Download 1 Jodie Shepherd Professor Dr. Kwan PSY 1010 20 July 2012

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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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References
Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring Psychology (8th Ed). New York: Worth Publishers.
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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.