Behavioural Modification Report: Modifying Habits Through Operant Conditioning

Abstract

The current study aims in designing and implementing a self-management programme in reducing the habit of hair touching behaviour. Operant conditioning in the form of positive punishment, by means of a continuous reinforcement schedule will be used to alter this behaviour. The experiment will last a total of eight weeks. The first two weeks were assigned to observing baseline behaviour, void of intervention. The conditioning procedure occurred from weeks three to six, followed by the post-conditioning behaviour, with no intervention, for weeks seven and eight. The results reflected a significant reduction in hair touching behaviour, proving the effectiveness of operant conditioning in modifying habits and behaviour.

Introduction

The behaviour that is being corrected in this study is excessive hair touching. Excessive hair touching behaviour refers to touching, twirling or even pulling of hair. Such behaviours are often associated with the feeling of nervousness or anxiety, where an anxious individual finds the need to touch their hair excessively to soothe themselves. Excessive hair touching is a form of body focused repetitive behaviours and can lead to serious consequences if allowed to continue. Thus, the aim of this study is to monitor and reduce the frequency of excessive hair touching.

Learning is the enduring change in the way one responds based on their experiences and is attributed to a change in the mechanisms of behaviour. Learning is required to maintain the reduced frequency of hair touching behaviour. In this context, learning will take the form of operant conditioning, employed by positive punishment. In operant conditioning, the individual learns to operate on an environment to produce a consequence. Operant conditioning is shaped by Thorndike’s Law of Effect, which states that the behaviour is controlled by its consequence, in which the current study follows.

Positive punishment is an aversive environmental consequence that makes a behaviour less likely to occur. In the context of the current study, positive punishment will be one snap of a rubber band to the wrist when the participant touches her hair. The intended effect is for the participant to associate hair touching to a negative consequence, thus reducing the probability of it occurring

Balliet et. al. (2011) conducted a meta-analysis revolving around the effects of reward and punishment, and the relationship between reward or punishment and cooperation. His results revealed that punishment had a slightly stronger effect than reward and was an effective promoter of cooperation. Thus, this article justifies the use of positive punishment as a suitable reinforcer.

Nakano (1990) conducted an experiment on operant self-control procedure in modifying Type A behaviour. The procedures included self-monitoring, self-evaluation and self-reinforcement. Her results revealed that operant self-control procedures were an effective method of modifying behaviour. Thus, this article supports the theory of operant conditioning by the self in aiding behavioural modification.

Two hypotheses were formulated for this experiment. Firstly, it is hypothesized that excessive hair touching behaviour will be reduced as a result of positive punishment using the theoretical basis of operant conditioning. Secondly, during the post-conditioning phase, it is hypothesised that hair touching behaviour will increase again, due to spontaneous recovery.

Method

The subject used in this study was a 19-year-old Singaporean female, who resided in Singapore her entire life. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences in James Cook University. The subject has no chronic physical or mental health issues and leads a moderately healthy life style. The habit of hair touching is often an unconscious desire to reduce the stress she feels. The subject does not have any chronic or clinical anxiety to create such behaviour but could be caused by minor daily and personal stressors. No previous treatment has been administered to reduce the habit.

Design

The theoretical basis of the study is operant conditioning, while adopting the use of positive punishment. The independent variable (IV) was the presence of positive punishment, operationalised by a snapping a rubber band to the wrist. Consequently, the dependent variable (DV) was the change in hair touching behaviour. Hair acts as a contextual cue in this experiment, given the mere sight of hair brings about a habitual response to touch. The rationale of this study is to test the effectiveness of operant conditioning in reducing a certain behaviour, with the aid of positive punishment.

Material

The positive punishment used a rubber band worn on the wrist of the participant. A log book that came in the form of an excel sheet was used to record the frequency of hair touching behaviour.

Procedure

The observation of baseline behaviour occurred in weeks one and two. No intervention was carried out to correct behaviour. The aim of the baseline behaviour period was to note the frequency of the original behaviour without intervention.

