August 2013 Archives

Welcome to the Behavior Modification class. We would like you to spend a little time orienting yourself with the class blog site. Please read the course description on the 'Home Page.'

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/

Next go to the 'Blog' and check out the types of assignments you will be doing over the semester.

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/blog/

Check out the book 'ABCs' of Behavior Modification and see if the chapters download OK on the computer you are using.

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Look over the 'Syllabus' pages and make sure you understand what we will be doing this semester as it relates to the syllabus (Class schedule, Course Requirements, & Grading rubrics).

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/about/

You should be able to register your own account during sign in.

By now you should have completed the first part of this assignment. This would indicate that you have been able to log in and comment on the class blog site. If you have not completed that part, do that now.

What we would like you to do next is to go to the following page and read some of the blog posts on various types of assignments left from the students in the class before you.

Reading Activity:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2012/12/reading-activity-week-14-due-tuesday-2.html

Topical Blog:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2012/12/topical-blog-week-13-due-thursday-3.html  

Behavioral Change Project:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2012/12/week-16-final-assignment-1.html

After reading the posts please answer the following four questions:
1) Which posts did you like the best? Why?
2) Were some posts better than others? Why or why not?
3) Has reading these posts changed your idea of what behavior modification is? Why or why not?
4) Based on these posts are there any specific topics you are interested in learning?

Thanks,

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 1.1 (ABC's of Behavior Modification) and 1.2 (Contingencies: Reinforcement & Punishment).

Next review the grading rubric:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/grading.html

Next, please respond to the following questions. Please keep the numbering intact as we can give you more credit for organization. And keep in mind that the "Why?" and "How so?" questions are the most important to elaborate on.

After reading section 1.1, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading section 1.2, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Before you begin this assignment, please go to the following site and read a couple of topical blog posts that were done by students last semester at: http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2012/04/topical-blog-week-14-due-thursday-1.html#comments

Notice that some are quite a bit better than others. Re-read our class grading rubric and think about how well the various posts might have been graded. http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/grading.html

Next what we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered so far in class that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 1.3 (Language of Behavior) and 1.4 (Some Behavioral Terms)

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 1.5 (More about Behaviors) and 2.1 (What is behavior Modification).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this weeks readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 2.2 (Reinforcement) and 2.3 (Punishment)

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10) BOP: Now that you have been thinking about behavior modification for the past couple of weeks, we will start a mini behavioral observation project. We are going to start recording how many glasses of water we drink each day. You can just write these down on a piece of paper each day (starting today) and we will use your findings next week in one of these assignments. How much water to you think you drink each day?

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

IN THE NEWS!

What we would like you to do is to continue applying what we are learning in class to real world matters. Some might ask, "What good is learning psychology if we can't apply it to real world matters?" So that is what we are going to do with this week's topical blog assignment.

What we would like you to do is to either go to NPR (http://www.npr.org/), the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) there are some good news source links at the bottom of the following page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/listed in their news sources) and read, watch, or listen to something that is interesting to you and relates to reinforcement.

For your news I would like you to

1) briefly describe/summarize your piece,

2) tell us what behavior (target behavior) you are using that illustrates reinforcement,

3) tell us what the consequence of the behavior is,

4) tell us how, that consequence will increase the frequency of the behavior,

5) tell us if the consequence involves the addition of something desirable or if it involves the removal of something undesirable, finally

6) tell us to the antecedent is.

7) Please then list the ABC's of the behavior

A=
B=
C=

8) Now state if this is an example of positive reinforcement, or negative reinforcement. Explain why. (Make sure that the consequence will change the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future).

Tell us if it involves extinction, establishing operations, use as many terms from the chapters we have already covered as you can.

NOW what we would like you to do is to either go to a different news source, NPR (http://www.npr.org/ ), the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) there are some good news source links at the bottom of the following page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ listed in their news sources) and read, watch, or listen to something that is interesting to you and relates to punishment.

