned in the past about behavior and it also enhanced my knowledge of it. I think I will be interested in learning all about behavior because even ourselves there are certain things we do that we do not pay attention to. A person who blinks 20 times in a minute won’t notice it but, someone else would. So I would love to learn about anything that pertains to behavior modification.
After reading a few of the posts from week 16 of last semester’s class I really enjoyed reading Lauren Kirby’s post. The three topics she discussed were; ABCs of behavioral modification, reinforcement and punishment, and establishing operations. I thought Lauren did a great job at explaining each topic and gave great examples. The example I enjoyed the most was the one dealing with her roommate. She uses reinforcement to persuade her to do the dishes at their apartment. It shows that she took what she learned from class and used it in her everyday life.
I don’t think reading these posts have changed my idea of what behavior modification is. I only have a general understanding of what behavior modification is. However, it has prepared me on what to expect for this class and know I will benefit from it.
I am really interested in learning more about reinforcement and punishment. In my recent psychology classes we briefly went over this topic and loved learning about it. Also I am interested in learning more about establishing operations.
I thought heather8's post was very well done. You could tell she enjoyed learning about behavior modification and plans on using it in her life. I'm really looking forward to learning principles that I can use on myself and other people to help them reach their goals.
Self directed behavior looked the most interesting to me. Many poeple have no problem starting a new goal, but fail shortly after. Why? I can't wait to learn the techniques that will help people continue working towards their goals. I have several goals that I would like to accomplish and plan on using the self-directed behavior on myself as soon as I learn the material.
Token economics also looks very interesting. The hardest goals for me tend to be the long ones. This sounds like it might be very effective in helping people stay motivated when working towards long term goals.
Both reading the posts and the first lecture changed my view of behavior modification. I've always thought of behavior modification in the sense of me trying to change myself, or me helping somebody change themselves. Now I understand that it involves much more. Businesses and the media trying to modify our behaviors among others. I look forward to seeing what other things behavior modification involves.
After reading through the posts, I feel that I liked m.anderson's post the most. Anderson talked about a few subjects that I have already been exposed to partially and am excited to learn more about, such as token economies and reinforcement. I also enjoyed how Anderson explained how they were able to use what they learned in this class in real life situations and how useful that knowledge was.
I wouldn't say that the any of the posts changed my idea about what behavior modification is but they definitely made me more excited to be in this class and to begin learning and discussing the topics involved in behavior modification in greater depth.
The post I liked best was Rezinr's.
I really liked the examples Rezinr gave when talking about the ABC's, positive and negative reinforcement, and self directed behavior. Rezinr made it seem like he learned a lot from you in the way of examples, which is good because that's the best way I learn as well.
Behavior modification has always seemed to me a way to change my, or someone else's, behavior. In a way it sounded interesting to me because I would have liked to "modify" my siblings into something less annoying then what they were. But reading these posts have changed my mind. I'm really interested to learn all these terms and how to apply them to my daily life.
I'm very interested in learning self directed behavior because there are a lot of things I tell myself I'm going to do, and then never do. After learning everything in this course, I'm sure I will look at everything my family, friends and I do and compare it to what I learned in class.
All the posts from the last week of last year's students contained similar 'behavior' language, and it seems that this class really helped all of them put things into persepective outside of the classroom. I would have to say though that after reading those posts, my favorite was m.anderson's. I liked it because all of the subjects that this person mentioned (language of behavior, reinforcement, and token economies) all made behavior modification sound very interesting and useful in modern, everyday life. This person also pointed out how, even though they had learned some of the theories and concepts in other classes, this Behavior Modification class really went more in depth than other psychology classes. I especially like how, even after this class ended, m.anderson was still using topics that they had learned in their day-to-day life because they had a broader perspective about behavior.
I would have to say that these posts did change my perspective of behavior modification. At first, I thought that it would be a focus on how a person can change their behavior depending on the situation or how behaviors expand and become more complex as time progresses. Now that I know what kinds of topics will be studied, I am looking forward to Behavior Modification class because I have always been very interested in subjects that can be useful in real, possible situations.
