Please go to the following blog page:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html
Please read sections 5.4 (Changing the Antecedants)
After reading section 5.4, please respond to the following questions.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? What were some ideas that came to mind when you were reading the section?
How might you change some of the antecedents of the behavior you are trying to change?
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Please graph your behavioral data that you collected last week. You should have been reinforcing the behavior last (or punishing if that is the case). Continue to reinforce the behavior through this week and bring your graph to class. It can be done with a program such as Excel or by hand it is up to you.
NOTE: the graph should include both the base line data (no reinforcement) and the data collected during reinforcement. Just draw a cut off line on the graph to indicate when the behavioral intervention (reinforcement) began.
Here is a random sample graph I found on the Internet - yours doesn't have to look exactly like this - it is just an example.
[insert graph]
Let us know if you have any questions,
--Dr. M
“The learned tradition is not concerned with truth, but with the learned adjustment of learned statements of antecedent learned people”
- Alfred North Whitehead quotes
Section 5.4 – Changing antecedents
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? And Why?
1) That changing the antecedent is a very powerful and could really dictate whether or not behavior modification will occur. When you change the antecedent which is usually done by using environmental situations to sway or get the target behavior you want the consequence to be in your favor.
2) A person can makes changes in the environment that will change behaviors & even if the changes to the environment are unfavorable, it’s okay because the disruption of the operant behavior has already occurred.
3) DRO is definitely works in reducing behaviors and can be elicited by making changes to the environment. And that's because it was emphasized in the summary as being an important thing to know
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why?
This chapter was very short and fun to do, I mean the example boxes were given with easy to understand examples. And it seemed fairly short and with very easy example boxes. I really enjoyed doing them and personalizing the information so that I would remember it my way. I have always enjoyed that throughout these sections.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why?
I guess the only thing that I can say about it was that it said many experts but didn’t give names. Throughout the sections there is always a person who we reference, Freud, Skinner, etc. I could see adding something about Thorndike maybe.
What were some ideas that came to mind when you were reading the section?
I definitely could see how I was already implementing some changes in my own antecedents within different behaviors. Actually, I have been doing so since this semester started, probably right after that first day of class. I have realized through our readings, lectures, and as I research though different web links that changing the antecedents can really change the behavior of someone who you may be dealing with. I am definitely beginning to see the ABC’s in my daily life.
How might you change some of the antecedents of the behavior you are trying to change?
• If I set a time or specific trail that I want to walk or bike.
• I could also plan to take one or all of the children with me and make it a family bike ride.
• Set out my clothing for sunshine, rain or cold wind – giving me a heads up that no matter what kind of day it is, I will still do my physical activity.
Terms: behavior, learned, antecedents, behavior modification, environment situations, consequences, operant behavior, DRO, Freud, Skinner, Thorndike, implementing, changes, behaviors, class, research, and the ABC’s.
Three things I will remember from this chapter are DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior), antecedents, and how alter antecedents can alter behavior. Antecedents are what set the occasion for certain behaviors to occur. One effective way to alter behavior is to alter the antecedents or environments that sets the occasion for the behavior to occur. I will remember this from the example of exchanging the candy bowl for a fruit bowl. If I wanted to eat healthier and my roommates and I had a candy bowl lying out, I could possibly switch the candy to fruit which would alter my behavior since candy is no longer present or as easily accessible. The differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) refers to reinforcing a behavior that in incompatible with the undesirable behavior. If I wanted to reduce the amount of T.V. watched I could sign up for a fitness class at the time I normally watch T.V. I cannot do both at the same time and I am more likely to go to the class since I paid for it. This DRO works well to reduce the amount of TV watched by altering my TV watching behavior to exercise.
One thing I really liked about this chapter was that it was very straightforward, clear, and to the point. The section described the new material well without reviewing old material. As I have previously discussed, I like a little review but too much can be irritating and I enjoyed the fact that there was little review. There was really nothing I disliked about this section. I thought section 5.4 was very clear and got the point across of the importance of antecedents on behavior well. Some ideas that came to mind while reading this section is how I may implement this information to behaviors I wish to change. I know I have already with my behavior of eating healthy. I use to emit a bad habit of eating excessive amounts of peanut butter. I could eat a whole jar in less than a week by eating it with just a spoon. I wanted to change this behavior because it was unhealthy and expensive. I was able to do so by changing the antecedent or environment. I first stopped buying peanut butter and only ate it in the dining center. One this occurred I slowly stopped eating less and less peanut butter at the dining center as my friends would comment on how much I ate. Now I rarely eat peanut butter maybe once or twice a week and when I do it is a decent amount not too excessive.
I will use this information toward my behavioral goal of making the dean’s list by changing some antecedents. When doing homework or studying for tests I might change my environment setting. Instead of studying or working on homework in my room I will go to the library or computer lab. My dorm room is full of distractions such as the T.V., friends, food, and more. Going to the computer lab and/or library will help eliminate those distractions and will provide me with a more productive environment. When I am more focused and productive the consequences are desirable with my grades positively impacted as well as my gpa.
Terms: antecedent, consequences, behavior, emit, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), reinforcement, behavioral goal
5.4
Three things I will remember:
1. Antecedents – the environment and context for all the behaviors that we emit on a daily basis. Controlling the antecedent means you are able to control the behavior you wish to modify.
2. Observational Learning – when children learn by example; it is harder to tell a child not to do something or explain something to them; children aren’t as good as adults with words, and I particularly remember being a child and not understanding a lot of things when my parents would try to explain them to me. Rather, if I was able to see something in action or my parents were able to physically show me, I was able to retain these actions and would know better for next time.
3. DRO – Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior. We can control the environment to reduce undesired behaviors and we can also control the environment so that it contains the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors. The example with eating junk food was a good one for me to remember, and exemplifies how we are able to adjust our environment to make it more compatible for us when we have a target behavior that we want to increase or decrease.
One thing that I really liked about this section was the concept that it is not always the person/child that needs to be punished in an undesirable situation; rather, removing the stimuli that is eliciting the undesirable behavior can be used rather than having to use negative punishment. So, if a child hits another child with a toy, the toy can be removed rather than putting the child in time out. The toy works as the antecedent in this particular situation, so removing it can disrupt the fighting behavior and stop the kids from fighting further. I also liked reading about kids saying “NO” a lot, so a great action for the parent to take is to control the environment by adjusting the antecedent in order to stop the kids from asking this so much. The example of making an environment safer for children was good; rather than having to tell them “NO” constantly, parents change the environment and control the antecedent so there is no chance for the children to get in a bad accident.
There wasn’t really anything from this section that I didn’t like. I thought it was very to the point and it provided some really good examples that I can apply to my own life and how I can apply more behavior modification concepts to my own life. Some ideas that came to mind were controlling the antecedent more in my daily life. For example, one thing that bothers me in my apartment is the level of volume that my roommate listens to TV at night. It is always too loud, and I ask him every night to turn it down. He turns it down, but doesn’t learn from it because it is back at the same exact level the next night. So after reading this, I have decided that altering the antecedent could be the best way to control the volume to a reasonable level on a nightly basis. For example, I could provide him with a pair of headphones that he could use or split the cost of a pair of headphones so I am not disturbed.
One of the ways that I can change the antecedent of the behavior I am decreasing (Watching TV) is to turn the sleep timer on each time I turn the TV on. I could also unplug the TV more frequently or when I don’t plan to watch TV. This way, if I am just bored or doing homework I am not able to turn the TV on and just start watching.
Terms Used – Antecedent, Emit, Undesirable, Eliciting, Stimuli, Observational Learning, Target Behavior
SECTION 5.4
1) The impact of observational behavior stuck out because not much thought is given to the influence it has on young children until it is obvious a child has been reinforced through observation e.g. A two year old repeating the word ‘asshole.’
Differential reinforcement is important as another form or reinforcement avoiding the use of aversive techniques. Differential reinforcement is a method I would like to integrate into my lifestyle, rather than punish myself for unwanted behaviors, reinforce behaviors that oppose the unwanted behavior-thus reinforcing desired behaviors.
Controlling the environment, thus antecedents is the most effective way to increase the frequency of a target behavior through the use of DRO and avoidance of punishment!
2) Reading about the effective of disrupting the operant behavior as the most effective method of reinforcement was interesting. We have learnt throughout the semester the importance of the relationship between the antecedent and the consequence. Specifically, by controlling the antecedent we can control the consequence. This section reinforces the notion that the environment acts as the antecedent to certain desirable or undesirable behaviors. Thus if one controls the environment once will control the behavior-that simple.
