Week 4 Individual Assignment

Behavioral and Social/Cognitive Approaches to Forming Habits
As children, humans learn right from wrong through either punishment or praise by their parents. Depending on the action and accompanying reaction from their parents, a child may develop habits. According to Psychology Today, a habit is defined as an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary (Psychology Today, 2012). Some examples of habits are looking both ways before crossing the street, brushing one’s teeth before bedtime as well as drinking alcohol and/or smoking. Some habits are good, and some are bad. All habits are, however, a direct result of reinforcement. Reinforcement is an idea developed by B.F. Skinner, a psychologist famous for his studies of behaviorism. He stated that his own personality was the result of reinforcement to actions and beliefs as a child. “His life and personality, he claimed, were determined and controlled by environmental events.” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012) Personally speaking, I have a few habits, some useful, some not as constructive. One of my most interesting and useless habits is always setting the volume at an even number. There is no logical explanation for this habit, and no advantage to setting the volume at twelve rather than eleven. It is simply something that I have always done. I do not remember when I picked up this habit but do know that my father had much to do with it. He is a very structured man, and I noticed once that our television was always set to a certain number. He then explained to me that he read that number was the best for stereo sound. At the time, I believed anything my father said so I took that information as fact. Not too long after noticing the television volume, I also noticed that the car volume was always set at even numbers. Upon asking my father why, he gave me no plausible explanation but just said that he likes even numbers better. As a result, whenever I rode in his car, or any vehicle for that matter, I would turn the volume to an even number. I did not really notice how neurotic I had become about it until I bought my own car when I turned 16. I began to realize that I not only kept the volume on an even number, but I would also turn it to one if a passenger had left it on an odd number. Although this habit was not formed directly from positive and negative reinforcement, it can still be explained through the behavioral personality theory. It is simple to understand that a child will act a certain way or perform a certain task if a reward is given. Depending on what is asked of the child, the reward may have to be greater. Nonetheless, this is a simple explanation of how parents can teach good behavior. In my instance, it cannot really be determined that the setting of a volume is either good or bad. As a young girl, I, like most other kids thought my father was the strongest man in the world and he knew everything. Even though my father never gave me a reward for also tuning the volume to even numbers, just the fact my dad was my role model was enough for this habit to form. Habits can easily develop without reinforcement, but another factor must be in place. In this, and many other instances, patterning behavior after a role model was the key contributor to habit development.
Some believe that personality and habits are less a product of environment and conditioning and more of biology and genetics. A biological psychologist would explain the development of my habit by saying that since my father did it, and I am genetically very similar, it would make sense that I would share that same behavior (Stanford University, 2001). They could take it a step further and say that my father had a very anal personality type, one that Freud describes as very controlling and particular. Using this train of thought, the explanation for my father and my habit would be that by keeping the volume on only even numbers we are controlling all other passengers in the car. That theory does make sense because I have noticed myself and my father both turn the volume back to an even number if a passenger had set it to an odd number. Therefore, this may be a product of control as well. My habit would be described by most as a quirky habit, unlike smoking or biting one’s nails. However, it is somewhat annoying and keeping the volume only at even numbers has no benefit to the car or passengers. The use of operant conditioning could help me break this habit. Operant conditioning is defined as the changing of behavior by manipulating consequences (Friedman & Schustack, 2012). In order to make myself less likely to change the volume from odd to even numbers I would first have to find a behavior for which I could receive a reward that could be traced back to my car volume. The first step would be to have my boyfriend pay attention to how I set sound levels on anything in the house. I would ask him to simply point it out to me and give a small reward such as an encouraging word or “high-five”. This would make me aware of good behavior, which is setting volumes at any level. It would not work to have this same behavior repeated if the volume is set to an odd number because this would just condition me to set the volume on odds instead of evens. This destroys one problem with the creation of another. Over time, I could ask fellow passengers in my car to give positive reinforcement whenever they notice the volume on an odd number or if I were to let them control the volume. Given a few months or so of consistent behavior, I should be able to recondition myself to leave the volume on a desirable level regardless if it is even. Regardless if habits are formed biologically or environmentally, they still exist. It seems hard to say that habits and personality are formed through merely one or the other. When I study my own personality, I realize that some of who I am has been developed through my life experiences. My friends and family certainly have played a part in the person I have become. I do not think I would so polite had my mother not insisted on always saying “please” and “thank you,” even to strangers. I also notice many similarities in my father’s personality and mine. If personality was purely environmental, how could we be so alike? We did not grow up in similar neighborhoods or have the same upbringing, yet so much about us is the same. The only explanation for these similarities is that we were born with it. The genes that make my father who he is are many of the same genes that make me who I am. It is most likely that our personality is not developed through biology or environment but both of them together.

References
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
Psychology Today. (2012). Habit Formation. Retrieved from http://psychologytoday.com/basics/habit-formation
Stanford University. (2001). Socia Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.chip.uconn.edu/chipweb/pdfs/Bandura,%202001.PDF

References: Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon. Psychology Today. (2012). Habit Formation. Retrieved from http://psychologytoday.com/basics/habit-formation Stanford University. (2001). Socia Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.chip.uconn.edu/chipweb/pdfs/Bandura,%202001.PDF