Positive behaviour support

Yesterday I had an interesting lecture on positive behaviour support. What I find interesting is that it is so counter-intuitive to what we do in our daily lives. There is a framework for positive behaviour support that is too complicated to be written here. But I am gonna extract some interesting points from the lecture.

Some key features of positive behaviour support:
a) an emphasis on lifestyle change
b) manipulation of ecological and setting events
c) teaching adaptive behaviour
d) minimising the use of punishers (use +ve reinforcement instead)

One important thing to note is that +ve reinforcement is not equal to bribe. Many people confuse the two. Imagine this scenario: you tell a child on Monday, "We will go to MacDonald on Friday if you finish all your work for the week." On tues, "Do you want to go to MacDonald on Friday? You better finish your work then." On Thurs - "Looks like we won't go to MacDonald on Friday will we? Then what happens on Friday? You will bring the child to Mac. See, in this case many people will think that this is positive reinforcement. However it is not. This is a case of bribery.

Remember: Reinforces loses reinforces "status" once it is expected.
(Yes, it may sound simple, but it is actually quite hard to come up with +ve reinforcement at intermittent intervals)

Why do we use punishers?
a) it's part of how our society operates - it's the way we have been shown and taught to solve behaviour problems (think about the things that you do!)
b) the use of punishment actually works and the presenting problem is reduced
e.g. if you do not keep quiet, you will get more work
c) we see others do it
d) more punishment related literature gets published (seriously, compare the number of articles there are on punishment and on rewards)
e) a need to establish control

Problems with using punishment
a) produces negative response (u r a teacher and u keep punishing your students... do u think they will like you??)
b) increase imitation
c) can produce overkill when the person dun understand what they were punished for
d) Increases sneakiness i.e. the person learn to avoid being caught
e.g. if you get caught speeding by the speeding camera... what is your immediate response?
- Immediate response: "crap! why did I speed! so stupid! should have driven slower!", afterwhich u will probably drive below the slow limit... but for how long? How long will this behaviour change last? at most a few weeks? (see! punishment dun work)
- you may then feel guilty cause you have to pay the fine, get demerit points.. (negative response!)
- But the ultimate end behaviour change will be --> in future you will make sure you know where the speed cameras are to avoid being caught!! (increase sneakiness)

Haha, I love that example. It is soooooooooo true!!

Personally, I agree that in the psychology field we are much more focused on the negative rather than the positive. More articles get published when it's -ve than positive. Positive psychology is actually quite a new field.

Before I end off, another interesting point brought up during the lecture is this about parenting. In the past, parents do not give children a lot of choices. They direct their child to do things. No negotiation or choice. However, nowadays a lot of parents want to be friends with their children. What they do now is to let their child have choices (e.g. do you want this or that?). It sounds good huh? That children get to have a choice? But what many parents do not understand is that having to make choices actually burden the child cognitively. And they may not understand the consequence of their choice. Think about it... when you were young, did you get many choices? Or more directives? You turned out alright didn't u? :)

Last day of Olympics...

Finally, it ended. I am now free from the clutches of Olympics fever. Haha. It has been a great 16 days... though I really wish channel 7 had better coverage. But then, beggars can't be choosers... Closing ceremony wasnt as good as I expected though... prolly cause of how spectacular the opening ceremony was. Bye Beijing!

Now will be looking forward to London. Just the idea of going to London in 2012 is tempting enough to make me want to do a PhD there. Lol. I need to seriously think about what I want to do in life. PhD? Work? In Australia? Singapore? Need to think about all these... but before I make all these future plans, I need to make immediate ones, like settling my placements and clearing up the whole load of work that has piled up over the last 16 days. I foresee at least 2 weeks of slogging... sob, no more slacking!

Gonna go sleep... start of another week again...

2nd last day of Olympics...

It's the 2nd last day of Olympics! Woah. Fast how time flies o.O First... exciting results for the day (that interest me)

Synchronized team swimming - Russians won with perfect 10 scores. Great!
Football - Argentina win Nigeria 1-0
10m Men Diving - Mitcham from Australia won. Yes, he ruined China's chance of sweeping
4x400m - USA won both Men (OR) and Women
Rhythmic Gymnastics - Kanaeva of Russia won (interesting event. v fanciful)
Table Tennis - Ma Lin from China won (Men)
5000m Men - Bekele from Ethiopia won. Yes! He made it a double as he won 10km too!
Women Volleyball - Brazil beat USA for the gold

And now I'm waiting for the Women Basketball... dunno if I'll watch the whole thing though. It's so late now... feel sleepy >_<

The excitement of Olympics...

