Entry # 10

1. The results were pretty noticeable I would say. I changed from posting up two late posts to continuing on with on-time posts...that has to be some kind of positive improvement. Before, I dreaded checking my planner. It was a burden, a chore, something that felt like a punishment almost because every time I opened it, I knew something was still not finished and that I had a lot more to finish. However, after the initiation of the $2 payments to myself as a positive reinforcement for every time that I checked my planner, I became a lot more active and my thoughts changed as well. I like checking my planner, calendar, and cellphone now for everything I need to do because I am a lot more prompt in everything and I feel like I have everything under control instead of waiting for something bad to happen because I forgot about it.

2. The two dollar incentive worked. In the beginning, I was thinking about punishing myself for every time that I forgot to check but I realized that made my life a lot more negative and miserable. Instead of using the punishment as a fear tactic, I was making myself depressed because I was basically rubbing salt on my wound. Knowing that I had done something wrong or failed to do something I was suppose to do was already hard enough, then taking away T.V. or particular favorite foods just made it worse. This was a down rolling snowball effect.

3. Actually, I really don't think I was paying that much attention to this target behavior. I never felt like I did it as an assignment because I had to do it anyways to keep myself on track and actually to remember to create posts. The heightened awareness alone did not create that much change for me. I was never really concerned on whether or not I checked my planner. However, the positive incentive could have swayed me a bit since I was earning money for these actions.

4. In my opinion, for any change to continue, maintain, and become a long-term thing, one's attitude has to change. After changing my attitude and my outlook on my planner, everything came naturally. At first, I did it for the money. However, after talking to myself into why I am doing this in the first place and how I can benefit more than I have to perform, I was enjoying the opening planner moments. I know, that sounds very weird. But...I realized that this was not a job, a chore, or anything of that kind. This was my friend that kept me on track and organized to succeed not only in school but in my upcoming future. I needed this planner to help change me. So, now, I open my planner knowing that this is another chance or opportunity to keep doing a good job. Instead of a burden, the things I have to do are enjoyable and more like a challenge to my ordinary life.

5. The challenging part of this assignment was actually the attitude change. Yes, sometimes it was hard to find dollar bills to give to myself, but the attitude was the most difficult part. This was more like a rebirth. Once you change your mind, you become almost a different person in seeing things through a new pair of eyes.

6. This assignment was very beneficial for me. Something that I think would be even more beneficial is if we tried to find inspirational quotes from time to time to keep motivating ourselves. If I hadn't changed my attitude and relied solely on the incentive of the $2, I would have gone back to my old way of thinking. So, inspirational quotes from time to time would be helpful. Also, future students can explain the quote, the significant in their life, and how it will motivate them to keep doing what they are doing to change themselves.

7. The best part of this assignment is helping myself help me. Nobody is perfect and I am sure we all go through life wishing we could change somethings here or there. Well, this assignment was a setup for us to take action. It taught me that even if somethings are hard, I can still change it. As long as I take the initiative and try hard, I will have made a difference. This difference might be small but even something small could become big in the future. Something small as in creating a positive habit to check planners can help readjust me as a person. I will be more organized, on time, focused and reach my goals easier knowing that I am keeping track of everything I need to do. Overall, this assignment was awesome and I had a great time helping myself for the better.

Entry # 9

wow! second to last blog!!! yipeee! I kind of feel like I have been writing the same thoughts over and over again since it has been the same requirements for the past several weeks. However, this positive reinforcement has definitely helped me out a lot. Based on the technique of giving myself $2 every week, I have been able to motivate myself to do what I need to do in order to stay organized and on task. Due to this motivation, it has led me to increase the times to check my planner and it makes the task seem easy. What would be a faster way to earn $2 for every check right? It was a nice feeling during this experiment because I always felt like I earned something or was rewarded by something that I did right. Just as children love to be rewarded by candy, a college student can reward herself with some cash to buy snacks or for shopping in general.

