Psych of Learning II

Case Study:

Have you been reflecting on a behavior or behavior pattern that you would like to change? Remember that your project for this course will be the creation of a self-management program. You will be asked to complete an assignment based on your choice of behavioral change in the next unit. In this assignment, you will prepare a case study of a person who would like to quit smoking (Carl), and you will make recommendations based on the concepts from this unit. Case History: Carl is 32 years old and has been smoking cigarettes since he was 17. He typically smokes in the car and with his colleagues at work during breaks. His wife does not use nicotine and will not allow him to smoke in the house. Carl says that smoking helps him to relax, and he enjoys sharing his breaks with other smokers. Every time he has tried to quit smoking, he has relapsed within two weeks. He has tried nicotine patches and nicotine gum but has not tried e-cigarettes. Carl’s father has recently been diagnosed with a smoking-related cancer and the family doctor has urged them both to quit. The doctor said that using a buddy system is often helpful, and suggested that Carl and his father try kicking the habit together. Carl wants to support his father’s health and is starting to think about his own health as well. Given his previous relapses, however, he is not sure that he will be able to quit for good. He has heard that addictive behavior can be related to classical conditioning, and wants to understand more about this process.

1. Write an analysis of Carl’s smoking behavior using concepts from this unit.

2. Be sure to include the stimuli that have become associated with the relaxation effect that Carl enjoys.

3. Suggest at least three ways that Carl can use classical conditioning to help him quit cigarettes and avoid relapse.

4. Differentiate between voluntary and involuntary behavior.

5. Appraise factors that may obstruct or facilitate classical conditioning in Carl’s situation.

Paper should be written in APA style and should include two pages of text. You must cite the course textbook and the assigned article in your paper. Additional sources may be included as well. Remember that your paper should include a title page, body, and reference page. Each source that you use to support your paper should be listed once on the reference page, and should also be cited at least once in the paper. An in-text citation referring to the textbook will look like this: (Powell, Honey, & Symbaluk, 2017). In subsequent citations, it would be (Powell et al., 2017).