Investigation Of The Personal Behavior Modification

Behavior modification is one of the most discussed topics in recent years. Experts argue that the recent rise in behavior modification has been associated with the continuing need for today's society to manage human behavior. According to research, human behavior has different aspects. Some of the aspects include it has an impact on both the social and physical environment; it is measurable, it is lawful and can be observed and recorded among many others. The effect of human behavior on today's way of life has been described as massive.

All these issues highlight the importance of behavior modification in today's world. However, there are limited studies on human behavior modification. Therefore, there is a need to even provide further studies on personal behavior modification.

Behaviour Modification

Human behavior can be described as what people usually practice and say. Human behavior has been said to be the subject of behavior modification. Psychology experts have claimed that there is the need to control or manage the behavior of humans.

Get quality help now

WriterBelle

Verified writer

Proficient in: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

4.7 (657)

“ Really polite, and a great writer! Task done as described and better, responded to all my questions promptly too! ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

According to their argument human behavior has an impact on the environment which will mean it will have a direct effect on other humans. Both the social and physical impacts of behavior on the environment have been highlighted. According to Lea (2015), the social impacts of human behavior can affect others. These effects have been said to expose humans to some level of health risks. Therefore, it is essential that one should have a modification plan. The paper will provide a lab-report based analysis of a personal case that is specifically focused on behavior modification.

The individual who would regularly exercise in the past, and as a result both mind and body would always feel fresh. However, due to the increased academic work as well as a part-time job, it became extremely hard for the participant to be able to find time to exercise. However, according to Vohs & Baumeister, (2016), regular exercising is an important aspect of any human life. From their study, they established that humans who keep their minds extremely professional on a daily basis have a higher chance of suffering from mental disease if they fail to exercise. Some of the mental diseases includes, stress which may then develop to depression. Additionally, studies that have been carried out also indicate that one can suffer physical problems which may include back-pains especially for those who are seated in offices or classrooms for long hours each day.

Having in mind the risks associated with the lack of physical exercise, behavior modification was one of the contingency plans. According to psychologists, behavior modification is a process that depends on both the theory as well psychology of behaviorism. The procedures of behavior modification have been linked to the expertise behind psychological theories. Therefore, it is a proven approach scientifically that can be utilized in ensuring that changes in the behavior of an individual are made. Having recognized the need for exercising regularly, there was the need to design an appropriate program that would ensure that would suit my physical needs.

Method

A 23-year-old female were recruited for this experiment who had stopped exercising. The participant chosen have been struggling with getting back on track with exercising for many years. The participant was compensated with positive and negative reinforcement based on the achievements of their behavior modification. This Intervention program aims at ensure that the participant fully restore the duration of exercising despite the limited time given.

Materials

Timetable and phone were used for recording the duration of the exercise undertaken on daily basis. Positive and negative reinforcements were also set before starting the intervention.

Procedure

Targets were set on the weekly basis. Exercising for at least 30 minutes for 3 days each weekday was the set as the target for the experiment. Exercises that were to be measured and evaluated in the modification program were running, jogging and walking. The modification program depended on measurable results of the behavior modification. Some of the metrics used in the measurements of the included the frequency as well as the duration. The frequency involved the number of times that the exercising is conducted each week. More days of exercising meant that the results would be better. The physical wellness, as well as the mental wellness of the participant, was also to be examined. The results that will be recorded periodically will also be examined against some of the issues such as depression, stress, back-pains among many others. The duration as will be plotted against these metrics to be able to examine the improvements as more time is dedicated to exercising. The paper will also use small-N designs were also used in this modification program. According to research, there are different designs that are used in the process of accessing a modification intervention program. These components are suitable for single-subject programs such as this one. The following are some of the programs that were used in this program:

Repeated measurement. The program utilized the use of repeated measures of the variables that were considered to be dependent. These variables can also be described as the target problem of the modification program. Before the commencing of the intervention program the participant’s target problem at multiple times. The intervals for these measurements were made in terms of days, weeks and months. After the recording of the frequency and duration of the target problem of the participant, the intervention program was then implemented. The process of measuring the target problem was done at different intervals and then recorded. The information that was gathered led to the withholding of the intervention program for some time until there were repeated measures. Baseline phase was also used. The stage was mainly used for the analysis or evaluation of the data that had been collected. Examination of the improvements in the target problem after the implementation of the intervention plan was measured. The intensity of the target behavior was also reassessed at this stage.

Results

The results that were collected indicated that the intervention program had a huge impact on the participant’s behavior. The participant was able to exercise more and reduce the various problems such as stress and back pains that were common before the implementation of the behavior modification program. The result also indicated that when there was increased physical activity especially running, the participant did not feel any kind of headaches as it was the case in the past before the intervention. The consistency of the physical, activity also mattered as there were more improvements in terms of back pain.

The results indicate that daily goals were met as the exercising took place when the participant was off from university, and managed time for exercising for. The results also indicate that weekly goals were met as the reinforcement that was set up at the end of each weekly goals were motivating the participant. Figure 1 shows the scores obtained by the participant on weekly basisDiscussion From the above results collected before the start of the intervention program, it was clear that modification of behavior is effective. The change from the usual ways of life was implemented through the use of the intervention program. The participant had been having challenges exercising when compared to the past. However, with the use of this intervention program the process. These results proved the hypothesis that has been supported by a different psychologist who has argued in support of using modification or intervention programs to be able to change the behavior of huma. According to a majority of them, the use of the above-discussed designs of measuring the metrics of the intervention program is one of the most effective ways of examining an intervention program. It is clear that with a proper procedure one can be able to change the human behaviors which usually have an impact on the social and physical environment.

The results also indicated a change in the behavior of the patient especially after the 8 months that had been set as the time-frame for the intervention programs. The participant was able to exercise more after undergoing the intervention program. After visiting a clinic for normal medical examinations, the patient disease rate had reduced significantly. The participant was prone to heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. However, after the elapse of this period, these risks were considered by the medics to be minimal. Lastly, the frequency of the participant to exercise increased after this period as he became more accustomed to the art of exercising due to the use of the intervention program.

The limitation for this study is that this method may not be suitable for every behavior. Behaviors such as, how many people will respond to this study positively or negatively. Another limitation for this study can be that we cannot use this study if we are interested in group participants, such as a classroom in university/school, or group of work colleagues, because let’s say one reinforcement is changed it means that it has to change for everyone. Another limitation for this study can be that one week for baseline and 2 weeks for intervention may not be enough time and that participant’s may find themselves involved in achieving their goals for short time or they might set up goals that may be hard to achieve and lead to disappointment.