Section 4 - Self-Directed Behavior
Now that we have taken a look back at the ‘roots’ of behaviorism and how it all started, let’s take a look at how we can use behavior modification to develop desirable behaviors in ourselves using self-directed behavior.
Because behavior modification takes place in a variety of settings, in our classroom we have limited occasion to see how behavior modification works first hand with others. We can however, explore what we are learning about behavior modification on ourselves.
Using behavior modification techniques in this manner is commonly referred to as self-directed behavior. The difference between self-directed behavior and the type of behavior modification you might find in an elementary school classroom or in animal training is that we rely on ourselves to manage the behavior and in most cases administer the consequences, which have previously discuss as self-reinforcement.
The goal of an effective self-directed behavior program is to have people acquire better, more adaptive patterns of behaviors, that will eventually occur automatically and routinely as part of daily life.
We often find it surprising that many people don’t think they can change deep rooted behaviors they have. Many people seem to think, “I am what I am and I can’t change that.” However, if behavior modification principles actually work (which they do), behavior modification should be effective in changing our own behaviors if we go about it using what we have learned so far about behavior modification.
You might also say, “I am perfect the way I am.” And that is possibly true. Just recall the 4 reasons why we should change behaviors: 1) They bother us, 2) They bother other people, 3) They might lead to trouble later on, and 4) They are illegal. For the purpose of self-directed behavior we will most likely be dealing with reasons #1 and #2.
Notice the way #1 and #2 are worded, ‘they bother us or other people.’ This would lead us to want to reduce these bothersome behaviors. However, to reduce a behavior we would need to use some form of punishment. Why punish when we can reinforce?
For the self-directed behavior project, we should either think of something we would like to increase doing such that we could reinforce that behavior, or we should think of behaviors that are incompatible with the bothersome behaviors and reinforce the incompatible behaviors. Reinforcing incompatible behaviors is called differential reinforcement. We have so far discusses differential reinforcement of other (DRO), however in this chapter we will also discuss other effective types of differential reinforcement.
In these next sections we will be discussing how people attempt (and succeed) to improve themselves by setting goals and resolutions and then
using behavior modification principles to achieve these goals. We will also discuss how to set up a behavioral management system.1
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Section 4.1 – Need for self-directed behavior
In the previous sections we discussed how people direct the behaviors of others using behavior modification principles. In this section we discuss using behavior modification principles on ourselves. We can view this as behaviors directed by others (other-directed) and behaviors directed by ourselves (self-directed).
Other-directed behavior is necessary when we are managing classrooms, low functioning adults, marketing, and other situations such as work safety. With other-directed behavior, it is others that control the availability of reinforcers. When behaviors are directed by others, many students feel that it is manipulative and sort of creepy (think about Skinners book “Beyond Freedom and Dignity”). As such, it appears that there are circumstances and contexts where behavior modification by others is more generally accepted than in other contexts. We might also think of some situations where we don’t have enough self-control to administer the reinforce ourselves and must rely on others to do so. For example we may want to cut down on certain foods. If they are freely accessible we may end up eating more that we wanted. However, if someone else is responsible for cook and portion control, it might be easier to adhere to behavior modification plan.
Self-directed behavior occurs when we exert our free will to choose a behavior that we want to increase or decrease. With self-directed behavior, we are free to make our own goals and structure our own behavioral interventions and contingencies, this is the basis of self-directed behavior.
Why use self-directed behavior? Because we all have goals that we want to reach. Think about how at the beginning of every year many of us make New Year’s Resolutions. Just Google “New Year’s Resolutions” and millions of web pages will come up (63,800,000 to be exact).
Why is it our custom once a year to determine a behavior that we want to change? Why not other times in the year? What is wrong with now? We always seem to start a diet tomorrow – why not now? And why are we not ever really given the tools to be successful at making these changes? It is almost as though we believe that by simply making a resolution, the
behavioral change will follow. This is not usually the case, as there are typically more unfulfilled resolutions that those kept.
What is it that we all try to do by setting resolutions and why is it that so many resolutions are destined to fail? Perhaps we can gain insight into this important question by taking a behavioral perspective.
Just what are some resolutions we are likely to make? According to one of the millions of web sites that came up with the Google search here is one list 1) Spend more time with family and friends, 2) Get fit, 3) Lose weight, 4) Quit smoking, 5) Enjoy life more, 6) Quit drinking, 7) Get out of debt, 8) Learn something new, 9) Help others, and finally 10), Get organized. Because of the way these resolutions are worded some will require a reinforcement procedure while others will require a punishment procedure.