After reading the posts, it seems that a lot of people really enjoyed the ABC's of behavior modification, reinforcement/punishment, and the language of behavior. I am definately excited to learn about all the complexities of behavior, but the topics that I look forward to learning about in more depth are token economies, self-directed behavior, and discriminitive stimuli.
After reading the posts from last semester's class, I picked out Lauren Kirby's post for few reasons. First of all, it is an extremely organized post which makes it easier to follow. I'm just more drawn to those that are clean and organized. Secondly, she gives appropriate examples to each topic so that I can understand or other persons that have never been introduced to psychology terms. I can tell that she enjoyed the class and took to use with the information she learned. A couple of her examples related to her life and her experiences. Also, she wrote a lot and that screams a great interest in the specific topics: the ABC's of behavior modification, reinforcement and punishment (I'm also extremely intrigued by this topic), and establishing operations. After reading all these comments, I can honestly say I had a pretty good vision of what behavior modification was about but it might be considered vague. It's been some time since I've been in a psychology-related class. As for topics I'm most interested in...reinforcement and punishment is a big one because I want to take what I learn to use in a speech-pathology setting. I want to find the best possible way to reinforce a correct behavior in children with speech disorders. Helping them reach their goals with their everyday speech and enjoy doing it is my ultimate goal when I become a speech-pathologist!
I really enjoyed rezinr’s post. I remember going over some of these topics in previous psychology classes, but it makes me interested to go over them more in depth and to think about real life examples, or even apply them to my own life. I noticed that a lot of posts talked about the ABC’s of behavior modification, and it’s kind of crazy how it can relate to so many things but also we can’t always know the outcome, since depending on the situation, a variety of things can happen. One topic I remember talking about before is the various reinforcements. I think we are very much creatures of habit and once we find that one path that we find to work, we stick with it and don’t like to stray from it. It will be interesting to learn more about it and see how much that everything we do is from positive and negative reinforcements. The seven steps to changing behavior reminded me of the SMART acronym. It means if the goal one is setting is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. They are very similar. I feel like that it can be hard though to keep up with a goal when it’s hard to get over the hump of being consistent and completing the goal when things may get tough. I feel like students that have taken this class really learned a lot and are able to apply the things they learn in everyday life. It makes me excited about this class, and happy that these things will be more applicable because I feel like some of my classes is hard to relate to what’s going on in my life at the moment. I feel like I knew a bit of what behavior modification is, I just didn’t realize how much it really does effect our every day life and behavior. So that will be cool to see as we get more knowledge about the various topics how much we are affected by it. Overall I’m excited to explore all of it!
I enjoyed reading Gator47's comment. They started by honestly telling what they believed the class would be like, and also listed their concerns about potential problems they thought they might face in the class.
As they began describing what they enjoyed learning about, they gave examples for each of the concepts, which made it easier for me to understand since I have not yet been introduced to these concepts. They clearly answered each of the questions assigned, and even went a little beyond what was requested, adding four things they liked, while noting that they knew they were only supposed to pick three but couldn't choose just three.
I look forward to learning about the ABC's of behavior modification, as well as the concept of extinction of a behavior and self-directed change.
I really enjoyed reznir's post. It's cool to see the things that we will be learning related into a real world context! Something that seemed to repeat itself in all the posts were how all the students were able to change some habit or improve something about themselves in some way. I'm really interested in some of the ideas with memory or reinforcement of behaviors.
My idea of behavior modification is still the same, but I'm really intrigued about certain areas and how they can relate to real life. Like reznir wrote about how the ABC's can be used in certain situations. I'm also really interested in the idea of self directed behavior as like everyone I have some habits that I really want to improve on. I can honestly say I haven't been this excited for a class.. well ever!
After reading the posts from the students in last semesters class, Colleen T's post stuck out to me personally because she included lots of examples to describe the three most important concepts she got out of taking this class. It helped me visualize what this class is going to entail and she made it sound very interesting. She also talked about how the class not only influenced her thoughts about psychology as a whole, but more importantly, it made her think about why people use certain behaviors in her everyday life. She actually gets to apply what she is using in every day situations, which is the type of material I love learning about.
