Psychology Learning Essay

A desirable behavior that I would like strengthen a lot would be my studying and homework habits. I would like to study or do homework for a designated hour every night. When I come home from work, I want to grab my books and go straight to the library for at least an hour. I selected this behavior because I believe that I need to dedicate more time to my school work. I have always waited until the last minute to study and do homework; therefore, having a set time of day every day to do my work will help me keep track of everything going on. The learning principle I am going to implement to make myself study every day at the same hour is the Premack Principle. A daily routine I have with my suitemate is before we go to bed we watch a movie. So I used this as my reinforcement. I will not watch that movie until I have dedicated at least an hour to school work and studying. I trained myself to study first then as a reward I was able to watch the movie with my suitemate. I did this ritual every night for the past week. It is not yet set it stone but I still continue to do this ritual daily. I hope that soon it will be habit and I will not have to continue to reward myself with a movie. The first couple of days it was extremely hard to remember to study after work. Other times it was hard for me to have the energy to continue to study for the whole hour. After a while everything became easier. In my personal opinion I think that the Premack Principle worked well for me. It has helped me discipline myself in a very helpful way. Because I have decided to partake in this principle, I have seen a result of better grades and more relaxation as test time approaches. The Premack Principle is a wonderful approach to anyone seeking success while embarking on their college experience. This reinforcement principle is a great form of a â€Å"healthy† form of punishment, and it proves to be very rewarding in the end.