July 2011
7 posts
1 tag
“You’re still the same man, it’s just that your behavioural patterns have...”
– - George Stroumboulopoulos interviewing Bradley Cooper.
You got it George! People don’t change; rather, their behaviour and the environments they find themselves in do.
June 2011
11 posts
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But Will She Still Post Restaurant Reviews? →
The consequence seems harsh for a behaviour we take for granted: expressing our opinion(s), either verbally or via a blog. Whether this is indeed punishment remains to seen. After 30 days will she still be blogging restaurant reviews?
2 tags
Four-term Contingency of the Day: Garbage Pee-yew!
Motivating operation: The garbage stinks.
Antecedent: Proximity to garbage can in the kitchen.
Behaviour: Tie up garbage bag and remove from kitchen.
Consequence: Escape the stink (negative reinforcement).
Another four-term contingency to highlight the role of motivating operations in the occurrence (and non-occurrence) of "everyday" behaviours. Taking the garbage out might be an everyday occurrence depending on how bothered one is by the stink their garbage emits. In my case, it takes a few days before my nose recognizes the smell. Only then does escaping from the actual garbage seem reinforcing. Otherwise, there are plenty of other times I walk by the garbage and don't do anything about it. That however, might be motivated more by avoidance!
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Four-Term Contingency of the Day: Sleep, Oh...
Motivating Operation: I am tired
Antecedent: Sitting on the couch, I see pillow beside me
Behaviour: Lay down on the couch, rest my head on the pillow and have a nap
Consequence: I get some sleep; no longer tired.
Did you notice I added a fourth contingency to today's post? Motivating operations (MOs) alter the value of the potential reinforcer and effect the current frequency of the behaviour. There are many other times when I sit on the couch, notice the pillow beside me but don't lay down; presumably, because I am not tired. In this example however, I was tired. The value of sleep was higher and therefore, laying down behaviour in the presence of the couch and pillow occurred and was reinforced.
Technically, all operant behaviours have these four contingencies at play, but we often do not have enough information to know about possible MO conditions. MO is important to consider when asking ourselves, "Why doesn't person A do behaviour X this time, even though it is the exact same conditions as before?" The environment may be the same, but the person's recent history with a potential reinforcer may have changed whether or not they even want/need the reward the environment/person is prepared to offer.
Some food for thought (but only if you're hungry).
3 tags
Shawn Marie: having a behavior analyst as a... →
smbshawn:
Yesterday my parents were having a garage sale, and they sold these old bunk beds to a newly divorced mother of two kids. She had a small car and had to make many trips from my parents house to her house because her car couldn’t fit it all in at once. My mother’s response to this was, “it is just…
Slowly letting principles of applied behaviour analysis creep into my discussions...
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Arranging antecedents: Material placement
I have a habit of not washing my face in the evening before I go to bed. I know I should, but frankly, I can be quite lazy. By the time I get upstairs and remember, I don’t want to head back downstairs to do it (or rather the environment is lacking in reinforcers on my way down). My solution for now is to re-arrange the antecedent condition by making the cues more apparent in my...
4 tags
Multiple Personalities - Disorder or Behaviour?
When we observe a person in one environment and then another, we may notice the person’s behaviours change. In one environment, perhaps they appear quiet and focused, while in another, they are making jokes and moving about the room from person to person. These behavioural observations are often associated with a personality or a mind-state. For example, the quiet and focused person at work is...
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