After reading these posts about Behavior Modification, I've realized that it isn't going to be just about observing certain behaviors, but actually learning to understand why people behave the way they do and than learning ways to change/modify the behavior if needed. I think this could be particularly useful in changing unwanted habits in one's self.
I think positive and negative reinforcement can really have a big impact on a person's behavior, so learning more about this topic would be very interesting to me. Having taken other psych classes, I was always fascinated by B.F. Skinners work with operant conditioning , espcially his use of the "Skinner Box" to reinforce cerain beaviors.
I also think extinction is going to be a very interesting topic, since many students posts said they enjoyed learning about it.
When reading through the postings last fall, I really was able to enjoy and understand beckabk's posting the best. I really enjoyed how she really compared what she learned in class to her everyday live in many different aspects. I am not a very high reader and this posting really grasp me by one, helping me understand it by using "lame-mans" terms and two, by giving me different situations related to her faith and herself as a human.
Reading these post hasn't really changed my thoughts of beliefs on Behavior Modification, but it has really opened up my thought on all of the factors that have to do with one behavior or many behaviors that a person many have. I really believe that there are more issues in any persons life that lie beneath the surface and there is always a way to modify the small things in a humans or animals life that can change a whole behavior. Take an ADHD child, and while testing, they are unable to focus because it is too noisy in a room and too many distractions. Move him to a quietier room by himself and see how his test improve. fix the small issues to fix the big issues!
One topic that I really like is the positive reinforcement. I really believe that at any age, this works on a person. I use it on my brothers all the time. "If you are able to run me to town to get groceries, I'll take you out to eat at your choice of restraunt." or "If you clean the house for Mom, then I'll get you something when we go back into town." WORKS EVERYTIME!
After reading the responses, I found taralee's response the easiest to read, understand, and made me most excited for the class. The way it talked about a topic they will never forget really made me feel that the class was not only benefitial, but allowed the writer to never forget a few topics one has learned in class. For me, I have found myself ending a class with a final, and feeling I do not remember anything I learend because i was so focused on remembering so much it all blurred together.
The posts made me super excited for the class, not only because there are no tests, but because the class seems to be laid back, but just enough that I want to come to class and want to learn. It did not change my views of the class, just increased my excitement for the class and learning all the fun behavioral modifications I can use someday!
After reading some of the post by the students from last semester, Lauren Kirby's post was easy for me understand and comprehend. She used the appropriate language and provided good examples as to what she was describing. I think its easier to catch on to the reading if examples are provided and she did this by including aspects of her life.
After reading these post about behavior modification, I can say it has changed my idea about it slightly. After reading I know now that behavior modification is not just changing or modifying behaviors. There is much more to it than just that. I am defiantly looking forward to learning more.
After looking at most of the post a lot of students from last semester talked about the ABC's and that is something I'm interested in learning more about. A lot of the students said they were able to use the concept in every day life. And I think it is always fascinating to take something you've learned in class and actually use that in your everyday life.
Emitting a reading behavior on the past blogs was quite entertaining because the posts were from my former classmates. Emtting the reading behavior on the blogs quickly elicited a sense of familiarity with a majority of terms and concepts. I rather enjoyed Dara and Luke's posts mainly because we're friends that still have class together and I remember discussing the class often with them.
I'm at a slight advantage having already gotten my feet wet in the bmod class so I already had a fairly good grasp on the course. I do however remember first getting into the course and learning manipulation isn't always a negative and trying to wrap my mind around the correct way to use terms and concepts as well as navigating through the course.
I'm really intereseted in once again getting familiar with terms and concepts as to better use psychological speak. Some of the concepts I remember enjoying were the Token Economies and the ABC's. I'm excited for a fresh beginning in the course.
My favorite post from last semester was from rezinr. I felt he not only gave a good description about what each thing was, but he also gave good examples. I like it when people relate what they are learning to everyday life things so that it makes more sense.
After reading the blogs I am not really suprised about the course. I think I've had at least some encounter with most of the concepts and I've also already had a hybrid class with the other Maclin so I have some idea what the posts will be like.