What is wrong with the tracks? Women 4x100m.. Jamaica had problem with their baton passing! OMG! DNF! Sheesh. BUT! The guys won! and in World Record style! Woohoo! That was exciting. It's kinda a forgone conclusion that they will win, but the best part is that they won in world record. Hehehehe... am really happy about it. =)

Olympics is ending on Sunday. Finally, I can concentrate. haha. I have been sooooo distracted by it. My work is really piling up... myself to blame ^^ Heh.

Gonna go zzz... tiring day.

4x100m relay Heats... and others

WOW. That is the word to describe both the Men and Women 4x100m relay heats. Not just cause there's great running, but there's so many did not finish (DNF) and disqualifieds (DQ)!

This is the summary:
Men 4x100m Heat 1
DNF
Nigeria
Poland
South Africa
United States

Men 4x100m Heat 2
DQ
Great Britain
Italy

Women 4x100m Heat 1
DQ
Italy
United States

Women 4x100m Heat 2
DNF
France
Trinidad/Tobago

DQ
Ukraine

Total:
Men - 4 DNF, 2 DQ
Women - 2 DNF, 3 DQ

Can you believe it!? OMG! So many teams out! Top 3 Mens team from Athens 2004 are out. Sheesh. And I was so looking forward to this... Excitement kinda gone now. Conclusion quite obvious.. Jamaica will win both Men and Women UNLESS they DQ or DNF. Unbelievable. To borrow the phrase from the commentator, this is ridiculous... and devastation...

Other results:
Chen Ruolin reclaimed the 10m diving for China
Japan beat USA in the softball finals (yay Japan!)
Brazil beat China in the womens volleyball (sob. So wanted to see US vs China)

Olympics continue...

Initially, I wanted to blog later. But the chances of me getting connected later on is not high. That is usually the case at night cause lots more people go online than at night and the wireless becomes really unstable.

Usain Bolt did it! He won the 200m in WR! Woohoo! That was exciting. I didnt stay up to watch cause too late. I was so exhausted yesterday when I came home... after a 12hr day at Uni (believe it or not). I crashed at around 10.45pm. Haha. Amazing. Felt so much better today. Anyway, saw the video on Channel 7 online. The gap was wide! Sheesh. That guy can run. Tomorrow's 4x100m relays r going to be exciting. It will be Jamaica vs USA.

Women's 200m and Women's 10m springboard tonite. Oh, and Women's softball. Those are going to be exciting!!!! I support Japan in the softball! Beat the US! :P

Incidentally, USA won their semi-finals volleyball match against Cuba. I'm hoping China will win Brazil, then China can win USA. Hahah. The last time they played was in the Quarterfinals. It was a v exciting match! It was nicknames 'He Ping Da Zhan', after the coaches name. Go China!

Our paddlers got through to the Top 8. Li Jia Wei and Feng Tianwei! Woohoo! Except that Feng Tianwei meets world no. 1 Zhang Yi Ning tonite. BUT! Feng Tianwei has beaten Zhang Yi Ning before... so still can make it. Go Singapore!!!

Been listening to Corrinne May's songs in the afternoon... and yes, I hardly got anything done. Oh well. I'll make it up. Really. Corrinne May's songs are nice! High recommended to anyone and everyone. Her lyrics are meaningful and the tunes are great. =) And she's Singaporean! Woohoo!! :)

More Olympics tonite... Go Singapore! Go China! Go Japan!

Life is full of choices... and Olympics continue!

Today I made a choice. I made the choice to read a novel, Tribute by Nora Roberts, instead of studying. I know I am supposed to study, but I didn't. Instead, I chose to read. I can come up with lots of reasons... but in the end, it all came down to my choice.

Life is indeed full of choices. There is no such thing as I can't help it, I have to do this, this is the only way etc etc... you get the idea. I have to be responsible for my action cause well, I chose it. Anything that came out that do not reflect myself taking responsibility are just excuses.