A very interesting website on implementing change is in the following link:

CHANGE. This article discusses the ways to change and how change can be followed through or be made as for longterm. It also mentions about Behavior-based programming and how it is the key to change. Behavior change is at the center of the program design process. From the article it states "The first step is to clearly delineate ideal behaviors that would achieve the desired health outcomes. A set of research objectives, based on the ideal behaviors, guides the systematic design of a qualitative research plan to document current behaviors and explore how they can be redirected, re-patterned or re-positioned toward the ideal." Basically, you aim for a goal and you try different methods to help direct yourself to that goal. You shape the plan in every way and any way possible to focus towards the goal. Another good point it mentioned is about the importance of Community engagement, ownership and empowerment, which are key to a sustained behavior change. That means, I need to feel a sense of entitlement or commitment in order to maintain the change. Also, I need to feel supported or reassured everytime I do something in order to want to change. This goes back to my idea that an attitude change will eventually lead to a behavioral change.

I think operant conidtioning theory is true to a certain extent. As stated before, it does work, but it works for a short period of time. I have also looked at some other blogs before about implementing a negative reinforcement. For my type of personality, it would not work because I want to try to stay positive in order to make progress and be inspired to keep going. If I punish myself, I will feel useless and it will be a snowball effect on feeling negative and then depressed and then I might give up. For positive reinforcement, I can only get something good and the worst that could happen is being neutral and not getting anything. Last time, I watched a show on how loyal dogs are to its owner. Some owners would give off fear or warning to make their dog do tricks or follow their command. The judges stated that that is not very effective and it means they do not have a sense of control or trust with their dog. The same goes for controlling my behavior. Fear tactics will just make me scared and intimidated, already hinting off negative feelings. On the other hand, positive reinforcements makes a person feel better and more confident in him or herself.

Overall, this has been working and works very well. I have a positive mentality of why I check my planner and a good reason is to relieve my stress of worrying about memorizing everything or forgetting to do homework from a certain class. With an attitude makeover, it can make a big difference. Getting a friend or two to constantly hold me in check would also be a great idea because it is similar to the community support in the article. Although my friend isn't community, she is a part of my community that influences me.

I love this experiment!

Entry #8

Since the last entry, everything has been the same and my plan has not changed. I have continued to use the reinforcement of rewarding myself with 2 dollars every time I check my planner. With this, it is only positive reinforcements and I secluded all negativity of any punishments. Just like I stated in my last post, this routine has kept me up to date and in track with everything I have to do, as well as the busy life style we all have to accommodate to as community college students who are trying our best to get involved. I made a table to check off every time I checked my planner and whether or not I have payed myself. However, that was the initiation process. Recently, I have not been updating it as much because I feel like there are not much of a use for it anymore since I automatically check my planner on time at least twice a day, and that doesn't even include the times that I open it to write down my assignments or any upcoming event. The new planner that I bought a month ago is also very effective. Instead of writing a bunch of stuff I have to do in a open space, I also havea time chart for everyday so that I can write down what I have to do or events that I need to attend next to the time slot.

I have also visited a new website about attitude change:

Attitude Change This is very helpful in seeing how I can further change attitudes. For me, I think I have to change from the inside out in order to produce a lasting change. The website also talks about thinking over a thought that correlates or matches with internal wants. Since I want to be more focused, on tract, and successful, I am willing to change my attitude and willing to make a change for the better.

As I stated before, operant conditioning theory works and positive reinforcement really helps but it is still short term simply because your changing an action and not the motives for that action. I mean, for example, I can be trained to smile even if I am having a completely crappy day but I can still smile. Yes, I will do it but eventually, when I am not actually thinking to smile, I will put on a sad or miserable face because that is exactly how I feel. However, if I can alter my perspective on how I see things, then maybe I will have a more optimistic viewpoint and therefore be naturally happy and I will smile without noticing. The same concept goes for checking my planner. I will do something if I like it. Knowing that checking my planner keeps me on tract and helps me finish assignments ahead of time, I will like and do more of it naturally.