For your news I would like you to

9) briefly describe/summarize your piece,

10) tell us what behavior (target behavior) you are using that illustrates punishment,

11) tell us what the consequence of the behavior is,

12) tell us how, that consequence will decrease the frequency of the behavior,

13) tell us if the consequence involves the addition of something undesirable or if it involves the removal of something desirable, finally

14) tell us to the antecedent is.

15) Please then list the ABC's of the behavior

A=
B=
C=

16) Now state if this is an example of positive punishment, or negative punishment. Explain why.

For originality sake, make sure the news pieces you are not using the same pieces of news the other students before you just used.

17) When you are done, copy and paste the URLs at the bottom so we can go and see the sources you used.

18) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 2.4 (Additional Concepts) and 2.5 (Schedules of Reinforcement).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavior Project: You should now have a week's worth of data collected on how much water you drank each day for a week. Please fill out the information below:
Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

10b) Behavior Project (Baseline): Most people do not drink enough water per day. The rule of thumb is eight 8-oz glasses a day (64 oz or about 2 liters). We would like you to use positive reinforcement to increase the amount of water you drink each day. Of course drinking water might make you feel healthier and that in itself may be reinforcing, what is something that you can reinforce yourself with if you can go 7 days drinking at least 64 oz water?
Keeping that in mind, for the next 7 days try to make your target behavior of 64 oz water so you can get your reinforcer at the end of the week.

P.S. if you are already drinking 64 or more oz of water let us know and we'll help you adapt the assignment to your current water drinking behaviors.

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 3.1 (Thorndike) and 3.2 (Pavlov).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavior Project (Intervention): You should now have an additional week's (week two) worth of data collected on how much water you drank each day for a week while being under reinforcement as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week two:
Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

10b) How did you do overall? Did you meet your target behavior each day? Was it difficult measuring and recording your behavior each day? What was your reinforce? Was the reinforcer you chose a good choice? Do you think you will continue to drink 64 oz of water without being reinforced? Please continue to reinforce yourself for drinking 64 oz water for the next 7 days (week 3). 

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 3.3 (Classical Conditioning) and 3.4 (Watson).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavioral Project (Intervention). You should now have an additional week's (week #3) worth of data collected while under reinforcement on how much water you drank each day for a week as you attempt to maintain your target behavior of 64 oz per day. Please fill out the information below for week #3:
Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

10b) So far you have completed week#1 without reinforcement, this is called baseline. You went two weeks using reinforcement, this is your behavioral intervention, now we will do one more week WITHOUT REINFORCEMENT. This is called 'return to baseline.' So keep monitoring your water drinking but do not reinforce yourself at the end of the week. 

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

This is an easy reading week. Please read sections 3.5 (Skinner).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

5) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

6a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). You should now have a final week's (week four) worth of data collected while NOT under reinforcement. Please fill out the information below for week four:
Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

6b) This last week (week four) is referred to as 'return to baseline.' Baseline refers to the periods of time when you are not being reinforced for the target behavior (drinking water in this case). Did your drinking of water stay at the 64 oz mark without the reinforcer or did it decrease? Why do you think you got the results you did?

You should have received a copy of a graph to fill out from Dr. MacLin. Please go back and fill out the water drinking data for the last four weeks and either bring it to class on Thursday (or email it to bmod.uni@gmail.com). The graph is worth 10 points.

7) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 4.1 (Need for Self-Directed Behavior) and 4.2 (Self Directed behavior Steps)

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavioral Project (New Project). Think of a behavior you might want to change and list out the steps based on section 4.2. What is that behavior? What is the difference between a behavior and a behavioral class? Make sure the behavior you are trying to change is a behavior and not a behavioral class.

10b) How might you go about measuring the behavior and then keeping track of the behavior?

10c) How might the data look like on a graph (similar to the one we did for the water drinking)? What would be a title for the graph? What would be a good label for the y-axis? What might be a good label for the x-axis?

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 4.3 (Importance of Goals) and 5.1 (Measuring Behavior).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavioral Project (Baseline). Last Monday (week #10) you were asked to state a behavior you might change and how you would go about measure that behavior. Please start collecting baseline data on that behavior (recall that baseline is the data collected before the behavioral intervention/reinforcer).

