An Essay Addressing the Behavior of Procrastination That Needed to Be Fixed

To select a behavioral issue of my own that I would like to change, I choose procrastination, which in my case, is caused partly by poor time management is an important thing to have control of in order to avoid wasting Lime and to avoid failing classes or missing other important personal, professional and academic goals, and in the case of academic procrastination such as my own, I — and many other students — tend to prioritize non- academic activities over the “tedious“ task of reading and studying the course material required, until the last possible moment (Solomon 8: Rothblum, 1984) Therefore, the triggers of this behavior are a notion of boredom, and the sole thought of not engaging in the behavior of procrastination, In my case, during studying, I often play video games in between a set number of reading — typically one chapter of a textbook, or two external reading materials, followed by a set amount of time playing to break up the monotony of reading.

This is a positive reinforcement of studying which I already use, and is quite effective in providing me with motivation to finish studying, and to even stay awake to study at all.

However, at times, procrastination sets back in and I end up playing for too long and not going back to studying This requires the negative reinforcement that, when I do not study effectively, I end the game and only study. Removing the temptation to engage in procrastination encourages the positive behavior of actually doing the studying I set out to complete.

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As I am submitting this assignment, it is one full day late, so obviously my procrastinating behavior has not fully been eliminated; I have, in reflection of this irony, established for myself a new study schedule to follow, including completing discussion board questions, participation posts, and assignments, at a much earlier point in the school week than I have done previously.

This is the first day of the fourth week of my PSY—lOZ class; I believe that a reasonable time frame by which to fully commit to this new schedule and extinct the procrastination behavior, is by the first day of the last week, or exactly three weeks from today, Punishment, to change behavior, requires that an undesirable consequence be implemented to discourage the problematic behavior, While I earlier described ending my game as a negative reinforcement for the behavior of studying, it is perhaps better described as a punishment for procrastination. Punishment cannot be effective unless it is thoroughly unpleasant; the removal of something enjoyable, or the imposing of something unenjoyable, such as a time out as punishment for a child throwing a tantrum This unpleasantness, the memory of it and the knowledge that punishment will be inflicted again if the behavior is repeated, makes repeating the behavior less appealing (Johnston, 1972). Punishment has disadvantages, such as being temporary; for example, if a parent grounds their teenage child for texting too frequently or for smoking cigarettes, the behavior will likely resume immediately upon the teenager turning eighteen, or moving out, whichever is the cause of their adult independence and their parents‘ inability to further punish them.

This is why positive and negative reinforcement tend to be preferable, both for child-rearing and for effecting one’s own behavior as an adult. As adults, we are simply unlikely to “punish” ourselves effectively — we are free and have no reason to cause ourselves to suffer for doing things we want to do, even if we know those things are harmful to us. If the average adult was capable of punishing themselves for harmful behavior, nobody would smoke cigarettes My positive reinforcement of playing my garne(s) for studying successfully is effective because it makes me want to study more often; I enjoy my games and I only allow myself to play them after studying and studying well. In conclusion, the academic procrastination which I commit is avoidable with the proper knowledge, and the commitment to reinforce the more productive behavior, and end procrastination. By committing to ending the game, my options are eliminated 7 either study, or sit and do nothing.

References

1. Johnston, Jr M. (1972) Punishment of human behavior. American Psychologist, 27(11), 1033- 1054. doi:10,1037/h0033887
2. Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E Dr (1984) Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive- behavioral correlates Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(4), 503—509, doi:101037/0022-016731.4503