Which Of The Following Is The Best Example Of Psychology's Goal Of Changing Behavior

Module Overview

Every bit we have seen, to change beliefs, we must know what the beliefs is that we want to change, whether it is going to the gym more often, removing disturbing thoughts, dealing with excessive anxiety, quitting smoking, preventing cocky-injurious behavior, helping a child to focus more than in course, taking our dog for a walk, gaining the courage to talk to other people, etc. We must be willing to make the change, for our own reasons, and listing the pros and cons of irresolute the behavior can help the states out. Now we move to generating a description of the behavior which must be precise and unambiguous. Once nosotros take clearly defined the behavior, we tin can and so set goals to help us brand the desired change. The definition and goals work hand-in-hand as nosotros develop our treatment program.

Module Outline

4.one. Behavioral Definitions
4.2. Goal Setting
4.3. Counting Behaviors

Module Learning Outcomes

Clarify what a behavioral definition is and why it is of import to applied behavior analysts.
State the importance of setting clear goals in terms of what behavior you want to modify.
Count behaviors using the behavioral definition and your goals.

4.1. Behavioral Definitions

Section Learning Objectives

Ascertain and exemplify behavioral definition.
Exercise writing behavioral definitions for some of the behaviors on Planning Canvass 1.
Write a behavioral definition for your own behavior to be changed.
Explain how a behavior definition is like an operational definition.

If you are wanting to engage in behavioral modify now, yous likely already selected a behavior that yous would like to either increment or decrease. It is critical to clearly define what the behavior is. In behavior modification, we call this a behavioral definition.

A behavioral definition is a precise, objective, unambiguous description of the target behavior or a competing behavior.

Our behavior may exist an excess and something we demand to subtract or a arrears and something we need to increment. No matter what type of beliefs nosotros need to change, nosotros must state it with plenty precision that anyone can read our behavioral definition and be able to accurately measure the beliefs when it occurs. Let's say you want to do more than. You could define information technology equally follows:

one behavior = going to the gym and using a cardio machine (elliptical, treadmill, or stationary wheel) for xx minutes.

Okay, so if you went to the gym and worked out for 40 minutes, you would have made 2 behaviors. If you went to the gym for lx minutes, you made 3 behaviors. What if you went to the gym for thirty minutes? Then you made ane.5 behaviors, correct? No. Information technology does not brand sense to count one-half a behavior.

Here are sample behavioral definitions for some of the pre-canonical behaviors from Planning Sail 1:

Eating more than fruits – 1 behavior = eating a unmarried slice of fruit
Pleasance reading – i behavior = reading 5 pages of a novel
Using relaxation techniques – ane behavior = meditating for 10 minutes
Doing household chores – 1 behavior = cleaning i room in my apartment (kitchen, bathroom, living room, or bedroom)
Quitting smoking – i behavior = smoking one cigarette

Keep your behavioral definition simple. Don't make information technology reflect whatsoever your end goal volition be, discussed in section three.2. For example, if your overall goal is to run for 60 minutes, practice not make your behavioral definition to be 1 behavior = hour of running. Since nosotros exercise not count partial behaviors, you volition testify no behaviors made until you finally reach hr of running. How low should y'all go then? If 60 is too high, do yous ascertain information technology as 1 behavior = 1 minute of running? Likely not. Think well-nigh what is the least corporeality of time you would run. If it is five minutes, you could set up it at 1 beliefs = 5 minutes of running. Then if you run 30 minutes you would have made vi behaviors. If instead y'all set up information technology at 1 behavior = twenty minutes of running, you can but count 1 beliefs and the other x minutes are unaccounted for. Think about what denomination of fourth dimension is most practical for your state of affairs and where yous are starting out at. If you have never run earlier, a smaller increment of time might be amend. If yous run 30 minutes a few days per week and want to simply double your time, then you could use a greater increment such equally 10, 15, or 20 minutes.