I realized that I have made lots of excuses. Haha. It's really time I grow up and well, accept that whatever actions I take, I have a choice in it. No more excuses. Responsibility is the key. I almost made a bad choice last weekend, but thank goodness sanity prevailed. =) I came out of it, I must say, remarkably alright. And I am proud of myself. I made my mistakes, I will live with them, and I will learn from them. =)

Now... I'll have to deal with the consequences of my work piled up due to me watching all the olympics... sob sob... and I can't watch the Men's football semi-finals tonite cause I have 8am class. Sniff. Sad, cause that will be exciting.. Brazil vs Argentina! Go Argentina! Yes, I still support Argentina even though they lose in the preliminary in the 2000 (I think) world cup and I dun really know their players. But Messi is great! Go Argentina!!

China won most of gymnastics medals tonite. I think they swept all the gold for the Mens event. Cool stuff. I have read manga about gymnastics, and havent really appreciated how difficult it is. Now I do. So... re-read manga again? hahaha...

Channel 7 is showing atheletics. Not that I mind it, but I really wanted to see the 3M springboard finals. As it stands now, after dive 5, He Chong from China is leading... way ahead with about 40 points. Think that seals it :) Another gold to China's divers! Woohoo! I have to say, their divers as amazing.. and yes! I am a fan of Guo Jing Jing. I feel absurdly happy when I see her dive well. Haha.

Ok.. I think I will actually try and sleep... at 11.15pm. That's early for me. But tomorrow will be a long day. 8am-11am: Consumer Behaviour. 1pm-5pm: Work placement. 6pm-9pm: Rehabilitation seminar. Dang. Well, I think I'll bring my consumer behaviour textbook with me tomorrow so I can read during that 2 hour break. I'm actually thinking of going for a nice lunch... which means a bit more expensive... but I think should be ok since I dun do that all the time. But what should I eat? Need to find somewhere that's relatively quiet so I can study and can stay there for 2 hours. Hmmm...

Bejing Olympics 2008 continue...

Today I was with my colleagues from the HR department and we were watching the ending portion of the triathlon. The female athletic that's running in first is Australian.. and guess what? She paused... went to get a FLAG... and continue jogging.. and then actually went to shake spectators' hands... I was like.. huh.. so confident! The comments by my colleagues were funny:
"should not count your chickens till it hatched"
"she could fall and someone can overtake her!"
"anything can happen"
"I wish she will just finish the da** race!"

Haha... although I agree. Anything can happen. Imagine u were in a race for close to 2 hours and u lost it cause u fell while grabbing a flag. That will be terrible!

Liu Xiang didn't run his 110m hurdles today. Sob. Was so looking forward to him in action. Ah well... all the best to his recovery! Hope he recovers from his injury soon and we can see him in action again.

Singapore won silver in table-tennis female team!! :) First medal in 48 years. Yay to our paddlers! Yeah, we din get gold, but hey, this is a situation where silver = gold. Hehe. Hooray!!

Yesterday's 100m female finals was astouding. 3 Jamaicans, 3 Americans and 1 from Bahamas. And what happened? Jamaica sweep the medals... took 1 and 2 (2 people got the same time! that's amazing too!!). How exciting! The americans didnt get a single medal. Wow. The relay will be exciting.

Then the 10000m run. Bekele from Ethiopia... havent lost ANY race before. Won 11 out of 11 so far. Wow =)

Watching Gymnastics now.. men's ring finals... V good. Gold and silver to China! More gymnastics tonite!! =)

The rest of the events that I want to see:
Tue: Men's 3m springboard
Wed: Men's 200m
Thu: Women's 200m
Women's 10m springboard
Fri: Men's and Women's 4x100m
Sat: Men's 10m springboard
Women's Basketball
Sun: Men's Basketball

Looks like I won't get that much work done for this week.. thank goodness Olympics is ending!! If only they showed fencing... that would be perfect. Oh well. Channel 7's coverage is quite disappointing at times. Bleah.

Hmm, wonder if I should go for fencing tomorrow. Kinda losing the drive to go. I dun even go for competition nowadays cause I dun have the equipments to go for competitions. Nowadays I go to play basketball, do footwork, and have lesson. I cant even be bothered to fence with the others. I think I'm escaping from refereeing... haha...

Monday is ending! 4 more days to Friday! :P Monday bluess.... Have a good week ahead everyone!

Bejing Olympics 2008 so far...

