Signing off!

This entry closes the behavior change blog and the professor asked us to make some closing notes in which I evaluate the program. First, the results are I learned how to adhere to a regular bedtime. Getting enough rest has created a harmonious element to my life. In hard numbers I followed the schedule 70% of the time. As a reward, I said I would give money to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and as a punishment I said I would give money to Exodus International. However, I feel that my money would be better spent with the Sisters, so Exodus shouldn't expect a check from me.

What worked was my general good will to get to bed on time. Mid-way through the project I felt like a helpless fool trying to adhere to a silly good-boy/bad-boy game. The feeling of a good night's rest was (and will be) enough incentive to get to bed on time. What didn't work was the reward and punish elements of the project. It didn't work because I came to the realization that Christians shouldn't get my money to tell lies to the population about homosexuality (along with a few other fibs they tell, which we won't get into here).

One obvious part of this project was that I was paying extreme attention to my behavior. I think this heightened awareness is the true source of why I was able to change my behavior.

Once I get into a routine it is easy for me to follow it, but I have a tendency to get bored. Thus, for the changes to be long-term I just need to not feel stuck in a routine. Considering I chose a behavior that has life long benefits, a major part of my assigned bed times will be a permanent part of my life.

The most challenging part of the assignment was constantly reporting myself to the blog narcs. It is obvious that I'm not perfect and have a tendency to break the rules as I go, so I was annoyed to write about it time and again. However, I was happy to find so many readers who were enjoying the blog, so maybe I need to keep torturing myself.

Finally, the most valuable aspect of the assignment was reading my classmate's blogs. I feel we got inside our heads. Almost like we were all naked in the same room and had less to be ashamed of. Besides, I am computer nerd, so if get to do my work online then I am more likely to participate.

Signing off,
Anthony Moses Sanchez

Day 28

Today I made a huge effort back into the real world. Everytime I do this, it reminds me of several things. First, my tattoo, which symbolizes my continual rising from the ashes -- meaning I've fallen from farther hieghts, so I can get up from this. Anothter is the preciousness of life. I spent most of my day reveling in the return of the sunlight from the overcast of the weekend. In some romantic metaphysical way, the universe was mourning my loss. The best part was returning to Pitzer and watching Susan with her academic robe under her arm. That, to me, is like the holy grail. She too has been away from the office, resting during the pregancy of her second child. It was the colors of the robe, that of UCLA, and her encouragement that allowed the fire to return to my spirit. She proclaims to the other professors, "Did you hear Anthony got into UCLA." The other professors ears perk up. I am no longer just some kid in the corner composing e-mails and printing CVs. Now my day at work was short, I could only handle an hour-and-a-half, but it was enought to revive me. I'll be back to my old self soon. All of this rest exceeds my expectations; proving that I need to learn to become more harmonious with what my body tells me.

Let's see if I can make it to class tomorrow. Cheers!

Day 27

Memorial Day Weekend will go down in my books as a weekend of rest. My body forced me to rest, because it appears I have ruptured a muscle. This pain is difficult and can go an hour before the pain wakes me up. This leaves me lethargic all day. On Wednesday, I hope to see the doctor (since the wound has been bleeding since last week). If she approves of it, this will be the fourth surgery I've had to correct this pain. I'm not scared of the surgery, just the impact the pain will have as I near the finals. I'm going to hope for the best.

Day 22

To a few it may be shocking when I say that I've been away from my computer for 5 days. Along with that I have not been keeping my sleep schedule, work, or study schedule. The lost weekend was fun. I explored parts of the inland empire, fantasized about being a trucker, living life on the road, having a new place to wake up to every day. You'd hardly realize it, with the way the news scares us, that people are generally friendly to a complete stranger. In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus, amongst his many duties, was the god of hospitality. There was this sense that a stranger at your door could be a god, so be nice. We don't live like that any more. Even though I lost my mobile phone this weekend, I can say with optimism that life wonderful and people can be friendly when you least expect it.

