University Report: Behavior Modification and Masturbation Study

This report presents a student's application of behavior modification principles to address the target behavior of masturbation. The student, identifying as being in the intimacy vs. isolation stage of psychosocial development, details a systematic approach to behavior change. The report outlines the five key steps of behavior modification: specifying the target behavior, gathering baseline data, designing a program, executing and evaluating the program, and preparing a report. Baseline data collection involved tracking the frequency and antecedents of the behavior, leading to the design of a program incorporating reinforcement (chocolate rewards), punishment (vegetable substitution), and control of antecedents (avoiding romantic stimuli, cold showers). The execution phase involved a behavioral contract and social support from a sex addiction association. The report documents the student's adherence to the program, challenges faced, and the outcomes achieved over a three-week period, demonstrating the practical application of behavior modification techniques.

Running header: Modifying behavior 1
Name & Surname
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I declare that:
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Report word count__2462______excluding tables, graphs and references.

Masturbating 2
Introduction
Behavior modification is an approach that is systematic and is directed at changing a
behavior by applying principles of conditioning (Weisten et al., 2013). A behavior is achieved
through conditioning, learning, and environmental control. This approach assumes that people
can unlearn what they learned reconditioning (Bandura, 2007). This behavior modification as
mentioned above is systematic and has five steps. Step one; specifying your target behavior. Step
two; Gathering baseline data. Step three; designing your program. Step four; executing and
evaluating the program. Step five; preparing my report. The first step involves an
acknowledgment that one has a problem which is affecting their daily life and they need help.
The second step involves gathering information on the problem. What aggravates and hinders the
behavior. With all this information it is easier to come up with a strategy to deal with the
problem. The reinforcers, punishers and control antecedents. With all this one can design a
program with a stipulated time. In mine, it took three weeks. If behavior change is not achieved
within the specified time it can be extended. It should adhere to the later. There are ways to
ensure adherence is maintained. For example getting social support, a sponsor, focus group.
After the stipulated time an evaluation is done in most cases there is the modification of behavior
if there was adherence.
Target behavior
There are eight psychosocial development stages which begin from infancy to
adulthood. The sixth stage is intimacy vs isolation. It targets young adults between the ages of

Masturbating 3
18-40 years. The basic virtue targeted here is love. If this stage is not attained/completed well it
leads to loneliness, depression, and isolation. The hindrance to successful achievement/
completion of this stage includes masturbation, being in a bad relationship (where one is being
treated badly, beaten, and cheated on) (Kendra, 2017; Sackett, 2010). The target behavior I
would like to change is masturbating. I am in the age group of stage 6 development.
Masturbating takes three to five hours weekly. As days go by the urge to do it increases. This
means an increment in the hours. This is affecting my school. The concentration at class is poor.
It is affecting my sexual life (Lipstick and McCann 2013). The long-term effect is worse as it
will affect my psychosocial development. If this behavior continues I will not attain intimacy and
I will end up lonely, depressed and isolated. It will affect my body image. Myself esteem
(Shulman and Home, 2014). It will also affect attainment of other stages. This behavior should
be modified before it causes more damage.
Baseline data
In baseline data there three things that I did put into consideration. I identified possible
controlling antecedents, the initial level of response and lastly possible control consequences.
Last one week all I did was gather baseline data. The hours I did masturbate. The antecedents
(the events that preceded masturbation) and lastly what made me not masturbate, the hindrances.
From the findings, it was clear that I was having a problem. Masturbating is affecting my
academic and social life. It is affecting my sexual relationship life (Hurlbert and Whittaker,
2012). If this behavior goes on it endangers my future. I asked myself questions that guided me
to gather the information. How many hours does it consume? I'm I guilt for doing it? Do I want
to have a change? Does it affect my daily activities? Is it affecting my performance at school?

Masturbating 4
When/ what makes me do it? What hinders me from doing it? The answers to this question gave
me a baseline to the design of the program to modify my behavior.
day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6 day 7
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
1
2
0
1
0.5
2
0
2
0.5 0.5
1.5
2
3
0
3
2
3 3 3
4 4
Hours used in Masturbating daily.
morning afternoon evening
The chart above shows the hour's masturbation consumes daily. An average of five hours
daily. That is almost a fifth of my day. The third day the hours are lower because I was
preoccupied with a continuous assessment test CAT. The revision took most of my hours. On the
seventh day being a family day, I did not have time to do it. I spent the whole day with my
family. The antecedents to my behavior are; being alone, after watching a romantic movie,
taking a warm shower and lastly being idle (Pinkerton, S 2013). The control consequences are
being busy, staying with a friend, avoiding romantic movies/novels, taking cold showers and
lastly rewarding myself when a day passes without masturbating or when I conquer an urge to
masturbate.
Program design

