Topical Blog Week #12 (Due Wednesday)

I chose to do my topic this week on the six steps to successful behavior modification because I really felt like the steps were important and that they were easy to expand on. I also wanted to see how consistent the steps were across sources.

The first step to behavior modification is choosing the behavior that you want to change or modify. Another way of stating this is to describe your target behavior. It is extremely important that you try to figure out in what situations the behavior does or doesn’t occur so that you have a better idea of how it should be changed. It is not enough to say that you want to work out more. You need to be able to ask questions as to why you don’t already work out more. Are there scheduling issues? Laziness? Once you are able to ask questions about why you have the behavior you do, you will be much closer to being able to understand what specifically you need to change. It is also important to make sure that the behavior your decide on is one that you will likely be able to succeed at changing, one that is age-appropriate, and be aware of outside things that may trigger that behavior to occur again.

The second step to behavior modification is to describe the behavior very clearly so that you don’t get motivation and behavior confused. This requires that you be very clear about what it is you are changing and stay aware from being too vague or including too many behaviors. If you complete the first step correctly the second step should be much easier because you should already have a target behavior picked out. It is now important that you avoid labeling the behavior as either positive or negative because it makes the behavior meaningless and places personal opinions in the way of an objective and concise behavior.

The third step is to measure your behavior so that you are able to get very precise data. This step can be challenging because you have to make your target behavior something that is measurable. Many behavioral programs include multiple methods for measuring the behavior whether it be the duration, the number of intervals, or the intensity or the latency. It is important that you decide before beginning your behavioral program how often you plan on collecting your data, how long each period of observation will be, etc.

The fourth step is to decide on a reward that fits the behavior you are trying to change. You can either choose to give something or take something away in order to increase a behavior (positive or negative reinforcement.) It is important for the reward to be something that is actually important enough to you to encourage the behavior. When choosing a reward you also need to decide how you plan to reinforce the behavior. You can do a continuous reinforcement that reinforces you every time you emit the right behavior. Or you can choose from fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, or variable interval. These are all effective depending on what your behavior is and what you are trying to accomplish.

The fifth step is to be consistent. If you don’t follow through with your behavior changes as well as with the reinforcements that you have promised yourself, then the behavior is not likely to change. I know in my behavioral change plan I get to be reinforced with eating out with my coworkers once a week if I have my weekly reports done. If I go out to eat even if I don’t fulfill my goal then it defeats the purpose of the reinforcement. It is very important to be concise and to document your results.

The sixth step is to evaluate the program that you have created. Is it working like it’s supposed to? Is the behavior actually able to be measured and does the reinforcement seem to be helping? Most of the time when making a behavioral modification program you will not be successful the first time, instead it takes a lot of tweaking and changing until you finally have the right behavior pinpointed and matched with the correct reinforcement.

Terminology: emit, reinforcement, positive, negative, evaluate, target behavior, concise, precise data, intensity, latency, intervals, duration, fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval, continuous reinforcement

Six Steps to Successful Behavior Modification
http://doremewebhosting.com/everydaychildcare/articles/parents/parenta__behaviormod.php
This source gave a good outline of six different steps and examples as well as why they are important and how to implement them.

Behavior Modification Program Steps
http://people.wku.edu/sally.kuhlenschmidt/psy443/projstep.htm
This source went into detail about how to go about implementing a behavior modification program and it also gave helpful hints as to what we should avoid when creating a program and what needs to be included.

6 Easy Steps to Change Your Behavior
http://blog.tkographix.com/6-easy-steps-to-change-your-behavior/
This source was very straight forward and gave six steps with details on how to complete these steps included. It was easy to relate to this source because it talks about a similar group situation where multiple people are asked to change a behavior of their own.

I chose to do my topic this week on rule-governed behavior because the first time I had really ever heard of this was when I was reading section 5.2. I feel that since I do not know a lot about it, it would be a good topic to dive further into and learn some more about!

A rule-governed behavior is a behavior controlled by a verbal antecedent. The book did a great job explaining this topic to me, however I did find a website that put it into much simpler terms for me by giving me a pretty detailed example. It used the example of your neighbor going away and asking you to feed their pig for the week. It breaks down the sentence, "If you feed my pig while I am on vacation for the next week, I will give you $50 when I get back." It begins to show the cause-effect relationship between feeding the pig and then being paid. Since getting paid would be a reinforcement, feeding the neighbors pig predicts the reinforcement. This is all an example of a rule-governed behavior because the function of feeding the pig has been changed by its participation in the relational cause and effect network.

Experiments were conducted to teach rule-governed behaviors to children with autism. I found that this topic was really interesting because we learned a lot about autism from the speaker in class the other week. In the experiments children with autism were taught to respond to simple rules that specified antecedents and the behaviors that should occur in their presence. In the study they were taught to respond to rules using "if/then" statements where the antecedent was stated before the behavior. The conclusion they came to was that rule-following can be analyzed and taught as generalized operant behavior.

I found a video that I felt put rule-governed behavior into some real context. The video is of a girl reciting a poem that she wrote regarding unshaven armpits. To summarize the video, she is saying that you are just as beautiful with unshaven armpits then having hairless armpits. Women needing to shave their underarms is definitely an example of a rule-governed behavior and I found this clip interesting in the fact that the girl is saying that it is okay to go against this, you are still beautiful.

URL
http://contextualscience.org/rule_governed_behavior
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2JBkgj7N4g

Terminology: Rule-governed behavior, antecedent, reinforcement, behaviors, generalized operant behavior

As we learned in section 5.2, rule-governed behavior is behavior which is maintained via the obligation of maintaining order where the antecedent is verbal. However, I needed a simpler definition and more explanation. That’s why I have chosen rule-governed behavior as my topic for this week’s topical blog.
According to Skinner, rule-governed behavior is behavior controlled by the description of relations among responses and stimuli, rather than actual exposure to these contingencies. However, he does point out that this type of behavior can only take place in verbal organisms. It was also shown that rules have a discriminative stimulus function. And we also know that a discriminative stimulus that evokes a particular kind of responding was more successful in the presence of the stimulus than in its absence. This has been a reoccurring idea throughout the semester; the presence of a reinforcer or punisher is more likely to increase/decrease a favorable/unfavorable behavior than without. I found it interesting to read that rules can play a reverse role as well. For instance, for someone who lives in a state where marijuana is illegal, they may be very much against the idea of trying it, especially because of the severe consequences that may follow. Yet if this person were to travel to a state where it is legal, such as Washington or Colorado, they may be open to trying it because it is legalized resulting in a less severe consequence, is at all. This behavior is rule-governed, but the antecedent also plays a major role as well.
We are faced with sources of rule every day, all of our lives. As children we may not understand the Federal or State laws, but we better understand our parent’s rules. As adults we are more under rule of the government, our employers, professors, and even peers. A passage that I thought was interesting was “the simple fact that the control of rule-governed behavior resides in the environment, not in cognitive processes, is the primary advantage of emphasizing rules, not expectancies, as determinants of drug effects."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2748600/pdf/anverbbehav00035-0039.pdf

http://prezi.com/lkz3xpnv6yjx/rule-governed-behavior/

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4757-0447-1_4#page-1

I chose to research Edward Thorndike. We learned about him in class in the middle of the semester. Edward Thorndike was born on August 31, 1874 in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. He was the son of a Methodist minister. Thorndike became interested in psychology after he read The Principles of Psychology by William James.

In 1985 he graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University. After graduating he decided to attend Harvard. He first started with the intent to study English and French. After his first year he switched his focus to psychology. While at Harvard he took classes under the guidance of William James. He graduated from Harvard with a master’s degree in psychology. After getting his master’s degree he went to Columbia University to get his PhD.

Edward Thorndike got his first job at College for Women of Case Western Reserve as an assistant professor of Pedagogy. After one year of this he got a job as a professor of psychology at the Teachers College at Columbia University. It was there were he stayed for the rest of his career.

Edward Thorndike is most famous for his creation of the puzzle box. He invented the puzzle box so that he could do research about animal learning. He conducted his experiments by putting an animal, usually a cat in the puzzle box. Then the animal would have to try and figure out how to emit an escaping behavior by pressing levers or buttons. He would do several trials with each animal and keep track of how long it took them to escape. If they got faster at escaping then Thorndike concluded that they had learned. This became the basis for his theory called Law of effect. This stated that behaviors followed by good consequences were likely to be repeated and behaviors with bad consequences were not likely to be repeated. He called this type of learning trial and error learning.

In 1912 Edward Thorndike was elected president of the American Psychological Association. He was also one of the first psychologists to be admitted into the National Academy of Sciences when he was admitted in 1917. Today he is referred to as the father of educational psychology. He died on August 9, 1949 at the age of 75.

Terms used: consequences, puzzle box, law of effect, trial and error learning, emit, behavior.

http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesmz/p/edward-thorndike.htm
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/thorndike.htm
http://www.simplypsychology.org/edward-thorndike.html
http://www.intelltheory.com/ethorndike.shtml

For my topic this week I chose to research rule governed behavior from section 5.2 further because I had not heard much about it before reading this section and I think it relates to aspects of my life that I had not thought about in detail before. This term is the basis of why we do certain behaviors that we do, especially in the public eye and around others who may pass judgments about you if you stray from the "norm".

Rule governed behavior is behaviors that are maintained because of obligation to maintain order where the antecedent is verbal. These things are usually established through morals or other ethical issues. You may not even realize that you are doing certain behaviors because of this because they are just created over time based on your beliefs. You emit certain behaviors based on those beliefs and other cultural or social norms. Rule governed behavior can also be taught through operant behaviors and other strategies.

One thing that rule governed behavior has proven to be helpful in is in instances dealing with autism kids. It helps them learn which target behaviors are acceptable given a certain antecedent and then they practice that behavior and learn when the proper time is to react a certain way given society and cultural practices. If the antecedent was presented first, using "if/then" experiments, it helped the kids determine when to use what behaviors. When given the antecedent or specific instructions first before doing the behavior or task, you are more likely to correctly do the behavior and be reinforced for it than if you did not know the antecedent or task and had to go on your own and try and do it. It helps them with which behaviors will be reinforced and which will be punished. I found that this was especially interesting after listening to the speaker who talked about autism in class and how his kids can do behaviors that they couldn't before due to teaching like this.

This also works on others as well, it is just not as noticeable and we don't have to teach ourselves to do it, we just kind of acquire it over time as we grow up and see cultural and moral norms of those around us.

Terms: emit, target behavior, rule governed behavior, antecedent, operant behaviors, reinforced, punished

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://prezi.com/lkz3xpnv6yjx/rule-governed-behavior/
http://contextualscience.org/rule_governed_behavior

For my topical blog I chose to research animal testing in psychology and behavior modification. It is a topic I am very interested in, and it is also something I am against. Therefore, I wanted to challenge my beliefs and look into the pros it has in relation to psychology. This fits into our readings so far because many of the psychologist and behaviorist we have studied, such as Skinner, Watson, Pavolv, and Thorndike, used animals for testing experiments.

Animal research has contributed greatly in the study of not only behavior, but many other types of phenomenon such as evolution, survival, instinct, development, memory and learning. By studying animals, psychologists have been able to make strides in the study of self-harm, autism, and teaching tube-fed children to eat normally. It has also contributed to the understanding of drug abuse and dependence as well as environmental toxins. Interestingly, is that through animal testing, psychologists have been able to better develop screenings for certain psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, anxiety, Alzheimer's, and depression. Although we have learned so much from animal testing, most of these tests require the animals to be conscious and aware, which can cause harm and lasting distress. When an organism experiences distress, it is an aversive consequence. These animals may seek for a way to reduce the frequency and or severity of the harm from the punishment they are enduring.

Not only did I learn about the benefits animal testing has had to the area of psychology, but I also discovered there are codes and regulations that must be met when using animals. Scientists are required by law to first look into alternative means of doing research before deciding on animals, this elicits the response of seeking other options before experimenting with animals. Plants or computers may be used in some cases, but as they lack a central nervous system, the results are not as useful. Often times, chimps are used for testing because of their human-like characteristics. Many times when in captivity, they take to human like activities without hesitation, such as the chimp using a mirror to comb his hair in the video. When testing drug use, it is almost impossible to use any other subject than animals, as most of the testing is done with drugs that are not approved for humans. To make sure the drugs in question are safe for humans, they must be administered to the closest organism, so that they will react similarly.

Animal testing laboratories must meet a certain inspection standard every 3 years to be accredited by the American Association for the Accreditation of Animal Laboratory Care (AAALC). This, as well as other accreditations ensures the human and ethical treatment of the animals being tested on. Treating animals respect has extrinsic value in culture, and through this accreditation, it is reassuring that there are steps in place to guarantee this in animal testing. By emitting the response of researching animal testing, I was able to learn more about the benefits it has in many areas of psychology that are essential to human growth, health, and development. It is reassuring to know that there are some precautions being taken against animal cruelty in laboratories. Although, it is not something I would place intrinsic value in, I am now more accepting of this practice after looking at it into more in-depth.

http://www.neavs.org/research/cbt

https://www.apa.org/research/responsible/research-animals.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_8SjG_etg

Terms: Skinner, Watson, Thorndike, Pavlov, aversive, consequence, frequency, punishment, elicit, organism, extrinsic value, emit, response, intrinsic value

Topical Blog Week #12 (Due Wednesday)
The topic that we have I have read about in the textbook and that we have talked about in class is the topic of Rule-governed Behavior. This fits into the class because the class is all about the modifying behavior and that best way to get yourself or others to act the right way or emit the right behavior. But before you can change someone’s behavior you have to figure out why individuals behave the way they do and what causes them to behave that way. I was interest in the topic of rule-governed behavior because after reading it I noticed it all around me. People would behave in a certain way in one environment and then they would change and behave in a different way in another environment.
Rule-governed behavior is something that is used when a response is controlled by someone verbally telling you something instead of just having your surroundings control your behavior? The behavior of rule governed behavior is emitted because the individual wants to follow rules so they to keep the thing the right way. Society is what tells you what is normal and what is expected of people. For some behaviors you have to be use reinforcement or punishment in order to emitted the right one but for rule governed behavior you don’t have to be punished or reinforced in order to see if you want to emit the behavior or not.
Another interesting thing about rule governed behavior is that it is different for different people. Someone can act one way in a situations and the nest person could act a totally different way. One reason for the different reactions for this is that one person can have pervious exceprences in this situation that would cause them to act differently. If they emitted a behavior in the situation previously and that behavior caused a bad outcome the person is less likely to behave in that way again even if the norm it to emit that behavior.
terms and terminology you used in your post.
Rule-governed Behavior, Emit, reinforcement, punishment
URLs for the three websites.
http://contextualscience.org/rule_governed_behavior
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior

The topic I have chosen for this week is negative reinforcement. This topic fits in with what we are studying in class because reinforcement is a major part of changing a target behavior, whether you are trying to change someone else’s behavior, or are using a self-directed behavior change program like we are for our projects. I am interested in negative reinforcement because it seems like most people think about positive reinforcement when discussing behavior modification, such as what they will be rewarded with for emitting or not emitting the target behavior.

Negative reinforcement is when something aversive is removed in order to increase or decrease a target behavior. The term sometimes confuses people because they think that the word “negative” means something bad. For example, sometimes negative reinforcement is mistaken to be the same as punishment. This is not true, and in fact negative reinforcement could also refer to the avoidance of punishment. A study on children who are picky eaters showed that they were more likely to take a bite of a food they found aversive, rather than have a parent feed them five bites, if they were allowed to feed it to themselves. In this case, the child is negatively reinforced for emitting the target behavior of taking a bite of food by avoiding the positive punishment of being fed five bites.

Another misconception about negative reinforcement is that it is a reward for negative behavior. In other words, it only increases undesirable behavior. While negative reinforcement can be used to increase undesirable behaviors, such as someone using drugs or alcohol to remove pain or anxiety, it can also be used in the same way as positive reinforcement to increase desirable behaviors. In the video clip, the cook is trying to get the main characters to sing a song. He offers to give them more beans as positive reinforcement, but they refuse. Sensing that they may be satiated, he instead offers to not give them more beans. They accept, therefore being negatively reinforced by not having to eat more beans.

Negative reinforcement is sometimes responsible for the target behaviors that we may want to change in ourselves through self-directed behavior modification. A functional assessment of behavior might show that a behavior such as smoking is emitted to reduce stress. Some studies have shown that positive reinforcers are more effective than negative reinforcers at increasing emission of target behaviors. A person who is trying to quit smoking might positively reinforce themselves for every day they do not smoke by buying themselves a candy treat that they like. However, this may not satisfy the function of the initial behavior, which is reducing stress. Because feeling stressed is the antecedent to the smoking behavior, and feeling relaxed is the consequence, something needs to take the place of the smoking behavior in order to negatively reinforce the organism by reducing the stress. The organism can use a combination of negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement to decrease the target behavior of smoking.

When doing any kind of behavior modification, it is just as important to consider negative reinforcement as it is positive reinforcement. There may be times when using negative reinforcement can be just as effective as positive reinforcement.

Article URL: http://www.educateautism.com/behavioural-principles/negative-reinforcement.html
Article URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaba.54/full
Article URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jaba.2011.44-915/full
Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYv3yArIJuc

Terms: negative reinforcement, reinforcement, target behavior, self-directed behavior, positive reinforcement, behavior modification, emit, aversive, punishment, undesirable, positive punishment, satiated, functional assessment of behavior, antecedent, consequence, organism

The topic I chose to research and discuss is rule governed behavior. (RGB) The reason I chose this is because to me it seems just like a social norm within societies, which is exactly what it was compared to in the text. I am extremely interested in norms of a society, because I think it is insanely interesting to think that someone’s norm is taboo in someone else’s society. It fits into what we’ve been learning in class because we just completed an entire section over it, yet it was fairly short so I decided to research it more.
While researching this topic, I discovered that anything from a law to a verbal comment can create a RGB. It can also be something as simple as a rule to a commitment. For example I saw an example of an RGB that read as follows: “if you feed my pet pig while I am on vacation from the next week, I will give you $50 when I get back. The reason this is considered and RGB, is because it is a rule that contained contextual cues for something that changes the function of the outcome. Something that contains an if-then scenario can also be considered an RGB especially if the rule contains a fulfilling reward. Another important term of an RGB is that it generally have before and after relations among events. One of the most interesting things I learned while researching this topic was that it has proved to be extremely efficient and helpful with autistic children. It helps them connect the dots between good behavior and bad behavior as well as gives them more of an incentive for doing so. It has shown to be most beneficial when using if-then statements.

http://contextualscience.org/rule_governed_behavior
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/

Extinction

My topic is extinction, and it can have implications in our behavioral change project because many of us may be trying to kick a habit completely which is, more simply put, extinction. I’m interested in this topic because I have more than a few bad habits of my own, and I usually am more equipped to change something if I research it a lot beforehand so that I’ll know what possible problems I may encounter.

In operant conditioning, extinction occurs when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. That basically means that a reward is no longer paired with a natural response. An example would be that dogs love to fetch and play. But if you continually fake throw a ball in the presence of a dog, eventually the dog will stop reacting (the dog running to find the non-existent ball is the unconditioned stimulus, and the ball is the conditioned stimulus.) Since you’ve taken the consequence, or reward away from the dog, their behavior will likely decrease. But before it decreases, it will only get worst. There is a lovely thing called an extinction burst in which a person or animal will begin emitting more varied and exaggerated responses, believing that perhaps they will be rewarded, it’s just that they’re not emitting the correct response. In child rearing, this can be a horrible thing. In the instance of child tantrums, the act of giving a child attention (even if it’s aversive attention) is still positive reinforcement because you are adding attention, which then reinforces the behavior. However, when the parent then tries to completely ignore the tantrum in hopes of causing the behavior to become extinct, the child may react with worst tantrums, which seems as though the behavior is even worse than before. However, it is only because the child is emitting an extinction burst in hopes of achieving their parents’ attention once again. If the parent fails to maintain the behavioral modification technique of extinction through ignoring the child, and instead reinforces them with negative attention, the behavior will become that much harder to diminish in the future. The best method would be to understand the concepts of behavior modification well before your children learn what tantrums are, but many people do not realize the effects of their own behavior and have an even harder time comprehending the behavior of others without knowledge of psychology.

Unfortunately, this means that we should use negative reinforcement (meaning that we take away something good, in this case the attention, in order to decrease the frequency of the behavior.) Although this sounds bad, and we've been warned to not use punishment unless absolutely necessary, there's really no way around it in this case, unless you can elicit the person or animal to emit a different response completely instead of the aversive behavior--but even in that case, you will have to use negative punishment in the instances when they do emit the incorrect behavior (i.e. ignoring the behavior).

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/07/07/extinction-burst/
http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/g/extinction.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_oZuqBrBM

Terms: extinction, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, elicit, emit, negative punishment, reinforcement, reward, natural response, consequence, extinction burst, aversive behavior, positive reinforcement, behavioral modification techniques, operant conditioning

My topic I wanted to cover was over reinforcement itself and how it influences our behavior. Reinforcement can increase the likelihood that a behavior will keep occurring. The behavior that we would like to increase must be measurable and specific enough. If it’s not specific enough then we are more likely to not follow through with the behavior. Also, if it is unattainable or harder to accomplish, the harder it will be for us to achieve it. Punishment is mostly thought of as a bad technique compared to reinforcement. Unless the situation is extreme, like murder, then punishment should be avoided. If we alter the antecedent then we can hopefully avoiding punishing offenders. An example of avoiding punishment would be reinforcing a child in a classroom setting more often than punishing a behavior. So if a child is emitting an aversive behavior, rather than punishing more often, it’s better to reinforce when then are eliciting desirable behaviors. If we isolate the child from others, while also offering others benefits at the same time, we can strengthen the association between good behavior and reinforcement.
Working with children, it’s also important to remember, that if they’re already enjoying what they’re doing/learning, it’s better to let them be. If they have intrinsic motivation, it’s better to let them be than to try to use extrinsic motivation on them. If we do, we could ruin that behavior modification process for them. Leaving that target behavior alone and working with those ABC’s and that frequency of behavior is better than trying to intervene. If they don’t have intrinsic motivation, then it is okay to try to alter the behavior as the consequence.
Experts do find that reinforcement is better than punishment. In an experiment, children were given a computer task to complete. When the children correctly answered, they were reinforced, but if they were wrong, they were punished. Repeated tasks showed that performance improved when the feedback was positive.
Another source has shown that positive reinforcement leads to a desirable behavior compared to punishment. Reinforcement can strengthen relationships, is learned more effectively, and doesn’t lead to avoidance.
http://www.larimerhumane.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=159&Itemid=15
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/family-affair/200809/rewards-are-better-punishment-here-s-why
http://kristinhricko.weebly.com/reinforcement-and-punishment.html
Terms: Punishment, reinforcement, behavior, emit, antecedent, behavior modification, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, ABCs, target behavior, frequency of behavior, consequence, experiment, desirable, positive reinforcement.

The subject I want to examine for this weeks topical blog is the life and contributions of B.F. Skinner. We had talked about Skinner in class during section 3.5 and recently he was talked about in my History and Systems of Psychology class, which brought more interest to him.

Skinner who was an American psychologist was born in 1904 in Pennsylvania who as a child showed little interest in the field that would one day be prominently known as psychology. Rather he liked to spend his early years tinkering and building things, which would translate to his passion for inventing things as an adult. As Skinner grew older and began his education his passion for writing became clear and after college he had an attempted career as a professional writer. Unfortunately for Skinner his writing career would never come to fruition so in 1928 he decided to enroll in the psychology program at Harvard University.

As Skinner became well versed in the field of psychology he began to examine the aspect of learning new behaviors. He then took this knowledge of what would later be known as Behaviorism to the University of Minnesota and then eventually back to Harvard as a professor. Spending the remainder of his career Harvard University, Skinner wrote several books one of which was a fictional novel by the title Walden Two, which examined a world in a utopian society where leadership was done through behavior modification. After having written several books and popularizing the field of behaviorism, Skinner succumbed to leukemia in 1990.

While in his prime, Skinner’s work made him one of the more influential American Psychologists in history especially in the field of behaviorism. The concept of operant conditioning was first observed and studied by Skinner who took its practical methods to treatment of phobias as well as addictive personalities. This concept was very influential to the field of psychology because it took Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning a step further by explaining behavior to be caused by the relationship between behaviors and their consequences.

To demonstrate his understanding of operant conditioning Skinner designed an experiment to which he called the Skinner Box. In this experiment the researcher places a rat in a cage that contains a lever that when pressed will produce a food pellet. As the lever is pressed more frequently, the subject will begin to associate the behavior with the reinforcement. This research design is very important because it helps researchers examine the influence of different schedules of reinforcement.

Psychology, behavior, Behaviorism, operant conditioning, Classical Conditioning, Ivan Pavlov, consequences, Skinner Box, associate, reinforcement, and schedules of reinforcement

http://www.biography.com/people/bf-skinner-9485671#awesm=~oAZosLmZ9GLb2f
http://www.nndb.com/people/297/000022231/
http://psychology.about.com/od/sindex/g/def_skinnerbox.htm

The topic that I decided to do was goal setting. This is directly related to the ABC’s with reinforcement or punishment to increase or decrease a target behavior, or goal. More specifically goal setting was discussed in section 4.3, “Importance of goals.” I am interested in this because without goals in life you have nothing to work for, in order to reach the most out of our potential. This can be useful as a future coach/guidance counselor to get my students to set goals and achieve as much success as possible in whatever they want to do.
The main idea that I have found in the Internet articles has to with the general idea of how to set a goal. It starts to talk about how setting a good goal takes practice in order to get it right, and to know if this particular goal is possible. When it talks about practicing I connect this to when the readings talk about changing up behavioral interventions and target behaviors, to be able to change behavior in order to reach a goal. This also is discussed in the Internet articles when it says to accomplish one goal, and then set the bar higher, so you can gradually change behaviors for a goal and not become satiated with the reward. When it talks about the possibility of a goal, this means it has to be manageable and personally attainable.
The Internet articles also talked about the significance of the length of the goals. They talked about lifetime goals and personal smaller goals, and the importance of breaking these bigger goals down. I connect this to the timeframe and Sub goals segment of section 4.3. This section talks about we have to realistic about the timeframe of our goals, and to break them down into something more manageable. This allows us to be able to celebrate/reinforce our achievements more often making the behavior more likely to stick.
The last things that were common among these articles was keeping your progress, and getting help. The keeping your progress relates to when we talked about the importance of writing down you baseline/graph, and when these behaviors happen. This allows you to see if your behavioral intervention is working, and how you may be able to change the c0ntigencies to avoid moments when unwanted behavior is most likely to happen. The getting help, relates to getting a support group to keep you accountable to your goals.

http://www.sitepoint.com/tips-to-help-you-achieve-goals/
https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/cd26a381b152
http://zenhabits.net/the-ultimate-guide-to-motivation-how-to-achieve-any-goal/

Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Reinforcement, punishment, target behavior, behavioral interventions, satiated, manageable, attainable, timeframe, sub goals, timeframe, baseline, contingencies, support group.