Day 15

Angelica had a dissenting voice on her May 6th blog about operant conditioning. It's a good time to reflect on this, considering tomorrow night I will surely get to bed late and administering a punishment for the lateness. Obviously, the punishment method doesn't work very well on me. This may be enough reason to eradicate the punishment all together, but for now that's not what is on my mind. What I find at this point is we, (the entire Psych 1A-H class), are going to be overtly aware of our behavior, thus, consciously changing it. These rewards and punishments are merely incentives, like a carrot on a stick, to motivate us to do something that we have the will to do in the first place. At this point of the experiment I can say this: self-administering operant conditioning has a bias.

DAY 12

Today, I thought I'd write just before I head off to bed and reflect on the return to my sleep schedule. For the most part, there is an improvement on my sleep cycles. An example is right now, as my body is kind of demanding I get to bed soon. This behavior I've been on is beginning to become a physiological necessity. In a previous blog entry, I mentioned that coffee is beginning to lose it's potency, in a positive way. My body requires less of it, although I still crave it. An alternative that I tried on Friday was to drink some hot cocoa. This had a similar effect, on my brain if you will, than if I got coffee. I'm thinking I may be able to start drinking warm drinks as a supplement for coffee, but this is not on the immediate horizon.

One improvement I would like to make on this is the continuous reinforcement. As I read other classmate blogs, I realized that my reward & punishments are temporal. Over the week I'll create two jars, or something, so I can immediately imagine the rewards (and punishments). Speaking of punishments, this Thursday I said I'd go with Rebecca to a "Cougar Appreciation" party in Silverlake. I'm always down for a good party, especially in that area of LA, but now I am worried about keeping my schedule. We'll see how that works out. Right now I am planning to just duck out and sleep in the car. Sisters, I hope you realize how dedicated I am.

DAY 9

Today I am tired. There is another aspect to my sleep schedule that I cannot control and that is things in the morning that wake me up. I’m typically a heavy sleeper, so it takes a lot to wake me. This morning it was the sound of my brother and his girlfriend getting ready for work. They’ve been in a hush-hush conversation all week and I’ve been too immersed in work, honors classes, and breaking up with a boyfriend to pay much attention to them. (Not that I want in on the gossip, but I’m too empathic to these nuances to ignore it). At 4:45 am I hear the clunking around and the clinking of breakfast along with the hush-hush of their conversation. Today I am forcibly working on less hours than planned. Not sure that I can punish myself for any of this. Obviously I need to talk to my roommates (brother and his girlfriend) about being quiet in the morning, again. Aside from that, I’ve returned to my sleep schedule, but find myself requiring coffee to make it to the last half of the day. I am not sure if my lethargy is due to my medications (not psychiatric by the way) or some other underlying condition, such as this cold I am getting over. Yesterday, finishing my coffee, I had this minor sense of disgust. Believe it or not, I wasn’t compelled to finish my coffee. Looks like my body is beginning to revolt. Ah caffeine, I think your days are numbered.

DAY 6

As of today, Exodus International is winning more money than the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Sadly on May 1st, I had to stay up late to prepare for the Oceanography camping trip. On May 2nd a bed time was out of my control, because we had to wait for Professor Caputo get us to the camping spot and for me to put up my tent. Both of these days I got six hours of sleep. The return day May 3rd I went out to West Hollywood and returned late. And Sunday night I had some fun I the hay. Tonight I return to my schedule. All of this leads me to two conclusions: 1) I justify the mistakes I make 2) Perhaps operant conditioning is not the best method to master my sleep cycle.

DAY 2

While I unofficially began my experiment Sunday night, today is officially day two of the experiment. Thus far I am exuberantly rested with the exception of the tax on my system from this flu. Last night, Wednesday, I went to bed at 8:30 pm to wake at 6:00 a.m. That is on top of an hour long nap in Wednesday. As usual, I am over achieving. This coming weekend will be a challenge, because Dr. Mario Caputo is taking us on a Oceanography field trip to San Diego. Friday night we are camping at a KOA campground, so I am unsure about my sleeping abilities, but will do my best to adhere to the schedule.

Despite being sick, I found myself beginning to create exceptions for breaking the rule. Again, what a surprise. One of my deep weaknesses is adherence. I am a moody person and it is easy for me to get lazy. This laziness surmounts to carelessness, which I believe is the sum of my B-grade attitude. That said, I had an assignment due for Oceanography, but due to the lethargy of the cold, I was ready to down some coffee to work on the homework. As I already stated, my thoughts of Exodus International getting a dime caused me to follow the rules I set for myself.

