You should by now have signed in and found the page on our web site for the text book - http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 for this week.

After reading the sections, think of all the terms and concepts used in all of section 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5).  Please respond to the following questions and try to use these terms and concepts as you respond to the following questions.

Which section did you like the most? Why? Which section did you like the least? Why? What do you think is the most useful piece of information from section 1.3? Why? Most useful from 1.4? Why? Most useful from 1.5? Why? What are your thoughts on the use of reinforcement? Why? What are your thoughts on the use of punishment? Why?

Prior to reading these sections, what did you think about behavior modification?  Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the sections? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the sections? Why? How has reading the sections changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

By now you should be familiar with the ABC's of behavior. I would like you to find a video clip where reinforcement is being used. Briefly describe the clip and then define the ABC and state if this is positive or negative reinforcement, and include a working url. It might be useful to look back through the blog and see how students from last semester did this.

Repeat the above by finding a clip where punishment is being used.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Web Divergence Activity Week #1 (Due Tuesday)

You should by now have signed in and found the page on our web site for the text book - http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html

Please read sections 1.1 and 1.2 for this week.

After reading section 1.1, please respond to the following questions.

Prior to reading this chapter, what did you think about behavior modification?  Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you really liked that was in the chapter? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the chapter? Why? How has reading the chapter changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?

Token Economy - On Tuesday (week #15) we will cover the use of token economies in class. For this post I would like you to develop a token economy to practice what you learned.

What is your setting?
What behavior class are you going to change?
What are the target behaviors you are going to change though reinforcement (Keep in mind the use of DROs)?
What type of token are you going to use?
What are some considerations for the use of these tokens?
What are you going to use for the backup reinforcers?
What was your rationale for choosing these reinforcers?
What is the token value and how did you select that value?
What are you using for a bank and how did you arrive at that decision?
What are the hours of operation for your bank?
Who will you need to explain your program to?
How will you go about explaining your program (what will you actually say)?
What is your plan for reducing the need for tokens to maintain the target behavior?
Looking back at your token economy you have planned, what are some potential problems you should anticipate and plan for?

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites places or organizations that use or tried to use token economies. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms we are learning into your writing and some material from the lecture on token economies.

1) Please discuss your topic in general, why it interests you (or not) and how it relates to behavior modification.

2) Post at least 2 links to the sites you visited that were most informative about token economies.

3) Discuss how these sites further expanded your understanding of token economies (kind of like a conclusion).

4) Make a list of behavioral terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).

Thanks. 

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 5.5.

1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.

2) Discuss how you might use the premack principle to change the reinforcers related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 5.5.

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 5.4.

1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.

2) Discuss how you can change the antecedants related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 5.4.

You are encouraged to attend this important meeting of the psych club. If you attend and blog about your experiences you can use this for class credit - something that you can add to your portfolio....

  Please announce the following in classes, as appropriate:

"The UNI Psychology Club will be holding its April meeting in Room 112, Seerley Hall, at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, April 5. The meeting will feature election of officers for academic year 2010-2011, details regarding the upcoming volleyball tournament (scheduled for April 24), information about the Psi Chi induction ceremony April 11 at 2:00, and the popular "Registration Gossip" session discussing Fall classes and professors (no faculty allowed!).  Free pizza and pop will be provided.  Any questions should be addressed to President Lisa Hickman: lhickman@uni.edu."

After reading section 5.3 (I'll email that to you) conduct a functional assessment of the target behavior you have decided to use for your project.

1) State the target behavior

2) What are the antecedents to the behavior?

3) What are the consequences to the behavior?

4) How do you think the behavior is functioning? List several hypotheses as to why in the order of most liekly.

5) For the top hypothesis, what might be an intervention you might use to change the frequency of the behavior?

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

"Pearl Jam made a music video for their song "Do The Evolution" and had Todd McFarlane (he created the comic book Spawn) do the animation.  It can be analyzed in behavioral terms in about a million ways." 

"The message is far from subtle.  Broadly speaking, it's just telling us to be very cognizant of the antecedants to our behaviors so that we know whether they ought to be eliciting the behaviors they are (whether we're comfortable with that relationsionship between the A's and our B's); and also to think ahead of the future consequences to those behaviors even if we are.  A lot of this message is similar to the oral sex anti-smoking ad posted some time ago."