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This is the third step. This is the intervention stage. Having identified the specific
problem, the baseline data that is the control consequences, the initial responses and lastly the
antecedents. With this, I will be able to come up with a program design to reduce masturbation
and later on stop masturbation. To achieve this the following is required; reinforcement, control
antecedents, and punishment. The reinforcers, in this case, will be those things that will
strengthen the behavior of not masturbating and decrease the behavior of masturbating.
Reinforcers are the responses from the environment which brings an increase in the probability
of a behavior being repeated. The behavior can be negative or positive. Punishers, on the other
hand, are the environmental responses that bring a decrease in the likelihood of the target
behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens a behavior. Punishment cannot be used alone as it
will cause nonadherence. It is usually combined with positive reinforcement. The reward
reinforcement. In my case what is the reinforcer? This is the questions that will help me come up
with the reinforcers. What kind of praises do I like? What kind of things do I like? What are my
major interests? What makes me relax? What makes me have fun? Whenever I have extra
dollars, how do I spend them? What do I buy? What are my fantasy and dreams? (Watson et al,
1997). With all this analysis I came up a reinforcer. Every time I overcome an urge to masturbate
I will be rewarding myself with chocolates. The expensive chocolates, I will be sampling
different flavors and different brands. The punishers, in this case, if I am unable to control the
urges I will be punishing myself by not taking chicken which is my favorite and substituting it
with vegetables. For a punishment to be effective it should be mild so that I can stick to it and
also so that I can be able to administer it myself. The third thing in the program design is the
control of antecedents. This is the control of those things that directly or indirectly promote the
behavior. In this case, it is those things that encourage masturbation. As mentioned earlier they

Masturbating 6
are; idleness, being alone, romantic movies and novels and lastly long warm showers. To bring
an end to masturbation. I should avoid long warm showers and alternatively take cold showers. I
should not allow myself to be idle. I should keep myself busy. Whenever that thought comes up I
should channel it into something useful (sublimation). For example, go for a jog, read a book.
Avoid romantic movies/novels at all cost until I recover. Another way to achieve my goal is
through aversion, which is, inflicting pain in my body whenever I get an urge to do it. For
example through pinching myself hard. The design is by having reinforcers, punishers, control
antecedents, aversions, and sublimation. With this, it will be possible to decrease the behavior
and ultimately achieve the goal of stopping the behavior.
Program execution
This step involves putting the designed program to a test. The successfulness of this
program depends on one’s ability not to cheat on themselves. There are two ways to be used to
ensure that there is no cheating. One is by having a behavioral contract, this is, writing a promise
to adhere to the contingencies that are meant to modify the behavior (Janz et l., 2011). I drafted
my goals and aims. The objectives were to be met in three weeks. Week one the target was to
reduce the masturbating hours by half. The second week reduce it by two and the third week not
to masturbate. The second way to ensure there is adherence is by having some else reward me
and punish me when required or specified by the program ( Weisten, 2013). Gerber et al. (1986)
state that to have a successful modification of behavior adherence is key. For one to achieve
adherence the following should be achieved, have a collaborative framework, problem-solving
approach, focusing on behavior, social support, stress inoculation and relapse prevention (Davis,
2009).

Masturbating 7
Masturbating is not something I can just open up and tell someone, people judge
(Coleman, E., 2015). To get someone to walk with me through this journey was hard but all in
all, I had to tell someone so as to get social support which will, in turn, help me in adherence. I
joined a sex addiction association where all people with sexual problems meet twice a week. I
met people with worse sexual problems than me, people who have made it stop masturbating. I
was able to get someone to help me through the journey (sponsor). My sponsor's responsibility
was to ensure I recover by making sure I follow my designed program.
Objectives
By the end of week one, I should have cut the masturbating hours by half (less than 2.5 hours).
By the end of week two, the masturbating hours should be less than 1.5 hours.
By the end of week three, I should not be masturbating at all.
Adherence plan
For these objectives to be attained. Adherence is key. I used the seven phases of
adherence to the designed program. With this structure I was able to identify motivators, create
an expectancy of success, be able to establish priorities when it comes to self-care, be able to
assess the effectiveness of the plan, have an activation towards success and change, and be able
to deal with the effect of feeling helplessness and passivity.
The program design execution.
Week one

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Day Hours of
masturbating
Challenges Reward Punishment
1 5 Urges were so
strong.
I couldn’t stop
myself.
I spent my
leisure hours
alone watching a
lovely series.
__________
For supper that
day I took a
vegetable salad
2 4.5 I did not
masturbate in the
morning, I went
jogging.
In the afternoon
and evening, I
couldn't help
myself.
A bar of Jacques
Torres
No chicken a
fruit salad and
fruits for supper.
3 3.8 I did not
masturbate in the
afternoon. I
spent the whole
afternoon in the
library (a public
place)
Two bars of
Jacques Torres
__________
4 3.5 I did not
masturbate in the
morning and
afternoon. As
usual in the
morning I went
for a jog. In the
afternoon I went
swimming in a
public pool.
Three bars La
Maison du
chocolate
I pinched myself
so hard
whenever I
found myself
thinking about
touching myself.
In the evening I
had to take a
warm shower, it
was so cold.
That’s how I
started touching.
5 2.5 No masturbation
in the morning
and afternoon, as
usual, I went
jogging and in
the afternoon I
went to a public
place.
4 bars of Vosges
Haut Chocolates
I pinched myself
hard after
masturbating
while in bed.
I also had
vegetables for
supper.
6 2 Masturbation at 5 bars of My best friend