While I was going through the posts I noticed most of them mentioned the abc's and punishment/reward. If these topics were almost everyone's favorites I'm curious to see what they will be all about and how I can use those concepts in my own life.
Reading these posts was a good opportunity to take a look at what we will be learning in class and getting some idea of how past students enjoyed the experience. The post that stood out to me was the one that taralee wrote. I picked this one because she talked about how some of the things she learned she didn’t really care for but the majority of the content was worthwhile and she would remember for the rest of her life. When reading comments like that I am happy to be in the class.
Reading these posts really hasn’t changed my mind on what the class is about it just reassures me that the class is worthwhile and even though there might be some slow times the topics to come will speed it back up. I knew coming into this class that behavior modification had to do with manipulating in ways to get a desired behavior out of something or someone and it could result in either punishment or reward depending on how well a subject does. I wasn’t aware of the ABC’s to bmod or all of the vocabulary that goes along with it.
I am interested in learning about the ABC’s of bmod. Almost everybody referenced it in their posts and talked about how much it helped them to understand other things. Some posts explain that it is a way to take something complex and break it down into something simple, who wouldn’t want to learn about that?
After reading week 16 of last semesters class, I found Danelle's post to be very interesting. They gave some great examples of what they learned and applied it to different situations. I think it's great when you can take something that you learned and apply it to everyday life. They did a great job of going into detail about positive and negative reinforcement. I feel like a lot of posts talked about the negative and positive reinforcement definitions. Another thing that Danelle talked about was token economics. I am curious to find out more about this topic. They did a great job of explaining the topic. I feel like it's a great topic to learn about after she talked about using it towards they kids she nannies for. Overall I think she did a great job explaing, and it got me more interested to learn more about the class.
After going through all of these blogs, I can't wait to learn more about behavior modification. I saw a lot of post's talking about the ABC's and I would love to learn what that's all about. I feel like it's something interesting if everyone is talking about it. Also I have learned a little bit about positive and negative reinforcement in intro to psych but I would like to go more in depth with it. I am interested to learn more abd to be able to imply it to my everyday life style.
I enjoyed Rezinr's post the most. The information was clearly organized, and presented in a manner that made it easy to understand. Rezinr also gave a lot of examples which made the information easier to understand. Before reading these entries, Behavior modification sounded like something that was going to be complicated and foreign. However, upon completion of my reading, I now see that behavior modification is used in ever day life, and often easily recognized. I'm very interested in learning what the ABC's of behavior modification are exactly. This topic was held in high regards during the reading. I'm also looking forward to learning all the new vocabulary that comes with this interesting class. However, the thing I am most excited about is being able asses peoples behavior, and possible change it for the better.
I really liked the blogs that explained the concepts they had learned like reinforcement and also proceeded in giving examples. You could tell the concepts from the class were so ingrained that it was second nature to be able to see it in their own lives. One of the most interesting components of the blogs from the last semester was that the same themes were repeated in almost every one. They all seemed to be very proficient in remembering exactly what they learned and in a very detailed way. From that I can gather that the repeated concepts like the ABC, punishment and reinforcement, token economies, etc. will be something that will become an everyday conversation in class and it will be something that is used not simply memorized. I really like that this is the way we will be learning as memorization tends to last short term but shortly forgotten.
One statement that stood out to me was that behavior is difficult to change. I guess one of my assumptions was that once you have the skills and techniques to change behavior you can just do it. I think it was good to see that it takes work and commitment but that it does work. (Which is good because I'm hoping to do some behavior modification on my husband's cleaning skills.)
The most interesting new concept to me was the idea of token economies. It seems so simple and like well yah of course but then to think of it in terms of a type of behavior modification and control was an intriguing concept.
I really enjoyed reading the blogs because it made me excited to learn some of the things they were talking about. I really like Tasha's blog because she talked about superstitious behaviors, and self changing behaviors. I thought these were interesting because she talked about specific examples that she has used to change some of her behaviors, such as how to get better grades, and a good reinforcement to promote the changing behavior. I am excited to learn more about these two topics because they sound really interesting. This didn't really change my previous thoughts about behavior modification, but it did give me some other examples to learn from.