-MrPaige

"South Africa says it needs one billion condoms this year, anticipating extra demand from foreign football fans."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8557582.stm

How do you describe this using the ABCs of behavior?

"Mealographer is a simple, easy way to track your nutrition Search a database of foods, record what you are eating, set goals, and track your progress."

http://www.mealographer.com/index.html

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 5.2.

1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.

2) Discuss the rules that you have related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 5.2.

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 5.1.

1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.

2) Discuss how you are going to measure and record your behaviors related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 5.1.

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 4.3.

1) I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms.

2) Discuss the goals that you have related to your behavioral project in terms of the material in section 4.3.

"The researchers found 1,180 "brand placements" in the 200 movies: 427 food brands, 425 beverage brands and 328 brands of food-related retail establishments such as restaurants or convenient stores. Sixty-nine percent of the films contained at least one such product placement, and in those movies, specific brands of foods or beverages were consumed, handled, shown or mentioned an average of 8.6 times."

http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/the-sprite-stuff-of-product-placement-8680/

How can product placement work to control your behavior?

"...a significant proportion, about 15 percent, reported they shopped in corner stores both before and after school, five days a week, consuming up to 3,560 calories per week in junk food and soft drinks. For these children, the corner store is a potential health threat."

http://www.miller-mccune.com/business-economics/little-stores-and-fatter-kids-6818/

What are the ABCs related to this story? In behavioral terms what are people try to do about it?

How would you describe this familiar scene of dealing with tech support in behavioral terms?

Sometimes we want to end an irritating behavior, but accidently reinforce it. From a behavioral perspective what going one here and what might be don about it?

Hi Class - we will be having our mid-term the Thursday before Spring Break. I am in the middle of formulating the exam and would like your input on what you feel is fair game for test. I will seriously take your responses into consideration while making the exam.

1) What topics are fair game to cover?

2) What topics are not fair game to cover?

3) How would you like to be tested?

"Traditional advertisements targeting teens don't affect them. Talking about issues of health, illness or even death, they don't get it," the group's director, Remi Parola, told The Associated Press in an interview. "However, when we talk about submission and dependence, they listen."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/french-oral-sex-anti-smok_n_474909.html

How do advertisements affect behaviors? Why are some adds more effective and changing behaviors than others?

"As part of Lets Move!, the campaign to end childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama is taking on food deserts.  These are nutritional wastelands that exist across America in both urban and rural communities where parents and children simply do not have access to a supermarket.  Some 23.5 million Americans - including 6.5 million children - currently live in food deserts.  Watch the video below and learn what the First Lady is doing to help families in these areas across the country."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/24/taking-food-deserts

How is it that fast foods are an antecedent to obesity? How does the First Lady propose to change these antecedents to change the behaviors associated with obesity? 

We have been putting a great deal of work into using the terms and terminology we have learned so far in our posts and comments. For this exercize I would like you to comment on 3 existing posts (or comments) on the class website. Write the terms you used in your response; count the number of terms and then write "the number of terms are...."

Assume that everything on the website relates to behavior modification. In your response discuss the post or comment in behavioral terms from a behavioral perspective.  

A good example of what I am talking about can be found at:

http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2010/02/a-conversation-with-temple-grandin-audio.html#comments

Once you respond to 3 posts or comments go then write:

1) My first response was on the following post or comment and the number of terms is.....

2) My second response was on the following post or comment and the number of terms is.....

3) My third response was on the following post or comment and the number of terms is.....

4) Add the the numbers from 1, 2, and 3 and write the total number of terms is......

After reading section 4.2 please do the following:

1) Write the class of behavior you are working on for your self-directed behavior project.

2) Decide on 1 behavior you are going to do to help you achieve your goal. This will be the behavior you will be writing down / recording and graphing.

3) Write the behavior as a specific target behavior.

4) State why it is a good target behavior - i.e., how does it fit the requirements of a good target behavior?

5) State how you are going to quantify the behavior - i.e., how are you going to graph the behavior? What will the label on the y-axis of your graph say?

Don't start recording your behavior just yet.