10b) Next week when we begin the behavioral intervention what will you use for a reinforcer? Why is this a good reinforcer? What type of reinforcement schedule might you use (e.g., continuous reinforcement, fixed interval, etc.)? Why did you choose this schedule?

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

IN THE NEWS!

What we would like you to do is to continue applying what we are learning in class to real world matters. Some might ask, "What good is learning psychology if we can't apply it to real world matters?" So that is what we are going to do with this week's topical blog assignment.

What we would like you to do is to either go to NPR (http://www.npr.org/), the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) there are some good news source links at the bottom of the following page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/listed in their news sources) and read, watch, or listen to something that is interesting to you and relates to something we have covered so far and that you can apply the ABC's of behavior to.

For your news I would like you to

1) briefly describe/summarize your piece and tell us what your topic is

2) tell us what behavior (target behavior) you are using that illustrates your topic,

3) tell us what the consequence of the behavior is,

4) tell us how, that consequence will change the frequency of the behavior,

5) tell us if the consequence involves the addition of something desirable or if it involves the removal of something undesirable, finally

6) tell us to the antecedent is.

7) Please then list the ABC's of the behavior

A=
B=
C=

NOW what we would like you to do is to either go to a different news source, NPR (http://www.npr.org/ ), the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) there are some good news source links at the bottom of the following page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ listed in their news sources) and read, watch, or listen to something that is interesting to you and relates to a different topic we have covered so far.

For your news I would like you to

8) briefly describe/summarize your piece and tell us what your topic is

9) tell us what behavior (target behavior) you are using that illustrates your topic,

10) tell us what the consequence of the behavior is,

11) tell us how, that consequence will change the frequency of the behavior,

12) tell us if the consequence involves the addition of something desirable or if it involves the removal of something undesirable, finally

13) tell us to the antecedent is.

14) Please then list the ABC's of the behavior

A=
B=
C=

For originality sake, make sure the news pieces you are not using the same pieces of news the other students before you just used.

17) When you are done, copy and paste the URLs at the bottom so we can go and see the sources you used.

18) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 5.2 (Rule Governed Behavior) and 5.3 (Functional Analysis of Behavior).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

After reading the second section, please respond to the following questions.

5) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

6) What did you find least interesting? Why?

7) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

8) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

9) How has reading these sections influenced what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

10a) Behavioral Project (Intervention). Last Monday (week #11) you were asked to start collecting baseline data on a target behavior. You should have 1 week's worth of base line data to report below:

Week 1 (Baseline)

Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

10b) Begin your behavior intervention by reinforcing yourself if you reach your target behavior and continue collecting data.

10c) In reference to section 5.3, what might a functional analysis of your target behavior look like?

11) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post and put them at the bottom of your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Please go to the following blog page:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 5.4 (Changing the Antecedants).

After reading the first section, please respond to the following questions.

1) What did you find interesting in the section? Why?

2) What did you find least interesting? Why?

3) How does the section relate to what you already knew/learned previously?
Note: This can be from previous chapters or from other classes, etc.

4) Based on what you read from this section, what are two things that relate to your life? How so?

5a) Behavioral Project (Intervention). Last Monday (week #12) you were asked to continue collecting data on a target behavior. You should now have 2 week's worth of base line data. Report Week #2 below:

Week #2 (behavioral intervention)

Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

5b) How is your behavior project going so far? (note: Don't just say "good." We are looking for some depth and detail.) What changes might you make if you were to do it again? What are some antecedents you could change to help your progress?

Please continue reinforcing yourself if you achieve your target behavior during your behavioral intervention and continue to collect data.

6) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

ABC's of poverty:

Please read - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233.html

and if you want to read the follow-up (optional): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-tirado/meet-the-woman-who-accide_b_4334428.html

Please choose some aspects of this article that deals with poverty and using the ABC's of Behavior, discuss how the antecedants and consequences of being poor may lead to the behaviors discussed by the author.

4a) Behavioral Project (Return to Baseline). Last Monday (week #12) you were asked to continue with your behavioral intervention. You should have 1 week's worth of base line data and 2 week's worth of intervention data. Report Week #3 below:

Week #3 (behavioral intervention)

Day 1 =
Day 2 =
Day 3 =
Day 4 =
Day 5 =
Day 6 =
Day 7 =
Average =

4b) How is the behavioral intervention going?

