PSYC 305 1st Edition Exam 2 Study Guide Chapters 3 4 Watson Tharp Ch 3 Obstacles to Self Observation Don t remember past accurately Memories are affected by a certain mood Self assessments are often inaccurate Faulty perception of one s own behavior What we believe and what is true may not be the same Importance of noticing small changes Without careful records we may not notice the small advances or consistent errors Why does self change depend on accurate observation Self observation provides info feedback this allows gradual improvement Knowing the truth allows you to correctly adjust a newly developing skill Structured Diary A record kept of targets for change antecedents and consequences Answers the questions Who what where when why What can be recorded for Antecedents Behaviors and Consequences Antecedents o Who what where when thoughts feelings any self talk o Actions emotions feelings Behaviors o Actions thoughts emotions Consequences o Actions or feelings as a result of the behavior Advantages of recording after a target behavior occurs If you delay in making entries in your structured diary its difficult to remember all of the important details Details are needed in order to see what effect the thoughts have on actions as feelings Importance of a structured diary The importance of keeping a structured diary is to find out which situations affect your behavior Shows you what you need to change Encourages you to think about WHY you are doing certain things Importance of recording success and failures Positive self recording o Keeping track of success Negative self recording o Keeping track of failures Recording only failures is discouraging may cause you to give up on your target goal o Those who only record failures are likely to stop self observation all together Recording positive behaviors and negative behaviors allows you to see PROGRESS and PROBLEMS Frequency Easiest kind of record keeping to count how often you do something Advantages of rating target emotions feeling Examples Allows you to substitute the behaviors that have to same good effects without the bad side effects o Ex rate how stressed you felt during a certain activity Four rules of self observation Do the recording when the behavior occurs not later Be accurate and strict in your counting Include all instances of the target Keep the recording system simple fit it into your usual routine Keep written records How is self observation reactive Behavior reacts to the observation Typically when someone is being observed behaviors tend to change they may increase or decrease a certain behavior because they are being observed Reactivity The state of being reactive when observing a certain behavior How can reactivity be used to your advantage It can help eliminate or diminish unwanted behaviors How to practice paying attention and in what situation How to record behaviors that are performed absentmindedly Deliberately practice performing the problem behavior while consciously attending to it How to record behaviors that are happening while other things are happening Have an item or routine that you do when you find yourself performing the unwanted behavior Such as moving dried peas to a certain pocket to keep track of the behavior you re trying to change in order to document it later What is reliability and how can it be increased Tactics for increasing reliability o Make direct observations at the time the behavior occurs o Have careful definitions of the target o Practice paying attention to the behavior o Have a simple recording method o Use cues to remind you to record o Ask others to remind you to record o Have a self reward plan to encourage recording What s the baseline period how long should you record the baseline Baseline is the beginning point used to evaluate progress You make self observations but don t engage in any efforts to change The 1st records constitute a baseline against which future changes can be evaluated The baseline period should be continued until it shows a clear pattern Written storage records How to increase self awareness Looking in the mirror Video taping self Ask a friend to observe you Making a graph REVIEW Watson Tharp Ch 4 4 Elements of self controlling systems Standards for our behavior Sensors to see what our behavior actually is Comparisons are the things made between standards and sensors Activation brings a change Limitations of cybernetic theory Psychological and behavioral systems are more complex than mechanical systems In complex human behavior the standard or goal is adjusted continuously as one moves closer toward the goal and better understands the real conditions that the goal entails Activation is not always possible Not all human behavior is self regulated Developmental stages in learning new behaviors Control by others Control by self Automatization Sub vocal speech Mental speech message that causes a reaction Rule governed behavior A self spoken rule of conduct that guides interpretations of experiences and sets standards against which actual behavior is a compared Often taught directly from others modeled by others or developed through learning experience Operant behavior and what affects it Behaviors affected by their consequences Positive reinforce A consequence that maintains and strengthens behavior by its added presence Negative reinforce A consequence that strengthens behavior by being subtracted from the situation Concept of contingency Conditions necessary for a reinforce to strengthen a behavior A stimulus only functions as a reinforcer only if it occurs after a certain response Rewarding yourself only after performing the desired behavior reinforces and strengthens the behavior Escape and avoidance learning and how they differ Escape learning behaviors that terminate an unpleasant consequence Avoidance learning behaviors that remove the possibility of an unpleasant consequence In escape learning the unpleasantness is actually delivered in avoidance learning the consequence is avoided Effect of punishment on frequency of behavior Behaviors that are punished will occur less often 2 types of punishment Type 1 an unpleasant consequence Type 2 the loss of something pleasant Difference between negative reinforcement and punishment Negative reinforcement strengthens an act in punishment behaviors probabilities are reduced in one of 2 ways a an unpleasant event follows a behavior b a pleasant event is withdrawn following a behavior Extinction A behavior