By now you should have read section 4.1 and you should have posted a behavioral class you want to use for your self-directed behavior. If you have not - go back and do this first.

For this post I would like to 1) post the behavioral class you are going to use, and 2) list at least 3 target behaviors you might help  you to achieve your behavioral goal (either reinforce or punish - doens;t matter right now).

Notice in my comment that I haven't given very specific target behaviors - we will go over these again later - for now just put down some behaviors that will help yyou achieve your desired behavior.

When you are done with this section you can read 4.2 which will be due on Tuesday week #8.

Please read the email I sent out before starting this project. If you don't have the email let me know and I'll resend it.

For this assignment simply state what class of behavior you are going to work on for your self-directed behavior project (Recall that we worked on behavioral classes in section 1.5 - go back and review if you need to).

You are not committing yourself to this behavioral class, you can change it later.

When you finish your comment - you can start on the reading sec 4.1 due Friday - http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2010/02/section-31-due-friday.html

By now you should have several weeks worth of data for your eating food project.

Please provide the following:

1) What was your food eating goal?

2) What was your target behavior?

3) How did you record your eating behavior on a day to day basis?

4) What was your baseline behavior? Was it an increasing or decreasing trend?

5) What was your intervention? Did you use reinforcement if you reached your weekly goal? What did you use as a reinforcer?

6) Was your intervention successful? Did the trend line decrease?

7) What did you think of this project? What was the hardest thing about this project?

8) If you were to do another behavioral project what behavior would you work on?

What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites of a topic that interests you and that relates to behavior modification. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms we are learning into your writing.

1) Please discuss your topic in general, why it interests you and how it relates to behavior modification.

2) Post at least 2 links to the sites you visited that were most informative about your topic. For each site discuss the information you found and how it relates to your topic (please don't just say they discussed positive reinforcement - how do they go about it? etc?).

3) Discuss how these sites further expanded your understanding of your topic of interest (kind of like a conclusion).

4) Make a list of behavioral terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).

Thanks. 

For this assignment please find a short video clip online the extinction of a behavior that was previously reinforced.

I would like you to:

1) write a brief description of the video and provide the url

2) Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's (These should be listed out A=; B=; and C=). The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.

Remember we are looking for the shaping of a behavior.

Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminative stimulus? What is the context? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.? Was punishment or reinforcment used/ was it positive or negative? What was the previously reinforced behavior? Was there an extinction burst? Was there variability in the  behavior? Spontaneous recovery? etc.

Use these questions when you formulate your video response - don't simply answer each questions.

3) Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.

This is due Saturday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

For this assignment please find a short video clip online where the shaping of a behavior is occurring.

I would like you to:

1) write a brief description of the video and provide the url

2) Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's (These should be listed out A=; B=; and C=). The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.

Remember we are looking for the shaping of a behavior.

Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminative stimulus? What is the context? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.? Was punishment or reinforcment used/ was it positive or negative?

Use these questions when you formulate your video response - don't simply answer each questions.

3) Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.

This is due Saturday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

For this assignment please find a short video clip online where superstitious behavior is occurring.

I would like you to:

1) write a brief description of the video and provide the url

2) Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's (These should be listed out A=; B=; and C=). The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.

Remember we are looking for superstitious behavior.

Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminative stimulus? What is the context? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.? 

Use these questions when you formulate your video response - don't simply answer each questions.

3) Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.

This is due Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 3.4. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Saturday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 3.3. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

"Making your own food is a great way to save money. There are so many examples of how making your own food is way less expensive (and less wasteful in terms of extra packaging) than buying the food pre-made or pre-packaged. Eating in restaurants can get very pricey, so to that end, the Huffington Post is trying to make it easy for you to keep track of your expenditures during the Week Of Eating In challenge, which starts February 22nd. "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/the-week-of-eating-in-cha_n_455460.html

We have so far discussed the topography and function of a behavior as it relates to a behavioral class. How do the antecedents alter the topography of exercize? Here are some crazy gadgets that are used for exercize.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/13/fitness-gadgets-the-weird_n_461305.html

Discuss the use of these devices and the different types of behavior they elicit.

"...things aren't as cheap as you think."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raj-patel/cheaponomics_b_454057.html

This is an interesting article that explains some of the actual costs of the items we buy and the activities we do. Clearly, after reading this article it may very well change some peoples' behaviors. How would we explain this using behavioral terms and concepts? How does the article function within the ABCs of behavior?