3) This was a really interesting section to read; nothing to dislike!
4) Reading this section reinforced what this class has led me to believe is the most effective method of parenting-avoiding punishment by controlling the environment of the child through the removal of environmental stimuli that elicits undesired behavior. This section attempted to explain why child behave so undesirably at age two, often referred to as the “terrible twos.” Two year olds develop through observational learning as much as they do with direct instruction from parents, thus parents emitting “no” behaviors influences the child. Thus the removal of these behaviors from the environment could reduce the level of bad behavior a child shows at age two.
5) The antecedent that increases my target behavior of writing in a diary is the placement of the diary itself. Specifically, placing the diary near my bed reinforcers me both morning and night to take the dairy into consideration, increasing the likelihood I will pick it up make a diary entry.
TERMS: operant behavior, reinforcement, antecedent, consequence, desirable, undesirable, environment, elicit, punishment, observational behavior, aversive, differential reinforcement, emit, frequency
Section 5.4 Changing the Antecedents
Three things I will remember from this chapter are that antecedents can ultimately control our behaviors, they also form the environment as well as context for which behaviors occur and that by recognizing and identifying the antecedents adequately for our own behaviors we are then able to change those behaviors by utilizing what we know. For instance, in my behavioral change project I am reducing the amount of calories I eat per meal as well as increasing the amounts of meals I eat to 6. After creating a baseline for my behavior I realized that it was at night and during the weekend in which I would really splurge and eat a lot in only 2 or 3 meals. This type of behavior was not defined as my target behavior therefore I knew I had some things to change. For example we had a bowl sitting in our kitchen at home that was empty and wasn’t being used for anything so I went ahead and set it on the table right by the door I use every day and put healthy, small to-go snack in it . In doing this, I have lowered my caloric intake for meals on the weekend because I know have something to eat on-the-go versus eating something at work like a slice of pizza.
One thing I liked about this chapter was the fact that I thought section 5.4 was very clear and depicted very nicely how important antecedents are to behavior. Some ideas that came to mind while reading this section is how I may implement this information to behaviors I wish to change. I know I have already discussed above what my target behavior is but this chapter helped me think of it from a different angle. I used to emit the behavior of splurging on the weekends and at nights because I didn’t have easy accessible food at my disposal. I recognized that when I put together my baseline for my behavior and changed the antecedents to more appropriately fit my lifestyle. I also have implemented once a week trips to the grocery store as well as one night a week preparation of meals. This are particularly handy when I get busy on the days where I have to work, go to school and then work again. It enables me to get a good meal in, feel satisfied, yet maintain my target behavior of keeping my meals at 266 calories or less and eating 6 of them per day.
Terms: antecedent, consequences, behavior, emit, reinforcement, behavioral goal
I really enjoyed the discussion behavior control in children in this section. Changing the environment by removing the antecedent can really manipulate a behavior of a child into a more positive one, specifically in the “toy time outs”. This behavior is seen in all small children, they’re fighting over a toy or using it as a weapon. By putting the toy in “time out”, it removes the antecedent of the fight or disrupts the operant behavior of fighting and arguing. Another way to improve young children’s behavior is by removing “no”. Creating a space safe, where children are allowed to do as they please, without being told “no”. This helps them to mimic this action, instead of just learning to say “no” to get what they want. Working in a daycare for a year, I’ve seen many children enact these behaviors, but I never knew what could be leading to them until now.
I’m a big fan of practice makes perfect and using repetition as a strategy for learning, but there seemed to be a lot more bubbles than text. It could also be impart to graduation being three weeks away. As I have said before, it would be helpful in the later chapters to have this relate to our topics, even though the ones in the section are relatable.
1. Environments can be shifted to change a behavior, specifically the antecedent of the situation. If the antecedent is removed or changed, it can completely alter the behavior and this is done in a variety of ways. Examples of this could be joining a new club, picking up a new hobby or actually a change of environment.
2. Using differential reinforcement of other behaviors we are able to control the environment so that it contains the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors. This is an effective way to modify a behavior in a desirable way. This changes the environment to produce a positive change. The example in the text made a lot of sense. Trying to eat healthier by changing the food in the environment. Putting out fruits and vegetables, not having candy around, having smaller portions, etc.
3. Another way to change a behavior is by adapting the physical environment. We can remove objects that will elicit undesirable behaviors. This will help to increase the frequency of a desirable behavior. By incorporating differential reinforcement of other behaviors, we can change out physical things that elicit bad behaviors for ones that would elicit good behaviors.
As I was reading this section, I started assessing my everyday life. There are many things that we encounter each day that cause us to do specific behaviors. Simple things like what to take for breakfast if I’m running late or if I’ll even have time to grab something. It specifically relates to the behavior I’m trying to manipulate, which is eating 3 servings of fruits or vegetables each day. The only problem with this is I haven’t been to the store in three weeks. By going to the store and stocking up on these items, I will be more likely to grab those out of the fridge than something less healthy. Also by having these healthier options, I can have a serving of fruit with every meal, thus leading to 3 servings a day.
Terms: environment, antecedent, manipulate, toy time outs, disrupts the operant behavior , removed, differential reinforcement of other behaviors , elicit, desirable, adapting the, physical environment, undesirable
5.4
I thought this section was very interesting and useful. I will remember first and foremost that simply by changing the antecedents you can modify behaviors. A lot of times just changing the environment is all one needs to do to change an aversive behavior. Second, I will remember that even if the environment seems out of your control, there is almost always something you can do to still change the antecedent. For example, sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture is an environment that I would consider to be pretty much out of my control. There are many other people around me and if they are doing something distracting, like watching videos or facebooking on their computer, I don’t really have the authority to tell them to stop. However, there are still some things I can do, such as sit in front of them so I cannot see them on their computer. Lastly, I will remember that not only can we change our environment to reduce undesired behaviors, we can change and manipulate the environment to increase behaviors that are desired. This is known as differential reinforcement of other behavior, or DRO.
Something that I found really interesting and liked in this section was the bit that talked about toy timeouts. I have never heard of this concept before and found it to be really clever. Obviously everyone has heard of the children going in timeout, but sometimes this can be ineffective because children will throw tantrums etc. But putting the toy in timeout is a unique way to alter the environment to still get the desired behavior.
There is nothing that I disliked about this section. It was short, and to the point, and because it was a shorter section it is harder to pick out something that I didn’t like. I think all of the information presented in this section was realistic to try to incorporate into my chosen behavior, and is important to the success of modifying behaviors.
Some ideas that came to mind while reading this section were just various ways that I can change my environment and antecedents to get the desired behaviors I want from other people. I have a roommate who is the biggest slob ever. I have witnessed her doing her dishes one time in the whole year we’ve lived together, and I am constantly doing them for her. She also leaves her laundry piled up so high in the laundry room it is literally impossible to open the door let alone get in there to do my own. I have decided to change the environment by leaving all of her dishes for her to do, no matter how long it takes her to finally do them. When she finally decides to do them, I will reinforce her by saying “Oh hey thanks for doing those dishes!” As for her laundry, I am going to change the environment by moving all of her clothes from the laundry room to the dining room table. She always sits there to eat and when she sees all of her clothes everywhere, she will be more likely to take them up to her room or wash them. If she asks me why they are on the table, I will simply tell her I needed to do my laundry and couldn’t even walk in the laundry room to do it. She can’t get upset about that. Basically, I need to stop enabling her to be a slob by not picking up after her anymore and letting her get away with her disgusting ways.
As for the behavior I am trying to change, spending less money on things I don’t need, I will change my antecedents by not going out to the bars as often. When I am out, I spend money on alcohol and food. If I am not in the bar, or out and about, I don’t spend money. Also, I will avoid the mall because whenever I go to the mall I buy things I don’t need.
Terms: antecedent, behavior, aversive, DRO, differential reinforcement of other behavior, reinforce
Three things I will remember:
1) How powerful changing the Antecedent can affect behavior, when an individual disrupts the undesired target behavior by changing the environment. An example from this section is when an individual is trying to eat healthier and changes the bowl of candy on the table with a bowl of fruit. By doing this the individual increases their chance to eat a fruit then eating candy.
2) DRO- Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior refers to when an individual reinforces a behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. For example now that I have stopped smoking cigarettes when I feel the urge to smoke a cigarette I pop a piece of gum in my mouth.