For this next week we will STOP THE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION and return to baseline. This means that we will still collect data, but not reinforce the behavior any longer.

What do you think will happen to your behavior now that you are now longer reinforcing it?

5) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What we would like you to do is to find a topic from what we have covered in this week's readings that you are interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources (only one video please and make sure it adds to the topic).

1) Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the section we have covered so far, and why you are interested in it.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?

2) Next, I would like you to take the information you found from the various sources and integrate/synthesize* them into the three aspects of the topic, and then write about the topic.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

*By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from section 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. For example, they will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!

At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration/synthesis method. And besides this is the way good researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for, so now is a good time to learn this skill.

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Token Economies.

Please review the following website and read about the steps involved in setting up a token economy using the LRBI Checklist:
http://165.139.150.129/intervention/Token.pdf

Next read the following link about the Poyer Purple Paw tokens http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/purple_paw_tokens.pdf

1) What is this program?
2) How did it come about?
3) What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit?
4) What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the children to emit?
5) Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment?
6) Is it positive or negative?
7) What are the tokens used in this program?
8) What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens?
9) What is the delivery system?
10) What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system?
11) How are the tokens banked?
12) What are the pro's and con's?
13) What are the back up reinforcers?
14) How were the backup reinforcers chosen?
15) Are they effective reinforcers?
16) How do the students gain access to the reinforcers?
17) What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective?
18) How effectively are the administrators teaching the students about the system?
19) How effectively are the administrators teaching the parents about the system?
20)How effectively have the administrators taught the other teacher about the system?
21) Is there the possibility of not everyone (students, teachers, and parents) may not have complete buy in with the system?
22) What are some problems know to exist with token economies that might be a problem here?
23) What are some questions you might have for the administrators about the system?
24) What additional information might you want to know about the system?

25) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

Token economy.

Imagine you are a consultant and were asked to set up a token economy for a large corporation to solve a behavioral problem they are experiencing. Please answer some questions about the token economy you have set up for the corporation.

Answer the questions below using as many behavioral terms are you can.

1) What is this corporation and what do they do? 
2) How did the problem you are addressing come about? 
3) What are the behavioral classes they are trying to elicit? 
4) What would be some specific target behaviors they might want the employees to emit? 
5) Is this system based on reinforcement or punishment? 
6) Is it positive or negative? 
7) What are the tokens used in this program? 
8) What might be some pro's and con's associated with using these tokens? 
9) What is the token delivery system? 
10) What are some pro's and con's associated with the delivery system? 
11) How are the tokens banked? 
12) What are the pro's and con's with banking the tokens in this manner? 
13) What are the back up reinforcers? 
14) How were the backup reinforcers chosen? 
15) How do you know if they are effective reinforcers? 
16) How do the employees gain access to the reinforcers? 
17) What are some of the outcome measures so the administrators know the system is effective? 
18) How will the administrators go about teaching the employees about the system?
19) How will the administrators go about teaching the management about the system? 
20) How will you go about teaching the administrators about the system? 
21) Is there the possibility of not everyone (employees, management and administrators) may not have complete buy in with the system? How will you address this if it occurs?
22) What are some problems known to exist with token economies that might be a problem here? 
24) Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M

For the Final assignment you will be asked to develop a product, service, etc. based on the behavioral science you have been learning in class this semester.

While we are interested in the product, we are mostly interested in the science behind it, and the depth you researched the science behind it and your command of the science.

Imagine we are potential investors and scientists, you have to really sell the product to us by selling the science. The more different areas you cover, the better.

Other than that this is a fairly open ended assignment as it is up to you to put this together, how you want to present it.

The final is worth 40 points. As such it should show twice the work as a topical blog. Let us know if you have any questions.

Make a list of the terms and concepts at the bottom of the post.

The assignment is worth up to 40 points. So make sure it has double the work required for a 20 point assignment. http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/grading.html

Please let us know if you have any questions.

--Dr. M