Self-Directed Behavior Modification Project

1. Self-Directed Behavior Modification Project Modified from: 09-19-06 Reference: Watson, D. L. & Tharp, R. G. (1997) Self-directed behavior: Self-modification for personal adjustment (7th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

2. Identifying the Target Behavior • Specific behavior to be changed (concrete and observable) • Specific situations in which the behavior occurs • Choose a behavior that you are motivated to change. • Short-term vs. long-term goals

3. Specifying Behaviors in Situations 1. Make a list of concrete examples. 2. List the details of your problem. 3. Become an observer of yourself. 4. Your strategy should always be to increase some desirable behavior.

4. When you’re not doing what you want to be doing… My goal is _________________ (what you want to do) when_____________________. (the situation)

5. When the problem is getting rid of some undesirable behavior… • I want to quit goofing off and study more; or • I want to increase studying in those situations in which I should study.

6. Specifying Behaviors in Situations 5. Specify the chain of events that will lead to your goal. 6. Observe other people who are successful at what you are trying to do, and then try their tactics yourself. 7. Think of alternative solutions.

7. Anticipating Obstacles • Expect mistakes. • Don’t blame mistakes on your personality. • Prepare for temptations.

8. Observing your Behavior: Structured Diaries • Antecedents • Behavior • Consequences

12. Antecedents Behaviors Consequences feeling stressed spanking feeling bad kids’ misbehavior But if instead: substitute kids’ misbehavior punishment feeling good (no spanking)

13. Simple counting: Frequency or duration • Number of cookies per day • Number of text messages per day • Minutes studying per day • Number of days jogging per week • Number of times biting nails per day • Hours slept per night • Money spent on junk food per day

14. Four rules for self-observation • Do the counting when the behavior occurs, not later. • Be accurate and strict in your counting. Try to include all instances of the behavior. • Keep written records. • Keep the recording system as simple as possible. Try to fit it into your usual habits.

15. Principles of Self-Regulation • Throughout life, regulation by others and the self (particularly through verbal instructions) acts as a powerful guide to behavior. • Operant behavior is a function of its consequences. • A positive reinforcer is a consequence that maintains and strengthens behavior by its added presence.

16. Principles of Self-Regulation • A negative reinforcer is a consequence that strengthens behavior by being subtracted from the situation. • Behavior that is punished will occur less often. • An act that was reinforced but no longer is will begin to weaken. • Intermittent reinforcement increases resistance to extinction.

17. Principles of Self-Regulation • Most operant behavior is eventually guided by antecedent stimuli, or cues, the most important of which are often self-directed statements. • An antecedent can be a cue or signal that an unpleasant event may be imminent. This is likely to produce avoidance behavior.

18. Principles of Self-Regulation • Through conditioning, antecedents come to elicit automatic reactions that are often emotional. • Many behaviors are learned by observing someone else (a model) perform the actions, which are then imitated.

19. Antecedents • What stimuli seem to control the behavior? In what situations does the behavior occur? • Do you react automatically to some cue with undesirable behavior? • Do you react to some cue with an unwanted emotion? What is the conditioned stimulus for it? • What are you saying to yourself before the behavior?

20. Behavior • Is it strong and quite frequent, or is it weak and not very frequent? • Is any element of your problem due to something you are avoiding, perhaps unnecessarily? • Are you aware of models in your past whose behavior you may have copied? • Is the behavior resistant to extinction either because it is intermittently reinforced or because it is an avoidance behavior?

21. Consequences • Are your desired behaviors positively reinforced? • What actions make the desired behavior difficult? Are they reinforced? • Is it possible that the desired behavior is being punished? • Is your own self-speech rewarding or punishing your behavior? • Are the consequences for some behaviors difficult to identify, perhaps because of intermittent reinforcement?

22. Features of a good plan • Rules that state the techniques to use in specific situations • Goals and subgoals • Feedback about your behavior based on your self-observations • A comparison of the feedback to your goals to see if you are progressing • Adjustments in the plan as conditions change

23. Goals for next few weeks • Literature review – surf the web find out how popular the behavior you wish to change is . For example if you want to stop text messaging so much, find out “What is too much? What are the averages for someone my age. What have been some successful ways to stop.” • Observe the behavior and record the frequency and antecedents for the behavior • Baseline data of target behavior (graph or chart, 1 week). • Apply the positive reinforcement goal you set up for yourself. Reward positive behavior. • Write up your experiences in an APA format paper of 2 pages minimum in length. Paper should include background information, hypothesis, procedure, charts, data and conclusion. Feel free to contact me at any point to discuss the paper. Due Jan13th. See blog for APA format.