3) Lastly, I will remember a few important details when choosing a reinforcement, they can be primary or secondary reinforcers. Also humans have an amazing way of delaying gratification, which allows us to not have to be reinforced all the time we can save up reinforcers for later use this can come extremely handy when we get into discussion about token economy. Also reinforcers do not have to be just a specific object that is given, it can also be an event. For example if I stay smoke free for a week, I will reinforce myself with giving myself 10$ to spend on something I want.
What is one thing you really liked that was in the chapter? Why?
I really enjoyed how this chapter took information from previous sections and reinforced the meaning of the vocabulary and how to use them. This short review was not too long and displayed examples of how to use DRO and antecedent to get an individual to emit a desired target behavior.
What were some ideas that came to mind when you were reading the section?
While I was reading thIs section, I thought about what little patience I have with children and how I can apply DRO or changing antecedents when my younger cousins misbehave. I hope now that I will be able to use some of the examples from this section to elicit the behaviors I desire from my younger cousins when they display unwanted behaviors.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? why?
There was not much from this chapter that I disliked.
How might you change some of the antecedents of the behavior you are trying to change?
Early in my behavior modification I noticed that I tended to want to smoke more when I was outside around individuals that smoked at bars. So I changed the antecedent and instead of hanging outside when I went to the bar, I stayed inside with friends that did not smoke and approved of me quitting. I also stopped going to bars much, I rather stay at home and have a good time with friends then an over crowded area.
During my behavior intervention when I moved from 4 cigarettes to 2 cigarettes, I found it difficult to stay under my limit when I had the whole pack of cigarettes in my drawer. So I decided to give the pack to a trusted friend who kept them with her while I only kept the amount I could have for the week.
The next antecedent change I will try to do is to not buy cigarettes at all, since I am completely going to stop smoking having them not on my at all will help.
Terms-Behavior modification, antecedents, environment, DRO, implementing, changes, reinforcement, emit, target behavior, undesirable, desirable behavior
Section 5.4
1. I will remember that removing the No’s is an effective way to change behavior in especially young children because it changes the environment. This allows the child to learn quicker in a better environment.
2. I will remember that by changing the environment or antecedent, it disrupts the operant behavior. The example with toy timeouts was effective in helping me remember this. Also, when the section discussed the parolee example and manipulating the environment it helped as well.
3. I will remember that differential reinforcement of other behavior can be very effective if used correctly. The example about the sweets gave me a much better understanding of this term. By hiding the sweets and replacing them with fruits made it more accessible to eat healthy than unhealthy.
One thing I really liked about the chapter was the description of differential reinforcement of other behavior. Up until this point, I did not have a great grasp of this term. The sweets example and changing the environment and behavior with replacing them with fruits gave really made it clear for me.
One thing I did not like was the toy time out. I am not sure how effective it would be but I may just need to test it out myself someday.
Some ideas that came to mind were changing my behavior of not eating as much junk food by removing the antecedents from my home. I can take them out of my home or hide them just as in the example and buy more healthy food. I could even buy healthier snack foods rather than chips or popcorn. Also, it made me think of my future career in sales with my employer. I am trying to formulate some ideas on how I can change some of the antecedents at my workplace to be more effective and efficient. I can make sure to put my phone away for a certain period of time and stay off of my school email while at work too.
I can change some of the antecedents for my behavior I am changing by texting my sister and letting her know when I will call. I can also write out the topics I would like to speak with her about before I call. Also, if she does not answer, I can schedule specific times where I can make follow up calls.
Terminology: behavior, environment, antecedent, operant behavior, differential reinforcement of other behavior
One thing I really liked about section 5.4 was how the entire section is about changing the antecedents of our target behavior. I liked that this section focused mainly on changing the environment of the behavior because as we have learned in this course, changing the environment is key to changing our target behavior. I also liked this because it gave several examples of how to change different behaviors antecedents. Although its not hard to change the environment, it becomes more difficult when you’re changing the environment of the target behavior you’re trying to change.
One thing I didn’t like about this section was how short it was. I thought that it could have been longer to give more examples of ways to change the antecedents of a behavior. I didn’t like that this section wasn’t long because it could’ve used more examples and more ways to change the environment. Overall, I did enjoy this section because it helps me think about my environment and the antecedents that are there before my behavior is emitted.
Three things that I will remember from section 5.4 is that: 1) if you want to change a behavior you have to change the antecedents, 2) you can almost always manipulate or change the antecedents, and 3) DRO or Differential Reinforcement of other Behavior is an effective way to reduce a behavior that is being emitted. I will remember that if you want to change a behavior you have to change the antecedents because a behavior cannot be manipulated without change the environment that causes the behavior to occur. I will remember that you can almost always change the antecedents of a behavior because the person who is emitting that behavior has most if not all control over their environment. I will remember that Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors is an effective way to reduce a behavior that is being emitted because if you’re aware of your environment and surroundings (antecedents and consequences) then any behavior can be changed.
I might try to change the antecedents of my target behavior by not eating right before I am planning on going for a jog. I plan on being aware of my environment before and after I am emitting my behavior. Also, being productive helps me to emit my behavior as well. If I am sitting on the couch watching TV and eating poorly, it elicits me to not emit my behavior.
Terms: antecedents, target behavior, environment, emitting, behavior, elicits, emit, manipulate, DRO, emitted, and consequences.
One thing I really liked about section 5.4 was how the entire section is about changing the antecedents of our target behavior. I liked that this section focused mainly on changing the environment of the behavior because as we have learned in this course, changing the environment is key to changing our target behavior. I also liked this because it gave several examples of how to change different behaviors antecedents. Although its not hard to change the environment, it becomes more difficult when you’re changing the environment of the target behavior you’re trying to change.
One thing I didn’t like about this section was how short it was. I thought that it could have been longer to give more examples of ways to change the antecedents of a behavior. I didn’t like that this section wasn’t long because it could’ve used more examples and more ways to change the environment. Overall, I did enjoy this section because it helps me think about my environment and the antecedents that are there before my behavior is emitted.
Three things that I will remember from section 5.4 is that: 1) if you want to change a behavior you have to change the antecedents, 2) you can almost always manipulate or change the antecedents, and 3) DRO or Differential Reinforcement of other Behavior is an effective way to reduce a behavior that is being emitted. I will remember that if you want to change a behavior you have to change the antecedents because a behavior cannot be manipulated without change the environment that causes the behavior to occur. I will remember that you can almost always change the antecedents of a behavior because the person who is emitting that behavior has most if not all control over their environment. I will remember that Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors is an effective way to reduce a behavior that is being emitted because if you’re aware of your environment and surroundings (antecedents and consequences) then any behavior can be changed.
I might try to change the antecedents of my target behavior by not eating right before I am planning on going for a jog. I plan on being aware of my environment before and after I am emitting my behavior. Also, being productive helps me to emit my behavior as well. If I am sitting on the couch watching TV and eating poorly, it elicits me to not emit my behavior.
Terms: antecedents, target behavior, environment, emitting, behavior, elicits, emit, manipulate, DRO, emitted, and consequences.
Section 5.4
After reading section 5.4 the three things I will remember are:
1) DRO: Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior workins in reducing behaviors and can be elicited by making changes to the environment. I will remember this because it emphasized the point in the end of the section summary. The junk food example also will help me remember this as a key point in the section.
2) Antecedents and how powerful changing them can be. Changing them can affect behavior due to the change of environment. I found it very important that if the antecedent is change it can completely alter the behavior. This is also important because if you can control the antecedent you can control the behavior you wish to change or modify. This example also helped me see the correlation to what the section was discussing. The example of changing the candy to fruit in the bowl they increased their chance to eat fruit and therefor be successful.
3) Reducing the number of NO’s. This was a good section because it described how to make a positive learning environment. Removing all the things from a room allows you not to use the word no which means only positive things can happen in the room. This leads to them following examples of proper behavior. This showed me the importance of setting the environment.
The thing I liked most about this section was how easy it was to read. This chapter was just a building block from other sections we have read. The examples were all very clear and made it much easier to understand the terms and ideas that they were trying to get across. I felt this section build further on antecedents and how important they can be in behavior modification. This section also had a summary at the end which made it much easier to know the key points in the readings. Shorter sections like this that have enough information to get the point across and not extra information that isn’t needed makes for a good section to read and understand.
The one thing I didn’t like in this section was the amount of examples. I like thinking of my on examples while doing the readings but I usually cant think of 3 good ones to use for my notes. The examples in the section were great, I just think there needed to be more good examples and less examples that we needed to think up. That usually helps me understand the topics more because I know the examples used in the text are 100% correct and sometimes I second guess mine.