This week I decided to look further into negative reinforcement. This was discussed earlier in the semester and was also in our text.

negative reinforcement is a form of operant conditioning in which a stimulus is removed in order to increase the frequency of a behavior occurring. The stimulus that is removed is one that was aversive, which makes the experience more positive for the individual.

People often assume that negative reinforcement is the same as punishment, but this is not the case. Punishment involves adding or removing something to make the behavior that is being emitted undesirable or aversive. Negative reinforcement, like positive reinforcement, invloves making the behavior positive.

Sometimes negative reinforcement can be used incorrectly. If your child does not like going grocery shopping with you and he starts throwing a tantrum, you may want to leave the store. This would remove a stimulus that is negative to your child, but would only reinforce his bad behavior. You always want to make sure that you are only reinforcing good behaviors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement
This link talks about what negative reinforcement is

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/tips-misuses-negative-reinforcement-parents-6056.html
This links discusses when negative reinforcement shouldn't be used

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_9ZZaPDtPk
This link shows the differences between negative and positive reinforcement and uses family guy for examples

terms:
negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, emit, elicit, behavior, consequence, operant conditioning, stimulus, aversive, pleasurable, punishment

When paying attention to operant conditioning, one notices that Skinner uses different “schedules of reinforcement.” Schedules of reinforcement are something we covered a few sections ago when learning about the operant chamber. I am interested in it because it seems that Skinner found that partial reinforcement was more effective than continuous reinforcement. I feel like they both have their perks, but not that one dominates the other in the learning process. In a video I found, a girl is hanging out with her boyfriend and his roommate. The boy’s roommate doesn’t like they way she acts so he gives her a chocolate every time she acts in a way that makes him happy. This is called continuous reinforcement. This reward of chocolate elicits “desirable” behavior from the girl. It works every time in the clip. However, Skinner realized intermittent reinforcement worked well when he quickly ran out of “reinforcers” for his rats. He saw that the rats still pressed the lever even when not reinforced. This showed him that he could reinforce the rats intermittently. Once he decided that partial reinforcement was successful, he found four main types to describe the rate of reinforcements. There are ratio and interval schedules. Ratio went off number of responses and interval went off the time passed before the reinforcement was given. Ratio schedule could be predetermined or random. For example, every five times the rat pressed the lever and was reinforced would be considered fixed ratio because it was every five times. It was a fixed number. Other times it could be a variable ratio if the number of times it pressed the lever before being reinforced differed. If the schedule of reinforcement went by amount of time passed before the reinforcement was delivered, it would be on an interval schedule. If every 20 seconds, the rat was reinforced, it would be a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement. If the reinforcement was on a variable interval schedule, it would be delivered at random times. The first time could be after one minute, then five, then 4, and so on. Some may wonder how researches choose one. It works best to teach a new behavior with continuous reinforcement. After the behavior is learned and emitted, it is time to switch to partial reinforcement. This proved why both types are needed and beneficial. To examine how the rate of responding varies over time on different schedules, Skinner actually made a device that graphs the rate of responses called a cumulative record. It would look like a lie detector machine (the moving pen and paper to record it). Schedules of reinforcement can be recorded to help researchers understand which works best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA96Fba-WHk
http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm
http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/Schedules.html
Terms: operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement, operant chamber, continuous reinforcement, elicit, desirable, behavior, intermittent reinforcements, reinforce, fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval, emit

As we have a half blind/completely deaf four-month-old puppy named Hope, behavior modification is something very close to my heart in our home. This fits into class well as it demonstrates the use of many different behavior modification methods, like positive/negative reinforcement, target behavior, stamping out behavior, and immediacy of punishment.

Chewing/nipping is a current issue we’re working with and the use of choke chains was recommended. I used to train some of our family dogs in obedience classes and the choke chain was very effective when teaching to sit, but I hadn’t thought of it as a sort of punishment for Hope when she starts nipping too hard on our hands while playing. Currently, it’s a bit difficult to use a choke chain, because she’s so small, but she’s beginning to understand the punishment-esque purpose of the collar. In fact, common themes amongst the sources included collars. Many of the sites harshly judged the use of shock collars (I consider shocking to be highly effective, as a farmer, since I’ve watched it’s effectiveness many times through the use of electric fences) but something I hadn’t considered was the use of vibration collars. Photos, video, and articles described the ease this method provided. It’s quite useful especially when outdoors and I’m delighted at the prospect of using it. There isn’t a great way to communicate when the dog is playing if it’s a long distance away. Therefore, the vibration in the collar is a great way to alert the dog. (I also learned turning lights on and off on a porch to get the dog to respond worked well, too!)

Touching was another concept that was emphasized as a training technique. Instead of using a clicker, designating a “clicker area” on the dog to establish praise was suggested. I was extremely pleased to learn more teaching sign language to Hope. Each source included valuable ways to connect with your puppy through signing. This is very advantageous for our little family right now, as my boyfriend is currently learning American Sign Language. After some classroom discussion, Hope has furthered her signing vocabulary and understands hand signals for sitting, coming, and playing fetch. She’s very eager to learn and loves to be rewarded with treats. Although, the websites made the distinction that effective training had to first be reinforced with the use of treats, since the dogs can’t hear, but then affection and petting can be used to suffice the need for treats.

As for stamping out a behavior, many of the sources listed scent as a deterrent, especially for biting. There was a great suggestion to wear gloves with a putrid odor on them, that way the dog wouldn’t want to bite your hand, and if it did, it would taste bad. While we haven’t attempted that yet, we have used hot pepper spices when she’s been nippy and that seems fairly effective as well. As for potty training (thank goodness we’ve passed that stage!) one way to stamp out a behavior for potty training is spraying the areas down with cleaner because this way they won’t smell where they’ve used the bathroom before. On the topic of potty training, it’s incredibly important to punish them immediately (as learned in class and mentioned in the sources) so that the puppy understands what it did wrong and the training will be more effective. Another useful deterrent we’ve discovered is tabasco sauce. Hope has a naughty little habit of chipping the paint off the steps and/or chewing on the wooden steps, but the sauce is highly effective in getting her to quit. I think she’s finally understood that painted things taste bad! An effective intervention we’ve discovered is a teething ring, which is a durable, yet soft rubber ring that she’s able to chew on, instead. Water bottles are also a lifesaver, as they’re cheap fun for her and nice and soft to teethe with.

It’s plain to see that behavior modification techniques are very useful when training puppies, especially blind/deaf ones!

• http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=training+deaf+puppies&FORM=VIRE5#view=detail&mid=3F4DD1EC00E83D9062733F4DD1EC00E83D906273
• http://deafdogs.org/training/
• http://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/training-dogs-who-are-blind-and-deaf/

Terms/Terminology: behavior modification methods, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, target behavior, stamping out behavior, immediacy of punishment, techniques, intervention, rewards

My topic is B.F. Skinner. Skinner played a major role in guiding and moving forward behaviorism. During the class so far, he has come up and has played a major role as far as behaviorism. As we know behavior modification revolves around understanding behavior and modifying certain aspects of a behavior to obtain a desirable outcome.
Skinner rejected the more formal theories of both Tolman and Hull and argued for more inductive, descriptive behaviorism. He also rejected the use of what he called explanatory fictions, hypothetical factors that appear to explain a phenomenon but actually do nothing more than reliable it. He also called for a technology of behavior to improve child rearing, education, and society as a whole through the use of behavioral techniques. All this makes him a very influential and all around interesting person.
Burrhus Frederic "B. F." Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He innovated his own philosophy of science called radical behaviorism, and founded his own school of experimental research psychology, the experimental analysis of behavior. His analysis of human behavior culminated in his work Verbal Behavior, as well as his philosophical manifesto Walden Two, both of which have recently seen enormous increase in interest experimentally and in applied settings. Contemporary academia considers Skinner a pioneer of modern behaviorism along with John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov.
Skinner attempted to improve education, through his inventions, conducted experiments on behalf of the government, in all try to improve society as a whole. What he was best known for was his contribution to psychology in way of his research into operant conditioning and schedules of reinforcement. Skinner came up with the term operant conditioning; it means changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. Skinner identified three types of responses that can follow behavior.
“• Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
• Punishers: Response from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.”
In operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement are an important component of the learning process. When and how often we reinforce a behavior can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response. A schedule of reinforcement is a rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced.
In a 2002 survey of psychologists, he was identified as the most influential 20th-century psychologist. While behaviorism is no longer a dominant school of thought, his work in operant conditioning remains a big part of psychology today. Operant conditioning techniques are used among, teachers frequently reinforcing and punishing student behavior, and animal trainers rely heavily on these techniques to train dogs and other animals.

http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_skinner.htm

http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm

Terms:
reinforcement, punishment, behavior, motivation

I am choosing to do my blog on classical conditioning in child care.

I picked this topic because my roommate who I currently live with just recently had a baby and the baby is now living with us. I was looking up websites that discussed how you can use classical conditioning in child care and teaching your child to do certain things or not to do certain things. The baby living with us is very small and only 2 months old so it might not be as easy to apply classical conditioning to her because there really isn't much we are "teaching" her at the moment. However we are all being classically conditioned we are rewarded with getting a good night sleep when we keep the baby on a certain schedule and we know we will be punished if we keep her up past a certain time by how crabby she will be the next day.

This classical conditioning in child care can be more affectively applied to children a little older. One of the websites discussed how children react well with stickers. I found this interesting because I happen to know it is true. My sister has a 4 year old and she used to struggle to get him (Jackson) up and ready for daycare in the mornings before she and her husband left for work. They started rewarding him with a new sticker every time he did something on time like brushing his teeth, getting in the bath, getting dressed small things like that. Once his sticker chart filled up he gets to have a party/sleep over with his friends.

Classical conditioning can be applied to anyone of all ages, all actions are done with hopes of some sort of reward or reinforcement.

One website discussed how child not only need to be rewarded with material things but with verbal appreciation as well. Children love to be told they are doing a great job and encouraged in what they are doing. They look for our love and affection and showing that to them is a reinforcement for them in itself.

http://playlearnparent.com/2011/03/05/learning-classical-conditioning/
http://www.examiner.com/article/nature-or-nurture-are-we-truly-conditioned-by-our-environment
http://psychology.about.com/od/early-child-development/a/experience-and-development.htm

My topic for this blog is goal setting. Often goals are looked to as the cure all for improving performance, but it may be a lot more difficult than just setting a goal and waiting for performance to improve. Self-directed behaviors are hard to accomplish when you hold the consequences.

S.M.A.R.T. goals have been raved about for so long, and much of what they have to say makes sense. Making specific goals is important because you need to know the target behavior that you want to reinforce or punish in your behavior modification. Making goals measurable is also very important; additionally it is very important to record a baseline before starting the intervention to know what level your behavior is at before reinforcers are introduced. Goals need to be attainable meaning that they are achievable, within your ability level, and a manageable level of change. Goals also need to be realistic, which is some of these same characteristics, but the website also mentions that high goals are often easier to reach because they often elicit a low level of motivation or have a low intrinsic value. Goals also need to have a timetable, a realistic time table.

All of these suggestions are great, but often they are not enough. In order for goals to be effective, they also need to be relevant as my website on the importance of goals points out. This website offers some of the same tips on setting goals and what the goals should reflect. It also points out that you should have goals that are tied together, which could be similar to the advice that the textbook gives in making sub goals that are tied together to accomplish one larger goal. This point is explained very plainly but very well with the graphic that I found that shows the progression from where you are starting to your main goal. It explains that in order to reach a larger goal, you should have many smaller goals that build incrementally on each other, but that each goal gets you one step further towards your dreams of this large goal that you have for yourself. This idea of working towards a large goal by setting smaller goals is similar to shaping. You have to reinforce behaviors that are getting closer and closer to the target behavior that you desire. This website also mentions that goals should be flexible, short-term and long-term, and written down. This point is also explained within that same graphic, each small goal that gets you closer to your large goal is short-term, while the main goal that you are working towards is the long-term goal at the end of the tunnel. It also emphasizes setting goals with other people and celebrating the victories together as well. This would help with not having behaviors extinguished if they are not reinforced with small successes along the way; it would serve as a support team and as cheerleaders to keep you on the path. The S.M.A.R.T. goals are a great start in changing behaviors, but they are not complete instructions in creating the best goals.

Ideally to create a real change in behavior, each small goal would be S.M.A.R.T. but would also have some of the other aspects that the other website pointed out, such as setting sub goals that are tied together, which was also built upon with the graphic. The goals would be a combination of short-term and long-term, they would be flexible, and so on. If goals are set in this way with reinforcers that are intrinsically relevant and with the proper control over the antecedents of the target behavior, goal setting and the connected behavioral change may actually be successful.

Terms used in this post: target behavior, reinforce, punish, behavior modification, baseline, reinforcers, elicit, intrinsic value, extinguished, reinforced, shaping, self-directed behavior, consequences, antecedents

http://topachievement.com/smart.html
http://getlevelten.com/blog/sumeeta-kumar/importance-goals
http://yourhealthyplace.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/goal-graphic.jpg

Behavior Modification and New Year’s Resolutions

I found it interesting when the topic of New Year’s Resolutions came up in one of our readings. It got me thinking what are the most popular resolutions, and what are the statistics for people that actually go through with them? I decided to do more research on what the web had to say about the most popular resolutions, which percent of the population actually sticks with them, and what ones are the best ones to aim for.

It’s the beginning of the year and we all have been there, New Year’s resolution time! Who actually sticks with them though? The one time I did a resolution I actually stuck with it for not only the entire year, but also two years to follow of not drinking pop. We all know of the typical cycle of New Year’s resolutions, your friend says that they are going to head to the gym everyday and go on some crazy diet. Then two weeks later, they are back to their old habits. I see commercials every year about awesome deals on gym memberships starting in January but I was curious to see what the most popular New Years resolutions were this year of 2014.

According to University of Scranton’s statistics, the top resolution was to lose weight, followed by, getting organized, spend less, save more, enjoy life to the fullest, staying fit and healthy, learn something exciting, quit smoking, help others in their dreams, fall in love, and spend more time with the family. Clearly, from what I have learned so far I can see how some of these resolutions didn’t work out from the bat. The one about falling in love, how are you supposed to plan that behavior to work out? To me, it’s setting you up for failure. Also, it’s great to want to get healthy and lose weight but without specific target behaviors, it makes it rather easy to let these behavior modifications go right out the window.

Should we just start bypassing starting resolutions? Is it possible to make change happen? Of course! One needs to really be self-aware of what is causing them to do such behavior in the first place. Some more realistic examples of resolutions are as follows: one can order an annual subscription to the Fruit Guy. This way, you are committing yourself to this weekly service right to your own home! Only do this of course, if you like fruit. Another one that I found interesting in my search was if you are trying to save money, to simply have a certain amount of money from your paycheck be directly deposited into your savings. Both of these behaviors are more specific and help set you up for reinforcement rather than punishment.

As one can see, if you want to change something, you can. You just need to make sure you are committed to it. Those last two ideas about were great for the more popular resolutions. However, I found some that I had not thought of such as conquering a fear or turning your phone off during dinner. These are two resolutions I actually would be interested in doing. Both of them are simple and easy to define and would be naturally reinforcing for me.

To conclude, goals are great but you need to make sure you know what you are specifically getting into before you decide to make one. People who explicitly say their resolutions are 10 times more likely to achieve their resolution. To top that, only 8% of the population actually goes through with their resolution for the entire year. With great dedication and perseverance, anything can happen!

Terms:
Behaviors, reinforcers, behavior modification, and target behaviors.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/

http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/30/five-new-years-resolutions-that-might-actually-work/

http://elitedaily.com/life/25-new-years-resolutions-every-person-should-actually-make-for-2014/

My topic for this blog is goal setting. Often goals are looked to as the cure all for improving performance, but it may be a lot more difficult than just setting a goal and waiting for performance to improve. Self-directed behaviors are hard to accomplish when you hold the consequences.

S.M.A.R.T. goals have been raved about for so long, and much of what they have to say makes sense. Making specific goals is important because you need to know the target behavior that you want to reinforce or punish in your behavior modification. Making goals measurable is also very important; additionally it is very important to record a baseline before starting the intervention to know what level your behavior is at before reinforcers are introduced. Goals need to be attainable meaning that they are achievable, within your ability level, and a manageable level of change. Goals also need to be realistic, which is some of these same characteristics, but the website also mentions that high goals are often easier to reach because they often elicit a low level of motivation or have a low intrinsic value. Goals also need to have a timetable, a realistic time table.

All of these suggestions are great, but often they are not enough. In order for goals to be effective, they also need to be relevant as my website on the importance of goals points out. This website offers some of the same tips on setting goals and what the goals should reflect. It also points out that you should have goals that are tied together, which could be similar to the advice that the textbook gives in making sub goals that are tied together to accomplish one larger goal. This point is explained very plainly but very well with the graphic that I found that shows the progression from where you are starting to your main goal. It explains that in order to reach a larger goal, you should have many smaller goals that build incrementally on each other, but that each goal gets you one step further towards your dreams of this large goal that you have for yourself. This idea of working towards a large goal by setting smaller goals is similar to shaping. You have to reinforce behaviors that are getting closer and closer to the target behavior that you desire. This website also mentions that goals should be flexible, short-term and long-term, and written down. This point is also explained within that same graphic, each small goal that gets you closer to your large goal is short-term, while the main goal that you are working towards is the long-term goal at the end of the tunnel. It also emphasizes setting goals with other people and celebrating the victories together as well. This would help with not having behaviors extinguished if they are not reinforced with small successes along the way; it would serve as a support team and as cheerleaders to keep you on the path. The S.M.A.R.T. goals are a great start in changing behaviors, but they are not complete instructions in creating the best goals.

Ideally to create a real change in behavior, each small goal would be S.M.A.R.T. but would also have some of the other aspects that the other website pointed out, such as setting sub goals that are tied together, which was also built upon with the graphic. The goals would be a combination of short-term and long-term, they would be flexible, and so on. If goals are set in this way with reinforcers that are intrinsically relevant and with the proper control over the antecedents of the target behavior, goal setting and the connected behavioral change may actually be successful.

Terms used in this post: target behavior, reinforce, punish, behavior modification, baseline, reinforcers, elicit, intrinsic value, extinguished, reinforced, shaping, self-directed behavior, consequences, antecedents

http://topachievement.com/smart.html
http://getlevelten.com/blog/sumeeta-kumar/importance-goals
http://yourhealthyplace.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/goal-graphic.jpg

I chose to do more research on Rule Governed Behavior. I chose this topic because we recently read about it and it is something we see all the time. I was not aware that is had a name. Rule governed behavior is the behaviors we emit due to societal rules or norms.
I did a little more research on the subject and found that rule governed behavior is around us more than we think. It is the way we say excuse me if we burp or need to move around someone. It is the way stay on the right side of the road. It is why we give someone a weird look is they are wearing a sweatshirt in the middle of July.
Literally everything we do is either taught to us or we have learned it through observation. Our parents, teachers, care takers, and members of church all determine how we live our lives by how we act. I found it particularly interesting for young children. The environment they are raised in affects their future behaviors. I think it is extremely important to be careful who your child spends time with, if you don't want them picking up bad behaviors. If we see someone do something enough, we think it is the norm. Our society is ruled by this. We would never do anything out of turn or that is not expected of us for fear of embarrassment or social isolation. Children learn through the game "copy cat". So for future parents I would be careful of what you do and say.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-roles.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/early-child-development/a/experience-and-development.htm
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/encouraging_good_behaviour.html

^Terms: rule governed behavior, emit

For this topical blog I have chosen to do it on rules governed behavior. The reason I have chosen to do it on this topic is because rule governed behavior is just behavior that is encouraged or discouraged because we asa society say it should be. Incest is a good example of this because it is fairly recent when it comes to be put into law and how we as a society think its not ok to have sexual relations with a sibling. It also comes back to rules in a work place environment when it comes to sexual harassment or even sexism when it comes to upper level jobs.
Another great way to look at it is by depending on the rules as antecedents and the consequences to adhering to the rules (or not) can greatly alter our behaviors. This is why, as obvious as it is, it is important to study and understand rule governed
behavior. When it comes to antecedents like discussed in the text book like wearing your seat belt. There is a reason for wearing it and it is against the law to now where it but a lot of people don't follow that rule.
All of these rules though could come from different things they don't always have to laws. For example a society rule in the US is don't invade some ones personal space but in other countries this is totally expectable. Other examples would be religious rules on what you can eat or how many times you have to pray every day or even what you can wear.
http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/book/sec5.2.pdf
http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/index.aspx
http://www.studymode.com/subjects/why-should-we-follow-school-rules-page1.html

The topic I decided to choose this week to research is rule governed behavior. We recently read about this and it really seemed to interest me. I’m not very familiar with this topic so I would like to find out more! As learned from the text, rule governed behavior is a behavior which is maintained via the obligation of maintaining order where the antecedent is verbal. It can results from established norms, morals, or ethical standards or form rules to which an organism has adhered throughout its history.
Within behavior analysis, there has been a distinction between the contingency-shaped behavior and rule-governed behavior. Contingency-shaped behavior is a behavior that has gradually been learned and shaped over an amount of time. They are learned by trial and error. Many of our behaviors are acquired like this. Rule governed behavior is learned without direct contact of experiencing something. Both of these stem from positive reinforcement. Rule governed behavior is considered more efficient, the behavior changes more quickly.
Rule governed behaviors are the behaviors we emit due to societal norms or rules. Mainly everything we do is either taught to us or it is learned. Everyone in our society has an impact on how we live our lives. Our parents, teachers, and peers have a big influence on us. We are all expected to live by our societal rules. Once you see someone acting in a way that doesn’t reflect our society you distance yourself. We all fear embarrassment or social isolation. This is why we tend to not act out from our social expectations. The environment has a tremendous influence on us as well. Being raised by different cultures changes things as well. Some cultures believe in arranged marriages, so that is what the societal norm would be for you. It all depends on where you were raised.

Sources:
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior
http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/book/sec5.2.pdf
http://positioningsystems.com/blog.php?entryID=124

Terms:
Antecedent, rule governed behavior, established norms, contingency-shaped behavior, positive reinforcement, trial and error, emit, social isolation, consequence, elicit

Topographical Behavior
Topography sparked my attention from the previous week’s reading. I think it is interesting to look at a behavior from the surface without digging any deeper. There are so many quick judgments and false accusations that go on with behaviors in people, especially children. I looked at a few different websites that focused on topography in behaviors to learn a little more about it.
Topographical behavior is when you look at a behavior’s surface. According to Jerry Webster of About Education, “The topography of a behavior is what the behavior looks like objectively, from the outside. We use this term to help us avoid all the emotional, subjective terms we might use to describe difficult or annoying behaviors.” Stepping back, it is recognizable that many people do this. I know I have done it myself. For example, the other day an old family friend walked past me on the sidewalk. I greeted her and she did not greet me back. Naturally, I became annoyed and went to my other friend to complain about it. What I did not know was that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and was not in a good mental state. I included emotions in the situation when really I should have just looked at the surface of the behavior.
There are many different ways people judge situations and/or not specific enough in describing the behavior that is happening. According to Jerry Webster of About Education in another article, “We may feel that a child is "being disobedient," whereas what we see is a child who finds ways to avoid classwork. The problem may not be in the child, the problem may be that the teacher expects the child to do academic tasks that the child cannot do.” This is another way authority figures may not be handling behavioral situations in the correct way.
It is also important to distinguish between topography and functionality of behaviors. So far, I have talked about how topography is looking at the surface. The function is when you dig deeper into why this surface behavior is occurring. That is when we know how to fix the problem. Topography is important in that it gives a starting point to avoid assuming things. According to Gavin Cosgrave of Educate Autism, “Without understanding the function of a behavior any intervention put in place could be ineffective and/or make the behavior worse.”
Overall, I enjoyed digging a little deeper into this subject of topography. It will help me stop and think before I judge a situation or behavior around me. It will also help me to understand that there is always an inner problem going on that needs to be changed or at least acknowledged.

http://specialed.about.com/od/glossary/g/Topography-Of-Behavior.htm
http://www.educateautism.com/behavioural-principles/functions-of-behaviour.html
http://specialed.about.com/od/iep/a/definebehavior.htm

One topic area that we have covered so far in class that I find to be very interesting is rule governed behavior. This relates back to class because it was one of the topics that we have recently been discussing and learning about. I find this topic interesting because I feel that if studied and researched correctly rule governed behavior can help those with disabilities learn how to respond in certain situations if they do not already express those behaviors as learned. Rule governed behavior is behavior that is maintained via the obligation of maintaining order where the antecedent is verbal. This type of behavior can result from norms, morals, or ethical standards or from rules to which an organism has adhered to throughout its history.
I find this interesting since I work with people and children with disabilities and it would be nice if research could help us make tis o there was more accepting people towards with people disabilities instead of stigmatizing them since they are different than most of us. A study where rule governed behavior was attempted to be established in those with disabilities, mainly autism, that did not already display this kind of functioning. The study stated that there were two experiments conducted. The first where participants were presented with “if/then statements” and were taught to respond when the antecedent was given before the behavior. In the second experiment, which was a replica of the first, there was a difference in the order that the rules were presented. The results of this study showed us that rule governed behavior can be used as a teaching tool and it is a behavior that can be taught to individuals who do not possess it. Also, there was an experiment that was conducted and in this experiment it demonstrated why rule governed behavior works in humans and why it works as a teaching tool. Rule governed behavior works in humans because when verbal behavior describes appropriate performance then the identification of contingency can produce appropriate responses. This is unique to humans because the behavior remains under control of our verbal antecedents. In non-humans the behavior can only be under control of the relationship between the responding and the consequences it has. This shows us how rule governed behavior can be taught to those with disabilities because once the verbal antecedent can be identified the individual just needs to be taught how to identify the appropriate or “rule governed” response. After trial and error and repeated exposure this can most likely be identified.
One aspect of rule governed behavior that makes a difference when used as a teaching skill is the amount of direction or instruction that is given. In one study college students are pushing a button that may occasionally produce point that may be exchanged for money. In the first group the student is not give direct instruction, but instead is under the reinforcement of receiving the points. It is to their own discretion and reinforcement. In the second group the student are given direct instructions. In this situation the performance of the student depends on their history compliance and if they were reinforced by it, and also their history of following instructions and if they were reinforced in the past by doing so. The difference in these two groups is not the topographies, but instead the sources of their control. This also shows us that in order to teach the behavior of rule governed behaviors to others the idea that following instruction or complying in certain situations will be reinforced needs to be established. Once it is clear that following instructions will be reinforced it will be easier to grasp the concept of rule governed behavior.
There is not a significant amount of empirical research on rule governed behavior and teaching those rule governed behaviors to others, especially those with disabilities. I think this would be great area for more research to be done because rule governed behavior is a huge part of our everyday lives without us even realizing it, and to be able to teach those behaviors to those who do not automatically conceptualize them would be huge.
Terms: rule governed behavior, topography, reinforcement, performance, consequences, behaviors, antecedents, responses,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://prezi.com/lkz3xpnv6yjx/rule-governed-behavior/
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4757-0447-1_4#page-1

I have chosen rule governed behavior. It is one of the topics most recently read about for class. I am interested in it because the rules that are governed in our everyday lives are not rules we think of as rules. We simply do them because that is what we know and what we were taught.