Kailin's comment was very interesting when she said "when its hot, think of ice cubes. when you open your planner, think of benefits." Mind over matter is indeed the most powerful thing. I will continue to strive to change my attitude and with the additional reinforcements, I am determined to turn my assignments on time and put a dent on procrastination.

Blog #7

As of right now, I am still very happy that I haven't forgotten postings since I already have 18 points taken from the previous late postings and comments. So far, I have continued the same process of paying myself two dollars for each time I check my planner. The good part of this is that I like the feeling of getting something but the downside is that I don't have extra cash all the time and so I usually use my debit card if I really need to buy something. However, most of the time, I try to reward myself at the end of the week knowing that I have accomplished everything that I am suppose to. That $2 Positive fixed ratio reinforcement is helping but I have realized that this is only temporary. For some reason, I really like change. I am sure everyone does but change is what makes my life fun and makes me rejuvenated for each upcoming day. If I knew I had to live each day exactly the same, then I would really have no motivation to live. So, knowing this, I decided to not only change my behavior but my attitude. Ever since I have adopted a new way of perceiving this planner of mine, I have felt much better about doing homework. Instead of feeling like it is a burden and opening the planner just reminds me of the numerous things I have to do, I think of it as something that makes me focused, organized, and will help me be a more successful person. My planner is no longer something I have to check to earn two bucks nor is it something I do for this Psychology behavioral change, it is a good friend that helps remember things for me and keeps me in check.

On top of the attitude, I still maintain the two dollar rewards. I think everyone likes rewards and I am a part of that. Even though it is minor, two dollars each time still adds up and that gives me my budget at the end of the week or two weeks on the amount of money I can spend shopping or going out with friends. I still think this was a good plan because positivity motivates me and the more I like something, the more I will do it on a voluntary basis. On the other hand, if I had punished myself for not checking or forgetting to post, then I would feel sad, depressed, and eventually lose my motivation to be on task. With this said, I am super happy that I am making progress.

Yes, I do believe this operant conditioning plan is working. I started off with forgetting to post my second postings and fourth posting to being on task again. I really like operant conditioning theory because it shows you that you can change behaviors. Even if your twenty years old like me, you can still teach an old dog new tricks. However, I believe operant conditioning to be something that is only physical and therefore short-lived. The only way I think I can change myself for the long term is through a change in behavior. With this said, I do believe positive reinforcements will help a person feel better and therefore be energized to change for the future.

Blog # 6

The website I visited was in relations to Attitude and Behavior change. The website can be accessed through the following link.

Attitude change

Here, the article is talking about different changes that is related to both attitude and behavior. Some behaviors that the article mentions includes sex, donations, and contributions we try to make to the community and why we do the things we do. I feel very strongly about changing behavior through attitude. I think I am largely influenced by my mood and how I am feeling at a certain time or day. For example, many times I would rather finish an easy assignment before a hard assignment because I categorize the harder assignment as "bad" or that it will make me depressed. The ironic thing is that I would have to do it sooner or later so it would be much more beneficial to get it over first so I don't keep anticipating the so called "bad"assignment.

The reason that I felt that this article had relevance to my changing behavior is because I need a change of attitude. If I feel like opening a planner gets me entitled to have to do all the things that I wrote on there then there would be no incentive to do so. However, if I realize that opening a planner makes me an organized person and allows me to finish assignments ahead of time, which leads to good feelings, then maybe I would be more willing to do it. Money is a good incentive but I think its temporary and short-lived. Clearly, I won't be paying myself for the rest of my life so I have to change myself from the inside out. I love to do things that I love. So, if I can change my attitude by explaining to myself how this would make me happy in the long run, then I can maybe create more internal incentives and change myself for the times ahead. Also, if I realize that there is a difference between my behavior and attitude, then just as we learned, we are more willing to change. I know that I have to do homework in order to get good grades and make myself feel better so I should start the good feeling from the beginning. I should start feeling good because I am doing this for a good cause... just like donating blood or food for the homeless.