Some thoughts that came to mind were all about my antecedents. I thought about different ways I could change them for future behavior modification goals. I thought about my environment and how I could change it more to make my success even more likely. Its starting to sink in how important each step is in order to have a behavior modification that can work well and also be successful. Im already a few weeks into my behavioral change but I can see some news ways I could adjust to make it more successful possibly. The environment is possible to change and where I go when I don’t want to spend money. I could leave my debit card at home and return to the store if I really needed something rather than wanted something. Simple things like this would make a big difference in my behavior modification steps.
Terms: Antecedent, Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior, behavior modification, elicited, environment situations, consequences, changes, behavior, undesirable.
Section 5.4
1) One thing I will remember is changing the antecedent makes altering your behavior easier. I will rememebr this because in college changing the way you do things can be difficult. If you change the environment then our behaviors will adjust to the environment instead of trying to change our behavior to something that does not fit the environment.
I will rememeber disrupting the behavior instead of punishing the individual. I think this works great with dealing with small children and pets. I liked the example of taking away the toy that caused the children to fight. By taking away the cause of the anger, the children no longer have the need to fight and begin to be friends again.
I will remember DRO. This would work great for me because if I have a hard time modifying a certain behavior, I can reinforce another one that is incompatible with the undesirable one. By doing this, I negate the need to punihs myself which can be hard for an individual and then reinforce another behavior that will inturn cause the previous one to be extinct.
2) One thing I really liked about this chapter is the example using junk food and changing the environment. I would like to stay healthy so this one could possibly be used for me in the future. It seems so simple to do to avoid a undersirable beahvior but a lot of people do not do something about it and succcumb to the behavior. So instead of punishing yourself for eating junk food you set out healthy food which I really like. This allows you to still snack and be healthy without punishing yourself for eating or just not eating in fear of getting fat or being unhealthy.
3) There was nothing about this chapter that I did not like. The content was realavent to us college students with the use of junk food and taking away the antecendent that would cause us to fight.
4) Some ideas that came to mind was my future living situation and the junk food. I know money will be tight for the fact im in college so I do not want to just eat cheap junk food. So the example using junk food really made me think about that. Another one is the behavior I am trying to modify. For this, my friends are a real distraction from my school work even if we are all trying to do work, so I need to come to the library a lot more if this is going to work. While thinking about this I wonder if self gradifaction will be a sufficient reinforcer to my behavior.
Terms:behavior,modify,reinforcer,antecedent,environment,disrupting the behavior,punishing,DRO,undesirable,extinct
Section 5.4
Three things I will remember:
1. Removing the "nos" This will be extremely helpful for when I decide to have my own children and even when I am babysitting. It will obviously be more successful with my own children because I will be there to make sure that the room they are playing in is always "no free" whereas when I babysit I will only be able to do it when I am there and the parents may change the environment back so the children may not be as successful in changing their behavior. By making the environment kid friendly it would be hard for the child to get upset and get into things that I would normally tell them not to.
2. We can almost always change the antecedents in our environment to elict the desired behavior. By changing even the smallest aspects of our environment, we could drastically change how successful we are in changing our desired target behavior.
3.Basically, if we want to achieve our desired goal, we should always control the environment so we can change the antecedents. The more positive antecedents we have, the more likely we are to elict our desired behavior and not fail in changing it.
I really liked how this section was short and to the point. It was an easy read because it got straight to the facts. The new information was relevant to my life so I will be able to incorporate it everyday and not just learn it and forget it. It also made me think about the things I could change in my life so I would be more successful in changing specific target behaviors not only with myself, but possibly with my roommates, friends, and even family or significant other.
There really wasn't anything I disliked in this chapter. Everything was explained well and I believe that the message was portrayed very easily.
Some ideas that came to mind were how I could incorporate this new information into my life. I am always excited to learn new information about dealing with kids, since like most people, I want to have a child that elicts desired behaviors and decreases the frequency of ellicting undesired behavior.
Changing the antecedents of the behavior I want to change:
I could spend less time sitting around at home and fill my days with activities. I could go to the WRC more, go to the library to study, or join organizations/groups on campus that will keep me busy throughout the week. I could even get a job that would keep me busy when I would have free time so I really wouldn't have much time to sit down and watch TV when I am bored and have nothing else to do. All of these things could be considered positive reinforcements also.
Terms: antecedent, elict, desired behavior, positive reinforcement, undesired behavior
Section 5.4
1) Observational learning can be an important part in controlling the antecedents in which an undesirable behavior in being emitted. I know the example in which operational learning was mentioned did not relate to the antecedent but I feel like we can learn from others, especially as it relates to the target behavior we are trying to reach in this class. By seeing how other people have controlled the antecedents in their own unique way, I will be able to follow their desirable ideas and hopefully learn from their mistakes.
2) Differential reinforcement of other behavior is a proactive step anyone can take who is serious about eliciting a different pattern of behavior. People who truly want to reach their target behavior may have to completely change the antecedent in which they previously emitted the undesirable behavior. Sometimes just avoiding certain antecedents may not be enough. I think this is a defining factor in the overall success someone has in obtaining their target behavior.
3) Deciding how you will change the environment around you in order to reach the target behavior will take proactive thought and action from the individual. Changing a major behavior in ones life takes initiative at every step of the behavior modification process. You don’t just decide what behavior you would like to emit and then sit back and relax. No, it takes effort to avoid certain triggers, and it takes effort to change the antecedents around you so that you cease to emit the previously reinforced behavior.
The one thing I didn’t like about this chapter was how close to the end of the semester it is before we got to study in depth on this topic. If controlling the antecedent is the key to controlling the target behavior, shouldn’t that come first?
The one thing I like about this chapter was how clearly everything was laid out. I think this has been a consistent pattern for this entire course. The text always seems to provoke deep thought and by being able to practice what we are learning (filling in the blanks) it allows me to gain first hand experience in understanding what we are reading.
I have found in the past week or so of recording my behavior project that the antecedents are the most important part of controlling the behavior. When I walk into a room where a TV is going, I instantly sit down and began to revert to my old pattern of being engrossed by whatever media is being portrayed. I may need to implement the idea of differential reinforcement of other behavior especially as it relates to the use of the TV by my roommates in the common area of the house if it continues to be a pit fall for me in achieving my goal.
Terms: Behavior modification, emit, elicit, differential reinforcement of other behavior, antecedent, undesirable, target behavior, implement, triggers, desirable, observational learning
When reading section 5.4 the three things I will remember include:
1. Importance of Antecedents- So far we have learned a lot about the importance of the antecedent when it comes to making changes to a behavior. As discussed in this chapter, antecedents from the environment around us play a huge role in our behaviors and how we go about modifying behaviors if we are trying to change something about ourselves. By being able to control and manipulate the environment in which surrounds us along with controlling the antecedents, we are more likely to be successful in changing behavior.
2. Observational learning- This section talks about how we learn things based on examples we see other do. This is known as observational learning. One way to avoid negative observational learning-such as the example of toddlers leaning the word no from there parents- is to change the antecedents in which the behavior takes place. With the example in the reading, they removed items and created an environment in which parents wouldn’t have to say no to their child constantly, creating a space where observational leaning of the word no would be less frequent.
3. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior- When talking about differential reinforcement of other behaviors, it is referring to being able to change the environments antecedents to reduce undesired behaviors and replace them with ones with desired antecedents that elicit t appropriate behaviors. Making these changes serve as very beneficial to behavioral changes.
The reason these things really stood out to me was for the fact they really got me thinking about how to make changes to my own behavior modification plan as well as how I could use these techniques later on in life when I have kids myself or dealing with children in counseling sessions. One thing I really liked about this chapter was all the examples that helped make the information more understandable. I find that being presented with these examples gives me a better understanding of the information being presented.
One thing that came to mind as I was reading this section was the sentence that said ‘to achieve behavioral success, often times you have to be very deliberate which requires you to be aware of your environment, your behaviors, and he consequences to the behaviors.’ This couldn’t be more true. I have said I was going to eat healthier for years but it never happens. Now that I am being conscious of my behavior thought the graphing I am doing and being aware of my environments, I am actually successful at changing my behavior of eating healthier.
When thinking of ways I which I would change antecedents in my behavioral change plan, I would change the area in which I sit in the dinning center. By sitting closer to the healthier food options and farther away from the fried food selection, I am more prone to eating the healthier food 1. for the fact it is physically closer to where I am sitting so I see it and have a shorter distance to walk to get it and 2. I am not temped by the fried food because I am not in proximity to it.
