Semester Project

Choice A

Operant Conditioning

Basic Guidelines

1. Do not purchase a living being for this project.
2. Do not purchase any thing expensive (a couple of dollars for reinforcers is OK).
3. Pick something you will enjoy.
4. Pick something you can do in a few hours
1. All in an afternoon
2. A few minutes a day
5. Follow APA and USD guidelines for human subjects
1. This essentially makes using humans impossible for this assignment!
2. You must discuss use of human subjects with me prior to using humans as subjects!
3. You can, however, use yourself as the subject (see Link 4 below)
6. Behave in an ethical, legal, and safe manner.
7. Use a positive reward stratedgy – no punishment.
8. Write a report on your experience (see Report section below).
9. Failure to achieve target behavior can be acceptable.
10. Your report must explain “why and how” for success or failure.

Suggested Time Frame

• Perform the research and data gathering before the last month of classes.
• Write up the report over the next month.
• Semester Project Report due two weeks before Semester Exam

Links to detailed processes

Process Name	Purpose	URL
1. Clicker Training	Dog training	http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/GetStarted.htm
2. Contingency management	Adult and Child Behavior Modification	http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/LSwenson/Learning511/L11RAPP.html
3. Puppy Socialisation and Habituation	Training puppies	http://www.apbc.org.uk/ARTICLE5.htm
4. Systematic Desensitization	Treatment of anxiety and phobias	http://www.guidetopsychology.com/sysden.htm
5. How to Toilet-Train Your Cat	Training a cat	http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.html
6. Methods For Changing Behavior	Self-help	http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap11/

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