Set up Blog and 1st post due Wednesday, April 1 at midnight

Hi everyone!

Here's your chance to be creative and apply psychology to your own life.

In this assignment, you'll modify your own behavior using operant conditioning and discuss your progress in a blog. Don't worry about whether you successfully modify the behavior- you'll be graded is based on how carefully you design and implement your behavior change plan, including revising the plan if needed. You'll also be graded on the quality of your blog entries and comments.

If you want, you can make your blog visible only to invited readers. a. To add readers, click “Customize” on the top right, then “Settings” on the top left, then “Permissions” on the top right.
b. Click “Add Readers” and paste the email addresses I send you.

Due dates- Each week you will post entries to your own blog and sometimes comments on other classmates’ blogs. All entries and comments are due by midnight on the due date.

Sunday – Wednesday (by midnight): Post an entry to your own blog reporting on the previous Sunday to Saturday
Thursday – Saturday (by midnight): Post comments on most recent entry

Grading: A Grading Rubric provided on Blackboard under “Assignments>Behavior Change Blog Materials”. You will NOT be graded on the success of your project, but rather on how hard you try. Your blog will be graded based on how well you implement operant conditioning, explain the process, and make it interesting for the reader. Write in a conversational, clear way. Organize your ideas and use correct grammar and spelling. Entries, but they should clearly and completely respond to the assigned issues/questions without being too long (1 to 1 ½ screens in a reasonable font.

Comments You will post comments on each other’s blogs. Your comment should help your classmate in some way. For example, you may ask for clarification, provide encouragement, offer an alternative method, respond to a question they had, provide a link to a website that they might find useful, provide personal examples, ideas, etc. You may also respond to another classmate’s comment. Your comments should be at least a few sentences and should be thoughtful and clearly distinct from your other comments and from those of your classmates. Cut and paste your published comments into a separate document that includes the dates. You’ll turn this in at the end to ensure you get credit for everything.

For you first entry (Due April 1, midnight)
1. Write a brief entry about yourself and the blog; for example, explain that you are a psychology student and what the blog is for. (Use only your first name; also use your last initial if there is another person in class with your name).
2. Describe the target behavior you plan to modify. For example, you might want to get in shape, quit smoking, manage time better, spend more time with friends, spend less time on Facebook, etc. Explain why you want to change it.

Then start keeping track of how much/often you do this behavior at baseline (before the modification) for at least 7 days. Be as detailed as possible! Consider both frequency and intensity. You will report the results in your next entry.

Start looking around for tips on effective ways to change this behavior.

Lastly, start commenting on your classmates’ blogs. (1st comment due Saturday April 3, midnight)