Rule governed behavior is behavior that is maintained by the obligation to maintain order where the antecedent is verbal. We emit or avoid behaviors based on our socialization procedures within our own culture. There are many different rule governed behaviors that we do or don’t do based on our culture. For example we know that it is wrong to have a sexual relationship with a member of our own family. Religion and culture also have rule governed behaviors. If your religion does not celebrate certain holidays you are less likely to celebrate that holiday. Some people may deviate from expected rules because they do not think they will get caught. There are multiple sources of rules including government, society, cultures, holiday traditions, peers, and ourselves. Antecedents and consequences can alter whether we follow a certain rule.

According to Skinner rule governed behavior is behavior that occurs due to contact with rules that describe contingencies, and not due to prior contact with the contingencies the rule describes. A person can follow a rule without ever actually coming in contact with the contingency that the rule describes. The example given was “if you drink bleach, you will die.” Skinner believed rule governed behavior was crucial for the existence and maintenance of human civilization. Rules allow us to profit from the experience of previous generations by creating rules that previous generations derived from coming in to contact with the contingencies.

Establishing rule governed behavior is crucial to the socialization of children. Establishing compliance is essential to a child’s future learning. Establishing rule following both at home and in the classroom is important. We all learned rule following as a child but I never expected it to be a form of behavior modification. I never realized until this class that all the things I was told to do or not to do growing up were modifying my behavior in some way. Whether it was look both ways before crossing the street or don’t eat raw cookie dough, (which I still did anyway).
Terms: behavior, behavior modification, antecedent, consequence, compliance, rule governed behavior, emit, Skinner, deviate.

Links:
http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/book/sec5.2.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/

http://books.google.com/books?id=4b11AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1649&lpg=PT1649&dq=defying+rule+governed+behavior&source=bl&ots=P2pS5Lpy0q&sig=Z6_iuzRmt6628Xw_gwkslLZ1LEM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i2tiVNzrDcWNyASu2YH4CQ&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=defying%20rule%20governed%20behavior&f=false

Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into what we have been covering in class, and why you are interested in it.

I chose to do the six steps of behavior modification because I would like to learn to more about them considering I will probably use them for the rest of my life from now on. I also wanted to see what other sources came up with for the basic six steps and if any of them had any good ideas for completing those six steps. The six steps are: 1. choosing the behavior that you want to change or modify, 2.describe the behavior very clearly, 3. measure your behavior, 4. decide on a reward that fits the behavior you are trying to change, 5. be consistent, 6.evaluate the program that you have created. The six steps of behavior modification fit in to what we have discussed in class because we had an entire section that talked about the six steps. These steps also deal with basically everything we have learned in class so far, and what we have yet to learn until the end of this semester. I feel as if these six steps are the main focus of this entire class, therefore I feel as if it is very important, not only for that reason but also because these steps could become very useful in the future.

Next, I would like you to take the information you found related to your topic, integrate/synthesize it, and then write about it. At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.

According to the three sources I have come across, the six steps to behavior modification goes like this: The first step is to choose the behavior you would like to change or modify or in other words, find your target behavior and be specific. Sometimes it helps if you try to look ahead of the behavior in search of any antecedents that help that behavior occur. By recognizing the antecedents, it will help you avoid situations of causing the same behavior again.

The second step is to describe the behavior clearly, and be very specific. This helps so you don’t get motivation and behavior confused. It also helps you figure out what exactly it is that you are trying to change and how you would go about changing it. This requires you to think hard about increasing or decreasing certain type of behaviors in order to modify your target behavior.

The third step is to measure your behavior. Measuring your behavior will give you better, more precise data. This will also help set a baseline for you to go off of and therefore will help you be better able to change that behavior later. It will also show you, after trying to change the behavior, how much of the behavior has actually changed and whether or not you are doing a good job of changing it. For this step you can use duration, the number of intervals, intensity, or latency in order to measure the target behavior. Also, during this step you should decide on how often and when you will always collect your data.

The fourth step is to decide on a reward. The reward you decide on needs to fit the behavior you are trying to change. You can choose to give something to yourself (positive reinforcement) or take something away (negative reinforcement). It is important for the reward to be encouraging that way it will really help reinforce the behavior you want to change. These rewards should be intrinsic to good behavior as well. You also need to decide when you will reward yourself for that behavior. For example, you can choose from a fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, or variable interval. These will all work but it just depends on how you are trying to modify the behavior.

The fifth step is to be consistent. If you are not consistent with these steps and with your attitude of wanting to change the behavior, then the behavior is less likely to change. This step could be one of the most important steps because it will determine whether or not this behavior you want to change, will actually change. In order to accomplish this you need to choose your important rules and stick to them!

The sixth step is to evaluate the behavioral program that you have just created. In this step you should check to make sure everything it working correctly as it should. You need to make sure your reward is working and is reinforcing enough to change this behavior. If not, choose a different reward that will be more effective. This is the step where you must do some tweaking and changing in order to help yourself change the behavior. Once you have accomplished this step, if you continue to follow all the others, you should be on a great path towards success!

While not every website I went on had these main six specific steps, the majority of websites I visited did. One website only had five steps and the others had different names for certain steps. Overall, this is what I have come up with for the best six steps of behavior modification. It was very fun to read and learn more about these steps as well as being able to see how people can make these steps become more effective.

Websites:
http://education.byu.edu/familyhope/six_steps.html
http://doremewebhosting.com/everydaychildcare/articles/parents/parenta__behaviormod.php
http://www.homeofbob.com/cman/intrvntns/behavorManPln/sixStep.html

Terms: behavior, modify, behavior modification, reward, consistent, target behavior, antecedent, increase, decrease, baseline, intervals, duration, intensity, latency, data, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval, intrinsic

My topic for this week’s blog is B.F. Skinner and the operant conditioning chamber. We have previously discussed B.F. Skinner and the operant conditioning chamber in other chapters and I thought that it would be interesting to do further research regarding his life and how he came about doing his research. I am most interested in doing further research on the topic and understanding how the chamber influenced Skinner’s idea of reinforcement. I think that it is important to understand the history of a field to ensure better understanding of how the theories came about.

B.F. Skinner was an American behavioral psychologist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. One of Skinner’s most prestigious achievement is the development of the operant conditioning chamber or more commonly known as the Skinner box. Skinner is most well-known for inventing the chamber because it put his ideas of behaviorism which later was known as operant conditioning on the map in psychology. While researching at Harvard, B. F. Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber, to measure responses of animals with the environment (Wikipedia). The box had a lever and a food tray, and a hungry rat could get food on the tray by pressing the lever. Skinner observed that when a rat was put in the box it would explore and press the bar by accident, at which point a food pellet would drop into the tray (Wikipedia). After that happened, the rate the rate pressed the bar would increase. Skinner discovered from the rats that consequences played a large role in how organisms respond in different situations (psychologywikia). After the rats learned that food would fall when pressing the lever then the pressing of the lever increased which Skinner called reinforcement. Skinner also manipulated the box to include electric shock to the rates. The floor of the box would send electric shocks and while in a frantic escape rats would accidently press the lever which would stop the shocks (simplypsychology). After rats had experienced this relief they would then continuously press the lever to stop the shocks which Skinner called negative reinforcement (Wikipedia). Skinner also called this avoidance learning because the rats learned how to avoid the negative stimuli of the electric shocks (Wikipedia). Skinner’s box lead him to the concept of the reinforcement which was the probability of a behavior occurring based on the consequences.

Skinner was a firm believer of the idea that human free will was actually a delusion and any human behavior was the result of the consequences of that action. If the consequences were aversive then there was a high chance that the action would not be repeated and would decrease in frequency; however if the consequences were desirable then the actions that elicited the consequence would be increased and he called this the principle of reinforcement. Skinner identified three types of responses that can follow behavior (simplypsychology). The first is neutral stimuli which are responses from the environment that do not have an affect neither increasing nor decreasing the probability of a behavior being repeated (simplypsychology). The second is reinforcers which are responses from the environment which increase the frequency of a behavior (simplypsychology). The last response is punishers which are responses from the environment which decrease the frequency of a behavior (simplypsychology). Skinner then combined these responses into reinforcement and punishment. He created the idea that there was negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement. This means that there is either an aversive stimuli removed or a desired stimuli added to increase behavior. He also developed the idea of positive punishment or negative punishment. This means that something aversive is added or something desirable to taken away to decrease a behavior. Skinner called his particular brand of behaviorism, radical behaviorism (psychologywikia). Radical behaviorism seeks to understand behavior as a function of environment and reinforcing consequences.

TERMS: B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning chamber, reinforcement, operant conditioning, consequences, negative reinforcement, avoidance learning, aversive, elicited, neutral stimuli, reinforcer, punisher, punishment, positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment, radical behaviorism

URLS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner
http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/B._F._Skinner

I chose to learn more about rule governed behavior for this weeks blog. As we learned in the reading, rule governed behavior is something that is integrated into everyone's life without them even having to think about it, like with the example of incest.

Skinner is the psychologist who came up with the idea of rule governed behavior in reference to humans essential complex abilities. Like other behaviors we have covered, rule governed behavior has an antecedent, behavior, and consequence. The antecedent to the behavior is the rule. There are times when a rule is known, but not followed. For example, you know not to speed, but may do it anyway if you don't see any cops around and think you will get away with it.

In a study, 6 children with autism were taught using contingency statements and the guidelines of when the behavior should occur. It was found that these autistic children were able to be taught using rule governed behavior.

http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen8/num2/191/rule-governed-behavior-and-psychological-EN.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior

Terminology:
rule governed behavior, antecedent, behavior, consequence

I chose to explore differential reinforcement of other. This fits into our class discussions because we have talked about using differential reinforcement of other in our behavioral modification project. I am personally using it in my own behavior changing project. I think that this is an interesting way of approaching behavior modification by not using punishment.

There are many types of differential reinforcement. They include Differential Reinforcement of Higher Rates of Behavior (DRH), Differential Reinforcement of Lower Rates of Behavior (DRL), Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO), Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA), Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI). These all have their advantages. I personally am using the differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior with my behavioral change project. I want to decrease the amount of times I look at my phone so I am rewarding myself for keeping it under 5 times a day. So instead of having to punish myself for every time I look at my phone I get to be reinforced by a eliciting a different behavior.

DRO can also be used in classroom situations and is very effective with young children. If a child is expressing an unwanted behavior such as touching others or not concentrating on their work, a teacher could use DRO. A teacher would simply reinforce every time the child keeps their hands to themselves, or does their assignment instead of punishing them each time they act out. This would allow the child to have a more positive learning experience.

Terminology: Differential reinforcement of other, behavior modification, punishment, elicit

http://www.appliedbehavioralstrategies.com/reinforcement-101.html
http://behavioradvisor.ipower.com/DRO.html
http://www.special-learning.com/article/differential_reinforcement

This week my topic is the different ways behavioral modification can be used. We always want to change behaviors, either decrease or increase them. I researched three different areas that behavioral modification can be used. I was curious to see the diverse ways it could assist in everyone's' lives. The three popular ways it can be used is for training dogs, losing weight and ADHD therapy. Something all three have in common is that they can be treated with medication. This is not necessarily ideal for all people and situations, which is where behavioral therapy comes into the picture.
Behavior therapy for all these areas it typically begins with a functional assessment. Addressing what sort of undesirable behaviors are occurring, or desirable ones that a person would like to maintain. Defining the target behavior specifically and observing the antecedents and consequences that are preceding and following the behavior. This will help to set goals and develop an intervention that will work for each situation.
Behavior modification can be used to train dogs and modify their behaviors to be more desirable. The common techniques are habituation, extinction, desensitization, counter-conditioning, and shaping. Punishment can be effective in training dogs; however, few people know how to use it correctly. In order to make punishment work, it must happen right after the aversive behavior, be consistent, and strong enough to stop the behavior. This does not usually happen and the reason it's not very successful. For example, yelling at a dog.
One technique in dog training is habituation. It involves eliminating or decreasing the response to a stimulus. It is achieved by repeated exposure to the stimulus. The effects are generally long lasting. An example would be a dog barking at a noisy truck that drives by. The more the truck passes by the dog will bark less, becoming habituated. Another way to describe this technique is becoming familiar with the stimulus.
It has been found in studies, that children with ADHD actually benefit greatly from a combination of medication and behavioral therapy. The results improved oppositional behaviors and daily interactions in schools and at home. For effective intervention it is extremely important to specify the target behavior that is wanted to be increased or decreased. Next it must be consistent and able to be recorded. All very similar to training a dog, and trying to lose weight.
Another technique that can be used in both dog training and ADHD behavioral therapy is extinction. Ending a behavior by removing the reinforcer. A pet owner may want to change begging behavior or a jumping dog. A parent may want their child to quit playing with their food and getting up at dinner. The behavior is continued because perhaps the dog receives a scrap of food while begging or the child is given attention by their parent. When beginning the extinction process it is likely the undesired behavior will actually increase. This is called an extinction burst, the behavior getting worse before getting better. With consistency the behavior will stop.
Weight loss and weight management typically requires a change in a behavior or lifestyle. It helps to set goals which are manageable. Behavior modification is a great tool for anyone trying to make this lifestyle change. Much of weight loss and management is controlling the antecedent, this includes what you make for dinner, what food you keep in the house or having workout clothes handy. Considering using the schedules of reinforcement to help reward positive behaviors is also a useful tool.
It is interesting how many ways behavioral modification can be used in our daily lives. Some people might not consider using it in certain aspects, like losing weight. There is lots of research on behavior modification and it's effective uses.

Terms: Behavioral Modification, Behaviors, Functional Assessment, Undesirable, Target Behavior, Antecedents, Consequences, Goals, Habituation, Extinction, Desensitization, Counter-conditioning, Shaping, Punishment, Aversive, Response, Stimulus, Extinction Burst, Reinforcer, Schedules of Reinforcement, Positive.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/pethealth/dog_basics/behavior_of_dogs/behavior_modification_in_dogs.html
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/860.html
http://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/behavior_modification_ideas_for_weight_management/

We have learned in class that having goals and setting goals are very important and we have read a section based on this concept. I did my research based on why goals are so important and also some research on sports based goals and values and also why values play a huge role in the goal setting process.
Setting goals help us focus our energy on specific items, it forms plans for ourselves, we continue to live a purpose-centered life, and we then get the feeling of accomplishment after we set out goals and achieve them. We think that goals and values are the exact same thing when in reality they are two different ideas. Goals are something that are observable and measureable. They have to have an end result that you can intend to achieve or accomplish. Goals also have a timeframe. Without this timeframe these goals will never get accomplished. They are based on principles and values that we as individuals set.
Like we have stated in class these goals must be specific; without them being specific we cannot have these goals and we will not accomplish them. There is an idea of having a sport set goal. This is pretty much the exact same thing as a regular goal but it gives more powerful meaning and technique for enhancing performance. It also gets us to focus our attention on one specific thing that we want done. Like someone who is wanting to work on their 10 pins in bowling they will set a specific goal to achieve that goal. It also maintains and enhances motivation and increases your confidence as you’re achieving and being successful.
There is such thing as the domino effect/theory when looking at these goals. We design and create out pathways and we focus on how they are being set up in our lives. This theory focuses on process over outcome and gain over the blame. We have not really talked about this idea in class but I feel as if it would a great tool to learn. Having such goals creates a huge motivator; just like when we are trying to get ourselves motivated to change our behavior in class. Like I want to change my behavior and stop picking at my lip because it causes my lips to be ugly and I hate the way I look when I pick them so setting goals will help me try and focus my attention and motivate me not to pick at my lips.

Psychologytoday.com/blog/the-blame-game/201204/the-value-goals
Thesportsinmind.com/articles/goal-setting/
Codeofliving.com/articles/5-powerful-reasons-why-goal-setting-is-important

Motivation, goal, values, goal setting,
We have learned in class that having goals and setting goals are very important and we have read a section based on this concept. I did my research based on why goals are so important and also some research on sports based goals and values and also why values play a huge role in the goal setting process.
Setting goals help us focus our energy on specific items, it forms plans for ourselves, we continue to live a purpose-centered life, and we then get the feeling of accomplishment after we set out goals and achieve them. We think that goals and values are the exact same thing when in reality they are two different ideas. Goals are something that are observable and measureable. They have to have an end result that you can intend to achieve or accomplish. Goals also have a timeframe. Without this timeframe these goals will never get accomplished. They are based on principles and values that we as individuals set.
Like we have stated in class these goals must be specific; without them being specific we cannot have these goals and we will not accomplish them. There is an idea of having a sport set goal. This is pretty much the exact same thing as a regular goal but it gives more powerful meaning and technique for enhancing performance. It also gets us to focus our attention on one specific thing that we want done. Like someone who is wanting to work on their 10 pins in bowling they will set a specific goal to achieve that goal. It also maintains and enhances motivation and increases your confidence as you’re achieving and being successful.
There is such thing as the domino effect/theory when looking at these goals. We design and create out pathways and we focus on how they are being set up in our lives. This theory focuses on process over outcome and gain over the blame. We have not really talked about this idea in class but I feel as if it would a great tool to learn. Having such goals creates a huge motivator; just like when we are trying to get ourselves motivated to change our behavior in class. Like I want to change my behavior and stop picking at my lip because it causes my lips to be ugly and I hate the way I look when I pick them so setting goals will help me try and focus my attention and motivate me not to pick at my lips.

Psychologytoday.com/blog/the-blame-game/201204/the-value-goals
Thesportsinmind.com/articles/goal-setting/
Codeofliving.com/articles/5-powerful-reasons-why-goal-setting-is-important

Motivation, goal, values, goal setting,

The topic I chose to do some more research on was rule governed behavior. I chose to do more research on this because we just learned about it in section 5.2, but I feel like I need to get more information about it. It seemed like the section from the book was good basic information, but I'm curious as to is there more to learn?

While doing some research on this topic I came across some interesting stuff. One thing I came across was the difference between rule governed behavior and a term called contingency shaping behavior. Contingency behavior is when a person learns from direct experiences with his or hers actions. This is different from rule governed behavior in that rule governed behavior people learn indirectly without direct contact with the consequences. I learned that rule governed is more efficient than contingency. This is because when behavior is controlled by verbal rules, it tends to be relatively insensitive to changes in the environment that are not contacted by or described in a rule itself. The important thing to pick out is that it is insensitive to changes in the environment.

B.F. Skinner destinguished between the two types of behavior and it is said to be arguably the most important single contribution to the theory of behavior that he has made in a his career. The concept of a ‘rule’ as a ‘contingency‐specifying’ verbal formula which exercises ‘stimulus control’ over other aspects of the behavior of a linguistically competent human being presents a formidable challenge to contemporary cognitive psychology in that the Representation’ and ‘computation’ of environmental contingencies is seen as confined to verbally controlled behavior emitted by linguistically competent human subjects.

Doing a bit more research on this topic has given me a better understanding of the importance of rule governed behavior and also it lead me to learn about a new concept, which is contingency behavior. I also learned that Skinner was involved in these two topics and helped distinguish their importance in behavior psychology.

Links:
http://positioningsystems.com/blog.php?entryID=124
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09515088808572941#.VGQr-PnF8hV

Terms:
Rule governed behavior, contingency behavior, consequences, B.F. Skinner, behavior, stimulus control.

I decided to look into direct assessment. Direct assessment is observing and recording behaviors. There are many colleges in the U.S. who are emitting direct assessment in education. Each college has to get approved by their department to receive financial aid and elicit direct assessment. The department has been letting many colleges go ahead with direct assessment but under a few guidelines. “This includes A direct assessment program is an instructional program that, in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as a measure of student learning, utilizes direct assessment of student learning, or recognizes the direct assessment of student learning by others. The assessment must be consistent with the accreditation of the institution or program utilizing the results of the assessment” (https://www.insidehighered.com). There is still clarification being done. This includes a few concerns including credit transfer that are still under review. Even with these concerns, direct assessment is flourishing in the college spectrum slowly but surely.
You would think this would be reinforcing for students, but I personally am not a huge fan of direct assessment. To me, direct assessment is more of a punishment than a reinforcement. I have GAD (general anxiety disorder), and have a hard time taking exams. I do not handle pressure very well, and so these assessments stress me out to the max. I also do not do as well on them because of the pressure to answer questions. I do not perform my best when it comes to direct assessment like exams, ACT, SAT, multiple choice, and true false questions. If they were not timed I would be able to do them more to my best performance, but I still have a hard time with them. I get so stressed out that I forget all that I know. There are many other students and people out there who feel and act the same way as I do. I know I am not the only one. So what is done for those who this is not assessing correctly? It gives colleges incorrect results for those specific people. Today they have help at Student Disability Service centers on campus to help figure out a way for the direct assessments to be accurate. This is one way this problem is being faced.

Terms: reinforcing, direct assessment, elicit, emit, and punishment.

http://www.anokaramsey.edu/en/about/information/assessment/measures.aspx
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/21/direct-assessment-and-feds-take-competency-based-education
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/glossary.html

This week I decided to research differential reinforcement. I was particularly interested in this idea after spending some class time looking over this information. I am a nanny during the summer, I babysit a lot, and I plan on having kids. With all of that said, I would really like my kids to be raised using differential reinforcement. I never want them to feel like I’m some sort of monster or anything other than their nanny/mom. I’ve talked to my mom quite a bit about the kids I nannied this summer when I was struggling to get Indira to take her naps. She’s 3 years old, but she’s incredibly cunning and knew how to get out of sleeping during nap times by quietly playing in her room. Consequently, she would be incredibly cranky. This in turn would make me really cranky and it was just a vicious cycle. I did eventually get her to take her naps. I put her in time out almost 3 times a day for a week. I was SO frustrated because I felt like a bad nanny for making her cry so much and it absolutely wasn’t working. The parents kept telling me to be hard on her. But, it was so so so hard and it just wasn’t working at all. So, finally I got down on my knees and looked her in the eyes and asked her (and I swear I probably had tears in my eyes) to take a nap and we could get ice cream after if she would take her 1 hour nap. She did, thank God. And when she walked outside after she had taken her nap with a big smile on her face, I ran up to her and gave her a big huge hug. (I’m a little teary remembering this because I miss her so much) I told her I was SO so proud of her and we went to get ice cream with her 2 big brothers after that. After that I didn’t really experience any other problems with nap time. Occasionally she told me she didn’t want to sleep, but the ice cream trick worked every darn time. So, I think if something that small of reinforcement can work so miraculously, it would be super beneficial for me to know.
Now, I realize that usually these are used with special needs kids and adults, but I think that they can really be applied to any kid. It’s especially useful for my Sunday school class. I sometimes get in a bind where I have a really naughty kiddo and I’m just not exactly sure how to handle them. So, there’s DRI, or differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors. In this case with Indira, I could have rewarded her for almost taking a nap. So, if she laid in her bed for 15 minutes, I could have reinforced her in hopes that she would continue these types of behaviors getting her closer and closer to taking a nap. DRL is the differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior. This falls into my Sunday school class. Some of my boys cannot sit still for more than like 5 minutes (totally understandable) But, it’s distracting. So, I might say to the boys that are wild and crazy that if they only run around 6 times in the classroom, I will give them some candy at the end or something. Then, I would continue lowering this over the course of time until the behavior is disseminated. DRO is the differential reinforcement of other behaviors. This again applies well to Sunday school. So, say they boys aren’t really rolling with DRL, instead I might try to get them to make one of the activities we are doing, say it’s making a crown. If they aren’t running around, I would verbally reward them or even go as far as to give them a hug, because oh my gosh, that’s amazing.
I think this will take a lot of work to really apply these things and might only work with the kids I’m babysitting since I know them really really well and see them more than just once a week. So, it would be easier for me to figure out what is going to reinforce them, reinforce them regularly, and keep an overall eye on progress with whatever it is we’re trying to modify.

TERMS: Reinforcement, differential reinforcement, DRI, DRL, DRO.

http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/content/differential-reinforcement
http://www.behavioradvisor.com/DRintro.html
http://www.special-learning.com/article/differential_reinforcement

I have chosen to write about schedules of reinforcement, as a pleasant change from our usual continuous reinforcement. There has been a lot of research done on intermittent reinforcement that show very positive things. Firstly, it is intended to allow not only the initiator the ability to save the resources used in reinforcement by using them less often but also to encourage and support independence and to keep the subject from becoming satiated with the reinforcement mechanism. Many people intermittent schedules with differential reinforcement as consequences in order to correct behavior, which can be used to correct ones own target behaviors also. It is primarily used with differential reinforcement of others to reduce resurgence of problematic behavior. In such cases, fixed time variables work best because their target behaviors are emitted or elicited contingent on foreseeable reinforcers that hold intrinsic value to the subject. These schedules are also very useful in promoting independence, which is valued in society for many different reasons. Varying schedules provoke or elicit target behaviors to happen without foreseeable reinforcement, because the subject knows that it needs to be emitting behaviors to receive reinforcement whether on interval or ratio schedules. Finally behavior interventions of ones own self can reap the benefits of schedules of reinforcement. It doesn't work as well as rats where thinning out reinforcement periods using elongate ratios of scheduling will have a high participation rate, but it certainly retains success for at least shorter periods of time when trying to ween off of reinforcement tactics.

schedules of reinforcement, continuous reinforcement, satiation, differential reinforcement, elicited, target behavior, consequence, emitted, intrinsic, interval, ratio, behavioral intervention

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=718beb3e-e61e-4f6a-ae9b-3b63be76241b%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4207&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2014-21361-001

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a571d107-84e8-416e-b628-0f085610eb9d%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4212&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2014-28863-001

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=0fda41f5-2a13-4abd-906a-bee7e4a1630b%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4212&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=psyh&AN=2014-08837-012

Every person who attends college or has the unfortunate luck of living with a roommate at some point in their lives knows what it’s like to tip toe around them when there is a falling out of some kind. Because of this misfortune, dorm rooms and apartment style living is easily one of the most trying times in our young lives. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I think that there is a reason that people have such a hard time these days. We have all become very use and comfortable with being comfortable. Our society has introduced the idea of rule governed behavior as a way for people to remain within certain behaviors and expectations. This may work for some situations, but we have all become a lazy and scared population of people hiding behind computer screens and smartphones. Roommates are a typical part of college and there are things that kids can do now that allow them to be more appropriately placed with roommates that are supposedly like them in many ways. However, around 45% of roommates that are randomly paired at the beginning of the year end up wanting a new living situation before the year is up (from http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-45-of-all-randomly-paired-freshman-roommate,37394/). This being said, I am curious how often people actually face their roommates when they have an issue with them. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Apps like Yik Yak are used for personal information being spread to friends and family and also random strangers in their lives. Yik Yak for example is specifically for close proximity whether the person knows the others or not (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yik_Yak). I was talking to my roommate two nights ago. We were talking about our third roommate and how her annoying habits are starting to get the best of us. Her exact words were, “Yeah, I’ve already Yak’ed about her a few times.” Now, this may be a way for us to express our emotions and frustrations, but I hardly see this as a constructive way of altering a target behavior. With the social media sites giving people the sense of anonymity and release they don't actually perceive the consequences of their frustration because the person at the other end of the comment is not directly informed that they are the one at fault. All this does is make the issue public knowledge, and repress the problem until another day. In order to emit an appropriate reaction to the problem, one must first confront the issue in private and with direct communication (from http://www.slc.edu/studentlife/residence-life/roommate-conflicts-confrontation-communication-mediation.html). I know that some people may not be the best at confrontation, and thats fine. However, there needs to be some sense of accountability within your own home. People will always eventually get annoying or cause problems at some point in life, but it all comes down to how you react to the things that happen to you. If you are someone who is very not confrontational, then perhaps a better approach would be to change the antecedent by altering how we react to the behavior that is being emitted by the roommate. That would put more of the pressure on the annoyed roommate than it would the annoying roommate, but it may still be just as effective. All in all, people are going to react to things how they want, I just think that it would be constructive to do so in a way that actually gets something done rather than putting it off until it blows up. We can either try to use reinforcement or punishment to change things, otherwise we can just grow up and have a conversation that may bring light to the issues that we tend to make a big deal about.