Except here, I am donating time to save my grade.

Blog Entry # 5

So far so good. This is the earliest I have submitted a blog as you can see and it's funny because I am actually in a conference in San Jose right now, so I am budgeting my time pretty well. Yeah! I have been keeping track of my behavior since the beginning of this week. I customized a chart to record each time I check my planner (this includes my planner, my calendar in my laptop, my cellphone), the time that I did, and whether or not I paid myself for it. So, recap from last time, I stated that I would pay myself $2 each time that I checked my planner or some sort of reminder equipment. I actually did it! I emptied my wallet and I started to implement this operational conditioning. This fixed ratio really seems to work well with my style. I had to check my planner if I wanted cash in my wallet. So I would check up to twice a day. Majority of the time, I checked in the morning and I checked at night. The morning check was to prepare and confirm that I had finished all of my homework before I walked into class. The night check was cross off everything that I had finished and if there were anything else I needed to finish in the morning. This means I earned up to $4 a day. At first, I thought it wouldn't be that great of an incentive....a $100 maybe (unfortunately I wouldn't have that much to reward myself)..but $2? On the contrary, I really liked it. For the first 2 times that I checked my planner I had single dollar bills to reward myself, but later on, I only had ten's and a twenty so it was either all ten or nothing. I should improve my strategy so I don't run out or cheat myself by breaking up large bills ahead of time. That ways, my reward would be consistent and immediate.

Maybe the idea behind this is that I just like getting rewarded or simply feeling good that I remembered each time. Self approval or complimenting does feel good once in a while and this routine is really helping my progress. I am also doing better in school because I am now trying to finish assignments ahead of time rather than the opposite. Now.....I need to keep reminding myself.

Blog # 4

Oh gosh, so as you can tell, I forgot once again. I planned how to celebrate a good friends birthday rather than focusing on my blog. I can't believe this is happening. I can remember just about everything that is due and yet this is the second time I am late for my blogging. For some reason, I just don't register blogs apparently as homework. Okay, so from the comments in my last blog, cellphones are a good idea I guess. For awhile, I decided not to resort to cellphones for reminding me to do things because it takes me too long to input words since I don't have a cellphone that has a keypad with all the letters. However, my cellphone is still a good idea because I always have my cellphone around me and so I would be forced to look at it when the alarm goes off to remind me of an event. Another good method would be placing a sticky note on my forehead or just my hand. Or, I guess I could rely on writing on my hand again.

As for operational conditioning, I would rather chose reinforcements rather than punishments because I love positive things rather than negativity. So, I think I will be using positive reinforcements. That means, I will reward myself for doing blogs and reading my planner.


I love to eat but that is definitely not a good reward system since I also want to lose weight and body fat. So, since I also like to go shop and buy things for my house, I will reward myself with money. I will make a chart for myself. Every time I check my planner or my cellphone about homework or blogging, I will give myself $2 to spend for shopping. I will be starting by taking all of the cash out of my wallet and add to it, every time. That ways, every time I forget to check my planner, I also forget to add cash in my wallet. This is a fixed ratio because every time I do it, I get rewarded and it will be $2 everytime that I perform those actions. If I reinforce this strictly, I will have to read my planner because I will be needing money in my wallet. Hopefully this is helpful.