Terms: antecedent, manipulate, behavior modification, observational learning, environment, elicit, Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior.
5.4
1. I enjoyed the section about the terrible two’s. I have a little cousin who is getting to that age but she is very happy, hardly fussy, and although she is an only sibling she is very good with sharing and playing with other toddlers because she goes to an excellent daycare. My other relatives keep wondering when her terrible two stage will kick in and always ask the mother what she has been doing to keep my cousin so “such a good little girl”. I liked how this section explains why the environment, and not necessarily the age itself can cause behavioral issues. By making play safe environments, and disrupting behaviors instead of saying “NO” to everything the child has a better example to go by. Since two year olds are very curious and easily influenced I think this is a perfect example of how antecedents can lead to different behaviors by observational learning
2. This section went over DROs again. Differential reinforcement of others is where behavior that is incompatible with the behavior we are trying to decrease is reinforced instead of the undesired behavior being punished. Something I have been doing to decrease my behavior is spending more time with my boyfriend and instead of bringing my laptop with me I bring DVDs with me and we watch our favorite episodes of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Another thing I have been doing is announcing ahead of time to my gaming friends that I will be at the bars with friends, or hanging out with my sister, or doing homework during certain day/ hours. This way they are less likely to ask me to participate in game events and it prepares my brain to have fun or focus in a different environment. It may not seem all that reinforcing just to make an announcement ahead of time but it actually does get me prepared for other activities.
3. Another thing I learned is that changing the environment while the undesired behavior occurs disrupts the behavior. My boyfriend helps me out a lot with this behavior that I am trying to reduce. He loves games too, and plays them often, but seems to have better control over the when and where aspect. So one thing he does while I am playing is asks me to go eat with him, or hang out in the lounge, etc and the change in location disrupts the behavior. Even though I could bring my games to some of the places he suggests I do not.
Disliked: The only thing I disliked about this chapter is that it was very focused on one thing, and its something I feel we already covered in great detail in several chapters. I felt like this section could have just been implemented into another section.
Ideas: This chapter talked about how people on parole cannot always help that they live near people also on parole but they can do things to change how often they are around them. Which gave me the idea that I cannot always help that I am around video games, or that most of my friends enjoy them to, but I can find other activities we like that we can all do together.
Antecedents: One way I can change the antecedents of my behavior is by spending less time in my dorm room, or going to environments where it’s not ideal to bring my laptop. Another way I have changed the antecedent is by doing my homework in the computer labs instead of in my room. If I do my homework on my personal laptop I’m more likely to distract myself from the homework itself, or play video games for extended amounts of time after the work is done if I‘m already connected to the internet.
Terms: Differential Reinforcement of Others, observational learning, manipulate, behavior, antecedent, reinforcement, punishment, undesired behavior, environment, disrupting the behavior.
Section 5.4
One thing that I liked about this section was that it gave real world examples of how to change the antecedent and how it can be an effective way to elicit desired behaviors. I work in child care as well as nanny and so the two examples at the beginning of the sectin were particularly nice to see and I was able to really understand how changing the antecedent can be a better way of eliciting the desired behavior rather than using punishment. I plan to try and use these suggestions and the process of changing the antecedent in my workplace in hopes to create a better atmosphere for the children as well as the workers.
One thing that I did not like about this chapter was that I felt as though it did not cover very much, but rather repeated the same point a number of times. Though I liked the different number of examples to show how changing the antecedent can happen, having more in the chapter would have been nice, especially for the portion of this assignment that asks what you can take away from this chapter. I like to take away big picture things that the more detailed information can fall into for that part of the assignment, but for this blog I feel like I will need to use specific exmaples of what I learned of the big picture because there was only really one big picture covered. A side note for Dr.M, the link on the website for this section opens not just 5.4 but also section 5.5.
Things to Remember
1. One major point to take away from this section is that though we may not have very much control over some environments, it is almost always possible to find some antecedent to change in order to bring about the emittance of the desired behavior. The examples did a good job of showing that in situations in which you may feel as though you have little control over changing, you can change some of you own behaviors that act as antecedents for the desired target behavior. It is good to know that there is always something that you can control in your life, you just have to look to find it.
2. One way to change antecedents of behavior for someone else is to change and monitor when and how much you yourself emit that behavior. Through observational learning people, many times children, will learn behaviors and when and how much they believe it is appropriate to emit that behvaior by watching your patterns of that behavior. Therefore in order to change that antecedent you must change your own behavior. This is especially important for people that are in positions of authority. They must act how they want those that they have authority over to act, this will bring about higher frequenices of the desired target behaviors.
3. Not only can antecedents be changed in order to decrease the frequency of an undeisred behavior, they can be changed to increase the frequency of a desired differential reinforcement of other behavior. This allows for reinforcement to be used rather than punishment, which we have been taught brings about more success. We know that using differential reinforcement of other elicits a behavior that is incompatible with the undesired behavior, and therefore with the increase of it will bring the decrease of the undesired behavior.
One antecedent that I can change is the food available to me on the weekends when I go home. Many times there are not as many healthy options and I dont chose my own meals, they are prepared for me. I can bring home healthier choices or offer to be the one to cook dinner so that I know the calorie count of what I am consuming and I can make sure that I have my fruit servings met for the day.
Terms Used: antecedent, elicit, punishment, emit, target behavior, frequency, reinforcement of other
Section 5.4-
Three things that you will remember?
1. As human beings, we are all capable of creatively controlling our environment at least to a certain extent. However there are things and events that we can not control no matter how much we plan for that, we need to be able to adapt our goals to our life.
2. When it comes down to it, humans are lazy and will take the easy way out. If you make the item you are trying to avoid less assessable, and the item that you want to reinforce more assessable, you will go for the one you can get the easiest.
3. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior can be very useful when attempting to control the environment and reinforce behaviors rather then punish them.
One thing that I liked about this section was how it discussed the learning by example with the small children and the word ‘No.’ I remember when I was a younger child and hearing my mom scream NO! all the time. Then when you scream no back you get your butt whooped. I remember thinking that wow you say no and I have to listen and I say no and you whoop my butt. That really doesn’t make any sense when you look at it. Small children learn from how we act and may take that behavior to school and hand it out to the other children. However, my controlling the situation and taking the blame or antecedent off of the child and placing it on the item that is in question of being used or what not, we can reduce the emitting of the word no from the small child’s mouth. One thing that I didn’t like, was that this section assumed that there is almost always an option to change the antecedent that essentially changes the behavior and elicits a different consequence. This may not always be true, it is rather hard to guess what other people will do or how they will react. This is due to the concept of free will and as though we as humans may be lazy and take the easy way out, we basically will always do what we want no matter our goals or how hard it is to obtain. With this thinking, is there really a sure fire way to make it so that you have to follow a set goal plan?
I guess my ideas came from how you can avoid procrastination. I had the ultimate form of procrastination when I had to complete a 10 page paper and I only had two hours to do it. Procrastination is a life choice but can become a bad habit if not broken. I think when it comes to my workout plan, I want to work out I really do but I have so much school work that needs to be done that I have to finish that first and by that time I have to go to bed because I have to be at work by 6 a.m. the next day. So until I can figure out a way to change that and become more time management oriented, I feel as though any goal I try to start will be futile and ultimately doomed.
One antecedent that I could change would be recruiting my boyfriend to act as a sort of drill sergeant and start a small reinforcement for meeting the time contingencies that I set for myself—something like a new book to read in my free time or something like that. I feel as though by having some one else push me to get stuff done and be able to bounce ideas off of that person may help over come my procrastination and cause me to actually want to get my stuff done on time in order to that new book—I love new books I actually can’t wait until I can buy my books for next semester!
Terms: Antecedent, Contingencies, Goal, Habit, Learning, Behavior, Hand out, Emitting, Elicits, Consequence, Punish, Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors
Three things I will remember from this section:
1. Observational learning is learning from example. The example given in the section was young children saying “no” to everything because they are told no all the time. I thought of many other examples while reading this such as watching someone play golf. One might have never swung a golf club in their life but by watching and observing someone else swing a club they could then imitate a motion similar to the one they were observing.
2. Changing the environment can help increase or decrease a certain behavior. If I would want to stop drinking so much I could change my environment to put myself in a position that would not end up with me drinking. For example, most of my friends will drink on the weekend, if I wanted to stop drinking I could hang out with different friends on the weekend, go home, or make myself the designated driver for the night so my friends wouldn't give me a drinks or try and make me drink.