Terms: rule governed behavior, target behavior, consequences, emit, antecedent, reinforcement, punishment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yik_Yak

http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-45-of-all-randomly-paired-freshman-roommate,37394/

http://www.slc.edu/studentlife/residence-life/roommate-conflicts-confrontation-communication-mediation.html

This week I have chosen to talk about a topic that we just read about: rule governed behavior. I have chosen to talk about it because I think that it is an interesting concept to think about and it should solidify what I have just read about it. Rule governed behavior is decided by society and society’s standards. These are rules that are followed in accordance to norms, morals, or ethical standards. Sometimes this is done in a way that is posted for us to understand, like when we push instead of pulling on a door handle. We can also be notified of these types of behaviors by reading about them in a business’s regulations (like dress code, or time of opening, or time of closing, or if situation A arises to emit behavior D, etc.). However there are also some behaviors that aren’t said, but we just know that they are not allowed. Some examples of this might be incest or murder. No one probably ever told you that you couldn’t be romantically involved with your brother or cousin; you just know that it’s a bad idea. Just like no one probably ever told you not to kill your mailman because he brings you your neighbor’s mail all the time; you just know that it isn’t what you should be doing.
The term “rule governed behavior” was introduced to us by B.F. Skinner. His definition wasn’t very specific so it has been more clearly specified since then. Rule governed behaviors are different that contingency shaped behaviors in that with contingency shaped behaviors you learn the way that things work through trial and error. This type of behavior is achieved gradually. Rule governed behavior is determined through specification, whether verbally or not. Establishing rule governed behavior is very important in young children. They are essentially a blank slate and it is important to teach them the way of the world. If they do not learn some behaviors when they are young, it could affect the way that they fit into society when they are older as well as potentially causing them to get into some trouble. If children are not taught to comply with rules at home, they will not comply with the newly introduced classroom rules when they get to school.

Terms: rule governed behavior, contingency shaped behavior, behavior, emit, comply

http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior
https://prezi.com/lkz3xpnv6yjx/rule-governed-behavior/
http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen8/num2/191/rule-governed-behavior-and-psychological-EN.pdf

The topic I chose to cover this week is rule governed behavior. This topic fits perfectly into what we have been talking about in class because section 5.2 is solely on rule governed behavior and the many aspects of life it entails. I am extremely interested in rule governed behavior, because I believe that many of the behaviors we emit each day are based on these rule governed behaviors which include established norms, morals, ethical standards, religion, laws at all/many levels and a variety of others. Whether we know it or not, the way we live is influence by rules coming from a variety of sources that are key parts of our lives. This is definitely true in my life. I am a praying person who lives in accordance with God and his plan, so for me, many of my behaviors depend on what the Word of God says, aka the Bible. Many of my behaviors are governed by my belief and faith in God.

Rule governed behavior covers a wide range of our behaviors, such the 'rules' involved in our relationships and family. Rules provide guidelines and expectations in our lives and they can act as antecedents. When a person understands that not telling family secrets is a family 'rule' this is an antecedent to their behavior. The family members will not be inclined to telling a secret (antecedent), which leads the behavior or keeping the secret to yourself, then resulting in the consequence of family secrets kept safe.

Rule governed behavior is also seen in how social norms affect behavior. One social norm in particular is littering. In American society (and I believe in many societies for that matter) it is frowned upon to litter. Being frowned upon for littering is known and again this known rule acts as an antecedent to prohibit littering. The antecedent is knowing the outcome/or expectation. Antecedent is don't litter, it is undesirable, the behavior is not littering, and the consequence is the absence of frowns and possibly praise for throwing items away in the garbage can or a thank you from someone.

Rule governed behavior is especially strong in the law enforcement of our government. When we know there are laws such as not speeding, this affects our behavior. We know the consequences are pretty aversive if we are caught in the act of speeding. Knowledge of these averse consequences act as our antecedent leading us not to speed and then result in the consequence of not being pulled over by a policeman. This is definitely negative reinforcement, because we are removing the potential of a ticket which increases the likelihood this behavior will reoccur in the future.

Many of our behaviors are governed by a set of rules that we are either are of or unaware of due to the many aspects of life that surround us and a variety of peoples efforts to control given situations. Many of these rules are in place to avoid unwanted behaviors and unwanted consequences. The laws (antecedents) elicit the desired behavior leading to the desired consequence.

Terms: rule governed behavior, behavior, emit, guidelines, antecedents, consequence, undesirable, negative reinforcement, aversive, elicit, desired

http://family.jrank.org/pages/496/Family-Relational-Rules-How-Rules-Affect-Behavior-Attitudes.html

http://www.sga-inc.net/blog/marketing/how-social-norms-affect-behavior

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgPfpM-kS-s

I became very interested in the section that covered rule governed behaviors. I never really thought much about these behaviors before because they were a part of everyone’s behaviors and were able to blend into the masses. After reading that section I am able to see these behaviors constantly in myself as well as in others actions. I also began to think more about the antecedents and the consequences involved with following or disregarding these accepted behaviors. The more I thought about this section the more I began to wonder who made the decision to accept the rule governed behaviors and who makes the decision to change them. I want to understand more the timeline of rule governed behaviors and how people evolve to emit or extinguish different behaviors than the past would have found acceptable.
More specifically, my topic for this assignment is going to cover same-sex marriage and the behavioral view that our society is taking on how people view that behavior. The way people view this behavior could maybe even be liked back to the nature vs nurture debate, but I don’t want to get into that during this assignment.
In past decades, same sex marriage was a rule governed behavior that could almost be seen as awful as having sex with a family member but that view has changed drastically. There used to be great consequences when people expressed that they were attracted to the same sex. These consequences included being publicly shamed or attacked and socially isolated. But our culture has changed these rule governed behaviors in a positive way that new consequences to saying that one is attracted to the same sex is met with praise and acceptance for coming out.
Admitting that one is gay or a lesbian or something else is not met with nearly as much punishment as it had been in the past. These comminutes are not always meet with rewards either because some people still see that lifestyle as a rule governed behavior that should have never been changed. I am so interested in the fact that these behavior can be changed. It can be overwhelming to think about at the same time, about other rule governed behaviors that could be drastically different in ten years’ time.
I am most interested in this topic because I support same-sex marriage but my family (more specially my grandparents) do not. I know this has nearly everything to do with the time that we were raised but I am just very curious as to how that behavior changed. It is a difficult topic to find information about how the behavior went from being rejected to accepted. A lot of the information I found involved antecedents of accepting loved ones and no longer feeling ashamed of who you are attracted to. The environment, in my opinion, is one of the most crucial roles in rule governed behaviors.
Terminology Used: rule governed behaviors, antecedents, consequences, nature vs nurture, emit, extinguish, punishment, reward, antecedents
URLs:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0761909.html
http://www.thenation.com/article/195337/twilight-gay-marriage-movement
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/gay-marriage-poll_n_4903796.html

I chose to further research the famous psychologist John B. Watson. Watson fits into what we have been covering in class not only because he was the focus of one of our sections of reading, but also because Watson is famous for establishing the psychological school of behaviorism, and as you know, this class is all about Behavior Modification. As a psychology major, I am interested in all the different famous psychologists and learning, in particular, what their contributions were to making psychology what it is today. Throughout this post I will be discussing Watson’s early life and biography, background as a psychologist, along with some of his post famous studies such as Little Albert and contributions to the field of psychology including his coined term of “behaviorism.”
Watson was born to a poor family on January 9, 1878. Watson was one of six children who grew up in a small house located in South Carolina that still stands today (St. Rosemary Educational Institution 2015). Watson’s mother was a very religious women and had hopes that Watson would grow up to be a minister. Watson was, in fact, he was even named after the famous minister John Albert Broadus. Watson Received his Doctorate from the University of Chicago. As a behaviorist Watson believed that, as he stated in his famous lecture at Columbia University, “Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It” (1913), he asserted that psychology should restrict itself to the objective, experimental study of the relations between environmental events and human behavior (biography.com). After leaving John Hopkins, Watson went into the advertising business, one of the many things Watson was famous for, was his work in advertising. Watson wanted to use his knowledge of scientific theories of behaviorism, including what he considered the three main emotions fear, rage, and love, to improve the effects of advertising on consumers. Many are familiar with the affair that Watson had while he was married to his first wife Mary Ickles. During this time, Watson was having an affair with one of his students, Rosalie Rayner, who he ended up marrying. Because of his marriage to Rayner, he lost his job at the famous John Hopkins University.
Now that we have a little background on Watson, we can dive into his most famous and influential contributions to the field of psychology. Let’s look at his famous Little Albert Study. Watson, and his assistant, his wife Rayner worked on the Little Albert study together. The Little Albert study was a study that was based on the effects of behavioral conditioning. Watson used what was learned and discovered by Pavlov, classical conditioning, and designed an experiment to see if emotional responses could be classically conditioned in humans. Little Albert was the famous research participant in the study. Now a days, the Little Albert study would be considered unethical and would not be able to be conducted. Some of the unethical aspects of the Little Albert study included the amount of distress that the study caused on a child at such a young age, remember, Little Albert was only 8 months old when he took place in the study.
The first step in the study was to conduct a baseline. Watson tested the 8 month old child to see if he showed fear in response to loud noises. Next, Watson introduced a series of random objects to the boy. These objects included, a white rat, a rabbit, burning newspaper, monkey, cotton wool, and others. At this time in the study, Watson showed no sign of fear to these objects. The next step was to pair the objects with the loud noises. Watson would present Little Albert with the rat, and as he reached out to touch it, he would make a loud noise. Eventually, after the pairing occurred enough times, Little Albert was afraid of the white rat even when the loud noise wasn’t paired with it.
This Little Albert study concluded that classical conditioning can be used to cause emotional responses in humans. After the study, Watson was interested to see if it was possible to desensitize the child to his conditioned response of fear towards furry objects, unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the mother took the boy away and the experiment was discontinued (whatispsychology.net).
Lastly, Watson is famous for coining the term behaviorism. “Behaviorism assumes that behavior is observable and can be correlated with other observable events. Thus, there are events that precede and follow behavior. Behaviorism's goal is to explain relationships between antecedent conditions (stimuli), behavior (responses), and consequences (reward, punishment, or neutral effect) (lifecircles-inc.com).” I thought that this excerpt from the site that I found related Watson and his idea of behaviorism extremely well to the class we are currently taking. It shows how the ABC’s are key to understanding behavior as a whole.
TERMS: psychology, behavior modification, Watson, classical conditioning, baseline, behavior, desensitize, emotional responses, object pairing, antecedents, stimuli, behavior, consequences, reward, punishment

http://schoolworkhelper.net/john-b-watson-biography-and-contributions/
http://whatispsychology.net/the-little-albert-experiment-summary/
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/watson.htm
http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/behaviorism/Watson.html

This week’s topical blog assignment has elicited me to emit the behavior of conducting further research on Behavior Modification in regards to weight loss. The process of losing weight is often a self-directed behavior, and it is often difficult to stay on track with your goals while consistently implementing consequences. If a person who is trying to lose weight is not dedicated, the contingencies will not form and no progress will be made.
From the sources that I have gathered, losing weight comes down to three different components: controlling your environment, rewarding yourself for physical/healthy activities, and inspiration or desire to accomplish your goals. These are also things that we have read about in chapters 4 & 5, when we learned about goal setting.
The first key to tying behavior modification with weight loss is controlling the environment cues, or antecedents. One tip offered from a source as to eliminate the availability of snacks in your car or on your work desk. For some people, it may be easy to keep a small bag of chips in your middle console for when you are hungry on the road, or to keep a bowl of Jolly Ranchers on your desk for when you need something to munch on. Although a small bag of chips in the middle of the day, and a few pieces of candy throughout the work week may not seem like much, the total calories that they can amount to can be enormous. In order to prevent these antecedents from causing someone to eat extra calories, a disruptive behavior can be implemented. An example of this would be keeping flavored water at your desk and taking a sip each time you crave a jolly rancher.
The second key to typing behavior modification and weight loss is rewarding yourself for progress. We have learned that there are many ways to increase the frequency of behaviors. One way is to implement a schedule of reinforcement, whether it be continuous, fixed, or interval. Once a schedule is mastered you can ‘lean out’ your frequency of reinforcement. For example, if someone wanted to lose weight they could take a 1 mile walk every day. If they complete their one mile walk, they get to put $1 in a jar and us that jar toward an upcoming vacation or a shopping spree. This would be continuous reinforcement. It is essential to use rewards that are desirable to the person trying to accomplish the goal, and also to use rewards which will not get easily satiated.
The third key to tying behavior modification and weight loss is making sure that the person is inspired, has support, and is dedicated to accomplishing this goal. One way to do this is to join a weight loss support group, such as Weight Watchers, where you would meet regularly with other people trying to accomplish the same goals. Another way is to seek advice from friends or family members who have lost weight in the past, and ask them for support. A third way is to reach out on social media, and gain support from a large amount of people. By telling people what your weight loss goals are, you suddenly become held accountable for accomplishing them which is motivation in itself. It is also essential to make sure that you are ready to make the change to a healthy lifestyle. Some people WANT to lose weight, but aren’t READY to take the steps necessary to make it happen. Before you start your weight loss journey, make sure that this is a task you are ready to handle. Often times failure discourages people from accomplishing their goals completely.
Terms—elicit, emit, self-directed behavior, consequence, contingency, reward, antecedent, target behavior, disruptive behavior, continuous schedule of reinforcement, fixed, interval, leaning out, satiated.

I chose to write this week's blog post about self directed behavior. I chose this subject because we have been focusing a lot on this subject when we talk about the behavior that we are trying to modify for this big assignment. This is an interesting topic to me because it's all up to you throughout the process; if you yourself don't want to cooperate with the steps you need to take to change the behavior, then there's no one else pushing you to complete it, and the behavior won't change.
The steps for changing a behavior via self directed behavior are the exact steps we are taking for this course to change our own bad habit/enforce a new habit. We start by figuring out a behavior we want to change (most people picked a behavior they want to increase, but others picked a behavior they want to decrease), and we survey our own behavior for about a week to make a baseline number. A baseline is just the average amount of times that the target behavior occurs during that time period, and we look to reduce that number. We then pick a reinforcer or a punisher that we know will be effective for ourselves. Typically, when picking these, we pick something that is very interesting to us and we don't get to do often (reinforcer) or we pick something that we know we hate a lot, and doing it will help us reduce the target behavior (punishment). Self reinforcing is defined as "to strengthen the probability of a target behavior by giving or withholding a reward". We use this when we are trying to increase eliciting of the target behavior. This is basically what we are doing in self directed behavior. Punishment is defined as "a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc." We use this when preventing the emitting of the target behavior. This is also an example of what we are doing in self directed behavior, again, based on weather the person is punishing their own behavior or reinforcing their behavior.

http://www.mhhe.com/cls/psy/ch14/behmod.mhtml
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/self+reinforcing
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/self-punishment

TERMS: self-directed behavior, baseline, target behavior, reinforcer, punishment, emit, elicit

Recently, we have been discussing self-direct behavior modification and how to change a behavior. There are many behaviors that I would like to change, one specifically being that I want to change my eating habits and be a little nicer to my body. I really need to lay off of eating junk food and try to switch back to eating healthier options. For this, I have decided to explore more about how to change the behavior of eating junk food to healthier food.

We talked about in the reading how there are six steps to changing a behavior: set goal, define goal as a set of specific target behaviors, keep a record, graph a baseline, and determining the antecedents to implement and adjust the contingencies. Following these steps helps you track and accomplish your end goal.
I found in my readings that there are other ways to help you stay on track to achieve your goal. There is the acronym: AMISH, which stands for Awareness, Motivation, Identification, Substitution, and Habit. This acronym has proven to help a lot of people out. Be aware of what the behavior it is that you are wanting to change. That is the first step. Next you must be motivated. If you are not motivated, you are less likely to accomplish your end goal. Identify what behaviors you have to change, and substitute it with another behavior that you are willing to change to. Knowing these things will help you create this new behavior that you want to emit a habit.

For my behavior that I am wanting to change, I would need to be aware of the what behaviors I am emitting and see what I want to change. For example, since I want to eat cleaner, I would identify that I am eating poorly and want to change the behavior to eating healthy food. A good starting point is to throw away all of the "bad" food that I have laying around my house. This will help me get rid of the temptation to eat it. Next, I would want to keep a record on how I am eating. This will help me stay on track. After that, I will make a grocery list of healthier options to buy. I will keep track of what to and not to buy so I make sure I only have healthy options. Finally for my consequence, I will reward myself for my good eating. This will be a good way to reinforce myself to keep eating healthy.

URLS: 1. http://www.fitness.gov/eat-healthy/how-to-eat-healthy/
2.http://www.yourofficecoach.com/topics/career_success/self_help_strategies/how_to_change_your_behavior.aspx
3. http://lifehacker.com/5865829/how-to-ditch-your-junk-food-filled-pantry-and-reboot-your-diet

Terms:
behavior modification, behavior, goals, target behavior, baseline, antecedent, contingencies, emit, consequence, reinforce

Topical Blog Week #12

In the readings for week 12 we learned about rules and different environmental forces that may help in directing our behaviors. There are certain behaviors we emit/do not emit just because we know that is what we are supposed to do and that is how we are supposed to act. In one of the sections, deadlines were brought up briefly – and that raised many questions for me. The section didn’t go into detail about deadlines, just that they can be used to ensure that certain behaviors occur. As a college student, this is seen on a regular basis. For example, whenever I get an assignment from a class, it comes with a deadline. If I get assigned to write a paper, the professor tells me I need to write that paper by the end of the week, and that will ensure that I emit a paper writing behavior by the end of that week.
This concept makes complete sense, but I feel that the section should have covered it in much more detail. In my opinion, deadlines are what make goals possible to accomplish. If you have a goal that you want to accomplish, but you don’t set a deadline – then what is the purpose of even setting that goal? The deadline gives a person something to shoot for. The deadline can be a real driving force for some people. But that brings me to the next thing I started to wonder about: everyone looks at deadlines differently. Some may see a deadline and feel the need to get their work/goal completed before the deadline even gets near. You also have the people who could be given a deadline that is a long time away, but they still wait until the last minute to complete the goal. So I want to look into what the differences in these people are. Why do some people procrastinate? Why do some people not take deadlines seriously?
The reason this interests me is because I am a procrastinator myself. A person who procrastinates puts off their work until the very last minute. This can be alarming and unsettling – even for a procrastinator like me! It is stressful to wait until the last minute to complete things, and it oftentimes creates a certainty that you will not be completing your best work, when your work is actually completed. So why do people procrastinate if it is such a nasty, stress inducing habit?
A main problem with procrastinators is that they have trouble self-regulating. It was found that most chronic procrastinators come from very strict households. When they were younger, their parents set rules and guidelines that directed their behavior and made them act in a certain way (as they were told). So once these people leave the home, they don’t know how to set their own rules and regulations. They don’t know how to make guidelines of their own because they were never allowed to do that as children. These patterns will flow into all aspects of the procrastinator’s life. They will shop for Christmas presents at the last minute, they pay bills late, they let things expire, and they also don’t regulate their habits well either (ex: they may drink more than they should).
I used to be worse at procrastinating than I am now. My parents were never too strict, but they were the type that always seemed to be looking over my shoulder and they always had to be in my business. They constantly checked my bank account, they regulated how often I went out to eat, and they always had to know who I was with and where I was going. This makes sense because they were my parents, but it drove me nuts! So when I came to college, I ran into some obstacles because I was not self-regulating correctly. And it’s not that I didn’t know how, it’s because I didn’t want to. I had this new found freedom that allowed me to do what I wanted, when I wanted. No one was there to make sure I got my homework done or went to bed on time. So I can see now that this is where my procrastination started and it’s where my procrastination stems from.
Although my procrastination was a lot worse when I first came to school, I have been able to manage it better. I usually just accounted the change to “becoming a grown up”, but there are still things I struggle with. There are several times when my rent has been late in getting to my landlord, and I still manage to write papers and do homework assignments at the last minute. So I want to know what a procrastinator can do to kick the “habit” and get their time management skills better under control.
I found that one thing a person can do to stop procrastinating projects and work is to be more specific about the deadline and the goal in mind. Instead of saying “I will get started on that this weekend”, you need to say, “On Friday, after my class at 12, I will start doing research for my paper.” This deadline that you set will be much more specific than “sometime this weekend.” I am guilty of this all the time, and usually “sometime this weekend” turns into late Sunday night. This can be related to behavior modification very closely. When we want to change a target behavior, we are to be very specific about what that behavior is we are trying to change. This is also something I struggle with. When I start to change a behavior or set a goal, instead of saying “I want to get fit”, I need to say, “I want to run at the gym at least 3 times a week”. This behavior is much more specific and will be more likely to be completed because of that. The same goes for goals or assignments in everyday life.
Another thing a person can do to quit procrastinating is to turn the target goal into mini goals and reward themselves after completing each mini goal. Breaking the goal into little goals will make it harder for a person to procrastinate. The issue with that though, is that the mini goal’s deadlines may not be as intimidating when they approach as the big, final deadline is. This is why we must reward ourselves after completing each mini goal. This shows that procrastination is just a behavior that we will be able to modify if we try hard and if we really want to. If we reinforce ourselves for completing assignments ahead of time, we will be more likely to complete future assignments ahead of time.
Some people may believe that procrastination is a disorder (and maybe it is), but from the reading and research that I have done outside of class, we can see that procrastination is nothing to be feared because it is just a behavior that can be modified when we are ready and willing to change it. It sounds to me that if we take the steps and skills that we are learning in this course, we can apply them to almost every realm of our lives. We just have to want to make those changes!

URLs:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200308/procrastination-ten-things-know

http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2014/01/06/procrastination-the-self-defeating-behavior-and-how-to-overcome-it/

http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/580/5-tips-to-help-you-meet-goals-and-deadlines/

TERMS: Rules, Behaviors, Emit, Deadlines, Behavior Modification, Target Behavior, Behavior Specificity, Reward, Reinforce

This assignment has made me elicit the behavior of researching the topic of self-directed behaviors. This topic fits into our class because we have recently covered the sections that are directed towards self-directed behavior and gives a different approach to modifying a target behavior, since you are now modifying your own behavior, rather than attempting to modify another's behaviors. I'm interested in said topic because it gives a different perspective of how someone can incorporate this procedure to change your own behaviors.
When someone else is trying to direct our own behaviors it can feel like they are manipulating us and taking advantage of us, even if they have no desire to do so. With self-directed behaviors, we are attempting to change our own behaviors and set our own goals as well as our own personal reinforcers, so that gives us the feeling of free will. With this approach it can also be more effective if we stick to the plan and have self control, because you only need yourself and don't have to rely on someone else to help reinforce or punish you. This teaches ourselves valuable habits that we can use throughout our lifetime and makes it so that even if your great-helpful friend moves away, you are still able to implement what you've learned, without outside help, to modify your behavior.
As with the examples from the ABC sections, New Years resolutions are great examples of self-directed behaviors because you are setting your own goals, reinforcers, and consequences/punishments if you fail to reach your goal. Often people fall short of their goals in these resolutions because they are either not specific enough or involve punishment instead of reinforcements. That means, when deciding what your goal and reinforcers should be, you should remember to be as specific as possible to rule out confounds and ease confusion. If your original plan fails to work, it is totally acceptable to change up and redefine alternative behaviors that are still functional and reinforceable, aka differential reinforcement of others.
With self-directed behaviors it is also simple to understand and be able to fix things that become an issue. This is because the process follows a basic seven step process that breaks it down into very simple and easy terms to understand.
The first step is to set a goal, which at first, typically reflects a behavioral class, rather than a specific behavior. The second step it to make a specific definition of your target behavior based on the goal that you just set for yourself. The third step is to keep track and record the frequency of the the behavior that you are observing, a diary or small portable notepad can make it easy to record the information that you'll use to set up your baseline. The forth step is to start a graph showing the baseline of the information that you've been keeping track of. A basic x-y axis graph on a spreadsheet is the simplest way to do this. The next step in this process is to figure our any contingencies and what the most effective reinforcers will be, as well as how you plan to deliver them when the time comes. For step six, you will want to determine what antecedents are most powerful in helping you to emit the desired behaviors. The right antecedents can be incredibly helpful in either avoiding or staying consistent with your goal. The last and final step is the seventh one where you will want to reanalysis what you've done so that, if needed, you will be able to implement and adjust the contingencies. This will help greatly in your self-management. If you find an issue, it is more than acceptable to tweak and change what's needed in order to make your goal a more realistic challenge. This could involve changing the reinforcer, how it's delivered, or a number of other things that could be aversively affecting your progress in reaching your desired goal.
If you stick to your plan and carefully think through and follow these steps, you will greatly increase your chances of effectively reaching your own goals that you have set for yourself, without any outside help that you'd otherwise would have to rely on. WIth the multiple step by step procedure, it almost becomes a challenge to NOT reach your end goal, as long as you are careful when setting it up and have enough self control to be able to follow the plan. Also, be sure to pay extra attention to your antecedents, behaviors, and consequences to make sure nothing is switched up or confusing. Lastly, as always, reinforcement is always more effective than punishment, so keep that in mind when going through the seven step process. Personal adjustment is awesome since you're doing it all by yourself - which makes you feel special - and you won't at all feel like you're under the control of someone else's intentions. This is why I chose this topic, because it can be incredibly useful throughout your lifetime, with practically no help from anyone but yourself!

Terms: Target/desired behavior, elicit, self-directed behaviors, manipulate, consequence, punishment, differential reinforcement of other, goals, reinforcer, behavioral class, frequency of behavior, baseline, contingencies, emit, antecedent, self-management, aversive.
Sites: -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL1ZGAQo6J4
-http://aubreydaniels.com/self-directed-behavior
-http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2901443-2

Rules are an integral part of our society. They often keep us from performing behaviors that may have destructive consequences for ourselves and others. Without certain rules, the rule of driving on the right side of the road in the US for instance, traffic would be chaotic. We all go through a process of learning rules, whether it be for driving, for school, for our job, or laws we must obey. Occasionally, certain rules will change on us and we must adapt our behavior. How do we learn rules? And, what is our behavior when the rules change?

