Analyzing a Bad Habit
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Analyze one of your habits. How did you develop this habit? Were there role models for this habit? Which people influenced the adoption of this habit? Why do you continue it? Has there been a time when you have attempted to break this habit? Use the behavioral personality theory to explain why you have this habit. Develop a plan that applies operant conditioning to change this habit.
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Solution Summary
In this answer, I analyze a bad habit of mine (biting fingernails). I discuss why I developed this habit, why I continue it, and the behavioral personality theories that explain why I have this habit. I also develop a plan to break this habit using operant conditioning.
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Since I don't know you (or your bad habits), I am going to talk about one of my bad habits, biting my fingernails. You will need to adapt this information as appropriate depending on your own habits. I have been biting my nails since I was a young child, but I don't remember exactly when I started. As far as I know, I didn't have any role models for this behavior; it was a habit that I began naturally. Nobody reinforced this habit, but several people (including my mother and some close friends) tried to get me to break it when I was younger. Their negative comments about my nail-biting did not make me stop the habit, but they did cause some feelings of guilt and shame when I was a child.
I continue to bite my nails when I am nervous, bored or in deep thought. I suspect that this is caused by an oral fixation that began when I was a young child. I also find myself chewing on the ends of pens when I am writing papers, so I think putting something into my ...
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