One reason people might have trouble with keeping resolutions is that their resolutions tend to be broad representing a behavioral class rather than a specific target behavior. Most of the resolutions listed above certainly are broad and therefore vague.
Look at item #1, spending more time with family and friends. What specifically does it mean to spend more time with family and friends? a) Watch TV with them? b) Play XBOX live and interact over the internet? c) Call on the phone? d) Go out drinking with your pals? And how much time is going to be spent with family and how much time with friends? What is the construct that we plan to use for spending more time with
family? And if we are to monitor our progress using a graph, what unit of measurement are we going to record (in the Y-axis)?
By now we know with behavior modification we need a clear concise measureable target behavior. For a target behavior of spending more time with family, how about a) Rent a good movie that we both like and watch it with my sister once every two weeks, b) Every Friday night at 8:00 before I go out, play XBOX live with my little brother back home in Independence, Iowa for 50 minutes, c) Call Mom every Sunday at 6:00pm for 20 minutes while she is cooking dinner, or d) call Dad every other Saturday for 10 minutes (any time because he is always busy and doesn’t talk much on the phone anyway). Notice that all of the target behaviors listed can be measured by simply putting a check mark whether it was done or not.
Notice that the behaviors are not only specific, they are manageable within the person’s life in that they take into account available time and other things the person is doing (like playing XBOX before they go out on Friday, but early enough where little brother doesn’t stay up past bed time).
What about resolution number 2 – get fit – what is wrong with that from a behavioral perspective? Again, too broad – what does it specifically mean to get fit? What are the specific behaviors involved in getting fit? What does it look like when you see someone getting fit?
Why is it important to have specific target behaviors for our resolutions? First of all, if we are going to reinforce or punish a behavior, we have to be able to identify the behavior so we know if it occurred or not. The behavior should be so specific that anyone would recognize it if they were told what the target behavior was. When you call your Mom at 6:00 on Sunday for 20 minutes, it is unequivocal since it is an obvious behavior and it can’t be mistaken for a different behavior. In fact you will probably have record of it on your cell phone.
Reinforcement or Punishment? Several of the items on the resolution list are categories of behaviors that would likely fall into the realm of punishment because we want to reduce the frequency of that behavior. Know that we know about DROs, we know that we can usually find a behavior which can be reinforced that is incompatible with a behavior that we want to decrease. For example item #4 ‘Quit Drinking.’ Again, ‘Quit drinking’ is vague, because we assume it refers to alcohol, however, students have used the self-directed techniques to quit drinking soda pop, caffeine, and energy drinks as well. Some people may even want to quit drinking coffee or chocolate milk in the morning.
Another question you need to ask is do I want to quit all together or do I simply want to reduce my drinking? Rather than quitting drinking diet soda pop, Kim reduced it to one Diet Pepsi a day. Do you want to quit all at once – ‘cold turkey’? Or do you want to do a gradual reduction?
Defining a target behavior. In this next exercise, pick a target behavior for exactly what it is you want to quit when you say you want to quit drinking (if you don’t want to quit drinking that is OK you can make believe). Remember to be as specific as possible!
Next list three alternative behaviors that you could differentially reinforce, that would function to reduce the drinking behavior you listed above because the alternative behavior is incompatible with the one you listed above.
See how easy it is to convert an undesirable behavior? Converting a behavior from one that would ordinarily require punishment into a behavior you can reinforce that will lead to the same outcome is easy and typically much more desirable.
Look over the list of your alternate behaviors. How specific are they? Are they good target behaviors that could be easily identified if and when they occur? How would you go about measuring them and marking them on a graph as did Thorndike when he graphed the number of seconds it took for the cat to escape the puzzle box.
While it may not seem that we have made too much progress on our self-directed behavior. In fact defining a good target behavior that we can reinforce is probably the most important step in changing our behaviors. In the follows section we will teach you about the other steps involved in self directed behavior.
In Summary:
• Behaviors can be directed by others or by ourselves.
• When others direct behaviors, it can feel manipulative. When we self-direct we feel as though we are exerting free will.
• With self-directed behavior we set our own goals and administer our own reinforcers (or punishers).
• Some New Years resolutions fail because they are too broad lacking in specific target behaviors.
• Some New Years resolutions fail because they involve punishment rather than reinforcement.
• It is better to redefine alternative behaviors that can be reinforced, but will still function to reduce the original target behavior. This is referred to as differential reinforcement of other (DRO).