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Overview

The treatment phase is like the baseline phase with the exception of the treatment being added to determine if there is a change in the data. Treat your target behavior, using the treatment method(s) that you have researched in this course. Use the time available to you to treat it, whether it is one week or two. Then prepare and submit your Behavioral Modification Project: Treatment Phase Report Assignment, which will consist of the following 6 parts. Use Level One headings to differentiate the parts.

Instructions

1. Target Behavior: The target behavioral definition is clear and measurable with research support for an operational definition. Examples are cited if clarification is needed.

2. Treatment Method: The treatment method is described clearly and concisely.

3. Treatment Period & Dimensions: Show the dates (and times if relevant) of your treatment phase. (the x axis of the graph). The logical dimension(s) - Frequency - Intensity - Duration - Latency - that were observed and recorded during the treatment are clearly and consistently stated and shown. (y axis of the graph).

4. Experiment Narrative: Described the logistics and process of the experimental treatment phase (the research design - AB or ABAB, schedules of treatment, confounding variables that may have impacted the experiment).

5. Graph of baseline & Treatment Data: A graph embedded into the paper with APA labels.

6. Summary of Treatment Observations: Clearly and completely, but concisely, verbally summarize the treatment of the target behavior and show the results of the experiment. Descriptions should be made of confounds (settings/stress/work/conflict) that conflict with the treatment, and stimuli that may have helped. Critically analyze the different data points for potential interpretations.

Note: This assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.

APA Formatted Title Page Comment by Conner, Kevin Wayne (Psychology): Format the title page according to APA standards.

Social Media Use as a Behavior Modification: Treatment Phase Report

Target Behavior

The target behavior chosen for this experiment was the participant’s excess usage of social media. For the sake of this study, social media use was defined as logging on to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Excess usage is defined as using the social media more than one hour a day or checking it multiple times in an hour (Bates et al., 2020).

Treatment Method

Positive punishment was used as the treatment method. If the participant opened a social media site between the hours 8am and 6pm, she immediately performed fifteen jumping jacks regardless of her location or setting. Jumping jacks served as the positive punisher throughout this study, and needed to be completed immediately following the target behavior in order for the treatment to be successful.

Treatment Period and Dimensions

The treatment period began immediately following the baseline phase. The first treatment was on February 9, 2023 and ended on February 15, 2016. The first treatment phase lasted seven days, and was followed by a second baseline phase. The second baseline phase started on February16, 2023 and ended on February 20, 2023. The second treatment phase started on February 21, 2023 and ended on February 25, 2023. Due to time constraints the second baseline and treatment phases lasted only five days each. Only the dimension of frequency of social media usage was observed and recorded throughout the experiment. [Example: This was accomplished ____ many times during the period.]

Experiment Narrative

The participant kept a small tablet of paper in her pocket or purse and marked each time she opened or logged onto a social media site between the hours of eight o’clock in the morning and nine o’clock in the evening. There was a separate sheet of paper for each day of the study for the participant to track the number of times she opened or logged into social media sites on each day. The schedule of treatment was consistent among the treatment phases. The treatment was divided into two separate time frames separated by a period of baseline observation.

Figure 1: A line graph illustrating the frequency of the participant’s social media use during the baseline and treatment phases of this study.

Summary of Treatment

When the participant logged onto a social media site, she would immediately stop and complete fifty jumping jacks consecutively. After the jumping jacks, the participant would make a mark on the paper she kept with her in order to track the frequency of her social media use. The marks were then totaled each evening to provide a daily total.

During the first treatment period, the excess behavior of social media usage declined significantly, and by the end of the period there were no occurrences of the target behavior. During the second period of treatment, the decline of the target behavior happened more quickly than in the first treatment period.

On the first day of the first treatment period, the participant logged into a social media site four times, and performed fifty jumping jacks immediately after logging in each time. On the second day, she opened a social media site three times, and on the third day she only logged into a social media website once. From day four to day seven, the participant did not log onto any social media sites. Compared to the first baseline phase, the participant’s target behavior decreased significantly and eventually had no occurrences (as shown in Figure 1).

When treatment stopped during the second baseline phase, the behavior increased slightly but did not return to the level of frequency shown in the first baseline phase (as shown in Figure 1). During the second treatment phase, the participant had two occurrences of social media use on the first day, but did not have occurrences of the target behavior for the remainder of the treatment phase (shown in Figure 1). Considering that the frequency of social media use declined significantly during both treatment phases, the treatment was successful.

The most profound observation during the treatment phase was that the behavior was a habit. The participant logged on to social media sites without thinking or consciously wanting to. Day one through day three of the first phase of treatment had the most occurrences of the behavior. The majority of those occurrences had been done out of habit, not a conscious desire to engage in social media use.

The other observation was that social media use was more likely to occur if the participant was bored, waiting for someone or something, or stressed. The participant would benefit from keeping a book or a list of things that can be done during these small intervals of time. This would help her overcome boredom, escape stress, and fulfill the same purpose that social media has had in the past. This would help the participant be more productive with her time, which was ultimately the purpose of decreasing social media use in her daily life.

Results supported the treatment being a good fit for this participant because she does not appreciate the attention that resulted in completing the punishment. During the time that she completed fifty jumping jacks, all tasks would stop around her. The participant is a wife and mother who homeschools her children; therefore, all schoolwork and home activities would stop while she completed the punishment, which was not desirable for her. She did not engage in social media usage outside of her home during the treatment phase because she did not want to have to complete the punishment in a public place. Her children and husband were holding her accountable during this treatment, and would have insisted she do the punishment in a public place if she had logged onto a social media website. She does not enjoy being the focal point of attention, which made this treatment plan especially effective.

The treatment of punishment for social media use was successful in this study. Although it may be true that the participant will still engage in social media use during the hours of eight o’clock in the morning and nine o’clock in the evening, the target behavior decreased even without punishment being implemented in the second baseline phase. Since the goal of the study was to decrease the excess behavior of social media use, the goal was met, and treatment was successful. Comment by Conner, Kevin Wayne (Psychology): Include an APA formatted reference page.

Reference

Bates, E. T., Smith, J. L., & Carey, J. (2020). Social media use: Using time and energy to avoid addiction. Online Journal of Behavioral Media, 14(2), 92-96.

Behavior Modification of Social Media Use

Days

(February 2, 2023 - February 25, 2023)

Frequency of Social Media Use