After reading through some of the posts I liked m.anderson's post the most. I liked it the most because she goes into detail about the topics. She gives more information about them so they are easier to read and understand for someone who is just starting this class. She discuses how the class relates to so many other things in life and she can use all of the information in other classes as well. Because she does relate the topics to other aspects of life that also helps make it easier them easier to understand.
Before taking this class I assumed it would just be about different ways to change another persons behavior. After reading these posts I get that the class will go into greater depth on behavior modification. While reading these posts I was interested in a majority of the different topics that were discussed that I had never heard or have heard of but would like to go into greater lengths about learning them. The topics that stuck out to me the most are reinforcement, extinction & language behavior.
I enjoyed reading the variety of blogs and what students were able to take from the course. I didn't have a favorite post simply because I was able to take information from many of the posts and relate them to my every day life.
Behavior modification has been a large part of my life for for the past 3-4 years. My son has ADHD, ODD, depression, and generalized anxiety due to PTSD. By using behavior modification techniques and educating myself as a parent, I have been able to keep his medications to a minimum. I am anxious to learn more in depth about behavior modification.
I know that behavior modification is just a small part of what I will be learning this semester but because I have already been introduced to this area of psychology, it will help me to better understand what more I can learn and how to apply new thoughts to what I already know. After reading the posts my thoughts of behavior modification didn't really change because I have been using behavior modifying techniques for several years already.
After looking over past students' blogs I began to get excited for what is to come in the following weeks ahead during this course. I found that most students remembered a lot of material throughout the semester and actually enjoyed what they learned. One of my favorite posts was one by Rezinr because she wrote in a very lighthearted manner that made me want to continue reading. I was really able to follow what she was talking about.
Reading these posts definitely has changed my idea of what behavior modification is. This is probably because I hadn't really formed an idea of what the course would entail until I looked through past blogs. A lot of different students shared about the ABCs of behavior modification and the different kinds of reinforcement. I am excited to find the ways in which one can modify behavior, whether it be theirs or someone else's.
Based on these posts, I am specifically interested in learning more about positive and negative reinforcement and how I can learn to use them to my benefit. It kind of seems like manipulation of someone or something to get the desired outcome that you want. I like that. I am also interested in delving deeper into the ABCs of behavior modification because they can be used in any situation. I would also like to hear more about the language of behavior.
I can tell that this is going to be an interesting course, and I can't wait to get into more of the material!
My favorite post is by Nicole R. The reason why I enjoyed her post is because of the way she describes what she has learned in this class; to her it seems to come easily. You have mentioned in the class about how much of better writer you become after taking this class, and I will agree with you by seeing the posts; however, this class also seems to make the students very knowledgeable in the subject material and give them ease in nonchalantly explaining the fundamentals of who someone is: their behavior. Even though some may think this would be included in any class, it is actually quite rare to have outcomes like this, and I do applaud you and your previous students for their hard work. I am excited to develop into this type of student.
These posts have changed my idea of behavior modification. I have always held a personal belief that each and every one of our decisions can be constrained to some outside stimulus. Basically, I believe that we have no free will. These posts haven't changed my perspective in that sense, but they have changed my mind in the matter of how simple the analysis of a decision could be. I thought each decision would have to be analyzed based upon countless variables and experiences, but it seems that the analysis of a behavior can be as easy as A.B.C.
After reading a variety of blogs, I have settled on Rezinr's blog to be my favorite because it is very informal and gives multiple examples for each concept. By explaining the concepts so well and giving examples I felt like I actually learned something after reading the blog; especially about self directed behavior because he listed every step.
Going into this class I had a pretty good idea about the basics of behavioral modification since I've already taken 3 psychology classes. By reading these blogs it gave me an idea of what I will be learning in the upcoming semester. Since I already have a positive viewpoint on behavior modification, I can't say that reading these posts has changed my perspective because I have always been interested in psychology and it really fits in with my major of criminology because this is the type of techniques that are used on convicts in prisons today.