Masturbating 9
night. Richard
Donnelly
Chocolate
visited me and
we watched a
romantic movie
which made me
get a strong
urge. I couldn’t
stop myself.
7 0 No masturbation A whole packet
of Chuaos
Chocolatier
It was a Sunday.
I spent most of
the day with my
family.
Week two
Day Hours
masturbating
Challenges Reward Punishment
8 3 It was raining
heavily I
couldn’t go
jogging. I did
masturbate
twice. Morning
and evening.
___________ Supper was
vegetables.
9 2 Had a long day,
had no minute to
think about it. It
only happened in
the evening.
4 bars of
Debauve and
Gallais
Pinching myself
hard and taking
vegetables.
10 1.8 Happened in the
evening. I was
alone at my
cubicle did not
even fight the
urge.
5 bars of Pierre
Marcollin
Pinching myself
hard and taking
vegetables.
11 1.5 Felt a strong
urge in the
evening. Tried to
pinch myself but
the urge could
6 bars of
Richard
chocolate
Pinching myself
hard and taking
vegetables.

Masturbating 10
not go away so I
went ahead
doing it.
12 1 Had lots of
assignments
which consumed
a lot of time
reducing my free
time to touch
myself.
A whole packet
of Godiva G
collection
Pinching myself
hard and taking
vegetables.
13 1 Came back to
my room so
tired. I had been
hiking all day so
had little time to
shower did it
only when I was
taking a shower.
A pack of
Delafee
Pinching myself
hard and taking
vegetables.
14 0 It was a Sunday.
I spent most of
the day with my
family.
A pack of Noka
vintage
collection
___________
Week three
Day Hours used in
masturbation
Challenges Reward Punishment
15
0
The urge to
touch me is so
strong.
A pack of
chocopologies
by Knipschildt
I pinch myself
and remind
myself of the
goal.
16 0 The urge is
strong although
my aims to
achieve the goal
is more
important.
A pack of Chuao
I pinch myself
and remind
myself of the
goal.
17 0 I did not think of A pack of

Masturbating 11
masturbating the
whole day. Have
only thought of
it now when
writing this.
Richard
Donnelly
__________
18 0 No urge or
thoughts to
touch myself.
A pack of
Debauve and
Gallais
__________
19 0 No urge or
thoughts to
touch myself.
A pack of
Richart __________
20 0 No urge or
thoughts to
touch myself.
A pack of
Richard
Donnelly
__________
21 0 No urge or
thoughts to
touch myself.
A pack of Pierre
___________
Conclusion and evaluation
Accepting that one has a problem is the number one step to healing (Marlatt, 2013).
Masturbating had been taking a lot of my time. A minimum of five hours daily. This is a lot of
hours considering I have to study and attend classes. At first, it did not bother me. The thrill to
rush home and touch myself was intoxicating. I remember skipping classes to go and do it.
Lagging behind in my studies, the fact that I could not maintain any relationship I got into and
the fear of isolation in future made me want to change my behavior. With the help of this unit
and also a group I joined after the studying modifying behavior. I was equipped with the
knowledge and skills on modifying behavior. I was able to come up with a strategy. I gathered
enough baseline data then came up with a design program. The design program was a success. I
was able to modify my behavior within the three weeks. My sponsor was of great help through
the journey. He encouraged me to move on and also he helped me in adhering to the schedule

Masturbating 12
through rewarding and punishment. Week one had so many challenges. So many setbacks. The
urges were so strong. Masturbating was deeply rooted in me. Using the adherence table,
reinforces in combination with punishers, having a written design program and a sponsor made it
a success. The reward by the end of the day made me not masturbate. The morning jogging is
what prevents me from touching myself in the morning. Most of the afternoon I am usually very
busy; I either go to the library, mall, and charity work, church or malls. I avoid spending my
afternoons alone and idle. This has been effective in curbing the afternoon habit. The evening
habit, was hard letting it go. At evening I sleep alone and the urges were really strong. To
prevent touching, I had to make sure I was really tired during the day so that when I enter the bed
I just fall dead asleep before I thought about masturbating. This plan worked really well. I feel so
good about myself. The five hours I used to direct in this habit, I use it for self-care. I exercise
more, I use my leisure time studying or helping the society.
Unexpected experiences
This was a very bold step in my life. I did not even think it will be effective. I did put
my all in it. The energy, prayers and time. I was committed. The shame and fear of saying that I
used to masturbate are no longer in me. I started blogging about overcoming masturbation. If I
conquered masturbating, anyone else can do it. All is required is a commitment, prayers and
forging forward. I can stand at church and school clubs and talk about its effects, causes, and
ways of stopping the habit. This is a great achievement. I am actually planning to go see the
dean. The school should register a group of those having sexual disorders who find it difficult to
communicate. They should be provided with platforms where they can share their experiences
and get solutions. From the group I attend, sexual addition association. I have been given
someone to sponsor. I am so proud of myself.