The conditioning phase occurred in weeks three to six. Operant conditioning was used in this phase where positive punishment was being administered to reduce hair touching behaviour. Positive punishment came in the form of snapping a rubber band against the subject’s wrist. For each time the subject touched her hair, she would have to self-administer a punishment by snapping the rubber band against her wrist. This action would occur whenever she touched her hair within the conditioning phase.

The post-conditioning phase occurred in weeks seven and eight. No conditioning was given during this phase. The aim of the post conditioning phase was to note the frequency and maintenance of hair touching behaviour after conditioning, and signs of spontaneous recovery.

In all eight weeks, frequency of hair touching behaviour was recorded daily.

Results

During the baseline behaviour phase (weeks one and two), the daily mean frequency of hair touching behaviour is 36. 6, with a standard deviation of 5. 4 (M= 36. 6, SD= 5. 4).

During the conditioning phase (weeks three to six), the daily mean frequency of hair touching behaviour is 28. 5, with a standard deviation of 5. 7 (M= 28. 5, SD= 5. 7). Upon analysis, there is a significant decrease of 8. 1 in the mean hair touching behaviour from the baseline behaviour phase.

During the post-conditioning phase (weeks seven and eight), the daily mean frequency of hair touching behaviour is 23. 6, with a standard variation of 4. 1 (M= 23. 6, SD= 4. 1). Upon analysis, there is a decrease of 13 in mean hair touching behaviour from the baseline behaviour phase.

Discussion

Both hypotheses proposed have been proven true by the above results. Operant conditioning by virtue of positive punishment is possible, and spontaneous recovery did indeed occur.

Wood and R¨unger (2015) conducted research on the psychology of habit, explaining the factors that could cause a habit to arise. Habits are constructed from instrumental learning and is modulated by reward, with contextual cues as a stimulator. It is possible to impair habits by means of contextual shift and disrupting goal directed responding (operant conditioning).

Limitations

A single participant causes the sample to be small and unrepresentative of the population. Albeit our results favouring the view that operant conditioning is able to modify hair touching behaviour, this statement is not valid in the context of the population.

The self-implementation of conditioning and punishment possibly affected the internal validity of the experiment. Many components of the experiment were not strictly controlled, such as the intensity of pain caused by the snap of the rubber band. In other words, internal validity was compromised to ensure external validity. In addition, pain is highly modifiable by expectation. Since the self-administered punishment came in the form of pain, the mere expectation of pain conceivably reduced the effectiveness of punishment.

Implications

The small sample size has caused the results of the study to be largely invalid as it is unrepresentative of the population. There is an increased probability that significant results are an account of chance as there is a lack of subjects to show trends (Faber & Fonseca, 2014). The results are only applicable to the current subject and invalid in the context of the population.

Self-implemented punishments reduce the validity of the procedures, possibly affecting the virtue of the results. Values from the results could vary greatly from a situation where conditioning had a higher internal validity and stricter procedures. Additionally, events such as spontaneous recovery could have ensued due to the low validity of implementations.

Future Studies

The observed pattern in behaviour and spontaneous recovery could have been due to the conditioning schedule that was set. Only a continuous reinforcement schedule was tested in the current experiment. However, future studies could explore the effectiveness of alternative conditioning schedules that are theoretically more successful, such as a variable ratio schedule.

The effectiveness of punishment is often debatable and is subjective between individuals. Recommendations include the study of implementing the use of reinforcement to reward desired behaviours instead.

In the current study, conditioning came only in the form of physical stimuli to reduce undesirable behaviour. In addition to physical stimuli, a recommendation is to incorporate the use of mental stimulation and cognitive behaviour theories to further to bring about an ideal outcome. Such processes include applying intrinsic motivation as an inclination towards behavioural modification.

Conclusion

The current study has demonstrated operant conditioning as possible way of reducing hair touching behaviour, yet not completely effective due to the emergence of spontaneous recovery. Despite the experiment containing several critical flaws, it has brought in view many insightful fields of related research. Little research has been conducted on conditioning as a method of reducing habits like hair touching behaviour, despite public desire to reduce it. Thus, successful further research on this form of learning, with similar intentions, could be applied to the general population.

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