SELF-MANAGEMENT

Psychology 6710Excellent StudentAug. 8th, 2008

PROBLEM

I need to be flossing every day to make sure that I don’t get cavities from all the sugar I eat.

The problem is that daily flossing only has a small but cumulative outcome.

I can miss anyone day and there will be no serious outcome.

INEFFECTIVE NATURAL CONTINGENCY

Have infinitesimally

better gum health

Have a given level of

gum health

Floss teeth

BEFORE AFTERBEHAVIOR

COMPETING CONTINGENCIES

Not only does flossing on any given day only infinitesimally improve my gum health it hurts and causes my gums to bleed

NATURAL COMPETING CONTINGENCY

Gums are in pain

Gums are not in pain

Floss teeth

BEFORE AFTERBEHAVIOR

THE SM INTERVENTION

Target behavior: Floss teeth

Contingencies: Flossing avoids the loss

of IPod

Deadline (SD): Before the end of each

day

PM manager: Matt

Start Date: June 9th, 2008

End Date: Current

MA TT

PERFORMANCE-MANAGEMENT CONTINGENCY

Will not loseIPod for a

day atnext class

Will lose IPod for a

day atnext class

Floss teeth

BEFORE AFTERBEHAVIOR

SD (Deadline): Before Bed every night

INFERRED THEORETICAL CONTINGENCY

No fear loss Of IPod for a day at theNext class

Fear loss of IPod for a day at the next class

Floss Teeth

BEFORE AFTERBEHAVIOR

TARGET BEHAVIOR GRAPHBaseline Intervention

Weeks

Num

ber

of

tim

es

floss

ed

Goal line

BENEFIT MEASURE GRAPH

Baseline Intervention

Weeks

# o

f D

ays

that

gum

s b

leed

Goal line

PROBLEMS DURING INTERVENTION

Problem 1: After I moved out of my apartment I

misplaced my floss I missed two days

Problem 2: Also after the move I no longer walked to class Now I don’t use my IPod very often It lost some of it’s reinforcing value

RECYCLE

The bigger of the two problems seemed to be

not having the floss that I need

The solution: a contingency on buying new

floss will be added

Deadline: end of the same day that I run out

or misplace my floss

If I don’t buy a new container of floss by the

deadline I will have to pay my performance

manager $5

MY RESULTS

The intervention was a success. I averaged close to 0 days per week during

baseline The intervention average was 96%

MY COMMENTS The project was very beneficial I don’t think that I would have kept up with the

flossing otherwise I plan to continue with the performance

management contingency throughout the fall Hopefully it will be just as effective as it has

been

THANK YOU!!

Any Questions or

Comments?