Behavior Modification

Psychology is full of areas of study that work to benefit individuals both mentally and emotionally on a daily basis. This primarily revolves around improvement of the human mind. Behavior modification, a field that studies human behavior extremely close is one area of psychology that focuses on modifying and eventually eliminating undesirable human behaviors and/or transforming them into desirable deeds. Over the past two weeks, I have chosen to observe and record my boyfriend’s (Jake) undesirable behavior of biting his nails. Using the processes of behavior modification, I have created a method to change his behavior to benefit his lifestyle and health. At the start of any behavior modification process a target behavior must to be identified.
Throughout the process, I used the Continuous Recording Method, which involved me recording every little thing that happened during the observation period regarding the target behavior and including the frequency and duration. The frequency is the number of times the target behavior (nail biting) occurred during a specific observation period, and the duration is be the total amount of time the behavior occurred from the start of the observation period to the end. To keep track of all the numbers I collected, I used a data sheet for the frequency and duration of Jake’s nail biting to mark the occurrence of the behavior, as it happened, in order to have the correct information. This data tracking helped me to clearly arrange and read the data collected, not just for my personal understanding but also for others who may be interested in reading and analyzing this study. On each data sheet I defined the target behavior as nail biting and listed the dates I was recording (baselines and treatments). Next to those days, I wrote the frequency of the behavior, and finally I included a daily total column that showed the data for specific
This basic principle of behavior analysis is the actual process of accumulating all the information from the study together and organizing it to figure out the ABCs; antecedents, behaviors and consequences. In Jake’s case, the A, or the antecedent stimulus that evokes his behavior; studying or working causes him to bite his nails. Since this is a conduct that as the observer and client we are attempting to diminish, an SΔ would be present. The SΔ is the antecedent stimulus that is present when the behavior is not being reinforced, which in this case, would be the tic-tac I give Jake every time he begins to bite his nails. In addition, the antecedent would technically be considered as an antecedent manipulation, since during this study, we are trying to manipulate Jake’s feelings that trigger a nervous response with treatment.
Next, the B, or behavior, in this study would be the actual action of Jake’s nail biting, this is what I observed and what can be analyzed in the final stage. Finally, the C, or consequence would be the feeling of relief Jake gets from his nail biting. All together this exemplifies a process concerning the aversive stimulus automatically becoming eliminated, or at least reduced, as a consequence of the behavior. This is called automatic negative