Learning a rule can take many forms. The first, and likely the oldest method for learning rules, is through observation and experiments in one’s environment (trial and error). From these observations we develop rules on our own (i.e. my professor is always cranky before he has his coffee, I should wait until he has had a cup to ask him a question). Second, we can be taught rules through some form of communication (e.g. written or orally). We don’t have to actually see the consequence to believe it will come if we emit a certain target behavior the rule prohibits. This generally works well for adults who can (usually) comprehend the instructions. Research has shown that a third method, a combination of written/oral rules and someone to model that behavior, is most effective in creating the desired operant behavior.

When rules are changed on us, as they sometimes do, we need to display new adaptive behaviors to the same antecedent in order to obtain a reward or avoid punishment. In this circumstance, having been taught the rules instead of learning them on our own is a disadvantage. Research has shown that individuals who received clear instructions initially did better than those who did not receive the instructions and were left to figure the rules out on their own. When the rule change was implemented however, those individuals who had figured out the rules adapted faster to the change. Those who had been told the rules kept trying to follow the old rules even when they were aware the rules were no longer in effect.

Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/81/1/29/
http://cbsi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/BMOD521630_Rev1.pdf

Terms: Antecedent, behavior, consequence, target behavior, emit, operant behavior, reward, punishment, experiment, rules, rule governed behavior,

I have chosen to research how behavior modification can be applied successfully to those with various dementias. This entire class has been about understanding behavior modification and then utilizing it effectively to better something in our own lives or others. Because of this, I have chosen to research how we can apply behavior modification to dementia: I work with people with dementia and in my future I plan to continue doing so.
Behavior modification consists of understanding the antecedents, target behavior, and consequences of each situation. In the life of people with dementia, they are not often able to "learn" through the ABCs like we are. Due to their memory and cognition loss, they cannot actively learn patterns of behavior. They may learn subconsciously but it may be lost through the degeneration of the disease. The focus then is strictly on changing the antecedents of behaviors. If someone with dementia has a behavior of stealing other people's foods during meals, separating them from others during meals can eliminate this behavior.
A lot of treatment forms for those with dementia involves the changing of the environment (in this case, the antecedent). In the early and middle stages of dementia where people are not in care facilities, families may often "dementia proof" the house. This includes things like unplugging stoves so they can't be accidentally left on or locking up knives and other sharp objects.
What seems to be most important in this process is properly training caregivers of those with dementia on how to alleviate symptoms where behaviors may occur. Behavior modification training should be a requirement for caregivers in care facilities and for family members who take care of them at home. Extinction bursts may become extremely prevalent during this process -- if the stove doesn't work they may try over and over to try and make it work. If they can't find the knives in the drawers they may search every drawer in the house or maybe even the fridge. The phenomena where they change the behavior trying to get the same effect is variability. There also happens to be a lot of spontaneous recovery because they are unable to actively learn.
What also is important is trying to alleviate any stressors in the environment. Stress of any kind can lead to unwanted behavior. Creating a peaceful, stress-free environment is the easiest way to control behaviors. It is imperative that caregivers are able to identify antecedents and then avoid them if possible. Those with dementia aren't able to describe what is setting them off so it is their job to do it for them.
Because medications can't always treat these behaviors (or rather they simply sedate the person rather than fixing it) behavior modification is the best treatment for unwanted behaviors. What is also great about this form of treatment is that it works through all stages of dementia, unlike some medicinal treatments that only work for certain parts of time.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0215/p647.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686333/
http://www.jabfm.org/content/25/3/350.long

terms: behavior, antecedent, consequence, behavior modification, extinction burst, variability, spontaneous recovery

I chose to look into the importance of goal setting. I have been told to make goals my whole life. I have had teachers and coaches tell me that having goals is one of the most important things. But nobody every talks about the follow through. I’ve not had one teacher have me make a goal at the beginning of the year then check to see if I’ve achieved it by the end of the year. People can talk about the importance of goals all they like, but few actually apply goals to their life.

Goal setting works. A study of the MBA students at Harvard in 1979 demonstrates the power of goal setting well. 13% of the class had goals, but did not write them down. This 13% on average earned twice as much as the other 87% of the class. 3% of the class had goals and wrote them down with plans to achieve them. This 3% earned ten times as much as the other 97% of the class. This simply shows if you write goals down with a plan to follow through, you will achieve those goals. So why don’t more people do this? I think it is because creating a good goal is difficult.

To create a good goal, one that is achievable yet still a reach, there are a few steps that you can take. The SMART goal method is one of the most commonly taught ways to set goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. The titles for each letter are self-explanatory, so I’m not going to go into detail about each aspect of this system, just specificity and timely. I think that these are the keys to a successful goal. You need to have a goal that is focused. Broad goals do not work. You can’t simply say, ‘I want to be better at this thing.’ You need to say exactly how you want to be better, only then will you be able to focus on improving. And goals must have deadlines. There is no urgency if you don’t set deadlines. ‘Someday’ or ‘eventually’ are the worst words when it comes to achieving goals. The SMART system develops goals so that you have a plan to accomplish your desired outcome. I just wanted to talk about it, because this system is great for business or academic improvement and small, task-oriented goals.

But there is an interesting new approach that Jason Fox suggests in a TED talk. When making goals, people focus on the journey. The process is almost more important than the outcome. SMART goals make a plan. Planning and the process. But for big life goals, for true change and achievement, this isn’t as effective. This is what Jason Fox is saying. He claims that although ideas and the process are important, it is video games that can teach us how to create an environment for success. He says look at the end. Look at the reward and then strive for that. Video games teach us that failures are not bad. In fact, the only way to learn (to level up in video games) is to fail and gain experience points. . People want to level up, so they keep playing the game. The same is true in the real world; learning creates a drive towards taking action and getting better. Goal setting is changing because we don’t need the small, task-oriented goals, we want the big life goals now.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/04/08/why-you-should-be-writing-down-your-goals/
http://ideas.ted.com/the-science-of-setting-goals/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69yQVlAD39c
http://topachievement.com/smart.html

I chose to do my topic this week on the six steps to successful behavior modification because I really felt like the steps were important and that they were easy to expand on. I also wanted to see how consistent the steps were across sources.
The first step to behavior modification is choosing the behavior that you want to change or modify. Another way of stating this is to describe your target behavior. It is extremely important that you try to figure out in what situations the behavior does or doesn’t occur so that you have a better idea of how it should be changed. It is not enough to say that you want to work out more. You need to be able to ask questions as to why you don’t already work out more. Are there scheduling issues? Laziness? Once you are able to ask questions about why you have the behavior you do, you will be much closer to being able to understand what specifically you need to change. It is also important to make sure that the behavior your decide on is one that you will likely be able to succeed at changing, one that is age-appropriate, and be aware of outside things that may trigger that behavior to occur again.
The second step to behavior modification is to describe the behavior very clearly so that you don’t get motivation and behavior confused. This requires that you be very clear about what it is you are changing and stay aware from being too vague or including too many behaviors. If you complete the first step correctly the second step should be much easier because you should already have a target behavior picked out. It is now important that you avoid labeling the behavior as either positive or negative because it makes the behavior meaningless and places personal opinions in the way of an objective and concise behavior.
The third step is to measure your behavior so that you are able to get very precise data. This step can be challenging because you have to make your target behavior something that is measurable. Many behavioral programs include multiple methods for measuring the behavior whether it be the duration, the number of intervals, or the intensity or the latency. It is important that you decide before beginning your behavioral program how often you plan on collecting your data, how long each period of observation will be, etc.
The fourth step is to decide on a reward that fits the behavior you are trying to change. You can either choose to give something or take something away in order to increase a behavior (positive or negative reinforcement.) It is important for the reward to be something that is actually important enough to you to encourage the behavior. When choosing a reward you also need to decide how you plan to reinforce the behavior. You can do a continuous reinforcement that reinforces you every time you emit the right behavior. Or you can choose from fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, or variable interval. These are all effective depending on what your behavior is and what you are trying to accomplish.
The fifth step is to be consistent. If you don’t follow through with your behavior changes as well as with the reinforcements that you have promised yourself, then the behavior is not likely to change. I know in my behavioral change plan I get to be reinforced with eating out with my coworkers once a week if I have my weekly reports done. If I go out to eat even if I don’t fulfill my goal then it defeats the purpose of the reinforcement. It is very important to be concise and to document your results.
The sixth step is to evaluate the program that you have created. Is it working like it’s supposed to? Is the behavior actually able to be measured and does the reinforcement seem to be helping? Most of the time when making a behavioral modification program you will not be successful the first time, instead it takes a lot of tweaking and changing until you finally have the right behavior pinpointed and matched with the correct reinforcement.
Terminology: emit, reinforcement, positive, negative, evaluate, target behavior, concise, precise data, intensity, latency, intervals, duration, fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, variable interval, continuous reinforcement
Six Steps to Successful Behavior Modification
http://doremewebhosting.com/everydaychildcare/articles/parents/parenta__behaviormod.php
This source gave a good outline of six different steps and examples as well as why they are important and how to implement them.
Behavior Modification Program Steps
http://people.wku.edu/sally.kuhlenschmidt/psy443/projstep.htm
This source went into detail about how to go about implementing a behavior modification program and it also gave helpful hints as to what we should avoid when creating a program and what needs to be included.
6 Easy Steps to Change Your Behavior
http://blog.tkographix.com/6-easy-steps-to-change-your-behavior/
This source was very straight forward and gave six steps with details on how to complete these steps included. It was easy to relate to this source because it talks about a similar group situation where multiple people are asked to change a behavior of their own.

I decided to do my Behavior Modification Process as this weeks blog. In my Google Search I learned that this process can help achieve goals. These websites that I found was how to motivate and learn how to achieve a goal or help someone else achieve a goal. This process helps understand why people do what they do through behaviorism and can help people see what motivates the curtain individual. They can also see if the target behavior is not occurring than you/ they need to change their motivation and substitute it with another thing that may make the target behavior more apparent. The websites also showed the six step process necessary to modify the Behavior and gave good examples on how each step works and how they are able to help change the target behavior. Using the ABC's, Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequences, make the target behavior easy to change and achieve the target behavior. This process is very easy way to change a person behaviors and the websites I found made it important and easy to get the target behavior.

sources:
-http://uwf.edu/wmikulas/Webpage/behavior/chapterone.htm
-http://www.healthcentral.com/adhd/treatment-160825-5.html
-https://cbs4all.wordpress.com/behavior-modification-as-a-process/
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7prKdC99mc

Terms:
Behavior Modification Process, target behavior, behaviorism, ABC's, Antecedent, Behavior, Consequences, motivation and substitute

Rule governed behavior stood out to me from the reading for this week. Rule governed behavior is the obligation of maintain order where the antecedent is verbal. Section 5.2 explained that rule governed behavior emerges from established norms, morals or ethical standards that have adhered throughout history. This topic was interesting to me because I made me think about times individuals have broken the norm and gone against rule governed behavior.
One of the online sources I found for this subject explained the relationship between formal rules and human conduct. The study explored the relationship from a socially shared viewpoint by looking at behavioral rules for breaking legal rules. The social view point of rule governed behavior is concerned with common sense, with how and why people share knowledge, and constitute a consensual reality with it. These representations orient people in the world by providing them with a framework for interpretation of a norm. In this sense individuals influence causal attributions, social perception, and behavioral intentions. The study found three separate dimensions concerning acceptable reasons for running a red light, whereas there was only one dimension for tax evasion, this suggest that rule governed behaviors are highly social and does not very much on an individual level.
Another study set out to propose a model suggesting that rigid behaviors in anorexia nervosa can be formulated as maladaptive rule-governed behaviors. The situation that causes this is uncertainty in the presence of affective arousal. Results of the study provided support for using the maladaptive rule-governed behavior in a model of rigidity in anorexia and also explain why the behavior continues when health consequences occur.
What these two studies show is that rule-governed behavior is a very interesting field of study. One study was used to explain the relationship between formal rules and human conduct on a large scale, and the other study discussed how the outline of rule-governed behavior can be maladapted and lead to socially unacceptable behavior. The amount of growth the study of rule-governed behavior has is vast and will be very useful.

Terms: Rule-governed behavior, antecedent, rules, norms, socially shared viewpoint, maladaptive, consequences.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?sid=a134c333-41ae-4730-b44c-91e7a478f149%40sessionmgr115&vid=0&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bsh&AN=9411230037

http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/9060/Moskovich_duke_0066D_12560.pdf?sequence=1

For this weeks topic I choose to do a research on Rule governed behavior topic. I choose this topic because as an international student I found ti really interesting how certain behaviors i used to do changes because of the country, the culture and the environment I was not used to. Rule governed behavior focus mainly in establishing norms, morals and ethical standards or rules. You may not even realize that you are doing certain behaviors because of this because they are just created over time based on your beliefs. You emit certain behaviors based on those beliefs and other cultural or social norms. Some behaviors may be emitted intentionally or not emitted at all but mostly depend son the society, the social context. For example, as explained in the reading, in the United States a rule governed behavior is given when it sexual relations between members of a family is prohibited but is your own choice wether to choose to elicit this behavior or not. Rule governed behavior gives us a good idea of what to expect when we emit certain behaviors, and breaking certain "rules" can also elicit aversive reactions from others as well. While we may not always know exactly what will happen if we break a rule, we do know that the consequences to our behavior will not be pleasurable.



Rule governed behavior works in humans because when verbal behavior describes appropriate performance then the identification of contingency can produce appropriate responses. Behaviors are under control of our verbal antecedents rather than responding to the consequences. An example of this is when you are going on a trip and someone needs to take care of your dog. So you ask a friend to take care of the dog in exchange of money that you will pay them per day or in total. It begins to show the cause-effect relationship between feeding the dog and then being paid as a consequence. The person does not need to experience the consequence directly but learns by reading, learning or experimenting, from others. Rule governed behavior is considerably more efficient than contingency shaped behavior. Behavior changes more quickly. 



We are alway under rules in every environment we go. If we are in a new different country, at work, or even at school. Children, at a young age, know the basic behaviors you should or should not emit. Our society is built around a variety of rule governed behaviors that most of us are unaware of the effect it has on us. However, at young age we may have a knowledge of it but we don’t really understand federal rules but as we start growing up, school is a great place to start following rules. For example, do not be late to class, or not cheat otherwise there will be a bigger consequence. This start shaping our behavior on been on time, and not cheating because it may cause a suspension or detention. As time passes and we become adults we will have rule sin college at work with our professors or employers but we will already have an idea of following rules that it may not have a extreme impact on us.


Along with this topic there are sources of rules involved like government, society, cultures, holidays, traditions. Rules vary from country to country, some countries have rules that you drive on the right side of the street while in others you drive on the left side. Different countries have different laws regarding drinking age, in some countries you need a VISA to get in, in others, you do not. Depending on the antecedents and the consequences there might be different rules. For example, some countries had the antecedent of a high rate of car accidents related to a drinking age of 18 like United States. Therefore the federal rule for the drinking age is 21 years and older.On the other hand, in other countries sin Europe, central and latin america the drinking age is 18 or older and even in others like Germany is 16 and older. The antecedents definitely play an important role when deciding certain rules. A long with this consequences are also important the consequences may vary depending on how aversive the situation was. For examples driving and drinking in Germany may not be as hard punished if you are 17 years old. However in the United States for example, drinking and driving being underage may cause a lot of consequences and may cause hard consequences because of the big deal of being underage. So whenever you are going to a different country, keep in mind certain rules that maya affect you current social situation, or may have an impact in your trip. Certain behaviors are different depending on the environment and the social context.



Terms:
Aversive, antecedent, consequence, emit, elicit, behavior, contingency, rule governed behavior, contingency-shaped behavior, reinforcement. 




URLS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755396/



http://www.abilitypath.org/areas-of-development/social--emotional/behavior-and-discipline/articles/behavior-due-to-environment.html



http://www.sage-ereference.com/view/cbt/n3114.xml

The topic i chose to write about is the great physiologist Ivan Pavlov. The Russian scientist Pavlov was mostly known for his contribution to the field of clinical psychology but of course he also contributed to many other fields like behavioral modification. Ivan was born into a very religious family, his father was a priest and mother was illiterate who also suffered from a nervous disorder possibly foreshadowing his wonderful career in psychology/physiology. Ivan became a professor at the Imperial Military-Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, where he did research on the digestive process on dogs. This research led to a Nobel Prize in 1904. Ivan Pavlov was an excelent researcher and laid the foundation for clinical psychology and behavioral modification.

Classical conditioning, the learning process of continuously pairing two stimuli, was created by Pavlov and his study on the digestive tract. When his dogs started to salivate before they were presented with food Pavlov became intrigued. Due to his medical experience he was able to direct the salivation secreted by the dogs into tubes for measuring, data collecting and analysis. At first he called this phenomena "psychic secretion". Pavlov would research this and call it the conditioned reflex. The dogs had associated the sound of the scientists footsteps with food. they had learned through association, the basis of all learning. Pretty soon he discovered that behaviors are learned though association, again the dogs had associated the footsteps with food. This was a SR situation, there was a stimulus then a response.

Behavioral therapy was also effected by classical conditioning. Classical conditioning can be responsible for creating phobias, an extreme fear or feeling of aversiveness. Behavioral therapies that can help are, systematic desensitization, aversive therapy and flooding.

Ivan Pavlov was a self proclaimed physiologist, however he made incredible discoveries when it cam to psychology.

The topic that I chose to do more research on for this week is Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was originally headed down the career path of religion. However, the ideas of a Russian literary critic and the father of Russian physiology and he decided to abandon religion and devote his career to science. Pavlov also decided to go into physiology. He was so interested that even when he was awarded his degree he chose to continue his research through various schools in which he held positions. The Institute of Experimental Medicine is where he did most of his research on the physiology of digestion, which is what he comes to be the most known for.

It was when Pavlov was researching digestive enzymes that he became interested how it related to the body and the brain, which led to his famous Pavlov's dogs experiments. Pavlov had the idea that there are some things that a dog doesn't actually have to learn, such as salivating when there is food present, for example. He believed that this reaction was an unconditioned response, or a stimulus-response that did not need to be learned, it's "hard-wired" into the dogs brains. The unconditioned response was elicited by the unconditioned stimulus, in this case food.

Within Pavlov's experiments in monitoring the salivation responses to food, he realized that the dogs could learn to associate an object or an event with the food. He thought that this association must have come from learning so he then devoted himself to studying this important scientific discovery. He discovered that what once had been a neutral stimulus, the lab assistant, had become a conditioned stimulus because they had learned the association. After Pavlov discovered this, he began using a bell as a neutral stimulus to see if the dogs began to associate it with food as well. After repeating this procedure for a while he attempted to ring the bell without providing food afterwards to see if the dogs emitted the salivating behavior. Of course, it did.

Through this experimentation, Pavlov discovered that for associations to be made the stimuli need to presented consecutively within a short period of time. He referred to this as the law of temporal contiguity. Pavlov's work has been influential to psychology since it began and led to the the development of the concept of classical conditioning.

Terms:
Ivan Pavlov, emitted, behavior, Pavlov's dogs, unconditioned response, stimulus-response, elicited, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, law of temporal contiguity, classical conditioning

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html

http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/misc_topics/pavlov.html

http://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html

The topic I chose for this week is why we choose to follow social rules. Of course most of our behaviors are rule governed behaviors but why do we chose to follow them? I choose to write about this topic because I am interested in the sort of consequences that happen when you do not follow social norms and how those consequences modify our behavior every day.

Some of the reasons I found for people conforming to social rules is because we want to learn about our surroundings. Some consequences that would come to us if we conformed in a situation where we didn’t know about the people around us would be the positive reinforcement of being accepting into a group. This could happen at parties or even when trying to get into a fraternity or sorority. Another reason we conform into social rules is because it causes order and predictability in society. We have consequences for not showing up to class on time because if we don’t show up to class on time, it disrupts the order in the classroom. Zimbardo is a psychologist that studies why people conform and his conclusion is that consequences are usually undesirable when we do not conform so we do because it is the more desirable option. We let rule governed behaviors control even our most slightest movements like getting into an elevator and facing the door. Time and time again it has been proven that if a group of people face the back of the elevator, the person who is not in on the act will eventually turn around with the group. Why is this? It is because we are afraid of the consequences that would happen if we stayed facing our own direction. We want to blend in and at some point in time in our past, blending in is what needed to happen to ensure our survival. So is letting social rules control us something that we haven’t adapted out of? I think we let other people and rules control us because it is just the easier rout.

Websites: http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-roles.html

http://www.lucifereffect.com/guide_conform.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSzCBv1-qA

Terms: rule governed behavior, consequences, positive reinforcement, Zimbardo

I chose to write about operant conditioning. The reason that I chose to write about this is because I often get very confused with the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning. Recently we took an exam and many of the questions were scenarios in which one needed to discriminate between operant conditioning and classical conditioning. I found this section to be difficult and want to know more about what operant conditioning is, how it was discovered, and how it applies to our lives today.
Operant conditioning is a type of learning that is influenced by consequences. The basis of behavior modification lies within the concept of operant conditioning. This is because there is an antecedent that plays a role in the behavior, there is the behavior that is emitted, and there is the consequence that either makes the behavior keep happening or makes the behavior happen less. Some of the key components to operant conditioning are reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement is when the behavior is emitted, is rewarding, and is likely to increase the likelihood of the behavior. Punishment is the opposite and is likely to decrease the likelihood that the behavior is emitted. There are two types of punishment and reinforcement and those are positive and negative. With positive reinforcement or punishment something is added in order to manipulate the behavior. When using negative reinforcement or punishment something is removed in order to manipulate the behavior.
Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning was based on the work of Thorndike. Thorndike did a lot of research with puzzle boxes. Skinner expanded on this work and introduced the term and concept of reinforcement. He worked with pigeons and elicited them, using operant conditioning, to peck when the sign said peck and turn when the sign said turn. He also did work with rats and punishment.
Operant conditioning is all around us and used so frequently that most of the time we do not even know that we are doing it. We reinforce by smiling at people and saying thank you. It is reinforcing you to keep working when you receive a paycheck. It is punishment when you go outside in the rain and forget an umbrella. Operant conditioning is all around us and is helping our world.

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/operant-conditioning-examples.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=I_ctJqjlrHA
http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

Terms: negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, reinforcement, punishment, emitted, consequence, antecedent, behavior modification, elicited, classical conditioning, operant conditioning

For my post I chose to look in to self-directed behavior. This relates to our class because it was covered in our reading, but I wanted to know more because it seems like a good thing to know for the future. I wanted to understand it better. After my research I think I do understand it better. Self-directed behavior is when a person uses a behavior modification procedures on themselves.

It is possible to employ some of the principles of classical and operant conditioning in a program of self-directed behavior modification. The process begins by choosing a target behavior, then spend a week or so keeping a diary of your behavior. The contents of this diary constitute the baseline data. By using the behavior modification technique of stimulus control, you can begin to master the forces compelling you to engage in the habit. For example, in another study that I found, rhesus monkeys were trained on a monkey chair in front of a mirror to touch light spot on their faces produced by a laser light that elicited an irritant sensation. After 2-5 weeks of training, monkeys had learned to touch a face area marked by a non-irritant light spot in front of a mirror. The force that compelled the monkey to engage in the face touching habit was the irritant sensation elicited from the laser light. 5 out of 7 trained monkeys showed typical mirror-induced self-directed behaviors, such as touching the mark on the face or ear and then smelling their fingers, as well as spontaneously using the mirror to explore normally unseen body parts.

After you started engaging in the habit, you can support your stimulus-control efforts with a program of rewards or reinforcements for meeting certain behavioral goals. You can also alter your actions behaviorally by changing the sequence of events, doing thing in a novel order and thus disrupting the stimulus-response pattern that may be sustaining your target behavior. The success you achieve with self-directed behavior modification depends largely on your willingness to go slowly and stay with the program. An example of this technique being successful is in a study that I found on self-directed behavioral family intervention. The intervention occurred over a period of 10 weeks, and because the participants were willing to stick with the program, the results were very positive. Self-directed behavioral interventions require a certain amount of dedication and time to work. Not only did the children who were being parented see positive outcomes, but the parents involved ended up reporting many desirable outcomes from the procedure as well.

TERMS: Self-directed behavior, behavior modification, classical and operant conditioning, target behavior, baseline, stimulus control, elicited, reinforcements, behavioral goals, desirable.

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(14)01443-2
http://www.mhhe.com/cls/psy/ch14/behmod.mhtml
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9337598

The topic that I chose to research on is systematic desensitization. This topic was discussed in section 3.4 of the ABC’s. I researched on this topic because I am interested to know how this method work for behavior modification and what sorts of experiments have incorporated this method in overcoming fear.

Systematic desensitization, developed by Joseph Wolpe, can be described as a technique that is used to treat phobias and other extreme or erroneous fears based on behavior modification principles. The aim of this method is to remove the fear response of a phobia, and substitute a relaxation response to the conditional stimulus using counter conditioning. Also, it helps to reduce or eliminate fears or phobias that sufferers find are distressing or that impair their ability to manage daily life. This is done by forming a hierarchy of fear that involves the conditioned stimulus that are ranked from least fearful to most fearful. The patient works their way up starting at the least unpleasant and practicing their relaxation technique, which they will be thought. The relaxation technique is called progressive relaxation in which, one tightens and relaxes various muscle groups in the body. When they feel comfortable with this, they move on to the next stage in the hierarchy called anxiety hierarchy. The hierarchy is a variety of anxiety-provoking situations or stimuli arranged in order from least to most distressing. For a person who is frightened by cockroaches, like me, the anxiety hierarchy might start with seeing a picture of a cockroach, eventually move to viewing a cockroach from a distance, and finally handling a cockroach.

Systematic desensitization has been tested on many different people and one of the groups that I found interesting was individuals with developmental disabilities. One of the cases involved a 41 year old man with Down syndrome began having panic attacks following a surgery. In the beginning, these attacks did not bother him that much. However, over the years he gradually became more and more anxious about these panic attacks and expressed a fear that he was going to die, and spent most of his time sitting in a rocking chair and rocking. He was even becoming fearful of moving around in the house. Systematic desensitization was used by teaching the man to practice deep breathing to achieve a fairly good level of relaxation. He was also asked to emit the behavior of squeezing his hand and relaxing it. After several repetitions and assurances from him that he was comfortable, he was asked to take a step, then return to the rocking chair, breathe, and stand up again. As he became more and more comfortable, he went down the stairs to the main entrance, then outside on the front porch, then out to the mailbox and back. After six weeks, he was able to comfortably go on walks about the neighborhood on his own. By this point his fear of going to die was eliminated and he resumed his regular activity schedule.

In conclusion, systematic desensitization is highly effective where the problem is a learned anxiety or fear of specific objects or situations. Although this method is a slow process and takes a longer time, research suggests that the longer the technique takes, the more effective it is.