3. Changing the antecedent can be important to modifying a behavior. A lot of the time changing an antecedent involves changing the environment. Lots of the time when someone is trying to modify a behavior they don't change the antecedent which usually results in failure.
One thing I liked about this section was that it made it very clear that changing an antecedent is very important to behavior modification. I felt this section really helped me grasp a better understanding of how I could change a behavior of myself or someone else. Reinforcing a behavior is very important but even if you are reinforced or punished for a certain behavior, being in the same environment could lead to an easy temptation. Simply putting yourself in a different environment can force you to change behaviors. Overall easy read and informative.
One thing I did not like about this section was the part about differential reinforcement of other behavior(DRO). I felt that it wasn't as clear as it could have been. Still a little confused.
Some ideas that came to mind when reading this section were ways that I might raise my children when I have them. There were examples in the section of how to decrease the “terrible twos” by doing simple things like eliminating an environment for a child to get do something bad and having to tell them no. Not having to tell a child no so many times will decrease that word from their vocabulary therefore they won't say it as much.
I think I have done a pretty good job at already changing antecedents for my behavior because so far it is working. One thing I could change though is not having a can of chew with me when i'm driving. For some reason I always chew when i'm driving, especially a long ways. If I just don't take a can with me in the car I will obviously have no tobacco and will not chew.
Terms: Behavior, antecedents, modification, environment, DRO, reinforce, punish, differential reinforcement, operant learning
Section 5.4
Three things I will remember from this section are:
1. You can eliminate the need for 'NOs' and in turn eliminate the need for punishment. If you simply change the antecedent, then you can alter the scenario where you would need a change of reinforcement. For example, if you were tired of getting seduced by TV and wasting your evenings, you could get rid of the TV or the remote control.
2. Changing the environment while the behavior is occurring is an effective way of disrupting the behavior. This is affective for disrupting the negative behaviors and reinforcing the positive ones.
3. Differential Reinforcement is also applicable for changing the antecedents. For example, if you wanted to watch less TV, you could get rid of the remote control and put a book in the spot where it would usually go. This could lead you to decide it would be more convenient to read a couple pages than to stand up every time you wanted to change the channel.
One thing I liked in this chapter was the lack of unnecessary information. The section was titled "Changing the Antecedents", and that is exactly what was focused on. I would say after reading this section I have a good understanding of the impact the antecedent has on the behavior, and how to manipulate that when I am trying to increase or reduce a particular behavior. I didn't really dislike anything in this section, but if I had to pick out something, it would be that you advised against buying junk food in bulk. I find nothing more satisfying than a two pound bag of sour patch kids. While reading this, some of the ideas that came to my mind were about eating healthier, and i didn't really like the idea of wanting junk food and settling for an apple. I also thought about changing the antecedents of drinking on the weekends. If I simply buy less alcohol, then I won't have to worry about the night going somewhere I didn't want it to.
My behavior is waking up early in time for breakfast. I could change the antecedent to make waking up easier by going to bed significantly earlier. I could make going to bed easier by using night-time sleep aids. I could set my alarm farther away so that I had to get out of bed to shut it off and potentially stay awake. I could drink a lot of water the night before so that I would have to use the bathroom early in the morning. I could also not eat the latter portion of the night, so that when my alarm goes off in the morning I will be more hungry making breakfast much more reinforcing.
Terms: punishment, antecedent, reinforcement, behavior, disrupting, differential reinforcement,
5.4
Three things that I will remember from this section include: 1) Figuring out what the antecedent is and how you can change it to make the consequence something desirable. Antecedents are a very important part of behavior modification. As stated in the section, “Changing the environment is a powerful way to increase the frequency of your target behavior.” 2) DRO. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior is when you reinforce a behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. However, we have discussed this topic before, it’s a good reminder. 3) In situation where you have little control over your environment, which is actually pretty rare, just try to remove yourself from the environment that holds temptation. If you’re trying to lose weight, don’t go to a baseball game where you’ll be tempted to eat three hotdogs, cotton candy, root beer float and two beers. Don’t even put yourself in that environment that will make temptation high.
One thing that I really liked about this chapter was that it refreshed our memories of DRO. It helped remind us about differential reinforcement of other behavior was and how we can use it in the real world. Something new that I learned from this section that I liked that I’ve never thought about before is instead of always punishing a person in a aversive situation perhaps the stimuli needs to be punished. Like the example with the toy in the section. That’s a good way to deal with that situation. I also liked how short this chapter was, it was short, sweet and to the point.
There wasn’t anything in particular that I didn’t like in this chapter. It was all very understandable and easy to comprehend. It all made sense and I enjoyed it.
Some things that were going through my mind as reading this chapter were how I could change the antecedents to my behavior change project. I need to start flossing and brushing my teeth at an earlier time at night so I don’t feel too tired to do it before I go to bed. I often use that as an excuse when I don’t brush my teeth at night. Also, someday I want to have children and while nannying for a family in Waterloo the kids picked up on the word “NO” and then they started using it with their nannies (there were 4 of us). I hated that because they knew exactly when to use it so I wanted to find a way to use reinforcement with my children someday. I do think it will have to be a behavior change for myself as well because when someone is doing something I don’t like I often say no. So it will be hard for me to use reinforcement instead of punishment in the beginning.
Terms: Aversive, Punishment, Reinforcement, Undesirable, Antecedent, Consequence, Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors, Behavior modification, Environment
The first thing I will remember from the chapter is the section on removing the "NOs". I thought that giving the child a completely safe environment to play is a really good idea. It lets them explore all of their surroundings like they want to. It keeps you from having to apply that punishment to their actions. I would agree that removing those NOs would be a good step in stopping the so called terrible two's. This is another example of how simply manipulating the environment, aka antecedents, can go a long way in getting the behavior that you ultimately want.
The next thing that was interesting was the differential reinforcement of others behaviors. I think that working with the people you live will is a great step in modifying your behavior. If you want complete control over your antecedents at home, you have to have everyone on board with it. I like how he agrees to do something in return, that way the roommates are reinforced to follow the guidelines in order to receive fresh fruit. If you do something in return, your roommates will be more likely to follow correctly.
The third thing was the removal of the toy. It is the easiest way to remove the problem. You really are not doing anything to modify the child's behavior, but you are removing the stimuli that is causing the problem. Another example of how changing the antecedents can be the best way to get the intended behavior. It is the first step in the ABC's for a reason.
I really like how this whole section was about changing antecedents. Antecedents are very powerful because people react to there environment. When they are busy, they are likely to take the easy way out. If you change the environment to make the right choice also the easy one, you are going to be very successful in getting your desired behavior. Since this section was all about changing antecedents, there was nothing that I did not like.
While reading the chapter I was really thinking of ways to change antecedents at work. Since I want to drink little to no soda at work, I was thinking of ways to easily elicit that behavior. I thought about bringing my own drink and putting it in the back. That way I associate getting a drink to going in the back and not the fountain pop machine. Since the water is in there too, I have to bring my own drink so that I can remove that temptation/antecedent.
terms: antecedents, elicit, behavior, modify, differential reinforcement of others behavior, punishment, environment, reinforcement, stimuli
Section 5.4
Three Things I Will Remember:
1) Changing the environment leads to changes in the antecedent, and changing the antecedent equals changes in a behavior! We can control the environment so that it contains the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors.
2) Changing the environment while a bad behavior is occurring (disrupting the operant behavior) can be useful in stopping a behavior from occurring in the future. This is useful because it doesn’t punish anyone or anything- rather it just eliminates the problem.
3) To achieve your goal you must be deliberate of your actions, aware of the environment, behaviors, and the consequences of them. If you do not do these things you cannot reach your goal!
One thing I really liked in this section is the example of hiding sweets and how doing things like putting them in the freezer, having your roommate hide them, and not buying in bulk or buying premade sweets reduced the temptation to ask for or make sweets for himself. Although they didn’t seem like behaviors, they changed the environment and prevented him from wanting the sweets.
One thing I disliked about this chapter is the box that asked “ What are 3 environments that you have little control over in your daily life?” and the box below it. I found them difficult to answer and I wish there were more examples to go off of.
Some ideas that came to mind about improving my own behavior modification project and it’s antecedents included putting waters in the fridge so they were easily accessible, adding flavored powder to the water so it encourages me to drink more , constantly carrying my waterbottle everywhere with me, buying a reusable one, getting rid of other beverages in my fridge, and only allowing myself to buy water when I go to the market or store. By doing these things it will most likely increase the amount of water I drink!
