Please use the scoring guide as a reference to complete the assignment. Proficient is the minimum grading accepted
Preparation
Select Option A or Option B below as the focus of your assessment:
Option A
Carrie Ann has a tendency to procrastinate before completing her assignments. Between family, job, and schoolwork, she has a busy schedule and often does not feel up to the task of trying to understand what is expected for assignments. Between her busy schedule and anxiety about doing the tasks required for assignments, she tends to wait until the day before an assignment is due to begin work on it. Because her work is rushed, she ends up not doing her best work. She would very much like to begin her work sooner, but each time she has an assignment due she ends up repeating the procrastination. Carrie Ann has decided to use operant conditioning principles to help her develop better habits in completing assignments. Carrie Ann will need to develop a target goal and plan for herself.
Option B
Identify a goal that you have for yourself. It could be personal, financial, professional, educational, or health-related. Think specifically and realistically about the goal. For example, it would not be realistic to plan to lose 20 pounds in one week. Once you have identified your specific and realistic goal, think about how operant conditioning behavioral learning principles can be used to help you reach the goal. Create a plan for meeting the goal by applying operant conditioning behavioral learning principles.
Instructions for Both Option A and Option B
Create a change plan for meeting the goal in the option you chose. Include the following information in your change plan:
- Provide an introduction that discusses operant conditioning behavioral learning principles and how they are relevant to changing behavior.
- Describe a specific target goal for a behavior change plan.
- Describe your behavioral plan.
- Describe how the concept of shaping (a behavioral learning theory term) can be employed to help in incremental progress toward the goal.
- Describe how the behavior can be shaped through operant conditioning principles.
- Identify and apply specific reinforcers (both primary and secondary) you could apply to make progress toward the goal.
- Apply a schedule of reinforcement that would be used for each reinforcer that is part of the plan. For example, a person losing weight might treat himself to a movie as a reward for the first week in which he exercised for at least 40 minutes each day. In this case, the movie would be a positive primary reinforcer delivered on a fixed ratio schedule.
- Using information from at least two scholarly sources, describe what research shows about how operant conditioning can be used to change behavior.
Apply the following behavioral terms in the change plan:
- Shaping.
- Positive reinforcement (you can also use negative reinforcement if it applies to your goal).
- Use one or both of the following in your plan (at least one must be included):
- Primary reinforcers.
- Secondary reinforcers.
- Schedule of reinforcement (include one or more of the following):
- Fixed ratio.
- Variable ratio.
- Fixed interval.
- Variable interval.
Additional Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Ensure that resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.
- Length: 2–3 pages.
Please use the scoring guide as a reference to complete the assignment. Proficient is the minimum grading accepted