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 3.1. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Saturday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 2.2. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

"Animal scientist Temple Grandin says autism helps her see things as animals do. Grandin talks about her work designing humane slaughter systems for animals, and her unique way of looking at the world."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5165123

1) What aspects of the interview relate to the material we are covering in our class? 2) What terms and concepts did they use correctly (or incorrectly)? 3) What aspect of the interview did you find the most interesting and why?

What I would like you to do - using the format we have for the other video assignments - find a video that includes both reinforcement and punishment. Break it down into the ABCs and discuss the videos in behavioral terms.

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 2.2. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites of a topic that interests you and that relates to behavior modification. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms we are learning into your writing.

1) Please discuss your topic in general, why it interests you and how it relates to behavior modification.

2) Post at least 2 links to the sites you visited that were most informative about your topic. For each site discuss the information you found and how it relates to your topic (please don't just say they discussed positive reinforcement - how do they go about it? etc?).

3) Discuss how these sites further expanded your understanding of your topic of interest (kind of like a conclusion).

4) Make a list of behavioral terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).

Thanks. 

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 2.3. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Friday. I realize that the Thursday and Friday due dates are close together. If you want you can turn in your Friday assignments in on Saturday.

Please include a list at the end of the behavioral terms you used in the comment you posted.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

For this assignment please find a short video clip online where punishment is occurring. Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's (These should be listed out A=; B=; and C=). The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.

Remember we are looking for punishment - the behavior (B) has to decrease in the future as a result of the consequence (C).

Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminitive stimulus? What is the context? Is it positive or negative punishment? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.? 

Use these questions when you formulate your video repsonse - don't simply answer each questions.

Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.

This is due Saturday - however since the Thursday and Friday due dates are so close together I changed the due date.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

http://www.farmville.com

Basic Premise: Plant crops and harvest them to earn money and experience points which will allow you to develop your own personal farm complete with livestock, decorations, equipment, and a home of your choosing.

ABC's-Basic Premise: This farm game offers numerous rewards in order to overtly reinforce people into continuing to play the game for enjoyment purposes (it still makes money through advertisements).  However, it also uses covert behavior modification to increase the likelihood that you will use your credit card to purchase "Farmville Cash" to purchase even cooler buildings, vehicles, and decorations for your farm.  After you realize how long it takes to build a huge farm, why not spend a few bucks to greatly cut down on your time?  After all, time is money...and they'd like some of yours.

What are the ABC's involved with this program? Do you think it is behaviorally sound?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/nashville-to-help-homeles_n_437825.html

What are the producers of this video trying to do? What is the target behavior? How would a behaviorist describe what is going on here? Do you think it is effective?

Here is the writeup on Huffington - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/the-pumps-without-crap-fu_n_432925.html

If you were to leave a comment on the Huffington site what would you say?

It might be easier to just follow the 5 second rule : -)

What are the ABC's here? How would a behaviorist explain this?

For this assignment please find a short video clip online where punishment is occurring. Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's. The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.

Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminitive stimulus? What is the context? Is it positive or negative punishment? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.? 

Use these questions when you formulate your video repsonse - don't simply answer each questions.

Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.

This is due Friday - however since the Thursday and Friday due dates are so close together you can send this in on Saturday if you like.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec 2.1. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Friday. I realize that the Thursday and Friday due dates are close together. If you want you can turn in your Friday assignments in on Saturday.

Please include a list at the end of the behavioral terms you used in the comment you posted.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites of a topic that interests you and that relates to behavior modification. Please try to incorporate the behavioral terms we are learning into your writing.

1) Please discuss your topic in general, why it interests you and how it relates to behavior modification.

2) Post at least 2 links to the sites you visited that were most informative about your topic. For each site discuss the information you found and how it relates to your topic (please don't just say they discussed positive reinforcement - how do they go about it? etc?).

3) Discuss how these sites further expanded your understanding of your topic of interest (kind of like a conclusion).

4) Make a list of behavioral terms you used in this post (this is to help get you focused on using behavioral terms in your regular writings).

Thanks. 

