Procrastination Marry 24, a college student at Baker University College has really let procrastination put a damper on the important things in her life. Procrastination hasn’t always played a major part in her school work especially when she was younger in school, she was good at getting assignments done at a reasonable time, or may be due to the pressure from her mother. With it being her first year in college she was finding herself wrapped up in the parties, making new friends, sleeping, and being lazy etc. It wasn’t long before getting assignments done at a decent time had been replaced with what she considered to be the fun stuff. She would start to put off homework and started to let other things take place of getting homework assignments done. She would keep telling herself she had time to finish, and the famous line she works better under pressure. She procrastinate because she feels she has too much to do and there is just not enough time in the day, or how her new friends would look at her, not feeling smart enough. Every time she thought about what needed to be done, she got overwhelmed and decided to work on something else. She feels like she will never get things accomplished at a timely manner if she doesn’t figure out how to make time for everything. I asked Mary did she feel as well she could be pushing them aside because she felt her work assignments were hard or difficult. She’s afraid she will find herself flunking out of school if she doesn’t get ahold of her behavior fast.
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning occurs when an event or an action dependably leads to a pleasing outcome. Studying may have been unpleasant for Marry because it has been paired with frustration, hating to do it, not fitting in if she was look at to be some type of geek. Much of what she seen as her liking or disliking are a result of her classical conditioning. Marry had to learn how to change her reaction to the environment & her self-help approach based on classical conditioning methods. We took the time out to reduce her fears and any other unwanted emotions to gain back control. We looked at her daily habits especially her not feeling smart enough, parting, lazy habits. For example watching TV, hanging out all the time, sleeping the day away etc. We implemented strategies that were very easy to apply without creating unnecessary tension or worries
The thought of work assignments caused her to feel overwhelmed
The new friends attracted her to want to hang out, go to the parties
It wasn’t a behavior that she has always had but because she continued to engage in the behavior the more it became a habit and started to feel the habit was ok.
Operant Conditioning
Clearly, Mary is in a reinforcement environment. There are so many enjoyable things to do. Though, it is hard for her to study and to complete assignments with all the opportunities to socialize, party, relax, sleep, listen to music, talk, parting, etc. How could studying math and psychology possibly be more enjoyable to her any more with all these fun things?
Though she was receiving decent grades and mostly likely she is rewarded for it the behavior is more likely to repeat itself. She will use a calendar to mark all her due assignments and the times they are due.
She will eliminate any distractions that would normally take her way from her assignments until she has completed them. Examples: phones, friends, noses, television.
She will start holding herself accountable for her actions and learn to reverse the habit by positive reinforcement. If she finish her work at a reasonable time she will take her mate out on the town,