Terminology: antecedent, behavior, elicit, disrupting the operant behavior,punishment
5.4
Three things I will remember about this chapter are 1. Antecedents can be a powerful tool in helping to change a behavior. It might not seem like much but it can help in a big way and set you up for success. A lot of people don’t succeed in changing their behaviors because they don’t realize that certain situations could be setting them up to fail. 2. Changing our environment can help to change our behaviors. Our environment can tempt us to emit unwanted behaviors, even if it seems we have little control over these situations there is usually at least one thing we can do to help ourselves become successful. 3. There are ways we can disrupt the unwanted behavior. By disrupting the behavior we can help to stop it and distract ourselves from doing it. While it might seem odd disrupting the behavior it can usually be effective in preventing us from continuing the unwanted behavior. Most of these things we had at least touched on in other chapters. So most of it was review, otherwise I feel like it is easy to understand because it makes sense. When I think about my previous experiences with trying to change one of my behaviors I usually have failed or just quit. Some of the reasons I think I wasn't successful were because I wasn't aware of how certain antecedents affected me and temped me to emit my unwanted behavior. I really liked the ideas the chapter shared on how to eat less junk food. I thought they were really helpful and creative. They weren't things I would have thought of, but that could definitely be effective. Along with eating more fruits and veggies I am hoping to eventually eat less junk food to complete my healthy lifestyle. I am going to try some of these ideas to help me in eating less unhealthy snack foods. One of the things I didn't really like about this chapter was that it kind of felt like a lot of review and not that much new material. That being said it’s always good to review so you make sure you have the information solid in your head. Some ways I could help to make my behavior project could be to have fruits and veggies available in my room not only to eat if I don’t like anything they are serving in the dining hall but also to eat as snacks so I will eat those healthier options instead of junk food. That way I get my servings in for the day and am eating healthier as well.
Terms: emit, unwanted behavior, disrupting, antecedents
I liked this chapter because I now realize how important it is to always consider how to modify the environment when beginning a behavioral change. This is a much more subtle way to elicit the target behavior than by directly reinforcing or punishing the behavior. The main advantage to this subtlety is the fact that the person whose behavior is being modified is much less likely to notice that you're manipulating them if you're just changing the environment. On the other hand, if you're just using reinforcement and punishment, they're going to suspect something.
This is also the best way to initiate the first instance of the target behavior...if the person never accidentally emits the target behavior, then you will never be able to reinforce them. Your only options are to either tell them the target behavior that you want them to emit or to manipulate the environment to elicit the behavior, and then immediately reinforcing the behavior once emitted.
One environmental antecedent standing in the way of my target behavior was the convenience of getting to the gym three times a week with my busy schedule. I figured out two ways around this. Walking from my house to the WRC is at least a 25 minute walk, and on cold and wet days I don't particularly want to walk all that way in my gym clothes. I found out that you can part very close to the WRC for only 50 cents per hour, so if I don't want to walk I drive there.
Sometimes I find that I just don't have the time to walk all the way home and then drive to the WRC only to drive home again at night, so on those days I bring my gym clothes with me to work or to class, and then just go to the Health Beat in the union on the way home. Although it is not as big of a gym as I'm used to, it has all of the equipment that I need to emit my target behavior.
I also make sure to keep at least one workout outfit clean at all times, so I can't use the excuse that my clothes are too dirty to go work out.
Section 5.4:
One thing I really liked from this section was the example of the toy time out. For this example it was explained that rather than punishing the child by putting them in time out situation which is the negative reinforcement we use the concept that the toy has created and the toy needs to be punished by getting a time out. By doing this we are changing the environment by removing the antecedent of the fight. Something else I liked was the terrible two’s example to explain that children learn by example and this is called observational learning. In this example it was explained that parents should move anything that children can get into, climb on, and anything else that may cause the parent to say no. By controlling the environment the only behaviors the child can emit are safe and appropriate. This will also reduce the number or no’s emitted and the children may not even go through the terrible two’s because they learn from example and observation. Lastly, I liked that we touched again on Differential reinforcement of other behavior. This is a way to reduce a behavior is by reinforcing a behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. We can’t just control the environment to reduce the undesired behaviors we can also control the environment so that it contains the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors. One thing that I really liked was the part that stated; “To achieve behavioral successes often times you have to be very deliberate which requires you to be aware of your environment, your behaviors, and the consequences to the behaviors.” I liked this because it kind of puts together what we have already gone over in the previous chapters. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like from this section; everything was pretty straight forward followed by good examples.
As far as my graph goes I have it done on a sheet of paper. Also, I will use this information towards my behavioral goal by changing some antecedents such as the environment. I plan to change the environment by not placing pop in it so I don’t feel tempted to drink it and replace my drinks with tea which is much healthy and I like it just as much as pop.
Terms: consequences, environment, behaviors, behavioral successes, elicit, emitted, antecedents, undesirable behavior, reinforcement/reinforcing/reinforcing, controlling, observational learning, negative reinforcing, punishing.
Section 5.4
Three things I will remember from this section is 1) it takes work, forethought, discipline, and reflection to be successful in modifying behavior. 2) Controlling the environment so that it has the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behaviors is helpful and it is most always feasible. 3) DRO – Differential reinforcement of other behavior is a way to reduce undesired behavior by reinforcing the proper antecedents to elicit the appropriate behavior.
One thing I really liked about this chapter was more information about the antecedents. All throughout this course it is repeated that the antecedents are most essential to changing behavior; which also includes changing the environment. This chapter provides a lot of examples of how changing the environment may not always be in our control, but we can modify aspects of our environment. I liked the ‘toy time outs’ example because it reduced the behavior, fighting over the toy, by removing the toy. Really this isn’t a type of punishment for the child but it also doesn’t reinforce the child’s behavior either. It’s almost a middle ground. By changing the environment, the child’s behavior most likely changes also.
Not that I necessarily disliked it, but I thought it was interesting that the section stated that environments are almost always controllable. When doing the Little Debbie example, I came up with ways to change the environment pretty easily. When I got to the parole example, it got me thinking about environments that can’t be changed. The text states that we can almost always change some aspects of the antecedent. It got me thinking about what if the environment is so out of my control, and the aspects that I could change/control were so small they were insignificant, how could I successfully change the behavior? This is kind of an extreme situation, but it caught my interest because in most cases I would assume this is when they would just give up on changing the behavior.
For my project I’ve already kind of made a change to an antecedent, it’s more of a tentative goal really. I set a time to finish my goal of drinking 42oz of water a day. I decided on dinnertime. Now sometimes I eat dinner at five, five-thirty, it all depends on the night; hence the tentative goal. That way I have an end time as to when I want to reach my goal. I’ve also started using a second water bottle. That way when I’m drinking from one, the other is in my fridge. When I go to switch them, I make sure to fill the other up. This way I can’t make excuses such as I don’t have cold water, etc.
Terms: modifying the behavior, controlling the environment, antecedents, elicit, DRO – Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior, reinforcing, punishment
Three things I will remember from this section are:
1) That instead of punishing a child for fighting over a toy we can "punish" the toy by taking it away from the situation that caused the fight to happen. By doing this you change the antecedents to help decrease the frequency of that aversive behavior from happening.
2) DRO. Differential reinforcement of other behaviors. This is done by reinforcing a behavior that is inconsistent with an undesirable behavior. I liked the example of trying to cut down on sweets because I am also trying to do this.
3)That children learn by observational learning. This is why the "terrible twos" occur. You can control the environment by making sure there aren't "NO's" in the room with the child. You do this by making the room safe and doesn't have anything in it that might create an aversive environment for the child.
I liked how this section had a lot of good examples. I thought that the examples of DRO's were very interesting and insightful to me so I was better able to understand the section. I found this section easier than ones in the past because the examples related to me.