It is prudent to create behavioral definitions for the target behavior but likewise whatsoever competing behaviors that may occur. If we desire to go to the gym more oftentimes, nosotros might observe when examining our antecedents that playing games on our phone in the morning or talking to our roommate in the afternoon leaves the states with not enough time to work out. We would then ascertain this competing behavior, or a behavior which interferes with the successful completion of a target behavior, and then when developing our plan, implement strategies that brand the distractor less, well, distracting.

Earlier we move on to goals, it is important to signal out that yous probable know the concept of a behavioral definition on some level. In your introductory psychology course, or your research methods class, you lot should take talked about the operational definition which is a precise definition of all variables being studied. What if nosotros were studying depression in our sample of college students? We might define it equally how well the person holds down a task, grade attendance, what the DSM 5 indicates, their ain self-written report well-nigh depressive thoughts, or physiological measures. The definition nosotros apply depends on the research question that is asked, and the group being studied. In any event, a behavioral definition is basically an operational definition applied to behavior modification procedures.

KEY Betoken – The target behavior is what you want to modify (the DV) and the behavioral definition says how you volition mensurate it (call back, the DV is the variable that is measured). We will as well utilize this definition to count behaviors afterward, which will help usa to graph our results or run statistical analyses.

four.two. Goal Setting

Section Learning Objectives

Define goal.
List interesting features of goals.
Describe properties of goals and how they chronicle to beliefs modification.
Differentiate proximal and distal goals.
Exemplify how proximal and distal goals are used in behavior modification.
Clarify how a criterion is used to move from one goal to the next.

iv.2.1. What are Goals?

Once you have an idea of exactly what the behavior is yous want to modify, the adjacent task is to set goals near the behavior. Just what exactly is a goal?

A goal is an objective or outcome we desire that clearly indicates how our time and concrete and psychological energy will exist spent.

For y'all as a student, the goal is to obtain your available's caste. Y'all spend your fourth dimension and energy studying, going to classes, writing papers, asking questions, and much more. Afterwards four years, y'all will be happy to take your diploma, which is what motivates yous. You lot might fifty-fifty be driven to obtain the highest grades you can go to exist competitive when you hit the task market or use to graduate school.

4.two.2. Features of Goals

Goals have several interesting features. They tin can exist large in scope. Obtaining the bachelor's degree is a relatively large goal but if your last educational goal is to earn your Ph.D., then this is even larger in scope. Reading for pleasance is likely a small goal but losing 100 pounds is large and volition have much more dedication. Goals tin can be complex and take planning to achieve. This is definitely the case with behavior modification. Even if you want to practice something equally unproblematic as read for pleasure, you might have to implement quite a few additional changes in your life to make that happen. Obtaining a degree is complex and requires a great deal of planning and coordination with people like your major professor or adviser. Goals are more likely to be completed when they are linked to incentives. If your goal is to lose 100 pounds, reward yourself as you hit diverse milestones forth the way. And finally, you can accept more than than ane goal at a time. Possibly your goal is to practise more and to restrict your calories. Or maybe you want to run both longer and faster (measures of frequency and intensity).

A few other properties of goals are worth mentioning hither:

The more difficult the goal, the more rewarding it is when we accomplish it.
Goals can be ranked in order of importance and higher-level goals accept more value to us when achieved.
The more specific the goal, the better our planning tin exist, and the more likely that we will achieve the goal.
Goal commitment is key and if yous want to make it more than probable that you will achieve your goal, publicly denote the goal (Salancik, 1977). Commitment tends to exist higher when the goal is more than difficult too.
If you neglect at a goal, you can either effort again, quit and move on, reduce the level of the goal, or revise the goal.

Another choice to overcome goal failure might be to consider the apply of subgoals, or waypoints toward the last goal. This leads to a word of distal vs. proximal goals. Distal goals are far off in the futurity whereas proximal are nearer in time. Go back to the instance of changing our behavior such that nosotros run for lx minutes at a fourth dimension 3 days a week (our distal goal). Nosotros will likely not start running 60 minutes, peculiarly if nosotros never ran a day in our life (except of grade to the bathroom in times of crisis…enough said). We might create three boosted goals of running for fifteen minutes continuously 2 days a week, and so running for xxx minutes continuously three days a week, and then running for 45 minutes continuously 3 days a week. Since we had not ran regularly in the past, we are changing duration and frequency in this scenario. Frequency goes from 2 to 3 days simply note it may even be prudent to start at one mean solar day a week. And then our elapsing goes from 15 to thirty to 45 to hr. What is 4 goals in this scenario can aggrandize to as many as we need to accomplish our goal. Maybe some other goal or two is needed (i.east. more proximal goals or steps along the style), and fourth dimension volition tell. Every bit we achieve each proximal goal we should reward ourselves in some mode (an incentive) and and so of grade nosotros could use a bigger reward after the completion of the distal goal.