Terminology: systematic desensitization, conditional stimulus, emit

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Systematic-Desensitisation.html
http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Systematic-desensitization.html
http://thenadd.org/modal/bulletins/v9n3a2~.htm

For this week’s topical blog, I chose to do ruther research on the idea of goal setting. We have talked about goal setting in past sections and are currently working with setting obtainable goals in changing a behavior for class. I am interested in this topic because of my newly profound interest in the area of Industrial Organizational Psychology. This field of psychology focuses a lot of its attention on goal setting within the workplace.
Many people go through life working hard but seem to feel that they never get anywhere with their hard work. The main reason that is, is because they haven’t spent time thinking about what they want to get out of their life or from their hard work. When looking at goal setting from a company’s view, goal setting provides direction for the company on what they want to accomplish on a bases of weeks, months or years. Setting goals gives you long-term and short-term motivation. It helps you organize your time and resources so no time is put to waste.
When setting goals you want to make a big picture of where you want to be and what you want to accomplish. Five principles to keep you goals intact: keep them few in number, make them “smart” (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound), write them down, review them frequently, and share them selectively. Research has found that goal setting is not only helpful, it is also a prerequisite for happiness; people who make consistent progress toward meaningful goals live happier more satisfied lives than those who don’t.

http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html
https://hbr.org/2011/02/making-sure-your-employees-suc
http://michaelhyatt.com/goal-setting.html

For week 12 Wednesday blog I choose to talk about classical conditioning by Pavlov in children because I just had a nephew turn one and will be soon getting to the age where classical conditioning could be really useful with potty training within the next year or two. Classical conditioning is very important in children and is one way to teach children for them not to emit the unwanted behaviors. In classical conditioning a person, in this case child, learns to respond a certain way to a neutral stimulus.

Thanks to Ian Pavlov, potty training may now be an easier task than before. Classical conditioning may help a parent get there children out of diapers and onto the toilet. By using the five key elements to classical condition which are, Unconditioned Stimulus, conditioned Stimulus, Neutral Stimulus, Conditioned Response and Unconditioned Response you should be able to condition your child to use the training toilet instead of their diapers. These five key elements are known as a plan; you are never supposed to start potty training your children without a plan. Trial and Error will only confuse your child you are trying to train. Potty training for all the kids in the world is known as a recurring obstacle from the video and also seemed to be a rewarding moment for the both child and mother. What I found interesting in this video is that parents that trained their kids to use pull up diapers were the ones that were trained not as fast as the ones that never got trained to use them. Just as the five key elements of classical conditioning building blocks were seemed to be the same thing for potty training. I can’t wait to have my sister start potty training and know the steps which I can help her with now that I know Ian Pavlov’s classical conditioning steps. Repeating the steps over and over again until your child makes the association of having to use the bathroom.

http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/classical1.html
http://www.startpottytraining.com/free-potty-training-video.php
http://505808166265617584.weebly.com/classical-conditioning.html

Terms: Classical Conditioning, Emit, Unwanted Behaviors, Neutral Stimulus, Pavlov, Unconditioned Stimulus, Conditioned Stimulus, Neutral Stimulus, Conditioned Response, Unconditioned Response, Trial and Error

We have learned a lot about schedules of reinforcement in class, but I am particularly interested in it and how it can help me achieve my goals. In operant conditioning, schedules of reinforcement are an important component of the learning process. When and how often we reinforce a behavior can have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response.
A schedule of reinforcement is basically a rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced. In some case, a behavior might be reinforced every time it occurs. Sometimes, a behavior might not be reinforced at all. Either positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement might be used, depending on the situation. In both cases, the goal of reinforcement is always to strengthen the behavior and increase the likelihood that it will occur again in the future.
In real-world settings, behaviors are probably not going to be reinforced each and every time they occur. For situations where you are purposely trying to train and reinforce an action, such as in the classroom, in sports or in animal training, you might opt to follow a specific reinforcement schedule. As you'll see below, some schedules are best suited to certain types of training situations. In some cases, training might call for starting out with one schedule and switching to another once the desired behavior has been taught.
Continuous schedules reward a behavior after every performance of the desired behavior. Simple intermittent reinforcement schedules, on the other hand, only reward the behavior after certain ratios or intervals of responses. Ratio schedules enact an amount of reinforcement that is proportionate to the number of responses, such that a larger number of responses overtime will receive a larger amount of reinforcement. Interval schedules use a given time period during which the subject is reinforced only once, regardless of the amount of additional responses from the subject. Simple schedules can be either fixed or variable, meaning that the ratio or interval is either set at the outset or varies over time.
Choosing the wrong type of reinforcement schedule can be detrimental to improving behavior. For example, a student who already possesses a desired behavior in his or her repertoire but simply does not choose to exhibit it will not benefit from continuous reinforcement. He or she may, in fact, learn that manipulating you is possible by refusing to exhibit the behavior unless it is known that you will deliver the desired reinforcement. For such reasons, it is very important that choosing a schedule of reinforcement be an integral aspect of your behavior intervention plan.

https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/learning-7/operant-conditioning-47/schedules-of-reinforcement-200-12735/

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/publications/tipsheets/preschoolbehavior/schedule.pdf

For this week’s topical blog, I have decided to take a look at B. F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning. Skinner was an American behavioral psychologist who had a view that our perception on free will is just an illusion and that our behaviors are all based on the result it achieves. According to Skinner, we are motivated to emit a target behavior repeatedly if there the consequence is good and vice versa. He proposed a new way of learning as opposed to Pavlov’s classical conditioning and his theory of operant conditioning was based on Thorndike’s work. One of the terms that he introduced to Thorndike’s Law of Effect was “Reinforcement” which meant that a reinforced behavior is likely to increase in frequency and behaviors that are not reinforced tend to be extinguished. The goal of operant conditioning is shaping behavior through reinforcement.

Arguably the most famous creation through his experiments was the Operant Chamber, also known as the Skinner box. This device was created to show how reinforcement works on rats. The rats were put in box and there would be a lever, when pressed would cause food pellets to drop into the box. The rats quickly learned through the reinforcement of food pellets that pressing the lever results in a desirable stimulus which was food. He also used another box where the rats were zapped with electric shocks and by pressing the lever, the shocks would stop. This showed two ways of reinforcement which is positive and negative reinforcement.

One interesting application that Skinner used with operant conditioning was called Project Pigeon. Skinner was very famous for using pigeons in his experiments, but in my opinion one of the most interesting one was during World War 2 when he was approached by the military with a project to train pigeons to guide missiles through the sky. Although it wasn’t much of a success, in theory it was a brilliant idea. He used a device that emitted clicking noises to train the pigeons to peck at a small, moving point underneath a glass screen. This would train the pigeons to peck at enemy missiles that appear as dots on the screen which will target the military missile to destroy incoming missiles. Outstandingly, he managed to train a pigeon to peck at a spot more than 10,000 times in a duration of 45 minutes.

Another famous try at using operant conditioning in commercial application was the Air-Crib which was Skinner’s attempt at mechanized childcare through the use of a “baby box”. Although it failed miserably, I still find it a smart way at a self-sufficient baby crib. The “box” that he created maintained the temperature of the child’s environment through a fan pushing air inside and adjusting the temperature throughout the night. He did this experiment on his own daughter.

Terms: Operant Conditioning, Pavlov, Skinner, Thorndike, Target behavior, reinforcement, emit, operant chamber, skinner box, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, classical conditioning, desirable stimulus, project pigeon, air-crib

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhskin.html

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/bf-skinner-the-man-who-taught-pigeons-to-play-ping-pong-and-rats-to-pull-levers-5363946/?no-ist

http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

1) My topic for this week is about deadlines. The topic of deadlines was briefly mentioned in our 5.2 reading. It was used to explain it as a function of rule governed behavior. The reason why I am interested in this topic is because I find deadlines to be a very important function to our behaviors as human beings. I know personally that I rely very heavily in deadlines and see it as a way to make sure everything that needs to get done, is finished.
2) The three aspects of the topic that I want to talk about for this assignment would be why deadlines matter, how to stop fighting deadlines/how to use deadlines to get things done efficiently and an example of how I use deadlines in my personal life
3) Deadlines are defined to be the latest time or date by which something should be completed. Like stated in our reading for this week, deadlines is a way to inform us of consequences that might occur when behaviors are time sensitive. Deadlines may be used to complete an assignment or project for school, help you achieve your goals, or to simply make sure you get something done for someone or yourself in a pleasurable time frame. Although deadlines may not be most people’s best friends’, I personally believe that deadlines are one of the most influential things in my life. I personally use deadlines on a daily basis and depend on them to complete my daily tasks, whether its for my personal, home or school goals. I believe if we don’t set deadlines we would never truly finish a tasks or targeted behaviors and if we do, we don’t finish them efficiently. Others may believe that they would never get anything accomplished if they don’t have a deadline. So for those who do not necessarily get a long with deadlines, I will explain to you why deadlines matter to us and why they are important. First, deadlines force you to think about what it takes to accomplish your goals. When you create a deadline for a certain goal or task that you want to accomplish, it makes you think of all the different behaviors or subgoals to do before completing your main goal. For example, if you have a major project due for finals, you may be thinking of what your progressing goals are until that future deadline. What are you doing each day to progressively complete your project for that specific deadline? This ties into the second reason why deadlines are important. Deadlines help you prioritize what you need to be working on and for how long. Using my previous example, when you find out your project is due on Tuesday of finals week, you decide on the day you receive your assignment description what the first thing is that you need to do to start off on your project. Do you need to do extensive research for the topic that you are needing to talk about? Do you need to go to the store to buy supplies for your poster? If so, how long (hours, days) will you be working on your research on your topic and how long will it take for you to stop at the store to get your items and put it together (hours, days)? The third reason deadlines are important is because they push us. Deadlines push us to doing our homework or finish the laundry so you can work on other things or so you plainly don’t have to worry about doing them over the weekend. You know that if you don’t finish your homework on or before Friday, you will end up having to do it during the weekend. This elicits an aversive consequence that may not be what we prefer to be doing during our weekends. So you push yourself to get things done before the weekend so you can reward and reinforce yourself when you complete your task.
There are many ways to stop fighting deadlines and ways to efficiently achieve the goals that you have set for yourself. First, you need to make sure you are creating realistic deadlines by thinking about the things you may have challenges with and how you can get through those challenges. You can also make sure you are creating deadlines that pushes you to emit the behavior or completing your goals by rewarding yourself or reinforcing yourself for the job well done (and completed). Another thing you may be able to fight deadlines are to get others involved to hold your accountable for your actions and your deadlines. When you give others your word and have others watching “over your shoulder” you are more likely to get things done because you don’t want to disappoint the other person. Or that person may be a person that knows how to push you to finish those goals before or on that deadline. Another way to stop fighting deadlines are to seek acknowledgement. For example, you are motivated to please whoever you are doing your homework or tasks for. At work you are motivated to take a certain amount of calls for the day so your boss notices and rewards you by acknowledging you in front of your coworkers that you completed a tasks that was needed to be done by a certain time. This may also bring a little bit of healthy competition between you and others to get things done before the deadline too.
I would like to share a way that I personally use deadlines in my school life to get things done. Years before, while doing homework, I always looked at my syllabus for each class every day to see if I got everything done for each class. Some times I would get really frustrated or nervous that I wouldn’t get an assignment done on time. This year, I was on a hunt to find something that was going to make things a lot easier. On pinterest, I found an excel schedule that was shared by many students that has been efficiently used to complete tasks on time. When I found that post, I went straight to my computer with all of my syllabi and started typing in all of my assignments that are due, the readings that are due and when my tests are for each class. After that, I made my excel sheet put my assignments in order by due date and printed off my excel sheet. After printing it out, I wrote next to each assignment what DAYS I would be completing each assignment or reading and made sure that it worked around my school and work schedule. Ever since I started using my excel schedule, I have been FAR more motivated to get assignments, readings and studying done. This has shown a great different in my grades this year and it has given be the ability to reinforce myself by giving myself the weekends off or not having to do homework every single day.

4) URL’s:

http://www.mikedelgado.org/productivity/deadlines/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creating-in-flow/200903/how-stop-fighting-deadline
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/productivity/time-management/how-to-use-deadlines-to-make-life-better

5) Terminology: deadlines, rule governed behavior, function, behaviors, consequences, goals, pleasurable, target behaviors, elicit, aversive, reinforce

1) My topic for this week is functional assessment. Functional assessment fits into this section because it is involved in the behavior modification process. It is the fourth step in that process for the people examining to be able to look at the ABC’s. This interests me because of the different categories it has under it, direct and indirect assessment. I like how the measures of examining can be broken down and I want to know more about how each one works on a day to day basis.

2) The three aspects of functional assessment I am going to talk about for this assignment are what functional assessment is and why it is important, the different assessment methods, and how to conduct a functional assessment.

3) Functional assessment is what people who are examining a situation use in order to address a student’s problem behavior. It does not only look at the behavior, but also why that behavior is happening whether it be from their environment, peers, cognitive problems, etc. There is always an antecedent and consequence of the behavior so this is what is used to pinpoint those issues. This helps provide an answer and explanation to why the problem behavior is happening. By knowing the antecedents and consequences of that problem behavior the individual examining the behavior can help identify which antecedent or consequence is keeping the behavior going and is able to modify that. If the wrong stimulus is normally reinforced then they will essentially reinforce a better behavior. Functional assessment is a broad topic that has smaller divisions in order to make the assessment go easier.

There are three different assessments that go along with functional assessment and those are direct, indirect, and experimental methods. A direct method of assessment involves methods like observing and recording the problem behavior as it occurs. When a person is examining a behavior with direct observation they want to record the immediate antecedent and consequence that correlate with the problem behavior. An example of direct assessment would be final exams in education if those scores are kept for the next year and are used to compare the two years. However, it takes a long time to complete the observation and can’t conclude a functional relationship. Indirect assessment uses behavior interview or surveys to gather information about behaviors. When indirect assessment is being used they form a hypothesis about the variables that maintain the behavior from the ABC’s. A couple examples of indirect assessment would be self assessment, surveys, student groups, and interviews. This method is used most commonly because it is easy, cheap, and does not take up much time. Since it is self-report some people may not recall the information correctly. Indirect assessment is at more of a disadvantage compared to direct assessment because its information is gathered by memory recall compared to the examiner seeing the behavior’s antecedents and consequences happening at that moment. Out of these two methods of assessment direct assessment is more accurate. The next form of assessment is the experimental method. When using an experimental assessment method the person manipulates the variables associated with the antecedent or consequence to see if they influence the behavior. This is the only assessment that can conclude a functional relationship between the antecedent stimulus and the problem behavior. It’s not used a lot because it takes up a lot of time and effort to do an experiment.

Having an assessment done before trying to treat a problem behavior should always be done. If it is not then there is no certain way to know the antecedent you are changing or manipulating is actually what is causing the behavior and then the treatment would be pointless. There are six steps that need to be followed in order to conduct a functional assessment. Those steps are having a behavior interview, develop a hypothesis about which antecedent will produce the behavior, conduct a direct observation assessment, confirm the initial hypothesis to develop appropriate treatment plans for the problematic antecedent and consequence, conduct further assessments with another interview or more observation, and the last step is to conduct a functional analysis.

4) https://www.ccaurora.edu/getting-started/testing/direct-indirect - I chose this URL because it has information about how the two direct and indirect assessments differ as well as examples so I could better understand the differences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_assessment - I chose this URL because it has a lot of information in general. It helped me learn about the steps for a functional assessment as well as what the differences between direct and indirect assessments were
http://cecp.air.org/fba/ - I chose this URL because it gave me more of an insight about the broad topic of functional assessments and why they are important.

Terms: functional assessment, direct assessment, indirect assessment, behavior modification, ABC’s, antecedent, consequence, stimulus, reinforce, experimental assessment, hypothesis, behavior

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.
The topic that i have chosen for this week topical blog assignment is the subject of functional assessment. Functional assessment fits into this section in the way that we just talked about it in the last two sections we read 5.2 and 5.3. I'm interested in it because it is part of the behavioral change process with the ABCs. It is very important part on how to get a person on yourself to change a behavior. Also it is really important to me coming up with my behavioral change project.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
There are three aspects of functional assessment that i want to talk about for this assignment. The first aspect of functional assessment is what exactly it is with the psychology definition. The second aspect of functional assessment that i am going to talk about is what is its purpose in the ABC behavior change process, and how does it work with it being involved. The third aspect of functional assessment that I am going to talk about is what are the different forms of functional assessment.
3) 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.
The first aspect of functional assessment that i researched and wanted to talk about is what exactly is functional assessment from the psychological point of view. From the research that i did i found that functional assessment is a process that identifies specific target behavior, the purpose of the behavior, and what factors maintain the behavior that is interfering with the persons progress. The functional assessment of behavior is designed to help you develop a hypothesis regarding the relationship between the ABC's of behavior. It is used to identify the environment in which the behaviors occur and how the outcomes of the behavior function to maintain it.
The second aspect of functional assessment that i researched and wanted to talk about is what is functional assessment purpose in changing behaviors. From the research i did, i found that functional assessment can be the start to how you investigate the behavior and what is reinforcing it so we can ultimately design an intervention to decrease the behavior if undesirable and increase the behavior if it is wanted. Functional assessment is also apart of the behavior modification process. The process goes step 1 to find the target behavior. Step 2 says that you describe the consequence. and step 3 says that you describe the antecedents. So the first three steps is the ABCs. The fourth step is examine the ABCs, which is where you use functional assessment to figure out what works and what doesn't work with the behavior.
The third aspect of functional assessment that I researched and wanted to talk about is what are the different forms of functional assessment. From the research that i did, i found that there are two different forms of functional assessment in psychology. The two types of functional assessment our direct, and indirect. Both of these types include 5 different assessment and intervention development steps. The key to get functional assessment to work is that there is a direct and natural link between that target behavior, the collection of unbiased and observable data about the behavior, and that the intervention plan to change the behavior. The first form of functional assessment that i want to talk about is direct assessment. Direst assessment is the observation and recording of the behaviors. The recording of the behaviors can be by the person trying to change the behavior or can be by outside individuals. If you are using this form of assessment the behavior is more severe, and more frequent. There are 5 steps to get direct functional assessment to work. The first step to direct assessment is to define the target behavior. Write down the problem behavior and be very specific, do not use a behavior class. The second step is collecting data. You have to write down or chart the frequency of the behavior. Write down where the behavior occurs. You need to write down who is involved when the behavior happens, and what happens during the behavior. You need to writ down how the feelings during the behavior. You need to write down what you are doing to change the behavior. The best way to document all of this is to have a outside source write it down so the information isn't bias. The third step is developing an hypothesis. You need to write down what you think is gonna be the results of your assessment. the fourth step is to plan your intervention. During this step you plan out how your gonna change the behavior and when you are going to be changing it. You need to writ down how you plan on getting the behavior to stop.
The last and fifth step is evaluating the effectiveness of the plan that you did. look at the results. The second form of assessment is indirect assessment. Indirect assessment has pretty much the same steps to follow, but the behavior isn't as severe. The indirect process will have to deal with interviewing, or questionnaire. During this you may want to interview or questions the outside sources like parent or teachers, peers, friends, and siblings.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/book/sec5.3.pdf
https://www.gvsu.edu/cms3/assets/2CF6CA25-D6C6-F19E-339DC5CD2EB1B543/itmodules/pbis/datacollectionfbatools/sp0009-_functional_assessment.pdf
https://faculty.unlv.edu/sloe/Courses/EPY%20715/FBA%20Articles/Gresham,%20Watson,%20Steuart,%20%26%20Skinner%20(2001).pdf
http://psychologydictionary.org/functional-behavioral-assessment/
terms: direct assessment, indirect assessment, functional assessment, ABCs, behavior, intervention

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.

My topic is to examine the function of smoking cigarettes and to try and give an intervention to modify that behavior to less smoking or to no smoking of cigarettes. I think this fits into the section we are covering because section 5.3 is about functional assessment of behavior. Cigarette smoking is also a classic example of a behavior that people want to modify that they have learned about the negative health effects of doing so, or did it when they are young and are now addicted to the nicotine drug. There have also been a lot of tired interventions for smoking over the years to varying success among people. There are also a variety of reasons that people smoke, started smoking, and the function that it serves them. I am also personally interested because I have family and friends that either used to smoke or do and want to stop smoking. A friend of mine has just recently returned from the navy where smoking is a norm where shipmates smoke, it gets you a break, and helps relieve the stress and boredom of being on a ship. My grandparents were also former smokers and have had to go through the process of quitting and attempting it multiple times.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The function of smoking cigarettes, why you might want to modify this behavior, interventions for smoking cigarettes

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.

Since people have started smoking tobacco it has been a common and popular habit to have. People have enjoyed smoking and the sensation is very appealing for people. However with an increase of human understanding and the advancement of the sciences people have realized that not only cigarette smoking can be bad for your health and even deadly. People have many reasons they want to or enjoy smoking. People that smoke often have family and friends that do so and they start as a function of fitting in and social acceptance. Others will do as a form of rebellion of people and media who say that they can not smoke and it's bad for you. Smoking is illegal for people under 18 years of age in the United States and there are teens who are allured by the illegality and see it as a way for them to act out and rebel. For some people smoking is a form of self medication. People often used smoking and the nicotine from it to mitigate symptoms. People ranging from chronic pain to mental illness have used cigarettes to alleviate the that pain and give the body sensation away from those conditions. Disorders that cause anxiety and depression are especially common to lead to self medication. Perhaps the most dominant from personal experience is that cigarettes are used to relieve stress. Work and family life are common stressors and sometimes people cope with that stress by using cigarettes to relieve that stress. When a smoker is stressed it is not uncommon for them to say that they “need a cigarette” as they associate it with stress relief. It is also common among people in the military members to smoke as war and being on a ship away from land can be stressful to people and they used cigarettes to deal with those stresses. An addiction to nicotine also develops and smokers once they have smoked enough need to smoke to avoid withdrawal from nicotine. This addiction is also the strongest physiological reason that people continue to smoke These common reasons why people smoke, and these reasons are the functions that the behavior of cigarette smoking has.
People usually only want to modify behavior if they have a good reason of doing so. With smoking there are a large amount of reason to do so. Cigarettes are a carcinogen and studies have shown that prolonged cigarette smoking can lead to cancer. Cigarettes also can lead to chronic lung disease and can be very damaging to the respiratory system. Smoking can endanger one's health so it is easy to understand why someone might want modify that behavior. There are also reasons for wanting to modify a smoking behavior other than personal harm. Secondhand smoke makes it so smokers can negatively harm the health of people around them, be it their friends or their children. Smoking while pregnant can also be harmful to the developing child so a woman who wants to start a family might wait until they are able to stop smoking first. Smoking is also an expensive habit to have and the costs to buying cigarettes can end up being very large amounts of money spent over time.
There are many ways to intervene in the smoking of cigarettes. Some people like to go at it cold turkey, and immediately quit smoking and use willpower to stop smoking permanently. People being able to do this is ideal but with cigarette smoke the withdrawal from nicotine often not only makes it very difficult, but sometimes nearly impossible to do so under normal circumstances. Nicotine addiction is what really keeps people smoking and the most clinically effective ways to get people to stop smoking is to address the nicotine addiction. Sprays, patches, and gums that give the user doses of nicotine and gradually wean them off are most effective. There is still concern that given people nicotine can keep the nicotine addiction going, but smaller and smaller doses are better in managing withdrawal and have shown the highest quit rates.

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

http://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0715/p262.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/smoking-cessation/10-reasons-people-start-smoking.htm#page=10
http://www.healthcommunities.com/quit-smoking/why-do-people-smoke_bht.shtml

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

intervention, addiction, behavior, behavior modification, function, functional analysis, stress, physiological, withdrawal, smoking, cancer, social acceptance, medication.

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.
The topic that I picked for this week’s discussion is that of rule governed behavior. It is the main topic in section 5.2 so that is how it fits into what we have discussed. I think it is a really interesting subject because they are behaviors that most of us seem to follow unconsciously but they are governed by different aspects in our lives such as society, religion, and law enforcement.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
Three aspects of rule governed behavior that I would like to discuss is which the sources of rule governed behaviors. The first source I would like to discuss is society because it plays such large role in our behaviors. The second source I want to discuss is holiday traditions because right now it is a time between Halloween and Thanksgiving and then Christmas so there are many traditions that come into play around this time of year. The last source that I want to discuss is family traditions because as you come around different families you can really see the different rule governed behaviors that we emit.
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.
Rule governed behaviors result from established norms, morals, or ethical standards. Behaviors are emitted or not emitted by individuals solely based on socialization. However, some behaviors may not be emitted based on the individuals some people go along with the rule governed behaviors but some individuals deviate from them. Society is one source that produces rule governed behaviors. All societies have different rule governed behaviors. For an example in America it would be odd to not follow the rule governed behavior to wear a swim suit on a beach. We do not need to be told this rule because most people will not be nude in public and people notice when they deviate from this behavior. However in other societies like Brazil it is normal for women to not wear tops or very small bikini bottoms and men to wear tight swimsuits but in their society they are used to others behaving in this fashion and it does not need to be said that this is normal. Another big society based rule governed behavior is gay marriage. In some societies it is completely accepted and not a problem and until recent years it was not a rule governed behavior where couples could be together if they were the same sex. Since we are in a time right now where we are between holidays I thought it would be another interesting to discuss the source of holiday traditions! In America we celebrate Thanksgiving, I never think about the fact that we all have a big home cooked meal and get together with our families. It is just something that about everyone does and some people with deviate from rule governed behaviors and some eat out for their dinner or do not even see their families. Another holiday that we celebrate is Halloween, the rule governed behavior is that you dress up and children will go door to door and tell jokes for candy. However again some children are not allowed to do this or some people find the idea of dressing up silly. Family traditions are a really good example of a source from rule governed behaviors because there are so many different varieties that people can demonstrate. In my family some rule governed behaviors that we live by are respecting others privacy. No one intrudes on anyone else’s rooms or anything of that sort, even as a child I just knew that I was not to snoop around in other people’s rooms because that is something that we lived by. There are a lot of behaviors that create dysfunction throughout families that are rule governed behaviors. Such as the whole family must go to church on Sundays, now you would not think that this would be dysfunctional but people do live by this behavior however in the example of my best friend she does not believe in the religion that her parents tried to influence her with. This causes dysfunction because her parents get angry when she does not go with them and she gets angry when they make her go. Rule governed behaviors are really interesting because we follow them in all different contexts of life. There are many different instances were individuals follow rule governed behaviors and I think there are so many more than we even think about.
3) http://www.gurl.com/2014/05/27/weirdest-social-norms-that-make-no-sense-reddit-thread/#1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DINlOTSo7UA
http://www.grandparents.com/family-and-relationships/family-matters/dealing-dysfunctional-family

Terms: Rule governed behaviors, behaviors, emit

1) The topic that I chose to talk about token economies and how they can affect and modify behaviors. This last class period we went discussed a lot about how token economies work and situations in which we can use the token technique to change and modify behaviors of others. While we are mainly trying to focus on changing our own behaviors this week, I decided to look more into the topic of token economies because knowing the basics and importance of this type of behavior modification is good to know about. Another reason I chose this topic and am interested in it is because when I was little, my mom used this tactic on me, but it wasn't until I took a psych class that I understood that there was a term for it. So since I know first hand the effects it has on kids, I was interested to see other ways that token economies work and different techniques to be the most successful when trying to change behaviors.