One subject matter I would be interested in learning about is token economies. I never really thought that much about how clothing stores and restaurants use them to manipulate the customers to spending more money or have repeat visits. Learning about how to manipulate people and getting them to do what you want is quite useful and interesting.
After reading through several of the posts from last years students, my favorite post was from Tasha J. I liked her post best for multiple reasons. In the very start of her post it outlined the three topics that stuck out to her most from the semester. She then went on to describe the topics and actually related the concept back to her own life. This made it easier to understand not having learned about it yet and also anxious to learn about it. She also went into details about her favorite topics that made trying to get a preview of what we will learn throughout the class exciting. Before I read some of the previous students blog posts I had somewhat of an idea of what we would be learning about in this class: punishment, reinforcement, operant and classical conditioning, but after reading I am pleasantly surprised that we will but learning about much more than that. Many students mentioned the token economy, ABC's of behavior modification, and self directed behavior. One topic that stuck out to me and I am really interested in learning more about was superstitious behavior. I am also looking forward to learning all of the specific vocabulary words that go along with behavior and being able to apply them to my everyday life.
After reading through a couple of the students posts it made me very excited for this class. I really enjoyed reading Beckabks post since she compared her experience in the class to her everyday life and I hope I am able to do the same thing when I am finished with this course. Also I liked her post a lot because it was very easy for me to read and understand since I am not yet firmiliar with the terms yet. A lot of the posts said they had the same favorite topics that they learned in class which makes me very excited for the topics such as the ABC topic and also the Reinforcement and Punishment. We did talk a little bit about Reinforcement in class today and I already enjoyed it. So im very curious to learn more about the Reinforcement and Punishment in the next couple weeks. Im also interested to learn about the token economies but im not really well knowledged about this topic and im very curious to learn more about it this semester. It was very interesting and makes you look at things in a way you would never even think to think about them. I wasnt really sure what to think about this class when I first signed up for it but after reading the posts about what I will be learning in the next couple weeks made me very excited that I did sign up for this class. Im looking forward to being able to apply what I learn in this class to my everyday life and hope to get a lot out of this class like all the students in the past have been saying they have. Im am very excited for this semester and very interested to learn more about all of these topics.
I like the posts by Rezinr, Kempkera, and Mary Schmidt. They provided detailed explanation on self-directed behavior. The example on satiation by Mary is especially intriguing. Though I don't throughly understand the story of crow, the story really helped paraphrasing the idea.
I think I still have roughly the same idea of what this class is about from what I've seen so far. The effects of reinforcement, punishment, and schedule of stimuli all seem to relate to this class.
Among all topics mentioned on that page, I'm more interested in the steps of self-directed behavior, functional analysis, satiation, and something called Differential Reinforcement of Other.
Taralee commented on what we have covered so far in these first two classes: how every behavior is controlled. We are either punished or reinforced to decrease or increase a behavior respectively, and that seems to mean that we are controlled. However, I believe that is simply how we, as humans, are wired. I learned in Biopsychology about the reward system in our brains. I admit, the knowledge isn't fresh, and I cannot recall details correctly so I will not try. But, (and what follows is an opinion based on what I've learned and observed) we run on reward and punishment. Just look at how greedy mankind is. If we don't gain anything, whether it's a material item or an idea, why do the task? Because we are hardwired this way, everything in our environment conditions us to behave certain ways.
She also mentioned the ABC's of behavior. We touched on this today in class, and I think it's so simple! I love it. This is a very handy tool that I'm itching to apply to real life situations.
Finally, she talked about all the behaviorism jargon she learned to use. I can't wait until I can do that too. It's for this reason I chose to comment on this post. Rezinr also posted about something I can't wait to learn: the steps to self directed behavior (I wouldn't even know that term if not for his/her post). I bite my cuticles, especially when the school year begins because unless my hands are busy taking notes, my fingers are at my mouth. Disgusting, I know. But I don't know how to stop! This is one thing I know I will take away from this course... at least.
