Operant Conditioning

Introduction Current Behavior Lately, I have regained a negative tendency to chew my nails. Usually during times of focus, I practice a combination of chewing, biting, tearing, and picking at my nails. Sessions of nail biting are heightened during periods of boredom, hunger, or anxiety. Generally speaking, nail biting is an automatic behavior and requires conscious effort to prevent. This can be considered a very mild form of onychophagia, an oral compulsive habit.

Reasons for the Behavior Change Although nail biting is quite a common practice in children and teens it unquestionably has drawbacks. Foremost, it supports poor oral hygiene which not only wears down the front teeth but also increases chances of sickness. Equally concerning,

Therefore, by rewarding my absence of nail-biting at the end of a day with a dessert I will promote myself to stay motivated and conscious of my habit.

Method 3: Operant Conditioning—Negative Punishment At the same time, I can utilize operant conditioning from the perspective of negative punishment, or the removal of a desired object in order to reduce an unwanted behavior (Pérez, 2003, p.123). In this case, I would remove my periodic nightly youtube privileges if I came home with bitten nails. The dread of this threat would increase my conscious awareness throughout the day which would assist me in avoiding the tendency to chew my nails.

Implementation of the Plan Timeline: The experiment will take place during the first two weeks of October, from the 2nd to the 13th. During the first week, I will collect control data from no treatments during the 2nd to 6th. Following, I will start applying the bitter polish before bed every night or every other night as needed until the 12th. The experimental data will be collected from the 9th until the 13th, all treatments will be active during this