Please use this to comment on your reading for sec1.5. I'll leave it up to you about what and how you would like to comment, however I would ask that you attempt to write using behavioral terms. I will also use this as a way to 'time stamp' that you read the section on or before Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions,

--Dr. M

"After multiple re-watchings of the Legally Blonde film series, we knew that sorority sisters enjoy dressing alike, but we never realized how strict the undergrad stylistas were! IvyGate received seven pages of the supposed dress code requirements for Pi Phi's Cornell chapter."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/sorority-sisters-fashion_n_433491.html

This is a great video one of Kim's student's sent her for her motivation class. How would a behaviorist discuss the role or function of an inspirational speech? Do you think it might be an establishing operation or what?

For this assignment please find a short video clip online. Based on what we covered in class on Thursday, I would like you to identify the main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources. If you can, tell us if it is reinforcement or punishment and what you base that on (why). When you post make sure you 1) first describe the video in regular lay terms, 2) describe it in behavioral terms (ABCs - use as many of the terms we have already learned so far), 3) is it reinforcement or punishment, and 4) Post the url.

Use the numbering when you make your post.

I will provide an example in a comment below....

How does this relate to what we are learning about behavior?

"The Commitment Contract concept is based on two well known principles of behavioral economics:

1.People don't always do what they claim they want to do, and
2.Incentives get people to do things"

http://www.stickk.com/

What is this site about? What behavioral principles do they use? Do you think this is a good site? What could you do to imporve on it?

"Bigger isn't necessarily better, especially when you want to live sustainably. At least that's what these small home enthusiasts live by. Giving up the luxury of space, tiny-home owners and builders opt instead for a more eco-friendly, less resource intense way of living. By building homes with high ceilings and planting them in open spaces, they still maintain the illusion of space around them. These homeowners are using less heat, electricity and raw materials -- and they might just make you reconsider how important space really is to you. What do you think-- could you live in a 10 by 10 foot space?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/the-worlds-tiniest-homes_n_425400.html?slidenumber=3uc%2Bv%2BgZERo%3D&&&slideshow

What do you think about these small houses? How would the alter / modify a person's behavior that lived there? What kind of changes might a person go through living in a small home?

"Stack didn't know how to "manage" a company, but he did know about the principals of competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principals he created his own style of management -- open-book management. He had a dream to create a business of business people. Stack realized that the payoff would be enormous: a company that was consistently able to outperform the market."

http://www.greatgame.com/

I have read the book and recommend it to anyone interested in applying behavioral principles to business. This is not IO - it is about making work fun and challenging using what works behaviorally.

What do you think about the site? Read the book or another one they have in their books store (http://www.greatgame.com/bookstore/bookstore.php?category=2) - write a report for extra credit if you like. Keep in mind you can probably get these usedon Amazon.

"Nutricate Corporation is a technology-enabled health and wellness solutions company founded in Santa Barbara in 2004. Nutricate, meaning "to nutritionally educate", helps consumers make smarter choices. Nutricate aspires to help individuals make managing a healthy lifestyle fun, easy & rewarding."

http://www.nutricate.com/

What is up with this site? How does it differ from the ones I just posted? What behavioral principles are used with this program? Do you think this will be a success?

"It's simple: join or organize a pool with friends or co-workers, or set up a pool for your favorite charity. Everyone puts their money into escrow (there is no "house" cut). After a pre-arranged period of time, whoever's closest to his or her target weight*, percentagewise, takes the pot."

http://www.makemoneylosingweight.com/

What is this about? Is it legit? What behavioral principles are they using to help people lose weight?

"Shedding those extra winter pounds can be a struggle. But some new websites can help you get motivated by making it a bit of a game. How about challenging others to a weight loss race? If you're betting to lose, all it costs is time and commitment. (news write up from cbs: http://cbs2chicago.com/health/Shed.Pounds.Faster.2.984102.html)"

Linke to Fat Bet: http://www.Fatbet.net

What is this site all about? How does it work? What behavioral strategies do they use to help people lose weight? Are they making it fun?

What I would like you to do for this homework is to have some fun and find some websites of a topic that interests you and post it here as a comment. At this point I am not as concerned with exactly how you compose the actual post for this activity. I am more concerned that you have a meaningful experience searching out and learning about your topic.