2) The three aspects that I would like to discuss are token economy and autism, token economy and its effectiveness, and punishment within the token economy system. I decided to chose these topics because while in class we discussed many different areas in which token economies can be effective and useful, but for me, when the topic of token economy comes up, I think of token economies in parenting because that’s how it was used first in my life.

3) When looking for information on token economies, I found a lot of websites and discussions about autism and using token economies with children who have learning disabilities. Apparently, the systems of token economy have shown to be more effective with children who are normally resistant to other techniques for managing behaviors. The easy reward system that reinforces behaviors helps children at every step of the autism spectrum because the behavior you want to increase can be chosen to fit the child, as well as choosing a reward that is specific to each kid. The great thing about token economies is that when looking at each child, they are unique, and you may want to change or modify different behaviors in each child. When choosing a target behavior, you have to be very specific and make sure that you reward the behavior each time in order for the child, especially if they are autistic, to make the connection of reinforcement and their behavior.
The token economy is very effective in that not only can it work for all types of children, but that it is using a desirable approach to modifying behaviors. Positive reinforcement doesn't tear down the child or make them angry, but instead gives them a goal to work toward and lets them be in control of changing their ways in order to get the reward that they want. Another reason why the token economy is so effective and desirable is because the children get frequent reinforcement, but also get taught delayed gratification and are working towards something. They are shown that their actions, when they change them, can lead to pleasurable consequences. The children also aren't put into competition against each other, but instead are taught to better themselves at their own learning pace. The token economy has so many benefits for the child, not just being able to modify their behaviors, but also keeps them positive about themselves and pushes them to do better.
Another thing that token economies do so well, is modify behaviors using positive reinforcement. But there is also discussion about if when the child does the wrong type of behavior, does it work still to take away some of those tokens that they worked hard to earn? Most seem to think that taking tokens away seem to do more damage, and make the system weaker. The whole point of the token economy is to have an encouraging way to change behavior, but when negative punishment is thrown into the mix, it seems to confuse the children more. They worked hard to get those tokens, and when you take them away for bad behaviors, the kids aren’t as willing to emit the behavior if they know that it can be taken back away from them. With token economies, it is best to punish them by a different means when they do something wrong. Keep the punishments separate from the token economy in order to get the best results. So overall, token economies can be very effective for children of all ages and types of learners, as long as the system is implemented correctly. And that is why we are learning about them in class, and why I chose to look more into the subject, because when you are dealing with token economies, it’s all about how you put them to use.

4) Terms: Reinforcement, Positive Reinforcement, Negative Punishment, Desirable, Pleasurable, Consequence, Behavior, modify, token economy, emit
Sites:
http://www.behavioradvisor.com/Tokens.html
http://mamaot.com/tips-for-positively-addressing-your-childs-behavior-using-a-token-economy/
http://www.kcbehavioranalysts.com/aba-toolbox/token-economy

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.

Of the variety of topics touched on in this week’s assigned reading, I found the concept of rule-governed behavior the most interesting for many reasons. The first reason being that rule-governed behavior is applicable to anyone who lives in any sort of community or society. While of course each society and community is different, they will have behaviors that are either reinforced throughout the society, or punished and discouraged throughout the society. Now these behaviors can be blatant behaviors that most people would agree to be “wrong,” such as killing people, pedophilia, grand theft, etc. Or it could be less severe behaviors that are still considered inappropriate by the society as a whole. For example, if a female were to walk into a Target store absolutely naked, this would be considered a no-no. While no one is necessarily being hurt (physically anyway, emotionally this could be different) and she is not stealing, causing a ruckus, or doing anything else “wrong,” the behavior she is emitting would elicit a negative response from those around her. This is the main reason why I am interested in this topic – it applies to most individuals on this planet. I am also interested in it because I would like to understand why some people do not seem to care to adhere to these rule governed behaviors, and what psychological implications these people and their behaviors may have.

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

The first aspect I would like to focus on in what ways does rule-governed behavior affect our every day lives. I would like to focus on how daily behaviors (things we THINK we are choosing to do because we want to) are actually influenced by society. Another aspect I would like to focus on is whether rule-governed behavior has a positive or negative effect on society. I will also be looking into the extinguishing behaviors, identifying the antecedents, identifying the consequences, and initially identifying an initial target behavior when regarding rule-governed behaviors.

3) 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.

All of the articles thoroughly discussed the definition of rule-governed behavior and thoroughly examined the concept throughout the text. To summarize, rule-governed behaviors are those that are those that are influenced and guided by external forces in society. Basically, the morals, ethics, and cultural norms of each society or community can determine what exactly the rule-governed behaviors of an area are. These can be fairly common, such as kissing one cheek and then the other when you meet a person to be polite, or a handshake for others. Or, these can be deeper more serious rule-governed behaviors such as the taboo surrounded by killing someone. Rule-governed behaviors do not need to be forced by punishment, while some may also have that quality; these are behaviors that are generally done without saying. If these behaviors are not followed, there is more of a social separation between others in the society and the person who deterred from the “normal” behavior. Rule-governed behaviors determine many behaviors of the general population, maybe some that we don’t even realize?
How deeply ingrained are these rule-governed behaviors? Is it possible that we go about our daily lives thinking we are in control of our behaviors, but in reality, we are simply following through with the rule-governed behaviors as prescribed by our society? Sure there are some that go without saying, if you don’t follow traffic laws, not only will you potentially face the consequences of the law, insurance, medical bills, and in serious cases, loss of life. It’s more so about those other behaviors that society says you shouldn’t do, for example, flipping someone off if they cut you off would generally be considered a “no-no.” Are behaviors such as drinking coffee, brushing our teeth, what clothes we decide to wear, etc. determined by society? In some ways, yes! Coffee and teeth brushing could be considered somewhat necessary to attack the day, but who told you to drink coffee in the morning? Who said you should brush your teeth? Of course, the dentist on that one…but what happens to those who choose not to brush their teeth or do not have the means and materials to do so? As far as what clothes we are, this absolutely effected by rule-governed behavior. Most people probably wouldn’t walk out of their homes wearing a potato sack, unless it was all they had! Style, colors, what genders wear what clothing, etc. has all been determined by society. How many other behaviors that we think we are in control of are determined by rule-governed behavior?
Is rule-governed behavior always a positive benefit to society? What are the potential consequences of rule-governed behavior? To name a few, loss of originality, discrimination, constrictive defining labels, emotional and physical abuse, psychological damage, etc. While one could argue that these all could be caused by a lot of different things, how could they relate back to rule-governed behavior? Well, I supposed I am discussing specifically those who either choose to not follow rule-governed behaviors or those that simply cannot follow rule-governed behaviors. I equate it to high school bullies. If there is a certain standard in order to be liked or be popular based off of the clothes you where, and someone simply cannot afford them, they will be bullied and excluded from the book. There has been a lot of research on how bullies develop serious psychological issues and many do not recover or cope with things later in life. Could this be due to rule-governed behavior? Of course one who could also argue there are many positives to rule-governed behavior, such as not hitting other people, smiling at strangers, flushing the toilet when you’re done, etc. There are too many to list, but there are also many positives to rule-governed behaviors.

4) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1558&context=tpr
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen8/num2/191/rule-governed-behavior-and-psychological-EN.pdf

Terms:
emit, elicit, reinforced, punished, rule-governed behavior, extinguish, target behavior, consequence, antecedents, positive, negative

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.
The subject that I have chosen to cover this week is rule-governed behavior. I find this interesting because it is such an integral part of our society. Much of what we do in society is kept in control by rules.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects that I want to talk about are the definition of rule-governed behavior, some examples of rule-governed behavior in real life, and contingency-shaped behavior vs rule-governed behavior.
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.
Rule governed behavior is a very important part of our society but is it really? The definition I found of a rule is that it is a contingency that is stated verbally or written that describes a behavior and the expected consequences of said behavior. Most rules people can think of have an undesirable affinity as most are in place to stop certain behaviors from being emitted. This makes rule governed behavior the behavior that results from rules that have been established. This is different form contingency based behavior in which the consequence quickly follows the behavior and is executed completely. It is more of the trial and error style of learning.
Examples of some common rules that are in place to elicit rule governed behavior are all around us. One of the simplest rules are ones like no running at the pool or you will be kicked out or scolded by the lifeguards. This rule is usually on a sign at the pool and states the consequence clearly. It also implies that the rule has another function of preventing harm form slipping or chaos in a public place in everyone was running. More extreme rules are like our laws. These are broken down into subclasses of misdemeanors and felonies and based on what the rule broken and where it sits on the hierarchy the consequences change from fines and community service to life in prison or death. Most of us will never experience these consequences but the idea of them prevents unwanted behavior.
The interesting thing is that rule governed behavior doesn’t work on its own. In most cases there has to be some form of contingency based learning to lay a foundation for the rules to have backing against. A rule or law doesn’t have much effect if you don’t know what a prison is or don’t have money to fine. Rule governed behavior draws from past experiences of the subject to prevent or reinforce a behavior through the memory or thought of the consequence. The consequence is delayed in rule governed behavior as in contingency the consequence in immediate. The speed of change seen though in rule governed behavior is much greater than in contingency controlled behavior because it draws on past experience and doesn’t require new learning to be implemented.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYcGUPU_Two
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior
http://www2.fiu.edu/~pelaeznm/pdfs/25.%20Four%20dimensions%20of%20rules.pdf
Terms/ Emitted, elicited, undesirable association, behavior modification, contingency governed behavior, rule governed behavior, reinforce, consequence,

1) For this blog, I chose to discuss rule governed behaviors and different aspects of these behaviors. I wanted to write about this topic because it is something that can be related to anyone and can have a very large impact in our everyday behaviors and thought processes. This topic is discussed in Section 5.2 in our readings, so it is very relevant with what we are learning about.

2) In this blog, I will be writing about what a rule governed behavior is and how it is defined, what are some sources of ruled governed behavior, and what the effects are on an individual/how effective it is in modifying behavior.

3) For starters, rule governed behavior can be defined as a set of modified behaviors that correlate with an obligation or standard to uphold, usually pertaining to societal norms or expectations. These complex rule governed behaviors are almost always ingrained in individuals of any area, although the behaviors will vary for individuals because of location and environment. Also, the antecedent is usually verbal in situations that wish to maintain order and elicit specific behaviors, causing individuals to follow the rules and standards presented, emitting the desired behaviors.
There are multiple types of sources that these rules come from. One type is rules that are provided by others, which is the main type of rule governed behavior antecedent stimuli. In this case, the speaker gives the individual (the listener) specific directions and criteria for them to follow.
Another type of rule governed behavior antecedent is the idea of self-generated rules, which is when the "speaker" and "listener", or the elicitor and the emitter, are the same person. The individual provides rules for themselves that can either be self-taught, taught by other individuals, or taught through experience.
When relating rule governing to not just one individual, there is such a term as conforming behavior governed by rules. This is expressed when an individual follows and behaves according to rules that have either been self-provided or stated to the individual by the speaker or elicitor.
When using any of these types of rule governed behavior, it can result in the desired behavior, as long as it accommodates the description of complex behavior and that it can also be periodically modified by antecedent verbal stimuli. This will help to influence the individual provide the elicitor with the needed control when using a verbal antecedent.

4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
http://relationalframetheory.wikispaces.com/Rule-governed+behavior
http://www2.fiu.edu/~pelaeznm/pdfs/25.%20Four%20dimensions%20of%20rules.pdf

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.
This week I choose to look at the 6 steps involved in the behavior modification process. We covered this in section 5.3 but have been building up to it for many weeks now. I am interested to see how other psychologist or people outside of the professional psychology field view the behavior modification process.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
I am going to talk about the commonality in the steps from all web sources, the issues I saw within the suggestions these websites are making and the context these websites are using behavior modification for.
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.
Three of the four websites had extremely similar steps as the ones discussed in our class. The general consensus was that the first thing that needs to be done is to define and describe in detail the target behavior. Our book breaks this down into describing the behavior, the consequences, and then the antecedent but the other sites either include this all in one section of breaking it down into defining the behavior and the describe the situation surrounding the behavior including before and after. The next step that most of the websites suggest is to decided on a course of action including reinforcers and schedule of reinforcements. The next things many of the sights have in common is reminding their readers to be consistent. The last common thing many of the websites had was that they suggest an evaluation of the plan and its success or outcomes. Although none of these sites were exactly like the six steps that were listed in our text books, many of them had good points and descriptions of what they were looking for within each of their steps.
The first issue I saw immediately was while looking at the first webpage I have listed below. Their very first suggestion is to develop new habits. This in itself is behavior modification. As I continued to look at this website they suggested adding in technology, making sure things were tangible, using many forms of communication, and finally envisioning something and letting someone else achieve it. I have a big problem with this because although some of these might be great ideas when supporting someone else through a change, a person can never expect to change if they are relying solely on someone else to fix their problem for them. Only one of the websites I read mentioned punishment; the rest of the websites encouraged reinforcers only. This could be a huge downfall when attempting to modify a behavior. All of the webpages were lacking the functionality assessment aspect. I believe this is extremely important because if a person is doing something such as eating because they need the nourishment then we do not want to change that behavior but if they are eating to keep their mouth occupied because they are bored than we might want to change that behavior.
The last thing I would like to discuss this week is the different situations in which these common steps are being used in the real world. In our book we saw examples such as eating, smoking, and consuming caffeine, but I was not sure how else it might be used. The websites I looked at covered things such as climate change, within the workplace, and parenting/childcare. It was interesting that when you search “6 steps to behavior modification” within the first page there was only one other text book that appears in the results. This just shows that these tactics are used everywhere but no matter what process you are trying to use, you might want to consult other processes because they might have thought of something you left out or have a description that you understand better.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://sustainability.about.com/od/Going-Green/a/6-Steps-To-Behavior-Change.htm
http://tkographix.com/6-easy-steps-to-change-your-behavior/
http://doremewebhosting.com/everydaychildcare/articles/parents/parenta__behaviormod.php
http://people.wku.edu/sally.kuhlenschmidt/psy443/projstep.htm

Terms: 6 steps of behavior modification, behavior modification, psychology/psychologists, target behavior, behavior, consequence, antecedent, reinforcers, schedule of reinforcements, punishment, functional assessment

Megan Hasley
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.
The topic that I chose is rule governed behavior. We covered this topic in section 5.2, and I thought that the variations in this topic were very interesting and I wanted to learn more.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
I want to talk about what rule governed behavior is, how rule governed behavior relates to religion, and how rule governed behavior can be used to help teach autistic children.
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.
Rule governed behavior can be thought of as a social norm or as a set of morals (uni). These norms are known by the population in that society, and all of the people in that society are expected to follow these norms. Rule governed behavior also relates to religion because there are a variety of rule governed behaviors that we only do at can be thought of as a social norm or morals. These norms are known by the population in that society and all of the people in that society are expected to follow these norms.
Rule governed behavior also relates to religion because there are a variety of rule governed behaviors that we only do at certain times because our religion says we should. For example, if you are catholic, during Lent you are expected to not eat meat on Fridays. Instead, many churches will host fish fry’s or soup dinners as an alternative. Being that you are a part of that social group, most likely you will follow the social norms and not have meat on Friday. This is an example of a rule governed behavior that you only follow sometimes. Occasionally we come across some rules that are quite difficult to follow. Unfortunately for children with autism, many rules are considered difficult to follow.
Children with autism typically do not engage in rule governed behavior because it is typically not taught to them. They are not able to pick up on cues as easily. Typically, delayed gratification or punishment is used to teach children how to follow rules (mdusdautism). This method does not work on children with autism, instead the rules that you want children to follow need to be positive and clear, it is also best if these rules are only 5-6 words long (mdusautism). It is also helpful to number the rules so that you can reference them based on their number as well as their content (mdsuautism). As the children begin to follow the rules you need to make sure to verbally praise them, or if the students break a rule ask the child what the rule is (mdusautism).
This makes it easier for the children to understand what is expected of them, as well as to be able to comprehend what they need to do in order to follow the predetermined rules. Autistic children are not the only population that needs rules to be specific. Many children need rules to be simplified or very clear in order to be able to follow them accurately.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.uni.edu/~maclino/bm/book/sec5.2.pdf
http://mdusdautism.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/4/9/12493512/teaching_children_with_autism_to_follow_rules.pdf
http://www2.fiu.edu/~pelaeznm/pdfs/18.Morality%20as%20a%20system%20of%20rule-governed%20behavior%20and%20Empathy.pdf

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.
The topic I am choosing to write on this week is the effects of caffeine on the body. The reason it fits into what we have covered is because it is a very common target behavior people try to cut back or give up their dependance on. In section 5.3, it is mentioned when they are discussing not making a target behavior specific enough, the girl in the example was not specific enough when she said she wanted to take caffeine out of her diet, when she really meant caffeinated sodas.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects I would like to talk about for this assignment are why people would want to cut caffeine out of their life, what effects the sodas have on you, and what will happen when you finally begin to quit.
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.
Caffeine is a drug that effects the central nervous system as a stimulant. It is added to many things to make a person feel more awake, energetic, motivated, and focused. However, it is a drug that can cause addiction and withdrawals along with other undesirable effects to your body. Some of the best ways to quit involve behavior modification involving keeping track of how much you have had, drinking less with the caffeine, trying alternatives, and extinction. The most common side effect of coming off caffeine is headaches. This will cause many people to avoid getting off caffeine. However, there are questions that people raise, like what else is the sugary soda doing to their body. The caffeine itself can cause worsening effects from osteoporosis, and drinking the sugars can lead to weight gain, poor dental health, and irregular heart beats. While diet sodas do help someone get past the poor nutritional values of regular soda, it does not spare your teeth. Many claim diet soda contains aspartame which can cause cancer, but there is no evidence to support those claims making diet soda the better of the two as stated by the FDA and American Cancer Society. The reasons to quit drinking sodas outweighs the side effects of coming back from a caffeine addiction for many users. Sodas can cause obesity, diabetes, mood disorders, and irregular heart beats. Coming off a caffeine addiction can cause a person to develop jitters, headaches, achy muscles, mood swings, and many more reported side effects. While some people enjoy caffeine, it is up to the person if they want to quit using it. Myself included, it just helps many people get through the day and regulating how much they consume should not cause any severe effects on the body.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.healthline.com/health/caffeine-effects-on-body
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/04/05/easy-ways-to-reduce-caffeine-intake

Target behavior, behavior modification, extinction, undesirable

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.
For this week, I decided I wanted to look a little bit further into goals and deadlines. This was something we have talked about in previous weeks as well as leading up to a discussion in section 5.3. I am interested in goals and deadlines because this is something that governs each of our lives differently, some of us being more successful than others at achieving this.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects I want to look further into when discussing goals and deadlines is why deadlines are good or bad. Do they help us to be more successful? Also how deadlines affect us. Do we become more stressed due to a deadline? Lastly, how they can help us to achieve a goal.

3) 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.
When I first started doing the research on deadlines I thought it would be good to look into how to make a deadline achievable. Deadlines are something that we all have dealt with at some point in our lives and others are able to deal with them in different manners. The five steps that they included in this process were breaking the task down into small pieces, rewarding yourself, planning ahead, getting organized, and lastly, meeting short notice deadlines. When I was reading about this information, it kind of reminded me of the same sort of stuff we talked about when making a goal more achievable. The main thing that the two had in common was breaking down the goal. In research, I also learned more about how deadlines are associated with stress. Many associate deadlines to be a bad thing because when they have trouble achieving them, it raises the stress in their lives. While most deadlines stem from school, there are also stressors in the work place. What one article wanted to make clear was that just because you have a deadline doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. One article discussed how deadlines actually give us a sense of motivation that we otherwise wouldn’t have. In return we are better able to focus, which helps us to reach this deadline in a timely manner. But that’s not the case for all. The article then went on to explain how others often become completely stressed out and when this happens they get so freaked out and are often unable to reach a deadline, which would otherwise be very achievable. One of the most important facts that one of my articles talked about was to make small deadlines along the way of a bigger deadline. This is something that makes complete sense to me. A deadline is much like a goal, and the first thing we learned when discussing goals was to make smaller goals to help make your larger goal more achievable. While setting deadlines are essential to productivity, they are also effective because they are able to make goals and projects more achievable. I find this information on deadlines to be so interesting because they are something that I am not only able to find useful but I also am able to relate so closely to this topic due to my current status as a student. An interesting thing about deadlines is the fact that they can be both positive and negative. As a student, I have succumbed to many different deadlines and have fallen victim to not making a deadline in the past. Personally, I think deadlines and goals are essential to us getting places in life. Without these goals and deadlines we wouldn’t have the motivation that we otherwise have to push us to elicit these goals.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/580/5-tips-to-help-you-meet-goals-and-deadlines/

http://www.fastcompany.com/3030567/work-smart/the-case-for-and-against-stressful-deadlines

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/blog/posts/2014-01-10/How-Students-Can-Achieve-Goals-by-Setting-Deadlines.aspx

Words used: goals, reinforce, deadlines, reward, elicit, positive reinforcing, and punishing.

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.
I wanted to explore the rule governed behaviors more in this week’s post. I think it’s interesting that we can unconsciously follow certain rules or show certain behaviors or actions without any real conscious acknowledgement of the experience. These rules can come from many different areas such as family, culture, religion, etc. However, they can be different for different people depending on their individual circumstances or society.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The first aspect that I will be looking at is exactly what are rule governed behaviors and how these effect our lives in everyday circumstances. The second aspect that I want to explore is the aversive and pleasurable consequences of rule governed behaviors and if one outweighs the other. The third aspect that I want to explore is holidays and how they relate to rule governed behaviors.
3) 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.
Our lives are depicted through behaviors that are governed through rules. Some of these rules we seem to consciously have to think about, and others are almost unconscious. Rule governed behaviors are preserved through the compulsion of preserving order in situations where the antecedent is articulated. It can result from many different ways such as norms, religion, morals, family, etc. These rule governed behaviors are basically the external forces of society. The example given in the text this week about rule governed behavior referred to not marrying a relative. We all know that we can’t do this even if it isn’t openly expressed publicly. However, rule governed behaviors can be even simpler than that such as if someone gives you a head nod then you give them a head nod back or say another form of hello. However, this is based on a societal based rule governed behavior and could be different depending on where one has been socialized. Rule governed behaviors are emitted throughout our society in everyday life. Rule governed behaviors start originally with your family, which often determines its rules through society. However, religion can also have many rule governed behaviors. And yes, even holidays have rule governed behaviors. Are we really controlling our behaviors or is it the concept of rule governed behavior that determines our actions more than we would like to believe?
The only aversive consequence that I could find of a rule governed behavior is when a person that doesn’t understand the rule governed behavior doesn’t follow that behavior and how this can cause a separation between themselves and others in society. For example, say there is a kid that lived in Germany his how life but then came to school at UNI. The class gets there test back and you see that he did poorly on his test. You ask if he would like to study together for the next test or if he needs help learning the concepts. He says back a harsh no and goes on listening in class. The rule governed behaviors that we have in our society would think that he should politely say no thank you. But what if in his society he didn’t have the rule and he had no idea he was being rude. This would probably cause you to dislike the student just because he didn’t understand the so called “rule.” This is the one aversive consequence of rule governed behaviors. However, there are pleasurable consequences to the rule governed behaviors such as having a better societal cohesion and having norms that we understand without even having to acknowledge openly.
The holiday and shopping season is coming up quick. However, many of us probably don’t think about the rule governed behaviors of the holidays. For instance, with Christmas a rule governed behavior in some neighborhoods might be that you have to decorate your house for the season. One neighborhood by me in Des Moines has Christmas decorations on every house. However, there was one house that only had a Grinch in the middle of the yard and no other elaborate decorations like the other houses. I thought that this was funny but I could see how some people could be disturbed because the neighbor deviated from the rule governed behavior in that area of everyone having elaborate Christmas decorations. This is an example of how a rule governed behavior could actually be negative because the neighbor that didn’t decorate his house was actually trying to sell his house at the time and didn’t have time to put up decorations. However, what if he didn’t have money to put up the decorations as well. If he had no time or money than he would be stressed about the situation because of the neighborhood rule governed behavior. Rule governed behavior isn’t always apparent, however, it is always apparent when someone deviates from that behavior.
4) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
https://foxylearning.com/tutorials/rft/15/5014-0813
http://family.jrank.org/pages/496/Family-Relational-Rules-How-Rules-Affect-Behavior-Attitudes.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=dn_ZBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=rule+governed+behaviors&source=bl&ots=scu2zQO7QY&sig=KmdZ0SLU1Ho-WXMlMqGufvuitfA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCTgKahUKEwidjbv_8InJAhWEKB4KHZjCCRg#v=onepage&q=rule%20governed%20behaviors&f=false
Terms: rule governed behaviors, emitted, consequences, aversive, pleasurable.

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.
After reading this week’s section I have decided to further look into rule governed behavior. I chose this topic because the whole section 5.2 is dedicated to it and every ones daily lives are shaped by them.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects that I would like to discuss are, what is rule governed behavior and what are the sources of rules, how do the rules affect us, and lastly I would like to compare rule governed behavior against contingency shaped behavior.
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.
First off, a rule governed behavior is a behavior that is maintained via the obligation of maintaining order, where the rule (antecedent) is verbal. The rule is more often than not like an instruction to be followed. People’s main sources of rules come from the government, society, holiday and family traditions, peers and ourselves. Most of our daily behaviors are rule governed, you only have to take a moment to think.
The rules affect us in many ways, if we follow them and emit the desired behavior then our consequence will be a reward. For example the rule, or antecedent could be to read an assigned chapter for class the next day, if we emit the behavior of reading the chapter, then a consequence could be we are prepared for the quiz or could earn points for having done so. It could also just be the reward of not being behind in school work. Some individuals however deviate from the rules because they think that they can get away with it or that they won’t be punished. More likely than not they are wrong. Some rules that are broken can result in serious punishments.
Lastly I would like to compare rule governed behavior with contingency shaped behavior. Typically rule governed behavior is controlled by a verbal command of the behavior and the consequence, being either a reward or punishment. In this the individual would learn indirectly about a behavior and its consequences, comparable to being given instructions. On the other hand contingency shaped behavior is a behavior that is mainly learned by directly exposing the person to the contingency. Meaning that the person learns from direct experience with the consequence of their actions, sort of like a trial and error. People view contingency shaped behavior as a more natural way of learning but in the end rule governed behavior is incredibly more efficient in teaching behaviors. They learn and change behaviors more quickly this way.

Terms: rule governed behavior, contingency shaped behavior, antecedent, emit, consequence, reward, punishment

http://www.equivalence.net/pdf_handouts/Rule-governed%20behavior_handouts.pdf
http://positioningsystems.com/blog.php?entryID=124
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1332789/

This week, I wanted to look at deadlines. I feel like it is something that is important to everyone; our lives are run by these deadlines. Right now, I’m operating on a deadline; this assignment is due tonight at midnight. I feel like without deadlines, things would be very chaotic because there would be no real responsibility. Deadlines help hold us accountable. This fits into the reading for this week, because deadlines are a function of rules governing behavior. One of the sections to read for this week was called Rule Governed Behavior.