I like the way most people talked about how relative all the material is to everyday life. I didn't expect it to be so practical. I suppose I figured we would get a big text book, look at case studies, and take quizes. This doesn't seem to be the case and it is very refreshing that this is so. The way students talk, the course seems more like an evaluation of life through the lense of behavior modification. That's how relatable the material sounds. I saw a few posts on self-directed behavior. One person said that if we learn the steps, we can change pretty much anything bad about oursleves. I mean, who doesn't want that skill? I am looking forward to this topic. I am also hoping to have a more reinforcement based way of living, rather than punishment. I, and many others I'm sure, have a punishment mind set. I didn't really think about this fact until coming to class, but stepping back and considering it all, it seems that I do. I'd like to change that up a bit.
I enjoyed reading Lauren Kirby’s post. She was able to relate what she had learned to events during her day and with other classes she had taken. I love when I can do that myself after taking a class. Psychology is not just theory, it can be put into practice outside of the classroom and to be able to do this easily I think really proves that something was learned (and not just for a test). Overall, reading the posts just gets me excited to learn and discuss what the previous class has learned. A few people commented on how they already knew the terminology but really enjoyed working with examples to better understand the terms and what they mean in psychology. Nothing particular stood out when going through the posts, but that happened last year too. I tend to find things to be interested in when I am working on my posts. Example: last semester in Sensation and Perception, we were learning about the biology of the eye and how we really ‘see’. One of the things that interested me was vision impairment. Having had a vision impairment myself, I became interested in LASIC eye surgery. Everything from the history and mechanics of how the machines work to pre and post-operation restrictions and conditions. I used to be a -7. If you don’t know what that means because you don’t wear glasses yourself; I had very bad vision to the point of almost being blind without corrective lenses. I could still see colors, but there was 0 definition. Anything more than 6 inches away from my nose became just a blur. I think that having done the digging into information about LASIC in Sensation and Perception really helped prepare me for my surgery when I had it done this summer. I never expected that taking one class and doing the research for just one blog post would help me so much on one topic that I didn’t know I had questions to.
After reading the posts from last year, it sounds like I'm in for a fun and educational class. I really liked most of the posts because it seems as though the class teaches you things that can be applied to everyday life and interactions with other people. It seems as though everybody took something meaningful away from the class and they were able to apply it directly to the facets of everyday life. My favorite posts were the ones like Lauren Kirby's where the student actually goes out and applies the things they learned to their roomates and friends. It's funny to read how she got her roomate to do the dishes and interesting to see that it worked. I also like some of the posts that talk about taking what you learn and trying to train your pet with it. It's refreshing to learn something new in a class that you can apply to life almost as soon as the class is over.
Reading the posts hasn't really changed what I thought the class would be. If anything it has just reinforced my understanding of what I would be learning in the class. I knew coming in the Behavior Modification would be about the behaviors of people and explaining why people do the things they do. I also knew it would have something to do with going about changing some of the behaviors either in your life personally or with other people. I am interested to learn more about reinforcement and punishment and how you can help to train people to behave more positively in their lives. I think it is a very important facet of the class because there is always a debate on how someone should be treated after doing something wrong.
After reading the posts from last year, it sounds like I'm in for a fun and educational class. I really liked most of the posts because it seems as though the class teaches you things that can be applied to everyday life and interactions with other people. It seems as though everybody took something meaningful away from the class and they were able to apply it directly to the facets of everyday life. My favorite posts were the ones like Lauren Kirby's where the student actually goes out and applies the things they learned to their roomates and friends. It's funny to read how she got her roomate to do the dishes and interesting to see that it worked. I also like some of the posts that talk about taking what you learn and trying to train your pet with it. It's refreshing to learn something new in a class that you can apply to life almost as soon as the class is over.
Reading the posts hasn't really changed what I thought the class would be. If anything it has just reinforced my understanding of what I would be learning in the class. I knew coming in the Behavior Modification would be about the behaviors of people and explaining why people do the things they do. I also knew it would have something to do with going about changing some of the behaviors either in your life personally or with other people. I am interested to learn more about reinforcement and punishment and how you can help to train people to behave more positively in their lives. I think it is a very important facet of the class because there is always a debate on how someone should be treated after doing something wrong.
