Elissa, a college freshman, finds that she is starting to smoke, a habit she never had before. She would like to stop smoking now, before the habit becomes too ingrained, but she really enjoys her few cigarettes each day, particularly with coffee after dinner when she relaxes with her friends. She also enjoys a few cigarettes later in the evening if she gets stressed writing a paper or completing an assignment. ? Using principles of operant conditioning, describe steps that Elissa could take to stop smoking now. Be sure to consider possible reinforcers or punishers that are influencing her current smoking patterns, changes she might make, and appropriate consequences to reinforce new behaviors.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
?The text provides an example of breaking a bad habit through operant conditioning, the consumption of high-calorie snacks while studying at night. Based on this example, students could include consideration of the following steps:
?
Understand current behavior by keeping a diary regarding smoking, when and how much, what else is going on at the time, what possible reinforcers or punishers are influencing her smoking patterns. Students could note that Elissa’s smoking seems to be associated with social camaraderie and the good taste?feeling of coffee, the stress of academic work, and time of day—dinner time and onward.
?
Consider making changes to her environment to reduce the need to make choices that might lead to smoking (rather than rely solely on willpower, which we have in limited quantity and which does nothing to weaken previously formed associations related to smoking). Students might suggest switching to tea after dinner to reduce the coffee trigger, developing other stress reduction techniques such as meditation or exercise, chewing gum or on a straw or eating carrot sticks to address the oral sensations, or studying more in the morning when she does not seem to have developed associations with cigarettes, and so on.
?
Develop appropriate consequences for her behavior of smoking or not smoking. Consequences must be meaningful to the individual. Positive reinforcement is generally preferable. Students might suggest something like putting aside the money that was being spent on cigarettes and going out for a nice dinner with friends to mark each 2 weeks without smoking, or using the money toward occasional treats such as a facial or manicure or, if things go well, a trip at spring break. If punishment would work better for Elissa, that could be developed instead. The text notes that, for each cigarette smoked, a donation to a political cause that Elissa abhors might be effective.
?
Track progress and make any modifications that seem necessary.