Dear Diary

Through the course of multiple journal entries, I pushed myself to defeat a common addiction/problem I have had all my life. I attempted to be healthier, better me, picking the salad instead of the cheeseburger or the veggie sub instead of pepperoni pizza. At the beginning of this experiment, I worked really hard to achieve these goals, picking a healthy sub or salad and drinking water rather than soda. If I did achieve these goals, I would reward myself by watching an episode of my favorite T.V show, relaxing and just enjoying my night. Later in the week, I was not as successful with my goals, eating late night sweets and drinking soda for dinner. I believe my behavior for eating and drinking healthier fluctuated by day, as some days I were better than others. I feel the biggest problem was not enough motivation. If I were to do it all over again, I would pick something else as my reinforcement.

 This idea of reinforcement and behavior comes from this leaning psychology called operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is where you use positive/ negative reinforcement to increase a behavior and negative/positive punishment to decrease a behavior.

Using a journal and attempting to decrease a behavior or increase a behavior by using negative/positive reinforcement or punishment is an example of Operant Conditioning. 

I challenge you to do this yourself!! Make a journal and  write down each day how you tried to change your addiction/ behavior. See if