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  • Essay / Personal Testimony: Lip Smacking and Using Motivating Stimuli to Reduce the Habit

    I tend to smack my lips whenever I find myself in an embarrassing scenario. This specific behavior interests me because I think I learned it from a friend, whether or not I actually did it will be discussed later. There's nothing particularly bad about this behavior, except that it becomes annoying once noticed. It's a bit like when you realize you're saying "um" or "like" and it starts to bother you because now you're aware of it. It's fine until I realize I'm doing it, then it has to stop, but that's easier said than done. So, a plan was implemented to extinguish this behavior, but to do so, the possible origins of this behavior (classical or operant conditioning) were first examined.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Analyzing the origins of lip-smacking behavior is difficult to say the least, as my learning history is not documented. However, plausible explanations for the basis of the behavior, lip smacking, can be put forward. Maybe during arguments there were awkward silences and the smacking of my lips caused the silence to break, which made the other party laugh because they thought it was strange. Thus, lip smacking would be the second-order conditioned stimulus (CS2) and CS1 is the breaking of an awkward silence which is associated with the unconditioned stimulus of laughter. The conditioned response is the desire to smack my lips when placed in awkward silence. Laughter, being an unconditioned stimulus, is associated with the unconditioned response of happiness. Because CS2 occurs at the same time as CS1, they are conditioned simultaneously. The US could either overlap CS1 or occur after a time interval between each stimulus, it can be either delayed or trace conditioned. This theory implies that there was already a previous pair of breaking silence with an unconditioned stimulus, laughter. Although higher order classical conditioning may be a reason as to how I learned this behavior, the more likely origin of this behavior is due to social factors. observational learning. The model, through negative reinforcement, had learned to escape the aversive situation, the awkward silence, by smacking his lips, which successfully created a diversion from the silence. By observing the model's behavior and consequences, my behavior was reinforced, so the behavior was vicariously reinforced. The only person I know who engages in this behavior is my friend, and with this information it could be used in a possible plan to extinguish this behavior. After reviewing the potential origins of this behavior, plans can be made based on these explanations. Extinction can be applied to weaken and eventually eliminate the conditioned response, the desire to smack one's lips during a delicate situation. Extinction occurs upon presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. In this case it would be when the subject smacks their lips, CS, and laughter, US, would not occur. In terms of operant conditioning, the subject would technically be put through a fixed ratio program, where it would take an infinite amount of lip smacking to get the reinforcement, laughter. Another possible plan is to weaken this behavior through positive punishment. Whenever lip smacking behavior is observed, the,.