Subsequent to my restful 8 hours of sleep, I have been able to wean myself off of coffee. Now, I am cheating, since I drink green tea (this is a recent addiction—because addicts tend to just swap out one addiction for another). Today I thought of giving myself a more immediate reward, which would be considered a fixed-interval: every Friday I treat myself to a cup of decaf joe.

Until next update,
Anthony

Memories

Memory recalls the smell of the air at 4 a.m. when I was younger. In my childhood, I would listen to the sounds of sleep: breathing, snoring, crickets. It was like a treasure for those who dare to traverse the lonely night hours. Imagine me sitting in the living room, listening the sounds of the first birds. The grayish color of the early morning always enticed me. It will soon forfeit to the orange hues and the waking life that follows. At that time, the reward was solace. Living in a house with three younger brothers, you don't get the privacy most children seem to have. Even now, the best hour for me to work is in the late hours of the night. Since the only lessons they offer at 1 a.m. are smoking and drinking, I need to adapt to a 9 to 5 schedule.

Two forces eventually dominated my wake and sleep, respectively, caffeine and alcohol. The latter I was able to wean myself way from, but the coffee is too good. My operant behavior blog is actually effecting many elements in my life like sleep, stress, memory, and my overall health. For the most part these are primary reinforces, that is a biological need or drive. Somehow coffee became a secondary reinforcer. Now I realize I'm stretching the rules here, but caffeine became a learned association with less sleep.

Sunday (May 27) and Monday (May 28), were my beta testing for the operant conditioning experiment. In the course of the two days I have stunningly lived without coffee. My craving for it has lessened.

The main strategy for my operant conditioning experiment is the schedule I created, which is based on baseline sleep activity. 6 am is the optimum time for me to be up for either work or school, so I count back 8 hours to 10 pm. An important component to getting a good nights sleep is to have time to relax, so my rule is to be in bed by 9 pm and allow my body time to get sleepy.

The stimuli I am applying for this experiment are reinforcement and punishment. First, as a reward for getting 8 hours I am applying a positive reinforcement by donating money to The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. In contrast, if I get less than 8 hours of sleep I am applying a postive punishment by donating money to Exodus International. Administering these is the best way to deal with me, because I am strong on sticking to my principles and yearn for integrity.

Lastly, the schedule of reinforcement will be fixed-ratio, due to the nature of my experiment: sleep. Now my friend Rebecca, who is a Psych and Sociology major, seemed interested in helping me. I may ask her to perform some variable-interval style follow-up; by that I mean she would call me at random to check up on my sleep schedule.

Having 8 illustrious hours of sleep a day seems like a ambitious goal, but that's just how I roll.

Describe the Behavior

In order to gel together the previous entries, explain some concepts to readers, help me study for the test, and officially complete the next blog assignment, I will explain the purpose of my behavior blog.

The second quarter of psychology started with learning. We began with Pavlov's discovery of "conditional reflex." Classical conditioning affects something innate, sweating or blinking. Whereas classical conditioning is attributed to a natural reflex, operant conditioning affects a complex, voluntary behavior. Specifically, we are manipulating a consequence and influencing it's likelihood of occurring.

As I have mentioned, I want to change my sleep patterns because they are causing issues with my memory and comprehension in class. Also, the grogginess I experience during the day causes me to be moody. At baseline the schedule looks approximately like this:

Bed --------- Wake
SUN: 12:00 am -- 6:30 am
MON: 10:20 pm -- 6:30 am
TUE: 12:05 am -- 6:00 am/8:00 am
WED: 10:30 pm -- 6:15 am
THU: 10:42 pm -- 5:00 am/6:45 am
FRI: 12:00 am -- 8:00 am
SAT: 10:00 pm -- 6:00 am

There is no clear way for me to explain how operant conditioning may be perpetuating this behavior. I think there is an underlying connection to caffeine and naps, but I believe that has more to do with a natural response than a behavioral thing.

