Psychology Case Study Cigarettes

1. Describe the subject (age, sex, occupation, interests). (2 points)

The subject is a 58 year old woman that works as a Manager at a Bank. She enjoys gardening, being outside and reading books in her spare time.

2. A. State the target behavior as either an excess or deficit and how you will measure it. (4 points)

The target behavior is an excess of smoking cigarettes. I will measure it by how many cigarettes are smoked per day.

B. If targeting a behavior excess, state an incompatible or replacement behavior also.

A replacement behavior to this excess behavior could be sucking on pieces of hard candy throughout the day or chewing on ice.

3. If you are working on a behavior excess, state the situation(s) in which the behavior occurs

Describe how you will include 4 of the following antecedent strategies (choose from A-I) (8 points):

The following can be used to decrease behavior excesses or to decrease behaviors that interfere with behavior deficits. Think of these strategies as setting up specific rules and following them.

A. Building in Pauses: This will go into effect as a way to get her distracted instead of smoking. If she feels the urge to smoke a cigarette is will have to wait 5 minutes before actually smoking the cigarette. Hopefully by following this rule, she will stop thinking about the craving and it will go away, which allows her to smoke one less cigarette.

B. Avoid Antecedent: This will go into effect by trying to get her to avoid the triggers that cause the most amounts of smoking. If she feels stressed, she will try to use more mediation techniques in those stressful moments such as when she is at work or driving home from a stressful day. If she feels tired, we will try to get her to go to bed earlier the night before to ensure that she is well rested and ready for the day’s activities. Instead of using a cigarette to curb her appetite, she replaced it with a healthy snack, hoping that it will take the carving away and satisfy her