Learning and Stress free essay sample

Describe how you can use operant conditioning principles to a) discontinue your undesired behavior and b) replace that behavior with the desirable behavior you identified. Since I was in middle school, I have always had the bad habit of biting my nails. In the past, I have attempted to stop. I have tried to get acrylic nails, but I just ended up biting those too. I even made it my New Year’s resolution one year. So far, nothing has been successful. I would like to take this opportunity to try and stop biting my nails once and for all. The textbook defines operant conditioning as ‘the process of modifying behavior through the use of positive or negative consequences following specific behaviors. It is based on the notion that behavior is a function of its consequences, which may be either positive or negative. The consequences of behavior are used to influence, or shape, behavior through three strategies: reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. ’ While studying at the University of South Carolina, I took Psychology 101. During that class, we learned about B. F. Skinner and the ‘Skinner box. They put animals in the box and taught them different behaviors that resulted in a reward. They learned to do these behaviors, which would usually be pulling a lever, when they were given a certain cue, such as a light going on or a sound going off. This is one of the biggest studies of operant conditioning that we learned about and this is how I remember operant conditioning. I plan to use operant conditioning to stop biting my nails by rewarding my self for each day I succeed at not biting my nails. Each day I am successful, I will add a dollar to my ‘manicure’ fund. Since a manicure costs around $14, if I am successful for 2 weeks, I will treat myself to a manicure. I typically bite my nails when I am stressed. I plan to bring a stress ball to work and class, and I will replace my nail biting with squeezing the ball. Each time I feel the urge to bite my nails, I will use the stress ball instead. 2. Describe how you can use goal setting to achieve the same behavioral change you described in #1. Be sure to remember to make your goal SMART (see text). My goal is to not bite my nails anymore. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. My specific short-term goal is not bite my nails when I am stressed out for the next 2 weeks. I will measure my success at the end of each day. I will be successful if I succeed in not biting my nails for that specific day. I believe this is an attainable and realistic short-term goal. Since I have set the short-term goal for 2 weeks, this goal is time-bound. I will also measure my success on a daily basis. 3. Describe how you can use social learning theory to achieve the behavior change you describe in #1 Social learning occurs through the observation of other people and the modeling of their behavior. I believe that this would be difficult to do with my specific goal. Because my nail biting is a habit, I don’t typically think about it before I do it. However, when I do see other people biting their nails, it reminds me that it is something I would like to stop doing. To apply social learning, I could try and be more observant and look at other people’s nails. If their nails are longer and well groomed, this could be an indication they do not bite their nails. Because I would love to have longer, well-groomed nails, I could remember that I would like the obtain them when looked at other people’s nice nails. This could be a reminded not to bite my own. Now, use one or some combination of the performance management strategies you described to actually change your behavior. That’s right, select a strategy based on one or more of these approaches and do it. Describe what you did this week and later in the journal (at the very end) report on how successful you were in achieving the desired behavior change over the time remaining in the course (note: behavioral change generally takes some time, but you should be able to achieve at least some of your goal within the next six weeks). I will attempt to use the operant conditioning method to stop biting my nails. I will reward my self by adding a dollar to my ‘manicure’ fund for each day I am successful in not biting my nails. I will also plan to bring a stress ball to work and class. When I feel the urge to bite my nails, I will squeeze the stress ball instead. I will replace my nail biting habit with using the stress ball. During the first week, I earned 5 dollars. I slipped up and started to bite my nails during one of my classes. I didn’t even realize I was doing it for about 5 minutes. I also slipped up another day while doing homework. I was successful in bringing my stress ball with me to class and work, but did not find myself using it too often. I think I need to make more of an effort to take it out when I am at my desk or in class. After 19 days, I have earned the $14 I need treat myself to a manicure. Although it took me longer than I had hoped for, I am very proud of myself for completing my first goal. Now, I hope to continue with the system and treat myself to another manicure in 2 weeks. Although I would not consider this a complete success, I have certainly improved on biting my nails less than I did before this exercise. 4. What do you consider to be your most important source of stress? Based on what you read about how to cope with stress, what do you consider to be the best way to effectively cope with this source of stress? I feel that one of my most important sources for stress is currently time pressure and time management. Since I started the MBA program this semester, I have been attempting to balance my schoolwork with my job and my personal life. Sometimes it seems that there are just not enough hours in the day. I think that primary prevention would be the best option for me to manage my stress. The book says for time-management to consider improving planning and prioritizing my activities. I attempt to do this by keeping an organized planner with all of my assignments and appointments. I feel that I could improve by prioritizing my activities more than I currently do.