For the upcoming experiment I plan to keep a continuous schedule of reinforcement. I have created a rough sleep schedule allowing me time to relax before bedtime. For the days I get 8 hours of sleep, I will be saving $5.00, which will go towards The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which is an organization benefiting gender awareness, homosexual issues, such as HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as other community outreaches, like wigs for cancer patients. For the nights I get less than 8 hours, that same $5.00 will go to Exodus International, which is a Fundamentalist, Christian organization who claims they can change homosexual behavior. (Ahem!?)

Outside of that, I hope to get some love and maybe some friends matching my beneficial donation to the Sisters. I'm stoked to help the sisters and even more so now that I know Sister Barbi Mitzvah, The Board Charinun, is reading this blog.

Below is my proposed schedule which I will begin April 29th.

Reward & Punishment

Today, lecture went well. I was able to absorb the information that (shocking) I had time to read. All this despite the fact that I went to bed at midnight. What changed this morning was that I didn't have to be at work. However, the late bed time was due to my two banes: a nap and caffeine. Sleep indirectly affects my need for naps and caffeine, but this means I will need to regulate those two variables closely once I begin my experiment. What remains unsaid is if I will punish myself or reward myself. Punishments never seemed to help. … point being, I can punish myself, but that idea won't directly work. Another method that works on myself is the idealism in a personal sacrifice, which sounds like it would be a positive punishment? One reward I started to think of would also be an indirect consequence of a well-rested night: the money I'd save. Maybe I should: a) as a reward put $5 in a jar if I follow my sleep schedule; and b) if I don't follow the schedule, I have to give the money to something that I abhor.

At the end of the semester the punishment money will go to Exodus International:
http://exodus.to/content/category/6/24/57/

At the end of the semester the reward money will go to The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: http://thesisters.org/meet_leadership.html

Bad News & Good News

Since I have time, I am going to keep track of baseline levels, which is a fancy word for "what do you normally do." Starting last night, Sunday, I failed miserably, and as Carlotta observed, my punishment was sleep deprivation at it's fullest on Monday. According to our text, Psychology: Concepts and Applications by Jeffrey S. Nevid, chronic sleep deprivation will impair memory and learning abilities (pages 151 and 152). The text also states that college students people report an average of 6 to 6.9 hours of sleep, but it is recommended to have 8.5 hours of sleep. Last night I got about 5.0531 hours of sleep (because I need to show three significant digits after the decimal). First part of the morning was bearable, but that lack of sleep plus no lunch break killed me. I came home to make up my other 3.4469 hours of sleep when I got home. As you can see, my sleep cycle is already off to a bad start.

There are a few "confounding variables" which I need to address before I establish a schedule of punishment or reinforcement. First of these is what I think would be a negative reinforcement with caffeine. Coffee is the last of my bad habits and I refuse to give it up. Half of the time it has a kind of placebo effect, because coffee, as wonderful as this chemical is, can't truly be the source of a wakeful day. Going back further in our lectures, I think that coffee has become a good example of classical conditioning, where I associate a good cup of coffee with a pleasant day. Obviously, there is more to all of this, but I wouldn't want to bore you so soon. The other issue we are dealing with is my naps, which are also a bad habit. Who doesn't love naps? It's like someone who doesn't like The Beatles -- I don't get them. My last issue is keeping track of baseline levels. It appears I am over analyzing this process, but still feel I am the worst warden of my behavior.

This afternoon I received some good news: I can take Wednesday mornings off. This means I can catch up on some Z's and be more prepared for Psychology lecture. Even at my crusty old age I have a lot to work on, like this coffee craving I'm having right now.

Intro

The purpose of this blog is to track modifying operant behavior for an intro psychology course at Mount San Antontio College. This is my eighth illustrious year at Mount Slack and I am looking forward to transferring to a University in fall of 2008. As you can imagine, I am an old man of 29; yes, this is my Saturn return year. Needless to say, getting old takes a toll on your energy; specifically, sleep. According to my mother, I've always been a late night person, but working 32 hours a week with 9 units is not the best for my health or my nerves. Recently my doctor asked me to bring down my workload or risk giving myself chronic fatigue. As of a few weeks ago, I would lay down for a quick 30 minute nap and wake up four hours later. As you can imagine, my geezer body can't handle this whippersnapper schedule. For the next week I am going to keep track of my baseline activity. After the first week I will set up a schedule of reinforcement or punishment to help modify my behavior.

If I do punishment, is anyone here into sadomasochism?