Behavioral and Social/Cognitive Approaches to Forming Habits Paper
Jeston Walker
PSY/250
December 8, 2014
Ronald Goodnight

Introduction
In this paper I will analyze one of your habits, how did I develop this habit, were there role models for this habit, and which people influenced the adoption of this habit. I will explain why do I continue the habit and has there been a time when I have attempted to break this habit. I will use the behavioral personality theory to explain why I have this habit. I will describe components of social/cognitive theory that explain why the habit formed. I will develop a plan that applies operant conditioning to change this habit. Between the behavioral and social/cognitive theories, I will also describe which one do I find best explains my personality.
Analyze one of your habits. How did you develop this habit? Were there role models for this habit? Which people influenced the adoption of this habit?
My smoking habit began before I even turned 18. I tried my first cigarette around the age of 16, and I was addicted by the time I turned 18. It was several reasons why I developed the habit of smoking. A lot of my family members that was closed too were smokers. Their friends encourage them to try cigarettes, and to keep smoking. They saw smoking as a way of rebelling and showing independence. They think that everyone else is smoking, and that they should, too. Also I used to see tobacco advertising all the time, which targeted a lot of teenagers around me to start the habit of smoking also. The majority of children at my middle school and the early part of high school have tried a cigarette. Most will tell you that they will never smoke cigarettes. But as they get older, some will become more open to the idea of smoking. Cigarette companies shape their advertising campaigns to portray smokers as cool, sexy, independent, fun, attractive, and living on the edge – images that are appealing to many teens. As a result, they try smoking and many get hooked. Only 5% of high-school-age smokers believe they'll still be smoking 5 years after graduation but they don't understand how difficult quitting can be. Research shows that after 8 years, 75% of those smokers will still be using some form of tobacco (American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 2007).

Why do you continue it? Has there been a time when you have attempted to break this habit? The short answer is nicotine. The long answer is more complex. First, nicotine is physically addictive and, second, nicotine addiction also causes psychological changes in me because I connect its pleasurable feelings to many different aspects of my live. Cigarette smoking becomes interwoven with my live, so that when I try to quit smoking, I not only have to beat back an addiction to smoking, I also have to deal with dozens of triggers that can prompt a desire to smoke (American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 2007). Nicotine is a drug that naturally occurs in tobacco. When I puff on a cigarette, I inhale nicotine in the smoke and it then spreads through my body. Nicotine interferes with communication between nerve cells. The result is a relaxing, pleasant feeling that makes me want to smoke more.
Use the behavioral personality theory to explain why you have this habit.
Social learning theory is the best way to explain my habit. I have learned that if I am stressed or bored, smoking will calm me down. The behaviorist approach to changing personality focuses on altering an undesirable behavior rather than finding out what caused it. A fundamental underlying assumption is that the cause of the problem is irrelevant (although the cause surely lies in the prior history of reinforcement)—the behavior itself is the issue. Merely apply the training tools to change the behavior, and the problem will be solved. In this perspective, an undesired behavior can be changed by learning a different behavior. For instance I am a smoker, and that habit is creating problems of infecting my health and embarrassment over the smell of my clothes. A behaviorist approach would be to train you to stop smoking, using a planned program of shaping via reinforcement. From many other perspectives, though, especially a psychodynamic one, fixing the symptom is not ultimately of value because the underlying problem will then just manifest itself in some other way (Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology 2011). A traditional psychoanalyst would accept that the smoking could be stopped by conditioning, but would see such an effort as a distraction from the real goal of helping the smoker understand the inner conflicts that are causing self-destructive behavior. I could spend years in intensive psychoanalysis sessions to get at the root of the problem or go for a few sessions of behavior therapy and quit smoking.
Describe components of social/cognitive theory that explain why the habit formed.
Andersen and Berk (1998) developed a social-cognitive model of the transference phenomenon. This model applies to everyday social relations, and rejects the Freudian focus on psychosexual conflicts and defense mechanisms. The simplest description of this social-cognitive view of transference is that it takes fundamental processes of cognition and social cognition (such as categorization, similarity, accessibility, and schemas) and applies them to the question of how old relationships affect new social interactions. Rather than being satisfied with conjecturing that transference is an everyday phenomenon that occurs outside the psychoanalytic context, Andersen and her colleagues did clever laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis.

Develop a plan that applies operant conditioning to change this habit.
Physical addiction is my only problem, it might be easier for me to quit smoking and more people would succeed. But I have to deal with the psychological addiction to smoking as well as the physical dependence of nicotine addiction. Even when I use cessation aids to take the edge off the symptoms of physical addiction, I have trouble feeling “normal” without cigarettes and smoking rituals. This feeling is exacerbated by psychological triggers that build up over time as I use the pleasant feelings prompted by nicotine and my smoking habit to either cope with unpleasant things or enhance their enjoyment of activities (Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology 2011). Activities that trigger the desire for me to smoke are: finishing a meal, drinking a cup of coffee or an alcoholic drink, driving, seeing someone else light up a cigarette, and watching television or relaxing around the house

Between the behavioral and social/cognitive theories, which one do you find best explains your personality?
Social/cognitive theories I find best to explain my personality. Andersen and Berk (1998) developed a social-cognitive model of the transference phenomenon. This model applies to everyday social relations, and rejects the Freudian focus on psychosexual conflicts and defense mechanisms. The simplest description of this social-cognitive view of transference is that it takes fundamental processes of cognition and social cognition (such as categorization, similarity, accessibility, and schemas) and applies them to the question of how old relationships affect new social interactions. Rather than being satisfied with conjecturing that transference is an everyday phenomenon that occurs outside the psychoanalytic context, Andersen and her colleagues did clever laboratory experiments to test the hypothesis (Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology 2011).
Conclusion
In this paper I analyzed one of my habits, how I developed this habit, were there role models for this habit, and which people influenced the adoption of this habit. I explained why do I continue the habit and has there been a time when I have attempted to break this habit. I used the behavioral personality theory to explain why I have this habit. I described components of social/cognitive theory that explain why the habit formed. I developed a plan that applies operant conditioning to change this habit. Between the behavioral and social/cognitive theories, I also described which one do I find best explains my personality.

References
Carroll, K. M., & Rounsaville, B. J. (2007). A perfect platform: Combining contingency management with medications for drug abuse. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 33(3), 343–365.
Silverman, K., Svikis, D., Robles, E., Stitzer, M. L., & Bigelow, G. E. (2001). A reinforcement based therapeutic workplace for the treatment of drug abuse: Six-month abstinence outcomes. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 9(1), 14–23.