4.2.iii. Criterion

Simply how do nosotros know when to advance from 1 goal to the next? The specific "trigger" for when to advance from Goal 1 to Goal 2 is called the criterion and is linked to the changing-criterion design from Module 2.iii. Our first goal states that we will run for 15 minutes ii days a week. Achieved! When practice nosotros move to running thirty minutes for 3 days a week? That depends on the beliefs we are trying to change. In practise related projects or plans, it is prudent to make sure you tin truly engage in that level of behavior for at least ii weeks. Listen to your body, a trainer, or medico, and and so move to the adjacent goal when it is safe to do and then. For other projects such as pleasure reading, y'all could move to the next goal as soon as the electric current goal has been achieved. In that location is no need to wait as no serious harm tin can come up from increasing the number of pages you read a night from five to x, other than a few minutes of lost sleep.

This may pb you to wonder what length of fourth dimension a goal should be maintained for. If I desire to run three days a calendar week, and do so Mon to Midweek, tin can I motility to my next goal starting Thursday? No. Frame your goals effectually one calendar week at a time. And so if yous desire to run 3 days a week, and finish your third 24-hour interval on Friday, so your second week of the current goal or first week of the adjacent goal starts on Monday (if you ascertain weeks as Monday through Sunday as nosotros oftentimes practice in academia). Otherwise, y'all could be pushing through goals too fast and not allowing yourself time to adjust. Though y'all are excited to bring near behavior change, if yous do it too fast you might burn out and ultimately neglect. On the other hand, moving as well wearisome will create boredom. Detect the correct number of weeks to maintain each goal that is best for yous. And this criterion might vary too. Before goals are likely easier to achieve than latter goals and and so your benchmark could exist shorter for them (say one calendar week) and longer for harder goals (say 2 weeks). Consider this when determining your benchmark.

four.3. Counting Behaviors

Section Learning Objectives

Explicate how to count behaviors in your goals using the behavioral definition.

Keep in mind that the behavioral definition IS Non a goal. It simply defines how you lot will count the target behavior, which is your dependent variable (DV).

four.iii.1. Possibility 1: Duration

If your behavioral definition is one beliefs = reading v pages in a book, and you read 15 pages, and so you made 3 behaviors that day. If you read 20 the side by side day you made 4 behaviors, and and then if y'all only read 10 pages the side by side you made ii behaviors. If you read 12 pages, yous still only made 2 behaviors. There are no partial behaviors (i.due east. not 2.4 behaviors).

This links to your goals such that if you lot ultimately want to read 30 pages a dark, 5 nights a calendar week, then you volition make 30 behaviors a week by the stop of your program. Where did 30 come up from? One beliefs = 5 pages of reading. If you read 30 pages a night, you lot are making 6 behaviors (30/5=6) per night. Since you lot want to read 30 pages a night for 5 nights, you are making 30 total behaviors (6 behaviors a dark ten 5 nights = xxx total behaviors). Your subgoals or proximal goals could be as follows:

Goal i – Read 15 pages a nighttime, for 5 nights (15 behaviors)
Goal 2 – Read 20 pages a nighttime, for 5 nights (20 behaviors)
Goal 3 – Read 25 pages a dark, for v nights (25 behaviors)
Distal Goal – Read 30 pages a nighttime, for 5 nights (30 behaviors)

In this example, you are not changing the frequency (it is set at 5 nights) but are irresolute the duration (albeit indirectly). Reading 15 pages does non take as long as reading 20 pages, bold your reading speed remains the same, so it is sort of like assessing fourth dimension.

