Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Thin-slicing wikipedia , lookup
Theory of planned behavior wikipedia , lookup
Attribution (psychology) wikipedia , lookup
Psychological behaviorism wikipedia , lookup
Behavior analysis of child development wikipedia , lookup
Theory of reasoned action wikipedia , lookup
Adherence management coaching wikipedia , lookup
Descriptive psychology wikipedia , lookup
Behaviorism wikipedia , lookup
Transtheoretical model wikipedia , lookup
1 Jodie Shepherd Professor Dr. Kwan PSY 1010 20 July 2012 Changing a behavior There are always those bad habits that you just cannot seem to shake. You think to yourself that you are not going to do it again, but you end up doing it anyways. I never thought about why I do what I do. I never thought that I may be reinforcing my behaviors without even realizing it. One of the worst habits I have is easting fast food. I have tried different tactics on myself to try to change this behavior, but nothing seems to work. I was very intrigued to do an experiment on myself (and my husband) to see if I could in fact change something that I have a hard time at changing. I think that this behavior stems back to several years ago when I moved out of my parents’ house. I was only 18 at the time. My boyfriend (husband now) and I never really learned how to cook, so we ate out a lot, and I mean a lot. We would spend about $700 a month on just fast food. A couple of years later we wanted to buy a home. We realized that if we didn’t eat out as much we could afford a home. We bought our home and surprise surprise we still ate out all the time. I think it really comes from thinking that going out to eat is convenient. My husband and I work opposite shifts, and we only see each other for about two hours each night. I would always think to myself that I don’t have time to make a dinner before he leave to work, so we would just go get something at a fast food restaurant. 2 Thinking back; growing up my family always make homemade dinners each and every single night. We never went out to eat. It was very seldom that we did, and if we did it was something like Golden Corral. I recall we also ate at fast food if we were out and about. Other than that I would say 90% of my dinners were homemade. I think because I wanted to eat out more and my family wouldn’t allow it caused me today to eat out all the time. I think it is me rebelling from when I was young. What seems to keep this behavior going (what reinforces it)? First off Primary reinforcers (Myers, 2011, p 239) getting food when hungry is one of the biggest reinforcers (Myers, 2011, p 238) on why we eat out all the time. I wait until I am absolutely starving and I feel as if I can’t wait to make dinner, so we go out and grab something “faster”. Because of this every time I am hungry I do not think what I have to eat in my kitchen; I think where can I go and get something to eat. Then there are the Conditioned reinforcers (Myers, 2011, p 238), a stimulus that gains it reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforce. In my case the primary reinforcer is my need to be fed. When my stomach starts to growl then that tells me to go out and get something to eat. Thinking about it, it is almost instinctive for me to go out and get something to eat. Way back when cavemen were around they didn’t go and get food out of their fridge. They had to go out and hunt for their food, and this is sort of what I do. I go out and hunt for the quickest thing possible to eat; fast food. So the idea of leaving my home to get something to eat doesn’t seem to me to be a huge deal. However in today’s world we do have refrigerators to keep our food cold. So I need to change my mind set and find another way to reinforce the way I think when feeding myself. I need to start looking at eating out at a restaurant is a privilege, and that it is not something I should be eating every day. I think a 3 positive reinforcer (Myers, 2011, p 238) for me would be to reward myself with a nice dinner out with my husband. I decided to use operant conditioning, “A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher” (Myers, 2011, P 236). To make this happen the first thing I did was tell my husband that we are not going to eat out for the next week, and if we can do that then we will reward ourselves. He looked at me like I was crazy. I may have been since this was out of the norm for us. It could be because my experiment did not just include myself but him also. But I was committed. To help me stay on track with my goal I used a mix between fixed-ratio schedule, “in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses” (Myers, 2011, p 240), and fixed-interval schedule, “in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed” Myers, 2011, p 240). I am hoping by using a mix between the two schedules that it would give me more guidance. The first schedule is to make five homemade dinners in five days. I also added in if I were to eat anything within the five days I would eat something from my home instead of going out to eat. Day1: Made lunch at home tuna fish egg salad sandwiches, and then ate dinner at my uncles. This day was easy. I didn’t have to cook. Day2: brought a lunch to work and ate it. While at work I thought of things that I wanted for dinner. After work I went to the grocery store and bought items to make fajitas. They were delicious and only cost me nine dollars. Day3: asked people at work for cheap fast easy dinners to make at home. Someone gave me a recipe with apple wood seasoning for chicken. I was so excited to make it. I went to the store to buy the ingredients and they didn’t have it! I was very 4 discouraged. I still needed to get something for dinner. I couldn’t figure out what, so I called my husband for help and of course he was no help. I wandered the store for a minute. I eventually found some yummy steaks, and then I bought potatoes and fresh green beans. The dinner was a success. Day4: while at work I called my husband and asked what was for dinner, he surprisingly said lasagna. He normally doesn’t make dinner, so this was very nice. I wonder if this is because I made dinner the 3 nights earlier. Did I condition him to make the dinner? I thought I was supposed to be conditioning myself? Day5: It is 9:30 AM and I am already thinking of what I want for dinner! I made spaghetti. Once the week was over my husband and I pigged out on the weekend. We ate out three times in two days. After the weekend ended, I did not feel so great about eating out. I felt a little ashamed that we did not make any homemade dinners. I wish I could go back and undo the weekend, and make the dinners at home. Because during the week that I did make dinners, it was very rewarding just to know that I made that dinner. I also realized how much money I was saving by eating at home instead of out at fast food restaurants. I am really glad that I did this mini experiment with myself and my husband. I really believe that changing what reinforces my behavior could change my behavior. I was extremely pleased with my results. 5 References Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring Psychology (8th Ed). New York: Worth Publishers. 6 Reflection The assignment I did on trying out a new behavior has helped me progress toward the five Salt Lake Community College’s college-wide learning outcomes. The first outcome; “acquire substantive knowledge in the discipline of their choice sufficient for further study and/or demonstrate competencies required by employers to be hired and succeed in the workplace”. I believe after doing this assignment, it will show to employers that I can follow through on tasks that are difficult for me. The employers will know that if at first I do not have the competencies that I can change my behavior to do what is needed to be successful in the job. The second outcome; “communicate effectively”. Throughout the assignment I communicated with my husband about the progress I was doing, and took notes on my daily experiences. This allowed me to effectively communicate through my essay. The third outcome; “develop quantitative literacies necessary for their chosen field of study”. I was able to see that there is a problem and being able to create an action plan and follow through with it. Outcome four; “think critically”. Without this step I do not believe I could have done the essay at all. Critical thinking is what made this essay a success. Outcome five; “develop the knowledge and skills to be civically engaged, and/or to work with others in professional and constructive manner”. This essay only worked so well because of working with my husband in a constructive manner. We were both very engaged in the assignment. If I can work with my husband in a professional and constructive manner; then it would be easy to do the same in the workplace.