KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL: HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT: PSYCHOLOGY

UNIT TITLE: BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

UNIT CODE: APS 323

TASK: Identifying a person with a maladaptive behavior, defining the

behavior, establishing a baseline data, goals to help the person
change,behaviour modification
principle, evaluating the outcome and then reflect on what the exercise is
all about.

1
MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOUR
People react to situations and events and how they adapt to these circumstances is exhibited to
their behaviour, while adaptive behaviour is used to adjust to situation, the opposite of this is the
maladaptive behaviour which interferes with the optimal functioning of an individual.

Maladaptive behaviours can range from minor to severe behaviours that can either be tolerable or
harmful to an individual or others around him or her.

Definition of the maladaptive behaviour

In our group project, the maladaptive behavior to be modified is phone addiction. Phone
addiction is a dependence syndrome whereby you are on the phone for longer periods than
required, one gets too pre-occupied with your smart phone such that one risks not completing
any tasks on time, or one does not engage in other activities such as going out with friends, or
even doing meaning things like trainings. Such as career coaching. In addition, one feels the urge
to always have the latest model.

Quinter one of our group member vividly exhibits this target behaviour, In her case she is too
obsessed with her phone that she keeps on browsing almost all the time thus this decreases her
productivity,plus she cannot wait to have an phone X though currently she has the latest Techno
model(Spark k7),when there is no network or data, she feels like her world is about to end, she
becomes restless, and sometimes anger strikes over. This was majorly influenced by her friends
and availability of Wireless Network(Wi-Fi).

2
ESTABLISHMENT OF A BASELINE DATA

Before the intervention for the target behavior, we gathered information before the program so
that the effectiveness of the intervention can be determined with measure prior to the
intervention. And also it will enable us to analyze the program’s progress.

The baseline data shows the Frequency, Duration and Intensity in which Quinter was using her
phone before intervention.

Frequency data Sheet

Name; Quinter Atieno sure

Observer; Roommate and the 6 members of the group

Definition of behaviour being recorded: rate at which Quinter is using her phone to browse

Day Frequency Daily

Total
1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 19
2 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 20
3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 20
4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 20
5 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X x 21
6 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X x 21
7 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X x x 22

Conclusion: It is vivid that during the first week before intervention the frequency of Quinter
using her phone increased day by day

Duration data Sheet

Name: Quinter Atieno sure

Observer: Roommate and the & 6 members of the group

Definition of target Behaviour; Duration at which Quinter uses her phone

Day Duration Total

onset offset onset offset onset offset onset offset Duration
1 7am 12noon 1pm 4pm 7pm 9pm 10pm 2am 15hrs
2 7am 11am 1pm 5pm 7pm 9pm 10pm 2am 15hrs

3
3 7am 12noon 1pm 5pm 7pm 9pm 10pm 2am 16hrs
4 6am 10am 12noon 3pm 8pm 9pm 10pm 2am 12hrs
5 7am 11am 1pm 3pm 6pm 8pm 10pm 2am 12hrs
6 6am 12noon 1pm 5pm 7pm 9pm 10pm 2am 16hrs
7 6am 12noon 1pm 6pm 7pm 9pm 10pm 2am 17hrs

Conclusion: it is vivid that Quinter uses her phone for a long duration which is not a normal
behaviour, plus she even uses it more on day 6 and 7, indeed Quinter has a maladaptive
behaviour that really needs intervention before it diminishes her optimal performance.

Intensity Data Sheet

Name: Quinter Atieno Sure

Observer: Roommate and the 6 group members

Definition of behaviour being recorded: Intensity at which Quinter browses on the internet while
using her phone.

Day Data usage Total Data

dawn morning Midmrng noon evening night midnight Late night usage
1 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 500Mb 500Mb 1Gb 1Gb 4Gb
2 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 250Mb 1Gb 500Mb 3Gb
3 125Mb 125Mb 250Mb 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 1Gb 1Gb 4Gb
4 250Mb 250Mb 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 1Gb 4Gb
5 250Mb 250Mb 500Mb IGb 1Gb 500Mb 500Mb 1Gb 5Gb
6 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb 1Gb 1Gb 1Gb 1Gb 6Gb
7 500Mb 500Mb 500Mb IGb 500Mb 1Gb 1Gb 1Gb 6Gb

Conclusion: It is vivid that the intensity at which Quinter uses her phone is high and it increases
day by day this is shown in her daily data usage

4
GOALS TO HELP QUINTER CHANGE
Quinter is addicted to her device which is the latest model of Techno Model (Spark K7), her
phone. She is aiming at acquiring an I phone which she has branded as her dream phone,
considering she is unable to actively participate in other activities due to the device, the
behaviour should be stopped and replaced with desirable behaviours which she has more interest
in. For Quinter this includes cooking, adventure with friends, swimming and even hanging out
with friends.

Goals that help Quinter change include:

 To minimize the average time Quinter spends on her phone, for instance to encourage the
subject to participate in her hobbies more for example wake up to miner exercises such as
climbing up and down the stairs and some brief walking and jogging during the evening
in the morning instead of checking of checking on updates on social media accounts and
also try out new complicated recipes rather than watching on Netflix all day long,

 Another goal is to introduce Quinter to other mind stimulating activities that do not
include her phone for example board games, reading magazines, books ,novels,

 Finding out what Quinter is escaping from that has led her to become so attached to her
phone can it be loneliness or boredom if that’s the case then she should find healthier and
more effective ways of managing her moods such as choosing alternative moods even
hang out with friends..In addition, Quinter should be actively engaged in other
behaviours by the end of the study period instead of her turning to her phone

 Another goal of helping Quinter is for her to spend less time with friends who drive her
to occasionally using her phone more than she should.