4.3.2. Possibility 2: Frequency

Simply what if you can read 30 pages at a time at present, and are having trouble reading 5 days a week? So duration is good but frequency is not. In this instance, your goals await like:

Goal 1 – Read 30 pages a nighttime, for 2 nights (12 behaviors)
Goal two – Read 30 pages a night, for 3 nights (18 behaviors)
Goal 3 – Read 30 pages a night, for iv nights (24 behaviors)
Distal Goal – Read 30 pages a nighttime, for v nights (xxx behaviors)

Keep in mind the basic math that allowed the states to arrive at those behavioral counts. For Goal ane, and all goals, you are making 6 behaviors a dark. Why? 30/5 = half dozen. Call up that your behavioral definition was reading v pages. So it is 6 behaviors a night x 2/3/4/5 nights to arrive at 12, eighteen, 24, and 30 behaviors, respectively.

4.iii.three. Possibility 3: Frequency, again

Consider this at present: 1 behavior = reading one night for xxx minutes. Yous might already be reading 30 minutes a dark merely want to increase the number of days, sort of like in my previous example. Duration is good simply frequency is non. So:

Goal one – Read for 30 minutes, ii nights a week (2 behaviors)
Goal two – Read for xxx minutes, 3 nights a week (3 behaviors)
Goal three – Read for 30 minutes, 4 nights a calendar week (4 behaviors)
Distal Goal – Read for 30 minutes, 5 nights a week (five behaviors)

The math – Reading i dark for thirty minutes is i behavior and then times either two/iii/four/v days which equals 2/iii/iv/5 behaviors, respectively.

4.3.4. Possibility 4: Duration, once again

What if y'all are good most reading throughout the calendar week merely want to increase the fourth dimension you spend reading? Now frequency is fine but elapsing is not. Your behavioral definition will exist 1 behavior = reading for 10 minutes and your goals will exist as follows:

Goal 1 – Read for 10 minutes, 5 times a week (5 behaviors)
Goal 2 – Read for xx minutes, 5 times a week (10 behaviors)
Distal Goal – Read for 30 minutes, 5 times a week (15 behaviors)

The math – Reading for 10 minutes was the behavioral definition and is one behavior. If you lot read for xx minutes you are making 2 behaviors. If you read for 30 minutes y'all are making 3 behaviors. Multiple these numbers past 5 (number of days) to get the number of behaviors.

4.iii.5. Possibility 5: Intensity

Now allow's get really crazy. What if duration and frequency are practiced, merely you want to increase your reading speed, which is the behavioral dimension of intensity. How might you become about doing this? Well, the thought is that you tin can read more than pages in a fixed amount of time. Since your progress will be slower than with the other examples, make your behavioral definition: 1 behavior = reading i page in a volume. As for goals, well, this one is hard to practise. Start with a set period of time such every bit reading for 10 minutes. You volition demand baseline data on what your reading rate is before implementing any handling plan or making a careful effort to read faster. Say it is one page per minute. In ten minutes, you volition be making x behaviors. You want this to get up. If it does, it means you are reading faster. So:

Goal 1 – Read 12 pages in 10 minutes (12 behaviors)
Goal 2 – Read xiii pages in 10 minutes (thirteen behaviors)
Goal 3 – Read xiv pages in ten minutes (xiv behaviors)
Distal Goal – Read fifteen pages in 10 minutes (fifteen behaviors)

At baseline you were reading ten pages per minute and by completion of the distal goal y'all are reading 15 pages in 10 minutes which is a l% faster rate. Of course, you could double your reading charge per unit likewise which would hateful making 20 behaviors instead of 10. Reading charge per unit and intensity are tricky as you lot volition want to also demonstrate the aforementioned level as comprehension as before. Equally long as that stays the aforementioned, you are effectively increasing your reading rate. The comprehension measure out makes this type of project a fleck more complicated but is an important slice. In this example, duration is set and intensity is changing. Information technology would piece of work much the same for increasing how fast you run. Frequency is not included in the instance as information technology may not matter to you. Y'all may just want to read faster when you do read. The duration of 10 minutes is in that location to standardize your information collection attempt.

