Introduction To Psychology Essays - Psychology, Behaviorism

Introduction To Psychology Kristine Thornton Southern Technical College Dr. Andrea Goldstein Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience. Extinction: A basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears. Positive Reinforcer : A stimulus added to the environment that brings about an increase in a preceding response. Negative Reinforcer : An unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be repeated in the future. Punishment: A stimulus that decreases the probability that a previous behavior will occur again. The behavior I am concerned about is my inability to lose 20 pounds. I have gone to a medical weight loss clinic where I lost nearly 30 pounds quickly, but I regained it almost immediately. The trick, I think, to losing the weight was not just caloric restriction but the dietary counseling. Every day I kept a food diary and once a week I was required to weigh in and meet with a counselor who went over my food diary with me and we discussed what I was , and was not doing right. With some tweaks here and there I managed to lose the weight. My cholesterol went down, my blood pressure improved and I even stopped snoring. Now, mind you, I am not out of the "normal" body mass index range, but I am on the upper end of "normal." So technically I am not considered overweight. However, I have an unusually narrow oral aperture, so any extra weight causes sleep apnea, which keeps my husband awake. The situation where I perf orm this behavior most often is when I am at home and either experiencing anxiety or boredom. Additionally, s ometimes after lunch at the office I crave something sweet. My boss is a doctor and likes to bring me treats from the doctor's lounge. I have had to ask him to stop doing this. I do not typically perform this behavior with anyone. It is just something I manage to do on my own. In fact, it happens more often when I am alone. I get a very comforting, happy feeling when I am all cozy on the couch eating a bowl of ice cream, or a chocolate chip cookie is melting in my mouth. I find it hard to describe, but it is probably similar to what a heroin addict feels when he gets that immediate rush coursing through his veins. When I am held accountable for my actions, like when I have to record everything that goes into my mouth and report it to a food counselor each week; that helps me change my behavior. When she tells me I did a great job; that makes me feel like I can keep it up. When my husband tells me how great I look or when my boss comments on what a great job I am doing, that is the kind of positive reinforcement that really helps me; that, and being able to fit into my old cute clothes again. The types of positive reinforcement I could give myself might be treating myself to some new clothes. Shopping for new clothes is always fun when you lose weight. I am in need of some new clothes and I keep telling myself that I will buy them when I lose the weight, but that has not been happening. I do get positive reinforcement from friends and family if I lose a few pounds, but I do not get negative reinforcement for gaining them back. I just give myself negative reinforcement, which is ineffective an d only serves to make me feel worse about myself. Negative reinforcement has proven to be totally ineffective for me. What happens is I feel fatter and uglier than I did before, I feel worthless and depressed and then I just say "screw it" and give up. Then I go eat a bowl of ice cream or a brownie or something to make myself feel better, and then I feel guilty for doing that. It is a vicious cycle . A type of punishment that might work for me might be an electric shock collar