5
BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION PRINCIPLE
In Quinter's case we are going to use the principle of punishment we are aiming at decreasing
the frequency of the target behaviour not strengthening it, thus we are going to use both negative
punishment which involves punishment by withdrawal or termination of an already reinforcing
stimuli and positive punishment which involves presentation of an aversive stimuli.

We noted that Quinter makes use of her phone in excess by watching movies on Netflix and also
she is also addicted to social media whereby she checks on updates frequently especially when
she posts a picture or even when she comments on twitter, this is majorly due to the free Wi-Fi
that is available at her homestead. To reduce the excessive use of her phone, we will have to
withdraw the positive reinforce such as the wireless network (Wi-Fi)by disconnected it from her
phone and not giving her password and some of the social media accounts through this the
frequency in which she uses her phone will decrease. In addition we also noted that she addicted
to chatting on whatsapp,so any time during the class period when we find her using whatsapp we
delete the whatsapp app till the end of the lesson until she learns not to be using the phone during
the lecture hours, through this the rate at which she spends on her phone during the lecture hour
will decrease. Since she like watching during the night, her will always be taken during the night
every time she decides to watch in order to reduce the frequency of her using her phone. Another
effective way is taking her phone the whole day especially during the weekends so that she can
find interest in other things such as going out for events such as trainings, hanging out with
friends through this she will be able to adapt and enjoy life without using her phone through this
her frequency of using the phone would have decreased for her mind will have shifted to other
interesting things.

We can also present an aversive stimuli to Quinter, whereby we give her a limited time by
scheduling break times during the day when it would be okay to access her phone and
occasionally such receiving important calls, if she fails to do this we deny her the chance to eat
for this is what she loves to do cooking and eating and through this she will learn the hard way
and eventually decrease the frequency she uses her phone.

6
EVALUATION OF THE OUTCOME
After observation during the intervention process, Quinter managed to reduce the frequency,
duration and intensity on how she uses her phone. This was highly contributed by the activities
she engaged in apart from using her phone by strictly working towards achieving the goals. This
was done with the help of her roommate June and six other members of the group.
The frequency data below shows the number of times Quinter used her phone from 8th to 23rd day
during the intervention program.
FREQUENCY DATA SHEET
Name: Quinter Atieno sure
Observer: Roommate and 6members of the group
Definition of behaviour being recorded: Rate at which Quinter used her phone after Intervention.

Day Frequency Daily

Total
8 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 22

9 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 21

10 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 20
11 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 19
12 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 18
13 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 17
14 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 16
15 x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 15
16 x x x x x x x x x x x x 12
17 x x x x x x x x x x x 11
18 x x x x x x x x x x x 11
19 x x x x x x x x x x 10
20 x x x x x x x x x 9
21 x x x x x x x x 8
22 x x x x x 5
23 x x x x x 5
Conclusion: The behaviour was modified to a significant decrease in the number of times
Quinter used her phone as she was also determined to change the maladaptive behaviour and
adapted other activities as mentioned earlier in the goals.
The frequency decreased at a range of more than 50% from 22 times a day to 5 times a day, this
is due to the fact that she had other activities to do apart from using her phone, it came to a point
whereby her main aim of using her phone was for calling and receiving phone calls plus writing

7
necessary messages maybe to her parents or course mates or even some her friends other than
browsing seeing updates on social media and watching all night which was very dysfunctional.
DURATION DATA SHEET

Day Duration Total

onset offset onset offset onset offset onset offset Duration
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

INTENSITY DATA SHEET

Day Data usage Total Data

dawn morning Midmrng noon evening night midnight Late night usage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

8
REFLECTION ON THE PROGRAM
In our program we were dealing with one of our group member who had a maladaptive
behaviour of using her phone more than usual thus she was addicted to her phone to an extent her
focus on studies dropped and even her social life was affected. This program was conducted both
by the six members of the group and her roommate to help us observe her during the night.
The major plan for the program was to reduce the number of times, hours taken and intensity of
Quinter using her phone which led to her dysfunction both in her academics and social life.
Our plan was to work on creating more time of functional activities that Quinter can engage in
instead of constantly using the phone for unproductive things. The goals were to find time to talk
and hang out with her friends so as to improve on her social life and to also find more time to
study, do assignments so as to improve on her grades which were really dropping.
So as to make the intervention successful, we monitored her usage of phone then after that we
formulated strategies of punishments such as disconnecting her Wi-Fi and not giving her the
password plus deleting some of her social media account and apps when she uses them
especially during class hours and also engaged her roommate who will be observing her during
the nights hours where if Quinter is found watching at odd hours her phone will be taken away
by the roommate.
Another effective thing we did was to take her phone away during the weekend so that Quinter
could find ample time to spend with her friends and other activities that she loved such as
cooking so as to adapt to other activities other than using her phone.
The progress could be measured by noting down the times Quinter logged in to her account,
since it is inevitable for one to avoid completely using his or her account we made a schedule on
when she was allowed to log in into her account.
During the intervention progress we interviewed Quinter as she admitted the fact that due to her
reduction in her usage of phone she could now notice her friends and know more about them
plus she could fully concentrate in class and understand what the lecturer taught thus being able
to retrieve the information during the examinations.
Since we disconnected her wireless network, we noticed that the intensity at which she was
browsing reduced.
It is very vivid that intervention was a success, for we managed to reduce the frequency, duration
and intensity in which Quinter used her phone and help Quinter indulge in more productive ways
such as her social life where she doubled the number of friends she had, plus how she was able to
improve on her continuous assessment tests which is done twice in a semester before the final
examination.