Self-Behavior Modification - Case Study Example

With the introduction of this assignment I took a close look at the way I conduct my day in an effort to identify a behavior that I would like to modify. I was prepared for a long and distinguished list! While I was not disappointed and there are several behaviors I would not mind reducing, the most important behaviors right now concern my health. One particular behavior that is a constant source of concern for me is drinking enough water during the day. My family doctor has repeatedly instructed me to consume at least 2 liters of water or tea over the course of the day. This should not be a difficult task! However, I simply do not like plain water. I have been known to enjoy a glass or two but only if it is really cold. It is hard to keep 2 liters of water cold in my particular workplace. Tea is my favorite non-cola beverage but once again I prefer it cold and the difficulty associated with this preference has already been mentioned. Without even officially tracking it, I feel it is important to make my target behavior to increase my water intake daily. Since I am a schedule-oriented person I began by determining the time in which the behavior was to take place. Since most of my day is spent at work, the target behavior would most easily been accomplished during that time. I then set the parameters of a work day as beginning at 0815, ending at 1520, and including all of the time and activities in-between. I also decided to go with the doctor's suggestion of tea as it is preferential to water. From this point on, references to water will actually be tea but the need to differentiate between the two should not be necessary. With my target behavior in mind, it became vital to determine how much water I drink in an average day before setting the goal for an increase. The behavioral modification process described in the assignment instructions is called a simple time-series design (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). In this process a series of observations are made prior to initiating a plan to modify the behavior and then again after the plan has been enforced to determine if learning has occurred. The observations made prior to the reinforcement form the baseline data and I have recorded my baseline data in the chart below. This reveals that I drink an average of 0.95 liters of water per day. I would like to see that number closer to 1.5 and eventually building up to 2 liters! Table 1: Baseline Data for April 21-25, 2008 Date Water Consumer (L) April 21 .5 L April 22 1.25 L April 23 .5 L April 24 .5 L April 25 1.5 L April 26 .5 L Average Consumption .5(4) + 1.25 + 1.5 / 5 = .95 L Now that I had decided on a reasonable goal to which to increase my water consumption, I had to decide exactly how to go about drinking more water! This was not be the first time I have attempted this. In the past I have tried buying individual bottles that are easily stored but which sit in the common refrigerator forgotten in the mad pace of a regular work day. I have tried freezing my beverage and carrying it with me to drink cold as the ice melts only to find it too messy around my papers and dangerous to the electronics. I have refused to carry dollar bills and change in an effort to make the vending machine less appealing as the simple choice for a drink. (By way of further explanation tea sold in most vending machines is high in sugar and caffeine so do more harm to my health regiment than good. I find it beneficial to drink green or caffeine-free teas made with Splenda.) I have even enlisted the aid of friends who put hot sauce in my inappropriate drinks if they saw me with one. This last step may have been the most influential of my efforts but it had the exact opposite effect. I simply did not drink anything except for brief stops at the water fountain for tepid water which was almost as bad as the hot sauce. The addition of the hot sauce was an added consequence linked to a specific action. The use of specific consequences to increase or decrease a specific behavior is called reinforcement (Chance, 2006). The addition of the hot sauce to the drinks was a form of positive reinforcement. According to Chance (2005) positive reinforcement occurs when a stimulus is added to a situation and not necessarily when the behavior is being increased. This stimulus is called a reinforcer and serves to change behavior in one of two ways. The subject can view the stimulus as a reward and seek to earn this more often or the subject can seek to avoid the presence of the stimulus and make the effort to decrease its appearance. Since I do not enjoy spicy things, the hot sauce served as a negative reinforcer that I did try to avoid but there was no reason to drink the water instead. What I needed was a positive reinforcer - a reward for drinking the water. I discovered that local stores sell tea that meets my requirements. An added benefit to purchasing these pre-made teas is that the bottles are refundable. Since each bottle holds 1 liter of tea I would need 2 bottles of tea per day to meet my suggested requirement. So, how would I reward myself for consuming these two bottles If I drank the tea and returned both bottles for the refund, the money given back would result in enough to purchase a 20-ounce Mountain Dew at no cost to myself. The store is on the way home and I stop for dinner supplies daily so this greatly appealed to me. It might actually be possible to use this reward increase the number of days I drink 2 liters of water and raise my daily average to 1.5 liters! I did foresee one possible problem - the temptation to combine bottles for days I did not meet the goal and still get the soda. To overcome this temptation I created the rule that bottles had to be returned daily. In the event that the refund amount would not purchase the soda all refund money went toward the cost of dinner purchases or more water. If I did not stop at the store, the bottles were added to the other bottles at home awaiting return on payday. With my goal in sight and my plan in place, the appeal of a "free" Mountain Dew every day at no cost won me over and I set out to increase my average daily water intake to 1.5 liters. I have recorded my results in the table below. Table 2: Water Intake for April 28-May 16 Week #1 (4/28-5/2) Week #2 (5/5-5/9) Week #3 (5/11-5/16) Monday 2 2 2 Tuesday < 2 1.5 Wednesday .5 1.5 2 Thursday 1.5 .75 2 Friday 1.5 2 .25 Average Water Intake 1.2 L 1.65 L 1.6 L = Mountain Dew earned Recorded in bottles drank (1 bottle = 1 L) A review of my progress so far shows that the plan is working. I am drinking the 2 liters of water more often and actually seem to be drinking more water daily. The important fact is that I am increasing my average daily water intake to at least 1.5 liters. I believe that the plan in place is adequate and does not need review. However, if I continue to observe my water drinking behavior for another 2 weeks, it may become possible to see if learning has taken place and a habit has been formed. Works Cited: Chance, P. (2006). Learning & behavior. 5th Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Leedy, P. D. & Ormrod, J. E. (2005). Practical research planning and design. 8th Edition. 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