Behavior Modification Paper
Specify target behavior- It took me quite a while to confront a behavior that needs to be modified in my life. After a long bit of thought it was decided that I would like to modify my bad habit of letting my anger control situations. Lately, I often find myself regretting what I had said during an argument. This anger is child like and directly plays into situations where I do not get my way. I find myself thinking I am always right during arguments but later reflection shows me otherwise. I would like to work on this behavior and cut it down significantly if not all together.
Baseline data- I observed my anger in stressful situations for one week. I started the evaluation on Sunday and ended it the following Saturday. What I gathered was this: five out of the seven days I fell victim to my anger. I found myself cursing at my parents because I was being disrespectful and lazy in our household and also getting into a large argument with my boyfriend because he did not have time to hang out with me. Amongst other petty arguments that took place during this week, I realized these fights only take place with my loved ones and it is my expectation of everything going my way that causes me to always believe Im right. Overall, the structure of my thinking negatively affects my relationships with those I care most about.
Design a program- My plan is to decrease my anger in situations and increase my understanding to see both sides of a disagreement.To do this I will have to stop and think before saying something I will regret and going about an argument in a calm and collected manner. Every time I successfully accomplish this I will reward myself by putting aside a couple dollars to save for a date night. Some of the goals I set for myself that relate to the main issue I am having with my anger include:
Confronting my boyfriend nicely when I feel he is being unfair in our relationship
Take a breath and short break when I feel disrespected at work by my boss
Keeping a calm attitude with my parents in moments of high tension
The behavior I chose was to control my anger in unpleasant situations. I chose this behavior because it is very apparent in my life at this point in time. Whenever a stressful situation arises between me, and specifically my loved ones, I lash out at them instead of giving myself time to think and address the issue. Because I have been aware of this issue for a while I decided that this project would be