I enjoyed reading the variety of blogs and what students were able to take from the course. I didn't have a favorite post simply because I was able to take information from many of the posts and relate them to my every day life.
Behavior modification has been a large part of my life for for the past 3-4 years. My son has ADHD, ODD, depression, and generalized anxiety due to PTSD. By using behavior modification techniques and educating myself as a parent, I have been able to keep his medications to a minimum. I am anxious to learn more in depth about behavior modification.
I know that behavior modification is just a small part of what I will be learning this semester but because I have already been introduced to this area of psychology, it will help me to better understand what more I can learn and how to apply new thoughts to what I already know. After reading the posts my thoughts of behavior modification didn't really change because I have been using behavior modifying techniques for several years already.
After reading some of the posts from week 16 of last semester’s class I really enjoyed Tasha J’s post. She was talking about three different topics that mattered most to her throughout her semester. She mentioned superstitious behavior, self directed change, and reinforcement or punishment. How she was able to define each of the topics in her own way really was helpful to grasp the concept. Tasha’s post made me feel like behavior modification is going to be doable and helped to take some weight off of my shoulders. After reading through the posts from past students it helped to change my idea of the class. I was expecting to have a serious class and go over a lot of what other psychology classes may have cover, but now that I have seen these posts it has helped me to realize that this class is going to cover so much more and I am excited to get going with behavior modification. I am really looking forward to the ABC’S because a lot of posts talked about how they are able to still relate it to everyday life. Plus then I will be able to simplify situations in my own life.
After reading the blogs from last year's class, I noticed some repetition. Many students mentioned the ABC's of Behavior Modification, but not many of these posts focused on specifics of these letters and what they represent. A student that went by the name of Nicole R, broke the mold and described what she had learned about Antecedents, Behaviors, and Consequences individually and I appreciate that. I then read a post written an alleged Monica E. This writing did not immediately go into the ABC's of Behavior Modification, but instead she picked one of the variables (A for Antecedent) and expanded on that. This writing concentrated on changing the antecedent. Although I liked reading the blog by this individual, I found a definition of Antecedent to be this: the history, events, characteristics, etc., of one's earlier life. Another definition described the word to be a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc.
This blog states that changing an antecedent is a simple way to elicit an alternative behavior. I feel that changing events that occurred earlier in my life would not be such an easy task, however I do agree that changing CURRENT circumstances in my life may effect future behaviors and consequences.
Another part of the blog written by Monica E discussed self-directed behavior. The writing mentioned setting specific goals and behavioral steps involved to reach them. This is a topic that I am intrigued by and am eager to learn more about as the class goes on.
These posts did not modify my thoughts on what behavior modification is or is not, but nevertheless, I did enjoy reading what others took away from this class.
I read Rezinr | December 9, 2011 5:28 PM | Reply.
this 'Rezinr' appears to have written .. "this class has elicited in me...."
The information and what not was well placed in 'Rezinr's' post, I feel, and his topic sentence inspired me upon myself some sad/excited feelings.
I feel that it is an individual that elicits {} in class, NOT the other way around. Behavior Modification Class does not elicit individuals,Individuals elicit feelings potentially inspired by a class, I feel. I for Individual, I feel. Individuals elicit universities,and individual students elicit careers held by university staff. Individual students will not be considered some subject of study, for it is individual students who do the studying which provides for the "value" of classrooms and universities. Individual student's dollars are tokens to UNI. Individual students physical presence is what elicits future individual students in enrolling. Individuals please set the order a bit more dignifying and acknowledge that it is 'us' who are here to elicit, not to be elicited upon. I feel. Thanks!! 8/29/12 @ 1539 hrs. Centric Time. Opinion Mine.
If I would have been able to read these post when we first had first started class, I would have had no idea as to what the students were talking about. The terms that were being used would not have mad sense. But since I have already learned a lot of the terms that were used, I am able comprehend the things that the students were explaining. I particulary like NaughtyNarwals's blog because it was straight and to the point. They explained everything in detail without going over the top with it. Even though I have already somewhat learned about the ABC's, the post made me even more excited to continue learning about this concept.