I'm going to try to also do what the examples where for my behavioral change project. I will try and keep more healthy foods more readily available to me and make sure that I don't have sweets or bad foods in the room. I will also make sure to not use electronics right before I plan on working out so I don't put off working out till later and then just not end up doing it all together.
terms: antecedents, DRO, reinforcing, undesirable, observational learning, environment, aversive
1. The first thing that I will remember is the eating healthier example. I plan on dieting this summer and implementing what I’ve learned in this class to help make it successful. I also want to be able to maintain my healthy eating behaviors after the summer. I will have to revise the entire plan when I move back to UNI next year, but at least I have an idea now of what resources are available to me and what healthy options the dining center provides. While at home this summer, I will try to manipulate the antecedents by eliminating unhealthy foods and buying and preparing healthier snacks. If I don’t see a bag of Doritos every time I’m looking for a snack, I won’t eat them! I will also make snacks in advance and portion them out, further controlling the antecedents. One of my favorite snacks is giant pickles with fat free cream cheese wrapped in ham. You slice them into little bite size pieces! It’s delicious and healthy.
2. The second thing that I will remember is the terrible twos example. I don’t necessarily want to ever have children, but if I do it would be useful to manipulate the antecedents to elicit desirable behavior in my children. One of my best friends from childhood recently had her second child. Her oldest isn’t quite two yet, but he is very well behaved. Perhaps I could help her out with behavior modification if she ever has behavioral problems with her children.
3. The third thing that I will remember is differential reinforcement of other (DRO). We have discussed this several times. It is important because it is more likely for one to be successful if they use reinforcement instead of punishment. This is why it is most desirable to use reinforcement in behavior modification. In order to implement DRO, you have to reinforce a behavior that is incompatible with the behavior that you are trying to reduce. An example that Dr. MacLin uses often is reinforcing drinking water if you want to decrease the consumption of beer. This works because you can’t really drink water and beer at the same time… unless you like watered down beer…
4. I liked that this section talked about how changing the environment, or antecedents, while an undesirable behavior is in progress, it can disrupt the operant behavior. For example, if two children are fighting over a toy, and you remove the toy, it will disrupt the fighting behavior. I think this is useful to know, and I didn’t quite understand it when it was presented in earlier sections.
5. There isn’t really anything I didn’t like in this section. However, I really don’t like making graphs for the behavioral change project. Maybe it’s because my teeth brushing topic is so simple, but I feel like I can get just as much information just as easily from looking at my raw data. Plus, I don’t have excel so it’s a bit inconvenient for me. MEH.
6. I kind of mentioned the ideas that came to my mind in my earlier answers. I thought about implementing manipulation of antecedents relating to the health example for my diet this summer. I also thought about helping out my good friend with behavioral techniques, should she ever have behavioral problems with her children.
7. I have talked in previous blog posts about how I could manipulate antecedents in my behavioral change project of teeth brushing behaviors. I could place my toothbrush in plain sight, so that it serves as a reminder to brush my teeth. I might also set alarms on my phone (for times that I won’t be in class of course!) to remind myself.
TERMS:
Antecedents, behavior, elicit, differential reinforcement of other, DRO, reinforcement, punishment, operant behavior
One this that I definitely remember from this chapter is the Toy Time Out. I will remember this because this directly relates to a situation I observed about a month ago. I was at my niece’s birthday and she got a unicorn that her little sister loved. The girls kept fighting about it and I didn’t like how the mother handled the situation but I’m not the parent and really didn’t have a better solution to offer. I know that the best option would have been to take the toy away completely and punish the toy. This ends the fighting and the girls don’t feel like they are being directly punished.
The second thing I will remember is observational learning or learning by example. With this, it is suggested that we remove the word “no” when modifying the behavior of our children. I have always heard that you should refrain from using the word ‘No” around your children but I didn’t really understand how to do this. The best way to avoid saying no is to modify the environment and reduce the potential behaviors we do not want our children to emit.
The third thing I will remember from this section is differential reinforcement of other behavior which is review. One way to reduce behavior is to reinforce the behavior that is incompatible with the undesirable behavior. This is saying that on top of changing the environment, you could possible change the antecedent.
One thing that I really liked in this chapter was that it related to children and in turn, related to recent event that have happen in my life. This makes the information relatable and easier to understand and remember. There was nothing that I disliked in this section. It was short and sweet and to the point and I can appreciate that. Ideas that came to mind were all child based and how I could apply the information to future events. To change the antecedent in my behavior, I could leave my money at home so when the opportunity to buy food arises, I can’t because I don’t have money on me to spend.
TERMS
Toy Time out, remove the word no, antecedent, target behavior, emit, differential reinforcement of other behavior, reinforcement, consequence, behavior
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? I really like how direct the passage was, it was very short and sweet and to the point. The second thing I will remember is that a differential reinforcement of other behavior is a way to reinforce a behavior that is conflicting with the aversive behavior; they used the example with junk food and finding ways to keep healthy food around and other ways to not eat the junk food. The third thing I will remember is that changing the environment of a behavior can work as to change the behavior because it will interrupt the usual behavior so it make modify how the behavior is done or if it is executed. What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? One thing I really like about this chapter was all the examples it had, because with examples it is easier to understand the terminology and be able to relate the information to your own life. What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? One thing I disliked about the chapter was that it mostly focused on environment, when the title was about changing the antecedents but most of the situations were about environment and how it affects behavior. I understand that environment does affect the antecedent but it was slightly overkill. What were some ideas that came to mind when you were reading the section? Some of the ideas I thought of were maybe if I changed the environment in which I began to read maybe it would increase my behavior of reading for more time and maybe more often.
How might you change some of the antecedents of the behavior you are trying to change? I might change that place that I read because maybe in a different place I will be able to focus more and pay attention.
Terms: behavior, aversive, antecedent, differential reinforcement of other behavior, environment.
5.4
Three things that I will remember from this chapter:
One of the first things that I will remember about this chapter is the example of the toy time out. I never thought about doing something like this before! It seems like a great way to change a behavior without actually punishing your child. By removing the toy that was causing the problem between the two children and giving it a "time out" you eliminate the source of the problem and show the children that their behavior was not appropriate. I found this very interesting. It makes me want to learn more about things like this. A second thing that I will remember is the example of removing the "no's" from the situation. The example stated that if you remove things from a room that you don't want your toddler getting into, then you eliminate the use of the word "no" around your toddler. When kids hit their terrrible two's stage the word "no" can be one of their favorite words! By not using the word you are lowering the chance of your toddler telling you "no!" every time you ask them something. The third thing that I will remeber is the example of DRO. I thought that this was a good example and it helped me to remember exactly what it meant. DRO stands for differential reinforcement of other behavior. This is a way to reduce a behavior by reinforcing a behavior that is incompatible witht the undesireable behavior. A good example of this is when you are trying to reduce the amount of sweets you eat. One way of doing this would be to put your sweets in the freezer. That way you don't have easy access to them and you have to defrost them before you can enjoy them. By doing this you are making it less likely that you will just automatically grab something sweet when you are looking for a snack.
Something that I liked about this section was that it was a good review of a term that I had a difficult time remembering the definition of the first time we went over it. I am glad that it was covered again in this section. I also liked that the section had the boxes to fill in again. I think it is a great way to keep information straight and it is a great way to actually stop and think about the information you are reading. There was nothing that I really disliked about this section.
One idea that came to mind after reading this section was that I would like to learn more techniques like the "toy time out." I thought that it was pretty interesting and I like learning little tricks for taking care of kids like that one. I think it is interesting to learn about different behaviors like this one.
Terms: DRO, behaviors,
The first thing I will remember from section 5.4 is that antecedents form the environment and context for all behaviors. This is something I will remember because it’s the reasoning for why any behavior happens (or doesn’t). If it’s cold outside, I run inside, if I’m tired, I’m less likely to be motivated to be active. I’ll also remember that with differential reinforcement of other behaviors means to reinforce a behavior that is incompatible with a behavior that is undesirable. I do this all the time with healthy eating; I opt out healthier versions of foods that I really enjoy but that are really bad for me. The third thing I will remember is that if you want to be successful in changing a behavior, you need to change the antecedents. In the example I gave about motivation to be active, if I change my sleep schedule and make sure I get a certain amount of sleep, I won’t have the antecedent of being tired to hinder me from being active.
I really liked that this section discussed the importance of antecedents because they really do dictate how someone may or may not behave. When trying to change a behavior, there are so many ways to manipulate the antecedent to make that behavior change process more successful. Another thing I liked is that you can manipulate yourself into emitting a behavior in the future. The example about buying a small quantity of food discussed that a walk to get another one would be required if you wanted more. By doing this, you’re getting in more exercise and balance out the calories you’re consuming. I really can’t think of anything I disliked about this section. It was all very informative and helpful. While reading the examples in this section, I just kept thinking how I already apply so many of these to my own life as to not feel deprived when I live a healthy lifestyle of eating well.
Terms: Antecedents, Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors, Reinforce, Emitting