Thanks. 

Extra assistance is available this month through Quitline Iowa and the UNI Employee Wellness Program. Quitline Iowa (1-800-784-8669) will provide four weeks (rather than its usual two) of nicotine replacement therapy and UNI will provide another two weeks for employees participating in its Tobacco Cessation Program. Contact Kathy.Green@uni.edu, 3-6921.

If you want to quit somking or chewing behaviors, you can get some assistance. If you want to document it you can get class credit.

Or if you just want to find out how the program works - you can get credit for that as well...

Obesity Research

Obesity has become as serious a contributor to the burden of disease and shortening of healthy life as smoking, according to new work published this week in American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Another recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that health effects from obesity may soon overtake improvements to the average lifespan resulting from declines in smoking. We'll get the latest on research into obesity, and talk about weight and health.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201001082

What are some of the environmental factors of obesity? What are the cosequences of obesity? How is obesity measured? What are lifestyle behaviors? What are some of the suggestions on how to change these behaviors?

(Also read http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/01/06/obesity-smoking-public-health.html)

How do behavioral principles transfer into virtual space? How do we learn how to interact in a new virtual environment? Are virtual spaces operant chambers? How is a cash economy different from a token economy?

http://www.entropiauniverse.com/

A police cheif brings food to work every time his picture gets in the paper. How does this relate to what we know about behavior modification?

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=splendid_table/2009/12/25/splendidtable_20091225_64&starttime=00:35:41&endtime=00:34:40

Fowler's stint on the ABC reality show last month, in which he called a rural Missouri woman spending two weeks in his San Francisco home stupid and simple, has made him famous in the worst way.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/21/san-francisco-man-in-mass_n_168797.html

How do they train the parrot to do the act? How do they make use of associations to train Einstien? What do we know about animal training that might lend insight into this bird behavior? What are some other videos that show the variety of behaviors parrots can be trained to do?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/13/friday-the-13th-13-supers_n_356892.html?slidenumber=wfN2nTuB%2Bag%3D

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it's change for the better.

http://thefuntheory.com/

Can we get students to be better students by making it fun? What is fun from a behavioral perspective? What can you make better by making it fun? How would you go about measuring it?

How do signs control our behavior? How can we explain some of these signs from a behavioral perspective? How do rules control our behaviors?

http://www.funny-games.biz/pictures/signs-pictures.html

(February 27, 2008) Carrie Armel, research associate at the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University, discusses the use of behavioral sciences to address climate change and energy security issues.

Armel discusses how people can go about changing thier behaviors as solutions, but this is not from a behavioral perspective. How would a behaviorist approach the issue of behavioral solutions for climate and energy change? What part of her talk would best relate to the behaviorist approach.

http://www.youtube.com/stanford#p/u/30/8wY7rj-fDGY

We wrote this book specifically for our students in the behavior modification class at UNI. The book is set for publication this summer with the Markham Press Publishing Co. The book is a combination reader / workbook designed to make this class a more enjoyable experience. As you read you will stop and provide written interaction with the book.

For this semester we will be providing you with PDF copies of the book. Each section will be posted as they are ready to the book's web page (link). Keep an eye on the reading schedule as we will regularly devote class time to meeting in groups to discuss the readings and your progress with the readings.

The sections of the book are designed to be short -something you can read in one sitting. We welcome your feedback (comments, critiques, and criticisms) as valuable information that will only make this a better book as it goes to press.

Cubicles versus traditional work space - how do the different work spaces elicit different behaviors? How would a behaviorist go about designing a work space?

Preface 

Goal of this book - The student should:

·         Understand what behavior modification is and how it is used in a variety of settings

·         Understand the ABCs of behavior and how the ABCs relate to behavioral change

·         Understand the difference between a goal and a behavior

·         Be able to set goals and define behaviors that will lead to those goals for themselves and for others

·         Monitor the progress of behaviors towards their goal

·         Record and graph behavioral data

·         Understand the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning although this book is primarily about operant behavior

·         Understand the scientific nature / basis of behavior modification

·         Be fluent in the language of behavior

·         Be able to apply what they learn to a variety of settings

·         Be able to maintain a newly learned behavior under a variety of new contexts