There are multiple things that could be talked about, but I think the first thing that I will talk about is what rule-governed behaviors are, and how this relates to deadlines. I also would like to look at how the idea of deadlines started. There is a very interesting history behind the term that most of us use on a daily basis. Lastly, I want to look at what can be done to make meeting deadlines successful.

Rule governed behavior can be social norms, laws, ethical standards, values, or even morals. An example of this would be not cheating on your significant other because it is against your morals/rules sanctioned by your religion. Rule governed behaviors are antecedents, and so are deadlines. The text tells us that deadlines inform of us that the consequences that may occur as a result of the behavior. For example, the deadline for this assignment is to have it turned in by midnight. If I do not have this assignment done and posted by midnight, then I will get a zero out of twenty. Getting the zero out of twenty might act as a punisher, and make it more likely that I meet future deadlines. That is the consequence of me not completing the deadline. Another way of looking at this is if I followed the deadline and had the assignment turned in by midnight, and then I have the opportunity to get full credit. I think that getting the point for meeting the deadline acts like a reinforcer and elicits the behavior of meeting other deadlines.

The meaning of the word “deadline” showed up during the Civil War at a prison camp in Georgia. The deadline was a literal line that the prisoners were not to pass, or they would get shot and die. Hence the term deadline. In the 19th century, the term deadline was used to talk about printing presses that just would malfunction, or just not print stuff right. By the 1900s, deadline became what we use it for today: a time limit. But, even then it was primarily for newspapers staff; it was almost newspaper jargon that couldn’t be used by anyone else. Apparently someone was a rebel, and begun using it outside of the office, because now it is a term that is used quite frequently. Now we hear it in classrooms, especially right now with final project deadlines coming up. We hear it at work; an example of this is that at the NAR (where I work) we have a one-year deadline to publish pieces that we have accepted.

One way to make deadlines more effective is to not make promises that cannot be kept. For people that make their own deadlines, it is really important to not try to overdo it. For example, it would not make sense for someone to make a deadline to have a twenty-page paper done by the next day at 9am if you did not make the deadline until 5pm the night before. Another way to make sure that deadlines are met is to be very organized. If a person keeps track of every deadline that they have, and prioritize them by order of importance, it makes it easier for them to be able to accomplish the tasks and meet the deadline.

Websites:
http://www.wikihow.com/Always-Meet-Deadlines
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/origin-deadline/
https://www.quora.com/Why-should-we-follow-rules

Terms: rule governed behaviors, antecedent, consequences, behavior, deadline, elicit, punisher, reinforcer

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.
The topics that I would like to talk about is laws and crime. This relates to the chapter from this section titled rule-governed behavior. Rule-governed behavior refers to a person behaving to maintain order where the antecedent is verbal, and law is an example of this. I chose this topic because when I was younger, I was very interested in law, I wanted to be a lawyer. Though that desire passed, I recently picked up a criminology minor and I am currently taking a criminology class and a class called psychology and law, which both sparked my interest again. The connection between psychology and law interest me to the point that I may decide to take a career path in that direction.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment? I would like to talk about the reasons why we have laws, why people may break law, and the way that laws shape our everyday lives.
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.
There are many instances in our daily lives where we may go to do something and then think, “I can’t do that because it’s illegal and I may get in trouble,” and then refrain from emitting that illegal behavior. We may not realize we are thinking this, like when we stop at a stop light to avoid committing the illegal act of running a red light. Stopping at a red light has become a norm. If we see a person run a red light, we may cuss at them or emit other behaviors that show that we do not approve of what they did. We typically don’t have to think about the consequences every time we approach a red light, we (usually) just stop. Has what was once just a law, been so ingrained into our society that it is a norm? I’ve heard the phrase, “No cop, no stop,” used many times before, which makes me wonder if we do not do some things because we know that they could potentially be harmful or because we would be punished. Whatever the reason is, they do affect all of us. Laws were created for many reasons. The first reason is referred to as the harm principle. This is typically what we think about when talking about laws. Laws created under the harm principle are enforced to protect people and their property from being harmed. The parental principle is similar to the harm principle by both preventing harm, but the parental principle prevents a person from harming themselves. The next principle is called the morality principle where laws that are created under this principle are reflective of the morals of people who pass the laws. Many, but not all, of these laws are tied to religious beliefs. Finally, the statist principle refers to the laws that are created to protect the government. This principle is tricky to create laws for because laws created under this principle can oppressive to the people. Since most of theses laws are created to protect people why would people break them? There are actually many theories about why people commit crimes (though I am only talking about the ones that pertain to a person’s psychology). The first theory is called the choice theory. This is the idea that when a person is going to commit a crime it is their choice and the reflect over the benefits and punishments of committing a crime. Similarly, the classical theory also is based on the idea that committing a crime is the person’s choice, the person, with their free-will, commit the crime even though they are aware of the punishment. The critical theory says that a few people create laws for everyone to follow and those who break the laws do so because they disagree with them. This theory references laws that may be used to have control over minority groups in society. The labeling theory is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It says that people who are labeled to be a certain thing will become the thing that they are labeled. If a teenager is labeled as a criminal, they are likely to end up committing crimes. This theory focuses on the negative stereotypes that the majority puts on minority groups. Though people break laws often, it can’t be denied that they affect our lives in many ways. Things like work safety and wages are being enforced by laws stating that they need to be a certain way. The way that people act toward one another is a product of different laws being combined to tell society the proper way to act. With the election next year, people are worried about certain people being elected president and changing and adding laws that will shape our lives in an undesirable way. Laws are very important for each person because they dictate not only what we are allowed to do, but also what we believe we should do.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
https://blog.udemy.com/criminology-theories/
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/historyprofiles/tp/Why-Laws-Exist.htm
https://books.google.com/books?id=mJ7ge3HCRdsC&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&dq=how+our+lives+are+shaped+by+laws&source=bl&ots=sQ0C8BWWIS&sig=1-pYRP7cWAlvqlPLkrUaXAZVb5Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAmoVChMIm4Xa6_qJyQIVw1Q-Ch2TRAfE#v=onepage&q=how%20our%20lives%20are%20shaped%20by%20laws&f=false
Terms:
Rule-Governed Behavior, Antecedent, Behavior, Emitting, Punished, Undesirable

1)After reading the sections assigned for this week I have decided to talk about functional assessment of behavior because I think it is important for us to be aware of what is behind the behaviors that we emit and the function they have. The second section assigned for this week mainly talks about the functional assessment of behavior so my topic is directly related to the readings of the week.

2)For this assignment I am going to talk about functional assessment of behavior, direct assessment and indirect assessment.

For the functional assessment of behavior I found a webpage that gave a definition of it and its objectives. The webpage referred to functional assessment of behavior as a problem-solving process which has as objective evaluate students’ behavior and address possible problems. Also the webpage talked about how functional assessment of behavior does not look just at the behavior itself but also at the factors that have elicited that behavior to be emitted. This will allow psychologists or teachers in this case to be able to come up with an intervention plan that is going to remove the target behavior that is causing problems. The reading of this week talked about functional assessment of behavior and it looked at the role that the ABC’s of behavior modification play in the appearance of an undesired behavior. Before functional assessment of behavior takes place there is a period of time in which baseline measurement is conducted in order to collect all the data necessary to elaborate and intervention plan.

For direct assessment of behavior I found an article that even though its title refers to the indirect assessment of behavior it also includes a definition of functional assessment of behavior and direct assessment of behavior which is what I am going to focus on take out of the article. For the direct assessment of behavior there are five steps which are defining a target behavior something crucial otherwise we do not have where to start in order to change an undesired behavior for a desirable one. The second step is collecting data which needs to be done in order to be able to establish that our target behavior takes place so we can keep with the process of changing it eliciting desirable responses in others. The third step is developing a hypothesis which helps us to stay focus on what we are looking for throughout the whole process of investigation and when collecting data. The forth step is planning interventions which has the goal of removing the undesired behavior or at least to reduce its frequency. The fifth and last step is evaluating the effectiveness of the plan in order to keep with the same plan intervention if it works or change and look for a new plan intervention in case the actual one is failing to reach the objective of changing an undesired behavior. The reading talked about direct assessment of behavior as a process that involves the observation and recording of behaviors which can be done by the individual that is studying the behavior, by others or electronically. This process is mainly based on noticing when the target behavior takes place and record it in order not to forget about any detail that will make the observation more accurate and complete towards the development of an intervention plan. For this reason it is always good to have any device that will allow you to take notes or record the situation at the moment that the behavior takes place.

For the indirect assessment of behavior I found a webpage that gave a definition and talked about the methods of indirect assessment. The webpage talks about how not always is possible to conduct and observation of a particular behavior. In that moment an indirect assessment of behavior takes place. As methods of indirect assessment the webpage talked about surveys, interviews, questionnaires so there is not direct interaction between the psychologist and the target behavior, there are always intermediates that are frequently in contact with the target behavior so they are familiarize with it. The reading of this week talked about indirect assessment of behavior and it referred to it as a process that takes place through interviews and questionnaires in order to collect the data required to be able to change the target behavior. The main goal of the interviews conducted is to identify the ABC’s as well as the function of the behavior. This type of assessment f behavior is necessary in cases where the subject cannot communicate, is not willing to communicate or is not able to access the larger picture. This type of assessment has the advantage that outsiders tend to have a more subjective perception of the situation than the subject.

3)http://cecp.air.org/fba/

https://www.gvsu.edu/cms3/assets/2CF6CA25-D6C6-F19E-339DC5CD2EB1B543/itmodules/pbis/datacollectionfbatools/sp0009-_functional_assessment.pdf

http://cecp.air.org/fba/problembehavior2/indirect2.htm

Terms and terminology used: Behavior, emit, function, elicited, direct assessment, indirect assessment, functional assessment of behavior, target behavior, ABC’s of behavior modification, undesired behavior, baseline measurement, intervention plan, desirable, responses.

1) Boy’s body image. I used this because of the recent topic of rule governed behavior. The rule governed behavior can come from many sources. One of the sources that I read about was influence. We talked in class the other day about how Maclin’s son wasn’t exposed to advertisements as much as the other kids and in a result he didn’t have to by the cereal that was shown on TV. What I really came to see was the “everyone else is doing it” argument that kids have so much and why we see that it is so important to the decisions that we make on a day to day basis. What we look at is another moment of those everyone else is doing it. This is a big rising issue that boys think their bodies need to constantly be growing and getting bigger muscles and stronger abs. The advertisement world really inflate what men want and that boys need to become men. I like this topic because it applies to me and the field of coaching that I want to get into.
2) Influences, Positive Image, Negative Image,

2) Influences
When we look at the influences of the body image process the first thing I want to look at is advertisement. When we look at advertisement in general it is all around us and it is directed to a wide range of the population. To look into specifics of male body image we look at bodybuilder magazines which have a man with huge bulging muscles on the front cover. Stopping there we need to realize just how important this is. It’s not that the guy was crazy shredded but that he was on the front of the cover, the front! Where all the important people are located. This right there tells us that his body is important and because his body is shredded that means it’s a better body. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that we have out there. Physique doesn’t matter for functionality, we can be 300lbs and still run a mile in 5 minutes because of our conditioning. With that being said even someone who is 130lbs doesn’t necessarily mean they can run a mile in 5 mins, because of the conditioning. This is true with lifting, bigger muscles don’t mean better muscles or stronger muscles. It just means they are big and noticeable. The other influence that we get the image from is the coaches. Coaches continually put the mindset in the boy’s head that they should work out and get stronger and bigger or faster. They promote the people who are strong and big or fast, this puts the importance in the eyes of the boys that they need to be like that guy because he is getting praise he is better than me.
Positive Image
Positive image can also be as diminishing as a negative image. When we look at someone that has positive image it is easy to notice that they feel good about themselves. But just like before if their body looks the part doesn’t meant that they can function the part. For kids that have what I like to think of as a natural build where they have a natural body composition that is appealing, they almost have more pressure to meet the standards that society brings. For the kids who don’t look the part people doubt them and when they do something decent they get praise. While at the same time you have the kid with the natural build do the same thing and gets shown no praise. This can actually hurt the self esteem of the child. While the body image is positive the esteem is depleted
Negative Image
Negative image is really the focus here. What we look at is this never ending journey to be ripped. What happens is you see some progress then you realize there’s another level. On that level there is another one and another one. After a while you can place people on the level they are on one by one. When kids place themselves on a low level you start to see them not wanting to take off their shirts in public or are too embarrassed to workout. There is nothing wrong with a bigger build a person has, except for what social clues we look at. Like the clue with the ripped muscle guy on the front page of the cover, kids want to be like that. And when they aren’t they are ashamed of it. They think they are less and the people who have better body images are better people than them. The positive or negative image all boils down to the perception we take from our social environment, which differs from the rule governed society in which the consequence is the internal motivator.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/body-image-pressure-increasingly-affects-boys/283897/
This Web source gave information about the body image of boys and girls and how they are related. They discuss how action figures, magazine articles, and other entertainment pieces affect a child and their body image. What they were able to find is that boys develop the image that it is not enough, that no matter what they do they need to get stronger with bigger muscles. I used this web source to provide information for my aspects as well as give me the information I needed to do my own analysis.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-gender-ourselves/201301/the-impact-negative-body-image-boys
This article takes another approach to body image awareness. What I found in this piece is that boys are pressured to condition their bodies a certain way. This pressure is actually from the coaches and lifting coordinators more than from other boys which is the original consensus. What I took from this is that the feeling of a child’s body image is a social more than a personal image. They must compare themselves to other people to get the image they feel. It is also a very easy misconception that the people who have bigger and better looking muscles are better than the kids who are too fat or too skinny. I used this article to develop a couple different viewpoints that I used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiY8WSzY_xQ
This video was made by CommonSense where they devote videos to helping people for many common or even uncommon problems that people have. What I like about this video was the break down for the boys body image and how it can be affected by in a more dangerous manner because men are supposed to not talk about how they feel. What I really enjoy is how this video made me think about what really goes on the behind the scenes of what boys see. I used this video to aid me in my aspects and talk about perspective.
Terminology: Rule Governed behavior, Body image, Self Esteem, Negative/ Positive image, behavior, consequence

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.
The topic I decided to discus for this week is functional assessment of behavior. I chose this because there was a huge section in the ABC book and I also think that as we are going to learn throughout reading the rest of the book as well as within class discussion that this is the next big "step" that we learn to really change our behavior. So far throughout the class I think the majority of the things we have talked abut are just the steps to identifying a behavior being the ABC's. Something that we haven't really identified is how to find a new behavior to replace the behavior we are trying to change so I am wondering if functional assessment is the way that we will learn this. I also think that this is interesting because it is just not one step to changing behavior or maybe as simple as the ABC's (antecedent, behavior and consequence). I also want to look into this because throughout the websites I have already googled about this, I found that this can be used mainly in changing students behaviors. This interests me because I want to work with adolescents in juvenile correction facilities. I need to look at changing their behaviors for a good and actual change in their behavior.

2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
I want to look into when functional assessment of behavior should be implemented to get the best results. Also if there is a certain antecedent that should be in place, for example, like if you have already tried to have an intervention before and try to change the behavior. This may also be important to inform the person on the behavior we are trying to change. I am interested in finding out what functional assessment looks at about the person too. I wonder if through this we can find why a person completes a certain behavior or if we just try to focus on the behavior and try to change it.

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.
Throughout all of the URL's and websites I went through I found that functional assessment of behavior is actually a complex term and can mean a lot of different things depending on how you want to implement functional assessment of behavior. I also found that we do focus on why someone does a certain behavior and you have to know why someone is doing it to help change it. One of the things that was commonly on the websites that we have also talked about in class is that if we know why someone is doing a certain behavior, we can try to substitute another behavior to try and replace the behavior that is either not annoying to other people or to yourself. The other reasons we learned in class that we may want to change is because it may be illegal or be leading to an illegal behavior. I also found something that I had not considered researching and that was that functional assessment of behavior is really not a good way to teach someone how to create a new behavior when they are trying to stop a behavior. Functional assessment only teaches you a way to stop a behavior. Teachers also try to use this throughout classrooms to get the child to change their behaviors. The teachers when using functional assessment are believing that all these behaviors happen in a certain context and for a certain reason.
I also found that functional assessment of behavior can be used throughout school systems on children with learning disabilities. The whole functional assessment can be a good learning environment for the children.

3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://cecp.air.org/fba/
http://www.ped.state.nm.us/RtI/behavior/4.fba.11.28.pdf
http://www.behavioradvisor.com/FBA.html

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.
The topic that I chose to research is deadlines. This is a brief topic that was discuss in the sections that we covered this week. I am interested in this topic because recently I have been having some issue with meeting all of my deadlines for school and both of my jobs. And I would like to see what I can do to get back on top of the deadlines so that I achieve my goals.
2) What are three aspects of the topic you want to talk about for this assignment?
The three aspects of this topic is to research and explore information about deadlines. I would like to review the importance of having deadlines. Also would like to look at some reasons that people might fail to meet their deadlines. Lastly I would like to look at some ways to increase and help people meet all their deadlines so that they can achieve what they want to accomplish. This is important topic for me because recently have been have some issues with managing all of the deadlines that I have to meet at school and both of my jobs. If I can find a way to get back on track that would be extremely beneficial for me to accomplish my goals.
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.
Deadlines are important for many reasons to everyone’s everyday life so they can stay focus on what is important and when it needs to be done. Some other reasons it is important to have deadlines are that they keep us focused on when tasks are due such as when to make payments or meet with your boss, teacher or advisor. The meeting your deadline show that you are reliable for your part. Which is a thing that most places of employer are looking for in employees. There are four main things that could be causing someone to miss their deadlines. The four things are time management, prioritizing, impulse control, and communication. First let’s talk about time management. Most people do not realize how long it takes them to complete a task so they do not set aside enough time to complete the task before it is supposed to be complete. The article talks about taking the time and recording and timing the amount of time it takes for you to complete a task for a while then side your deadline for the actual time it takes to complete. However, for the time being double the amount of time it takes for you to complete a task. Second let’s talk about prioritizing. Sometimes people have problems with making sure that they are going the things that are more important first them doing the things that are more fun later. Such as instead of working on the assignment the is due tomorrow you might watch t.v. or hang out with friends. Need to make sure that you correct your priors and do the assignments before you do anything else. Next let’s talk about impulse control. Not having control over your impulse is an issue that can happen from time to time. It’s important to control your impulse and make sure that you are not letting yourself slip into going the easy things or things that have an instant gratification. Lastly let’s talk about communication. Letting a friend or family know what your deadlines are some that you have someone else holding you accountable to complete a task is a go way to avoid missing deadlines. Sometimes you just need someone else besides yourself counting on you to push yourself to meet your deadlines. For example one of my friends just found out that she is pregnant now she haves set a deadline that she need to get her degree so that she can provide for her child. By her having someone that is going to account on her to success she is more prompt about completing tasks. Also some more ways to help increase deadlines being meet are by doing a weekly review, visualizing missing the deadlines, breaking the deadline in to more manageable parts, and make the deadline due earlier for yourself than the exactly deadline. These are just some ideas on how to improve meeting your deadlines.
3) At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
http://www.ncba.ca/importance-meeting-deadlines/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deadlines-4-easy-ways-to-never-miss-another-one/
https://unclutterer.com/2011/05/03/four-reasons-you-may-be-missing-deadlines-and-how-to-fix-these-problems/
Terms: Deadlines

1). I am going to be discussing functional behavior assessment for my blog this week. I think this is a very important topic and I would like to learn more about the methods and why we use it. I would like to learn a little more about how this topic is being used today.

2). I am going to talk about what functional behavior assessment is first, then I am going to talk about the indirect method of functional behavior assessment, then the direct method of functional behavior assessment.

3). Functional behavior assessment also known as FBA is a group of procedures originally developed to figure out the reason people display certain behaviors. This is also used to work with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Functional behavior assessment can be tested and examined through applied behavior analysis or functional behavior analysis. They gather data and conduct experiments to evaluate the behaviors displayed. One reason why a student may use FBA is because they have societal inappropriate behaviors that they display. This would want to be changed by parents so they don’t get embarrassed when they go out in public. The main purpose of FBA would be to determine the intent of the actions that are being displayed. It is designed to challenge the behaviors and find the reason the behaviors are occurring. Figure out what the stimuli is that causes the behavior and response, find what consequences that follow the behaviors, and find what weakens and strengthens the behavior. For a behavior to be used in either the indirect or direct method it must be well defined and have data collected about the behavior. The indirect method began by reviewing the behavior and identifying the background data behind the behavior, review the problem behavior. They use interviews with who, what, when, and where based questions. They also use questionnaires to find out more about the target behavior that they want to change. The indirect method watches for physiological, environmental, curricular and instructional, and settings events for the behavior. The direct method is used to observe and record the problem behavior and events. This method uses the ABC’s, frequency counts, and interval recording systems. This method is more hands on that uses data and charts to acknowledged the behavior. They use the ABC’s to show a relationship to the behavior and the environment, this method takes more time and depends on the amount and frequency of the behavior. The more the data you can collect from the person performing the behavior, the more accurate data you can get then better off the treatment will be to help make the target behavior extinct. In order to use either method the data must be taken very seriously and analyzed between many charts or between different factors found in the behaviors.

http://www.ideapartnership.org/documents/ASD-Collection/asd-dg_Brief_FBA.pdf

http://cecp.air.org/fba/

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/FBA.html

My topic for this week’s posting is “rule-governed behavior.” Rule-governed behaviors, to me, are behaviors in which we know not to emit based on rules of society, law, or the home, our safety, etc. Possibly from our own experiences, we have derived a series of rules that we choose to follow for the reasons I stated previously. According to an article I read, a lot of times “if/then” statements are good context words for these rules. For example, “if I cross the street without looking both ways, then I could get hit by a car;” although, they are not always necessary for a rule in rule-governed behavior. I would like to talk about how these behaviors can be contrasted to contingency-shaped and risk.

A good point to stress when it comes to rule-governed behavior is that it need not be conditioned. We will avoid emitting behaviors, even if we’ve never experienced the consequences. An example from my own experience is rules I obtain from my crime TV shows that I watch. Forensic Files, 48 hours, Deadly Women, Criminal Minds, and Law & Order are among them. I have taken rules from these shows to avoid harm and identify/avoid predators. One rule I use is not to walk alone at night, especially without pepper spray or a cell phone. Although I’ve never been attacked (no conditioning), I avoid it by following my own preceding rules. Because we are so exposed to TV, movies, and internet, I feel most of our rules evolve from those sources. Another source would be other people. The most important were my parents and teachers growing up. It is they who teach us the most rules pertaining to our safety. Like in one article I read on foxylearning.com, a picture demonstrates a girl touching the stove and burning her hand (labeled as contingency-shaped behavior), and a contrasting picture shows the girl being told “you’ll get burned if you touch that,” and her saying, “thanks for the tip, yo (rule-governed behavior).” I think those pictures are a great example of the contrast between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior.

Another item I would like to touch on here is how rule-governed behavior does not always take precedence; what about risk? Why do we take risks if we know something has a bad consequence? And why do we commit to certain rule-governed behaviors and not others? One article states that one reason is the fact that we know others are engaging in the behavior and getting away with it with no bad consequence. So, I suppose we would think that we could also engage in the same behavior and also get away with it.

Furthermore, in that case we could conclude that rule-governed behavior doesn’t always work to repel bad decisions. For example, if your friends had tried a drug before without getting in trouble, and then invited you to try it, you would probably be more likely to try it out. An example I can think of is smoking cigarettes. I began smoking cigarettes with friends in high school, and still have not stopped the habit. I also have friends now that smoke. Now, I begin to wonder if my friends have a larger social influence on me than I have noticed. Another point we could bring up is whether our desire to influence others into risks is a direct result of our desire to also want to participate in the behavior—and if we are just afraid to go down alone. A fear of a bad consequence is not so great if it has a possibility of being shared. (I have to wonder, though, if too much of this fear in rules creates anxiety.) I wonder what would happen if we were not phased by some of these rules, also. If a child was told not to touch fire, and took that into account—what if the child decided later in life to just touch the fire? It seems these RGBs save us from ourselves mostly.

In conclusion, it is fair to say that rule-governed behavior is a great precedent to conditioned behavior, and saves us from a lot of work with conditioning. By instilling the fear of a bad consequence, we defer one from emitting a behavior.

Resources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/
https://foxylearning.com/tutorials/rft/15/5014-0813
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201412/why-we-take-risks
http://www.ralphkeyes.com/chancing-it/

Terms: rule-governed behavior, emit, conditioning, consequences, contingency-shaped behavior, behavior, decisions, social influence

1. This week for my topic I chose to learn more about rule governed behavior. I chose this topic because I had never really thought much about it even though it is a societal norm and effects our behaviors all day every day. Rule governed behavior was described in reading section 5.2 and has a lot to do with behavior modification because certain rules and laws act as antecedents and from that we chose the behavior to emit and the consequences that result.

2. Rule governed behavior is such an interesting concept because it effects each and every one of us all day every day. The three different aspects I want to research more about is rule governed behavior in regards to laws. I also want to look at rule governed behavior and societal norms and expectations. And lastly I want to look at different cultures/customs with rule governed behavior.

3. Rule governed behavior is used to maintain order and can be a result of societal norms, morals, ethics, or previous rules followed by in history. Rule governed behaviors can be emitted intentionally and even non-intentionally depending on the situations and circumstances. These behaviors are sometimes expected and usually not told verbally and then there are some that are needed to be said verbally. When it comes to laws at least here in America there are thousands of rule governed behaviors. Street lights are rule governed behaviors based on laws because the law states that you can pass through a street with a green light, yield at a yellow light, and must stop on a red light. Those who break those governed rules can face aversive consequences. Inside a bar or restaurant selling alcohol it is common to see those who are inebriated to call for cabs or find a sober driver because the laws state it is illegal to drink and drive. Most people opt to not drink and drive because of the serious aversive consequences but it does not stop everyone. Those who do get caught help others to realize breaking the law is not worth the trouble. Rule governed behavior also effects how we behave within society and social situations. It is not socially acceptable to rip ass in around people but to instead excuse oneself to the restroom and relieve the pressure in the appropriate setting. A good example of a non-verbal rule governed behavior is keeping an individual’s hands to themselves in communal showers because deviating from that societal norm can bring about some aversive consequences. Rule governed behavior also takes place among different cultures. For Catholic’s it is customary to dip a finger in holy water and kneel while signing the cross. This behavior would look very odd in Mecca where the religion of Islam is prominent and instead they kneel in prayer several times throughout the day which is very different that Catholic and Christian religions. Rule governed behavior is all around us and we use it every day whether we are conscious of it or not.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3139547/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/would-germans-ever-cross-the-street-on-a-red-light-1445907439

http://www.ijpsy.com/volumen8/num2/191/rule-governed-behavior-and-psychological-EN.pdf

Terminology: Rule Governed Behavior, Aversive, Consequences, Behavior, Antecedent, Emit