Behavior Modification

Introduction-

Water makes up 75% of human body. It is the most important ingredient in our bodies. Today many people ignore drinking water and concentrate more into the carbonated drinks. One of the main reasons I would think people drink more carbonated drinks (such as sodas and sport drinks) is because of the way a company hype up their products and use their marketing strategies to influence people into buying them. Many benefits come out of drinking water. First, it quenches one's thirst much better than any carbonated drinks. Second, it keeps one's skin clear and healthy looking. In addition, it protects the human body from several diseases. Many people choose drinking sodas and sports drinks than water because water does not have much of a taste and carbonated drinks are flavored and tasteful. I guess I am one of those people who has being caught on to the hype of the soda companies. I do not really drink much water I would say I barely drink two cups a day, but I know the how good water is for my body. So I am modifying my behavior by adding more water to my diet.

Target Goal-

I have being drinking a lot of sodas and sport drinks, and maybe barely two cups a day of water. I guess I am one of those people who care more about the taste then its contents but I have to change to have a longer lasting health. I know the advantages and benefits of water so I am going to reduce drinking carbonated drinks and concentrate more on drinking water. One of the benefits I see that comes out of drinking water is I will be saving a lot of money on sodas and sport drinks. But the main reason to drink water would be to achieve good and better health.

Design-

I drink around one cup of water everyday. Therefore, I will start my baseline recording from drinking a cup a day. I am going to start my first week off with drinking 2-3 cups a day for 5 days a week. My overall goal is to drink 10 cups of water per day for 5 days a week by end of this assignment. I decided to use the changing-criterion design for the modification to drink more water. In this design, I am going to increase my criterion by adding 2 drinks to the previous week for 5 days week every week. The first week I will start out with drinking 2 cups per day for 5 days a week. And then finally the 5th week end up at 10 cups for 5 days a week. My detailed criteria of the treatment phase are going to look as follows:

Week 1: Drink at least 2 cups of water for 5 days a week

Week 2: Drink at least 4 cups of water for 5 days a week

Week 3: Drink at least 6 cups of water for 5 days a week

Week 4: Drink at least 8 cups of water for 5 days a week

Week 5: Drink at least 10 cups of water for 5 days a week

Reinforcement-

I know this project is beneficial to me so I wanted to work. So I decided to reward myself has an incentive to keep going on with this project. Therefore, every week that I finish my project successfully I get to order pizza and drink it sodas. If I just finished part of the week successfully, I won't get myself that pizza with sodas. But if I do poorly or don't do it at all, I won't get the pizza with sodas and also add 2 additional cups to the next week of project for 5 days a week. So if I missed the first week, which is 2 cups per day for 5 days a week, for the next week I will do not 4 but 6 cups per day for 5 days a week.

Weekly Progress-

I have done my self modification project for five weeks. I started with one cup a day for five days a week as my baseline. But then for my project I started with 2 cups a day for 5 days a week. And I gradually increased drinking the cups weekly. I kept track of what I was drinking on day to day basis and also weekly totals. Also when I started my project I added my rewards reinforcement to keep me on track. My progress and reports for this project is as shown below:

Criteria Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday TOTAL

Week 1 2 cups No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No 10 cups

Week 2 4 cups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No 20 cups

Week 3 6 cups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No 36 cups

Week 4 8 cups Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No 40 cups

Week 5 10 cups Yes Yes Yes Yes