The above examples show that five students could take the same target behavior (reading for pleasure which is a deficit) just develop five different ways of approaching it based on what they want to get out of the project and what their current level of behavior is. Though the procedures are mostly the same in beliefs modification, how they are used in a specific program can vary and do so dramatically.

To be sure you are clear on the different ways that behavioral definitions can appear, see the Table 4.1 below earlier proceeding:

four.iii.half dozen Behavioral Excess and Counting Behaviors

How might this work with a behavioral backlog? Consider the case of a person who loves pleasure shopping so much that he or she spends a significant amount of money each week. The person does not want to terminate shopping; merely reduce it. How might the individual handle this target behavior?

Behavioral Definition – The target behavior is your dependent variable or the variable you will mensurate. And then how will y'all measure pleasance shopping? One potential definition is i behavior = spending $x at a store. What if you lot spend $58 in ane location? You lot made five behaviors ($58/$10 = 5 behaviors; we don't count partial behaviors).
Current Level of Beliefs – In our next module, nosotros volition discuss the functional assessment and the baseline phase. To set our goals effectively, nosotros will need to know how much coin we are spending each calendar month while doing pleasance shopping (do non count grocery shopping). Let's say we have this data at present and know it is in excess of $600 which is over $150 per week. In terms of behavioral counts, we are making at least 60 behaviors a month or about xv per calendar week.
Adequate Level of Beliefs (The Distal Goal) – We need to determine what level of beliefs (shopping) we are okay with, or, how much money are we allowing ourselves to spend per week. Permit'south say that is $70 per week, which ways we reduce our spending from over $600 to a fleck under $300, or at least a 50% reduction. Okay. This becomes our distal goal. How exercise we get there?

Proximal Goals:

- - Goal 1 – Spend no more than $150 a week (xv behaviors)
  - Goal 2 – Spend no more than than $120 a week (12 behaviors)
  - Goal 3 – Spend no more than $100 a week (10 behaviors)
  - Goal 4 – Spend no more $90 a calendar week (9 behaviors)
  - Goal 5 (Distal) – Spend no more than $seventy a week (7 behaviors)

The Math – Recall that our behavioral definition says one beliefs is spending $10 at a store. Take each of the amounts nosotros are allowing ourselves to spend at each goal level and divide information technology by ten. When y'all practice that you arrive at the number of behaviors, or 15, 12, 10, ix, and 7.

The indicate of an excess is to decrease the behavior either to 0 (not occurring at all and is extinct) or to a more acceptable level as with this instance. You take to determine what is right for you. In the field of health, moderation is preached as central. If you want to reduce your caloric intake, you do non have to cut out all junk food. Just reduce it and track it as part of your new total daily allowance of calories. If a pocketbook of chips is 120 calories, and so add that into your total for the mean solar day (which may be 1200 calories). Y'all do not have to get rid of fries; just don't buy the big bag in which you are likely to keep reaching your hand into. Purchase the small numberless and just eat ane at a time. You are still satisfying your craving and exercise non take to feel guilty for doing so. All things in moderation. This does not work with all excesses. If you are trying to quit smoking that does mean taking the behavior to 0 and since there are health risks with smoking, moderation is non useful hither.

Module Recap

In Module 4, we connected with the process of planning for change. We discussed the demand to precisely ascertain our target and competing behaviors and gave examples of behaviors you might have called for your project. In one case a precise definition is in identify, we tin can formulate goals for how much nosotros wish for the behavior to increment or decrease. We can likewise set brusque term or proximal goals to assistance u.s.a. achieve the much larger or distal goal. Think about writing a 10-page paper. It is easier to say I am going to write the start department today, the adjacent tomorrow, and so the concluding department the day after. So I volition revise and edit and print the paper to be submitted. These subgoals make the much larger task more manageable and easier to achieve. As this works with writing a paper, so too it can work with changing behavior.

Looking ahead to Module 5, you will learn how to get about discerning the ABCs of beliefs. This will focus on what is called the functional assessment.

quaternary edition