Week 5 (19 April 2009 to 25 April 2009)
Hello everyone. Thank you all for the advice. The plan underwent some adjustments throughout the week, and I have made some improvement (exercised for 4 days). I discontinued the use of a journal although I am keeping track of the progress. And what else, since this is an operant conditioning assignment I have been using actual rewards and punishments.
19 of April: Nothing
20 of April: Workout
21 of April: Workout
22 of April: Workout
23 of April: Workout
24 of April: Nothing
25 of April: Nothing
I have ceased using the Daily Show in the program since it proved to be useless. As a reward, I get the pleasure of knowing that one day I’ll pay less in health care costs. Actually, there are no longer any rewards in the program that can be measured. They’re gone, they don’t work for me.
I only use punishments now: for instance, on Friday I was supposed to run, but since it didn’t happen I punished myself by not going on AIM. That’s the only thing I could think of that might really affect the behavior running. Another punishment is a cold shower. I have only used it once, on Friday, and I will continue to use it until this is finished.
Blah
Operant conditioning works more effectively when done on a person, there really isn’t a commitment when a person does it to him/her self. I believe if people worked in groups to use the program on each other then we would see something that could work.
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5 comments:
I think I disagree. I thought that at first too, but maybe you can try using rewards that are immediate. That way you have something to look forward to in the near future(right after you work out). I am going to try this, and I hope it works. But maybe you're just more of a punishment type of guy :)
Hi Jose, I like the cold shower idea. Winston is using it also, and it is working well for him. Great job on the four work outs this week! Lisa
Yay! congrats on a good week! It definitely is a great step in the right direction. I'm glad that you found the use of a cold shower to try and help change the behavior. You appear to be intrinsically motivated and I think rewards that are extrinsic won't work on you. The idea preventing future visits to the hospital is a good one. ha ha maybe something like being able to run and use your knees like the 60-80 year old people at 24hr Fitness can motivate you as well!But I do think that finding a reward will help along the way when you get tired of punishments ;) or maybe like Bethany said, you are more of a punishment person. In that case find something that's really annoying and try working with that. Good luck!
Hello Jose,
I hope you find a motivating reward! Using punishments only might not be too effective... Why did you stop using a journal?
I agree that this experiment would be FAR more effective if we were conditioning each other...but then we might change our behavior not because of the program but to impress the other person or something.
It's great that you exercised for four days! Is there anything that motivated you to exercise, that can be used as a reinforcement/punishment? Or was it just a good week?
Keep it up!
I agree with Bethany. Don't give up on rewards. I think they motivate people more than the idea of avoiding punishment. Thinking about the future benefits is great but maybe you should think what the present can bring you too.
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