Melissa Nauss Psyc365 Liberty University Week 3 Essay 1 Essay 1 1.

For this example, I will use my son, age 7, named Hayden, and our cat, Batman, as the participants and the setting is in our living room/kitchen. I am behind the wall where he cannot see me although he does know I am in the kitchen and near the light switch/doorway. Note: This experiment did not actually occur. Each time Hayden enters the kitchen from the living room, I turn on the light (NS). This elicits no response from him. After doing this five times, I next, turn on the light (NS) then toss Batman in front of him (UCS) each time he enters the room which startles him causing him to gasp and tense his body posture (UCR). I repeat this five times as well. Now each time Hayden enters the room and the light comes on (CS) Hayden gasps and tenses (CR) expecting Batman to appear in front of him again. Step 1: NS (Light) Step 2: No Response

NS (Light) UCR (Gasp & Tense) UCS (Cat Appears)

Step 3: CS (Light)

CR (Gasp & Tense)

2. In a situation where I were to encourage a messy roommate to make his/her bed more neatly, I would first begin by explaining to my roommate that a neat and orderly home makes me feel

pleased and makes guests feel more comfortable and is more inviting. My explanation would be the antecedent stimulus. With this understanding, my roommate would then go in and make his/her bed more neatly and this would be the response. In order to make this a habit for the roommate I would encourage and compliment him/her each time the bed was made nicely and also provide a verbal thank you. This repeated pattern would be the changing program and reinforcement. Eventually, the roommate would make his/her bed neatly each time out of habit. This would be the self-regulation that he/she would have learned. 3. In my Psychology Internship I encountered a child with destructive tendencies that bit herself, the dog, and my bag of supplies. I feared for her safety and my own wellbeing so I implemented a plan to change the undesired behaviors. The behaviors the child was displaying were the antecedent stimuli. The first punishment I implemented was a verbal reprimand in the form of a short, stern, direct, no! each time the biting occurred. This no! caused the child to escape and hide under a table but did not stop the biting from occurring several times more. Next, I decided to implement a time-out in an unused corner of the room with only a chair to sit on until the child stopped biting. Once the biting ceased the child was able to resume our play therapy session. This punishment effectively reduced the biting incidents over a period of several time-outs because the child was unable to avoid or escape the punishment and realized that once he calmed down, he could resume play. This reinforcement proved to be a better method of changing the undesirable biting behaviors. 4. I personally experienced a situation in which I have been able to model a lifestyle that my husband then noticed and began to practice himself. When I met my husband in 2008, neither of us were Christians and though we were generally good people on the outside, we had some undesirable habits and behaviors and as a result experienced infidelity and suffering in our

marriage. After a few months we decided to work together to repair our marriage but it involved a lot of self-improvement too. One of the first steps I took was to get plugged in to a wonderful Bible study on the military base we lived on. I really went outside of my comfort zone to attend and as a result over a period of two years grew immensely. I gave my life to Christ, I made changes that resulted in me being much happier, healthier, and a better wife and mother. I was able to free myself through Christ from anxiety, from cursing, from low self-esteem, and many other bad habits. I knew I couldnt win my husband over to Christianity by simply preaching to him so I modeled the behaviors that I was experiencing and I was conscientious, all the while, to be sure I was modeling behaviors I wanted him to notice. After noticing my increased happiness and improving marriage, he then realized this change was something he wanted for his own life. He began asking me questions and attending church with me and as a result grew in his own faith. His motivation was first for a lasting, healthy marriage but eventually resulted in his own self-worth and desire to please God. Of course, with his career as a sailor, he faces a lot of negative criticism and negativity because these people have watched him grow and change and while from my perspective it is for the better, some of his co-workers dont like the change because they miss the person that would curse, tell crude jokes, hang with the guys, and he now lives for Christ and shares that when he has the opportunity. This has led to much more selfregulation and he can make decisions that are in line with our beliefs.