Need Help With This Assignment?

Let Our Team of Professional Writers Write a PLAGIARISM-FREE Paper for You!

Changing My Soda Drinking Behavior

Changing My Soda Drinking Behavior

The behavior that I was hoping to change was completely cutting out on drinking soda. I seem to drink soda based on different discriminative stimuli. I drink soda with meals whenever I am thirsty, to stay up late, to boost my energy in the morning and during the day, and just to see soda on the shelves.

I am naturally inclined to drink soda rather than water, and though I know this is not good for my body, especially because I am an athlete, I cannot seem to stop. I was hoping that by filling out this log, I would identify my weak areas and take immediate and decisive action. Whenever there were no discriminative stimuli, I would not take soda. I also noticed that whenever my day was busy, I did not take soda as well. Do you need help with your assignment ? Contact us.

While on Spring Break, there were no sodas in the condo my family and I stayed in, and that hindered me from taking any soda. I came to realize that the close accessibility of soda is what made me crave and cave into the need to drink soda. I also noticed that I did not get any headaches during the times I could not get access to soda (while on spring break). I am beginning to think that the headaches I often get are not related to not drinking soda. I may have conditioned my mind to believe that it needs soda, while in essence, I have been experiencing headaches because of dehydration. I cannot honestly say I have overcome my behavior; not until I find myself opting for water rather than soda when the two options are presented to me.

I need to have a better strategy for drinking water more often during the day and in the evening. I will also need to look for another positive reinforcer because watching TikTok late at night may also contribute to my frequent headaches and morning fatigue.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Question 


Changing My Soda Drinking Behavior

Purpose: Improving your understanding of how behavioral principles work can help you change your behaviors and the behaviors of employees, friends, or family. Think about unwanted habits you have or irritating habits that those around you might have. This assignment will also teach you how to make more objective and clear observations, which improves your ability to think critically, as well as guide you in writing up a beginning Case Study, a task you’ll undertake in multiple fields. These skills will help you in college and in your career: being able to determine discriminative stimuli will help you to identify patterns in people’s behaviors, and that will help you to be able to understand them better.

Task: This assignment will take at least 25 days to complete: an initial 10 days of observations and record-keeping, an additional 14 days of trying to change the behavior while still making observations and recording them, a final day to write up your observations and what you learned in your Case Study. However, your observations will only take a few minutes each day to record.

Please read through the entire process at least twice before starting. Use the sample log here that you can either download and type inside or simply use as a model for your own behavioral journal and record keeping.

I also need the page of your 25 days of trying to stop drinking Coke with the specifics of each day on the attached sheet:

  • Day 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 want to be more outgoing,” but “I want to talk to at least two people each day” – not, “I want better grades,” but “I want to study X amount each day”).
  • Days 1-5: For five days, merely record the frequency that your target 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 (such as short-term anxiety relief for smoking), and what are the bad consequences (such as long-term health problems)?
    • If the behavior is a currently non-existent one that you want to establish, keep track of when you have opportunities to engage in the target behavior, but do not do so. Also note the times, contexts, cues, and consequences that are reinforcing this LACK of your target behavior.
  • Day 6-10: Beginning on the sixth day, start noting the discriminative stimuli (i.e., recurring patterns of circumstances surrounding or triggering the behavior) you have recorded. Continue to observe the behavioral frequency and note the stimuli and consequences through day 10 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.
  • Day 11: Identify at least three positive reinforcers for you (anything that makes you feel good, such as a special treat or self-reward – 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 on 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.”
  • Day 11-24: Keep track of your progress toward your goal. If none is noted, try finding a more powerful reinforcer, and make note of the changes in your record-keeping. If you are making progress, gradually change from continuous to partial reinforcement as the target behavior pattern becomes established, with the eventual goal of eliminating the external reinforcer.
  • Day 24: Review your log, analyze your data, and reflect on what you learned. As this site states, see if you can sum up the patterns you’ve observed into a thesis-like statement. Your statement should capture your behavioral goal, your reinforcers, and their overall effectiveness.
  • Day 25: Write up your Case Study about your experience and what you noticed about changes in your behavior, drawing on information from the Learning Chapter. What was helpful in making the change? If your behavior did NOT change, why didn’t it? Include at least one paragraph under each of the following headings:
    • Introduction: Set the stage for your case study by identifying your behavioral goal (and related frequency it naturally was occurring), your discriminative stimuli and positive reinforcers, and finish with your thesis-like finding (see #6 above).
    • Background Information: Clearly state your behavior modification goal, your history around that behavior, and why it’s important. Include an illustrative, relevant photo if you’d like to add a personalized element (photo is optional).
    • Presentation of Findings: Describe what you’ve learned in your 24 days of Behavioral Research, what methods you tried, the outcome(s), and what factors helped you change or made it difficult. Use behavioral terminology and Key Terms. You may also include how you felt at different times during the month or other effects your research may have had.
    • Conclusion: Sum up your Case Study and research findings, and include other possible solutions or further avenues for research.

Edit and Proofread your work. Leave time to submit a draft of your Case Study to the Free Tutoring services for helpful feedback.

Coke Case Study

Coke Case Study

Submit both your Case Study and your Research Log/Journal as attachments in the Assignment Tool submission area before the Due Date.

Find others to support you in your efforts wherever possible. Your classmates might be a natural place to look for such support, as they will all be in the same boat. Make use of the optional Lesson 4 Behavior Modification Support Discussion Board — share your goals and cheer on each others’ progress. Changing established behavior patterns is often very difficult, and it can help greatly to have someone to keep you on the right track and committed (this is the idea behind the “Sponsors” of Alcoholics Anonymous). Support or lack thereof can also be considered as a factor in your Case Study.

Criteria: You will be graded on the completeness of your:

  • Record keeping (all frequency and times completed for each day).
  • Detailed descriptions of your observations (at least three circumstances, consequences, discriminative stimuli, and positive reinforcers are included.)
  • Your clearly written Case Study write-up (of at least 250-300 words) along the format outlined above.
  • You are required to use behavioral terminology in your Case Study to show what you’ve learned about behaviorism.
  • Overall, I need the behavioral sheet finished and the case study write-up.