Yesterday was the male 100m race... and boy, was it great! It was the most amazing final 100m race I've ever seen. The gap between Usain Bolt and the rest of the field was HUGE (in a 100m race that is)... how could he lead by so much?!? Absolutely amazing. And he didn't even run to his full strength! He relaxed near the end of the race... I am glad I stayed up for the race... really in awe of the speed that he has... wonder what kind of time he will run in the 200m. That will be great too...

Today Grant Hackett lost his 1500m swim. >_< Quite disappointing really, considering he set the new World Record in his heats. I really wanted him to win. Oh well...

Today is the team female table tennis match! Woohoo! How exciting! =) First medal for Singapore in 48 years. Yeah to our female paddlers! All the best!

I've been so distracted by the Olympics that I havent done a lot of the work I'm supposed to do. Sigh. I really should focus more and get things done. If not my work will pile up and I'll have a horrendous time clearing them. But the Olympics is just so distracting! I dun like Channel 7's coverage though. They show a lot of repeats for their representatives and dun show a lot of the live events. I wish they have live feeds on their website... like NBC does. Sigh. Oh well... I should be glad then that at least SBS will be showing table tennis..

4.50pm now... I will do some work before getting distracted by the Olympics again. hehehe.

Foggy Morning...

A very foggy morning today. Got a shock when I woke up. First thing that came to my mind was... where's the sun?! Did I wake up too early again? And then I looked out and I was like.. where's the building!!! First time I've seen such a foggy day here... Below are some photos that I took:

Took this at the field this morning. What a difference from the normal day!!
(Look below for the photo that I was lying in the field!!)

At the Uni Bridge. Looks eerie eh?

And today I'm watching Olympics again. The female gymnastics team competition is awesome. Kudos to the chinese... I was very impressed with their uneven bars performance. Esp, the last gal (dunno what's her name...). Watching 3M Synchro diving now... good luck China!

Olympics!

Woot! The Olympics is finally here! :D :D :D I must say I am very excited about the whole thing! I thought the opening ceremony was really spectacular. I especially love the beginning part... the countdown and the drummers. Cool stuff. Next fav part is the tai chi portion. Excellent coordination! And of course the fireworks!! I havent seen any event that has such great fireworks display. Greatooooo!!

I've been watching a lot of Olympics. heh. Swimming has been excellent. Disappointed that the Grant Hackett didnt win his 400m event. I really admire that guy. But he still has his 1500m! All the best to him for that! The female aussies are much better. Great swims by Stephanie Rice, Libby Trickett (not sure about spelling) and Liesel Jones! And of course the surprise win by the Korean... and cheers to China and Japan for winning too! Woohoo!

Diving has been good too... even though I cant watch it live. I absolutely love Guo Jing Jing and Fu Ming Xia. Was so happy that they won their synchronised diving. Hehehehehhehe

More events coming up! Watching male gymnastics now :D (when I should be studying consumer behaviour....)

Happy! :)

For some unexplained reasons, I am feeling really happy today. I am not sure why, but I am sure that the following contributed to my happiness:
1) It's Friday tomorrow! Whee! Weekend!
2) Olympics start tomorrow! Whee! Weekend! Can watch olympics whole day because channel 7 is broadcasting events!
3) No work today
4) Work placement seem to be going on quite well. I feel like I am actually contributing something.
5) Lunchtime concert at Elderhall. Going to listen to a Jazz trumpeter, Ray Vega, from New York. It's been a while since I've been to a concert, so I'm really excited about it
6) Have an "evil" plan for work tomorrow. Gonna reach there earlier to "ambush" the HR manager for my project for one of my modules... then i have meetings with my supervisor and one of my colleagues. Then lunch time concert... and in the afternoon I'm gonna try and persuade someone to let me do an online course. And then my Friday will be over! Whee!
7) Discussion on Consumber Behaviour tutorial presentation. Get it over and done with and I can concentrate on other stuff
8) Presentation for HRM is slotted to be on the 4th sept. Good, cause I can concentrate on the consumer behaviour presentation

I think I'm happy cause.. I havent done much today. And I felt that the lecture this morning on human resource planning was quite good. Debating on whether to buy a HRM textbook though. The lectures are interesting, but we dun cover much in detail... but the textbooks here are so expensive... oh well...

All the best to the Olympians! Hope Singapore will win gold! (our sailors!!!)