Entry 3

So...I checked my planner today so I haven't missed the deadline..yeah! Throughout the week, I kept track of how many times I checked my planner. I usually take it out for every class I have to write down the assignments that I need to complete. Then, I would also take it out every night to double check that I finished all of my assignments. That means, I took it out three times a day Monday through Thursday because I have two classes everyday. I took it out once on friday to add additional things I needed to do. Even though my planner should be my best friend, I don't really like taking it out to check off everything I completed or didn't complete. Sometimes, I get irritated to have to take out my planner during class because that just means I have more assignments to write down and more work to do ahah. Along with this attitude, I decide to sort of scribble messy notes in my planner. Of course, that leads to me hating to take it out because I have to read and decipher what on earth I wrote. Well, the good thing is that I bought a new planner yesterday that has times listed out for each day so that ways, I not only see what I have to do but at what time and in what order to do them in. SCORE!!!

For the operant conditioning that is perpetuating my laziness to take out my planner, I get positive reinforcement by getting more time to do other stuff than to take the time to take out my planner and decipher what I wrote. In trying to change my laziness, it becomes positive punishment at times because it's a pain to read my notes.

So, I guess the best way to change my behavior is to change my attitude. I should learn to like my planner more and more and appreciate it...if that doesn't sound too crazy. Instead of thinking "ohh noo, more homework," I should be thinking "yeah...by writing things down, I am organized and on top of everything." By feeling better, I will write neater and then it wouldn't be such a burden to have to read my planner at night ahah. When this happens, I get more organized and finish my assignments earlier and earn better grades. Now that would be positive reinforcement and I will be a happy camper. Of course this is much easier said than done when you have bajillion things to write down...but I'll start trying now :).

My change in Behavior

As you can tell, clearly, I am already late for my second posting. There's a lot of things on my plate this semester with school, being the Academic Senator with the Associated Students on campus, as well as working with the Campaign Measure RR to better Mount SAC. With that said, I had a Senate training meeting today from 9-4pm. After the meeting and after sending a friend home, I came home at like 6:30pm and dozed off to sleep because I was so tired. Well, that really costs me since I woke up at like 8:30pm...YIKES! Obviously, I was late for my posting. I wanted to write this entry throughout the week and even on friday night, but I kept on assuring myself that I was going to remember and have tons of time after the training session today. Long behold, I was wrong. So, the behavior I will be observing from now on forward is checking my planner. I love my planner but sometimes I get too lazy to check it because I always think the tasks are already "consolidated in my memory." Well, today proved me quite the opposite. So, by checking my planner more often, I will no longer have to rely on my memory and just look at the tasks as it is written. Also, if I write down tasks to be done ahead of time, I can mitigate procrastination and finish my work before it is due and late posting would hopefully not happen again *knock on wood*. I can be more assured that I finish all of my tasks and have them done on time. Plus, another bonus is that I won't need to keep writing things on my hand and therefore I will decrease my chances for skin cancer :). If you had seen my left hand on friday, you would've thought I'm ridiculous.

If anyone has any other suggestions to solve procrastination or how to better organize my tasks please don't hesitate to let me know!

Blog Entry 1: Introduction

HI!!! I'm Xiwen Wang. Everyone always asks me how that could possibly be pronounced as "Win-Win." Well, it doesn't. Xiwen is pronounced "She-wen," but eversince kindergarden, people have made numerous daring attempts from "Z-wen" to "X women." So, after third gradde, I kind of got tired of correcting people over and over again, so I translated my chinese nickname into my current name of Wen-Wen. I was born in Chengdu, which is a city in central China. I came to America two weeks before my fifth birthday settling in Virginia. I lived in Blacksburg, Virginia, which is close to Virginia Tech (yes the shooting school) for four years. However, crime rates are usually much lower than it is here in L.A. I stayed with my Aunt for half a year in Kansas and then our whole family decided to move to California. I started off living in Diamond Bar but later moved to Walnut for fourth grade in Collegewood Elementary School. Eversince then, my education has been in Walnut. Some things that I love to do are singing, dancing, sleeping (even though I feel deprived), and playing sports. I love sports! In high school, I was on the volleyball and swimming team in freshman year and there after, I did tennis and track and field for the remaining of my career in Walnut High School. I love to socialize and to get to know people so chat with me anytime!