Question

1. Choose a behavior of yours that you would like to try to modify using the principles of behaviorism. Keep it simple and clearly measurable (for example, not "I should exercise more," but "I want to jog one mile a day" – not, "I don't want to be so shy," but "I want to talk to one new person each day" – not, "I want better grades," but "I want to study X amount each day").
2. Days 1-3:  For three days, merely record the frequency that the behavior is occurring naturally (this is called establishing a baseline). How often, at what times, and under what circumstances, do you engage in the behavior? What are the good consequences of the behavior, and what are the bad consequences? If the behavior is a currently non-existent one that you want to establish, go straight to "#4, Identifying positive reinforcers."
3. Day 4-7:  Beginning on the fourth day, note the discriminative stimuli (i.e., recurring patterns of circumstances surrounding or triggering the behavior) you have recorded. Continue to observe behavioral frequency and note the stimuli and consequences through day 7 of your journal. For example, some people only smoke when visiting with certain acquaintances, or only snack while watching television. Limiting or eliminating those cues may help in changing the target behavior. Look for at least three discriminative stimuli.
4. Day 8:  Identify at least three positive reinforcers for you (anything that makes you feel good – reading a good book, talking with a friend, taking a relaxing bath, playing a favorite game). Choose one that seems likely to have an impact upon the behavior you wish to change, then establish a schedule of reinforcement. For example, "I get to do X only after I have read one chapter in my textbook."
5. Day 8-14: Keep track of your progress toward your goal. If none is noted, try finding a more powerful reinforcer. Gradually change from continuous to partial reinforcement as the target behavior pattern becomes established, with the eventual goal of eliminating the external reinforcer.
6. Day 15: Review your log and reflect on what you learned. Write 150-200 words about your experience and what you noticed about changes in your behavior drawing on information from the learning chapter. What was helpful in making this change? If your behavior didn't change, why not?

Answer 1

The above question is an activity one supposed to perform and then write in own words about the experience. Hence I will give you an example here explaining the technical terms first.

Establishing baseline - It's the situation of behaviour before you have taken any action i.e recording natural frequency of your behaviour like for example study time.

Discriminative stimuli - It's recurring situations which surround or trigger the behaviour. Ex. You study during morning hour more or you exercise with friend always.

Positive reinforcer - Anything that helps to increase the desired behaviour. Ex. you like ice cream than you can take it as PR by adding it to schedule as a reward of achievement of obtaining the desired behaviour i.e eating ice cream once you finished studying for the desired time.

Partial reinforcer - When you stop reinforcement at regular interval like sometimes skipping ice cream even after studying.

Now sample writes up of experience:-

Behaviour I would like to try to modify - I want to study 10 hour each day.

According to operant conditioning of the learning process depends upon reinforcement or punishment which can increase/decrease the probability of the behaviour. Here I choose reinforcement as it has a strong impact on behaviour change as i learned from the learning chapter.

I wanted to increase my study time to 10 hours from one hour. So first I recorded the frequency of natural study time, which was 6 hour divided into two parts, 3 in the morning, 3 in the evening. It was helpful until exams started approaching. I realized though the 6-hour study is good, I need to increase the study hours to get good grades in exams.

The two discriminative stimuli here was my sister with whom I use to study and the peaceful time of morning and evening.

I love to play basketball, watching cricket, and eating chocolates, hence among them I choose chocolate as my positive reinforcer to have one chocolate after completing the target hours. I divided study time into two slots, 5 hours in the morning and 5 in the evening thereby increasing 2 hours in an earlier slot.

In initial days, I gave me chocolate after completing one slot i.e 2 times a day. I then gradually decreased it to one time in the night after achieving a day target. It worked well till day 10 but on day 11 I missed the target by 1 hour but still gave me chocolate as I don't want to lose it.

However, when i checked the log, I realized this way I can't achieve my goal hence for the next two days I studied without thought of chocolate. Then the next day I gave me surprise chocolate, I started following the same routine (missing chocolate as routine) as I have learned that partial reinforcement has more strong impact on behaviour change than continuous reinforcement.

I noticed that my study time not just increased to desired time i.e 10 hours but also it does not depend upon reinforcement i.e chocolate now although it was helpful in behaviour change, discipline and self-control was equally important in the process.