Biting Nails Behavior Modification - Personal Statement Example

Behavior Modification In understanding behavior, research studies have in the past advanced two types of learning. These are learning through classical conditioning as well as learning through operant conditioning. Both employ cognitive conditioning (Kirsch, Lynn, Vigorito and Miller 370-371). It dates back to my early childhood when I started this behavior of biting nails. Throughout my early learning, I always received canning by my teachers over the same though the habit never stopped. My parents too tell me how much they tried even to cover my hands through tying on clothing when I was very tender but sucking fingers would never stop. After I stopped suckling, I got hooked up now to this habit of biting nails. I have also tried it out by my own consent through my upbringing but stopping it has proved a task. I find myself easily engaged in the same especially when stressed up; be it for studies or any other kind of stress. Moreover, when it is about lunchtime or mealtime and I am hungry, I easily get myself biting nails. Other times when am really hooked up to this is during exam times. In extreme cases, I have found my nails destroyed and would get to the point of hurting or the skin peeling off. My nails already became very weak and for any time I have tried to let them grow, they hardly shoot and in the event they do, they are very weak and I find myself easily cutting them. This behavior is very irritating, especially when at important functions or gatherings where the habit becomes very embarassing. I once got questioned over the same by my project supervisor when I bit nails while we discussed my project. This has therefore been a very nagging habit all my life. Any mechanism that would help me drop the habit would always be a great relief. I conditioned my study in this experiment by classroom environment throughout four days; class work involved a lecture for the first day, a class discussion in the second day, a class presentation for the third day and an examination for the fourth and last day. Through past experiences, my stress varies within varying instances during learning experience. I have observed the variance in the frequency of biting nails when in normal class lectures and when engaging in other learning activities such as discussions, class presentations and continuous assessment tests or full exam papers. This understanding lead me to condition this behavior through the more obvious class environment. Learning in this experiment serves as the stimulus to stress what the behavior is associated to. In analyzing the outcome with the first day, a normal class work is normally not very strenuous. Moreover, the timing of this class coincides with just a little time to lunch. The day recorded 6 times and this was relatively okay with my case. I would associate the level with hunger and normal concentration with class work. Day two involved conditioning nail biting with a class discussion as well as hunger. There was a rise in the tendencies to bite nails compared to the first day. My interpretation for this would be as a result of more activity in discussion compared to just concentrating through a lecture. Moreover, more activity would translate to more hunger hence the reason for the rise. Day three involved conditioning nail biting with a class presentation just about lunchtime. There was a drop in the tendencies to bite nails compared to the first as well as second day. I associated the occurrence to relatively low engagement in the presentation as it entailed a large group. Furthermore, individual presentation only involves a little time. Further from the class work, I associated the relatively high level of occurrences with hunger. Day four recorded occurrences that were overrated. The habit of biting nails was conditioned with sitting an exam. Exam always poses a challenge and thus is a strain. Moreover, it was as well just about lunch and thus I was equally hungry. By penalising the failures or consequences with a substandard meal for lunch, I managed to do the second week experiment. I put it as a condition that whenever I was unable to reduce by half the previous week’s frequencies, then I would just take a relatively substandard meal. The week was just tabulated to follow the same routine as the previous one. Day one involved a lecture, day two a discussion, day three a presentation and the last day was an exam day. ‘x’ represented success and ‘-‘represented failure. My desire to manage the commitment to achieve more than half of the entries was driven by the need to accompany my friends to lunch in descent hotels. It was only during the second day of the second week that I was not able to manage the target. My analysis for this would be associated with the intensity of participation in discussion. I also suggest that the successes that followed this were propelled by the need to avoid the repeat of that day’s experience. The experiment was hence a success as I have experienced gradual reduction in the habit. The choice of food was a better reward for me because I am very much used to eating well and with my close group of friends. By having this conditioning of nail biting, in the first week, I was in a position to realize that the habit was really a challenge. This self-determination complimented with the rewards worked greatly to influence the outcome of the week. Week two recorded reduced instances as compared to the first week. I attribute this outcome to the reward chosen (food) as it forms a critical area in my life. From a very young age, I have always taken food with high regard. However, with the habit greatly rooted in me, I found stopping it a challenge and this explains the failure to realize the target on day two. I also feel strongly committed to the course of maintaining the reward system over the habit even in the future. I am now more aware of the effects of the habit than in the past, more so after the conditioning. Through classical conditioning, I was able to evaluate how deep I was into the habit and also analyzed causes to the same. On the other hand, operant conditioning has helped me a great deal to regulate the frequency of nail biting, as such effect is indeed noted to occur by some authorities (Kirsch, Lynn, Vigorito and Miller 370-371). Self-awareness and determination have equally contributed positively towards the progress in this behavior change. Works Cited Kirsch Irving, Lynn Steven Jay, Vigorito Michael and Miller Ralph R, “The Role of Cognition in Classical and Operant Conditioning”. Journal of Clinical Psychology,April 2004, Vol. 60(4), 369–392 (2004). 370-371 Read More