Problem
• How does basic conditioning apply to practical problems? This is an opportunity for you to develop a self-management project of your own. Using the steps below, detailed behavior modification project.
• Choose a target behavior. This involves identifying the activity you want to change. Do you want to increase the number of hours you study? Would you like to exercise more? Many activities can be improved through applying principles in Chapter 6. Be creative and pick something that is personally relevant to you that you'd like to focus on. Why did you choose this behavior?
• Estimate a baseline. Guestimate how much time you currently spend performing the activity or the number of desired or undesired responses you make each day.
• Establish goals. Set realistic goals for gradual improvement. Consider setting daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, or any combination of the three.
• Choose consequences, reinforcers and/or punishers. If you met your goals (daily, weekly) what reward will you allow yourself? What happens if you don't meet your goals? (This is your opportunity to utilize class-specific concepts, demonstrating your understanding of conditioning)
• Evaluate your plan. How successful or unsuccessful do you feel this will be? Why? Are there areas in your plan you could improve upon? Where in this plan did you utilize concepts from the chapter on learning?
• Whether a person tries to lose weight, stop drinking, or stop smoking, more often than not the unwanted behavior returns. Why? Looking at your plan, what can you try to do to make the behavioral change more long-lasting?