Introduction
The undesirable behavior I chose to examine is swearing, which is not an uncommon occurrence at my household. I’m 32 and married, which primarily means there is always someone to swear at. Swearing is not the most socially acceptable habit, but research by Baruch, Prouska, Ollier-Malaterre, & Bunk (2017) notes that professional people often do it. The same research points out positive outcomes of swearing: it can relieve stress and help one cope with emotional work (Baruch et al., 2017). It is also one of the expressive tools of the English language, used to emphasize a point, convey authority, or get one’s attention (Baruch et al., 2017).
Desire for Change
Swearing might sound rather good after the last slide, but it has negative outcomes, as well. While it can help relieve tension, it can just as easily create conflict where it could be avoided (Baruch et al., 2017). It is also bad for one’s image, creating perceptions of lack of control or respect (Baruch et al., 2017). Although we generally have an understanding in my household that swearing is emotional and no-one desires to upset or insult anyone, it can still happen. Furthermore, I can not always control this behavior, which has led to awkward situations where I swore inappropriately. Therefore, I would like to alter this habit by using operant conditioning on myself.
Tracking Discussion
I observed my behavior over the first three days of the experiment, recording all instances where I swore, and trying to group these instances by antecedent. Over this observation period, I swore a total of 64 times: 28 on day 1, 16 on day 2, and 20 on day 3. The antecedents for swearing varied significantly, from accidentally dropping a sandwich on the floor to getting in a heated argument with my spouse. In most cases, especially when no-one was around to hear it, I felt a relief of stress, as expected. However, swearing also attracted the attention of my family members, which was not always needed and probably annoying for them. It is also likely that using crude language in an argument did not help resolve it quickly.
The results of my observation reveal that all the antecendents of my swearing can be split roughly equally into three groups. The first group is emotional, which is my response to things that surprise me; this is primarily an unconscious reaction. The second group covers frustrating experiences when doing something turns out to be more difficult than initially expected, or just irritation. I did some household chores on day one, which probably explains the high count on that day. Finally, I consciously swear for emphasis, to help get my point across. Somewhat surprisingly, the emotional category is the least common for me, possibly reflecting my general emotional arousal during the day (Stephens & Zile, 2017).
Behavioral Intervention
How does one alter his or her behavior to stop swearing? One could try rewarding him or herself for not swearing, but “not swearing” is not a behavior. However, “not swearing” is not a behavior that passes the dead man test: dead men don’t swear. Therefore, the opposite approach is required: I will devise a punishment for myself and administer it every time I swear in addition to recording the behavior. Under operant conditioning, such punishment should decrease the behavior it follows (Burger, 2018). The hypothesis is that over the three days when I am more mindful of my language, and additionally punish myself every time I swear, I will record less instances of swearing.
To begin operant conditioning, I needed to create an operational definition for swearing. This simply involved a list of words, which I cannot share for obvious reasons. Each time I said one of these words, I would put either a 5-cent or a 10-cent coin into a “swear box”. At the end of the experiment, I would open the box and use the money to buy snacks or tiny souvenirs for my family. It was surprisingly difficult to come up with more punishments: ideas like exercise or apologizing may sound good, but I did not want to associate these positive behaviors with punishment.
Over the following three days, with the swear box in effect, I kept recording all instances of swearing, dividing them into the same three groups by antecedent. The notebook shows a total of 41 instances, a significant reduction compared to the observation period. Swearing for emphasis, in particular, decreased significantly, whereas emotional swearing stayed roughly the same, and swearing in frustration saw a mild reduction.
Three days is a short time for an experiment; however, some trends have become visible on examining the results. First of all, the emotional response, swearing unconsciously, was not significantly affected by this intervention. This can be expected as this is a more difficult behavior to control. Swearing in frustration, which can be described as semi-conscious, saw a mild decrease. Finally, the intervention reduced my swearing for emphasis, which is fully conscious, approximately by a half. However, this effect can not be fully attributed to the operant conditioning intervention. Being mindful of my language could have been enough to cause a reduction, especially in conscious swearing. Furthermore, having to stop what I was doing, consider the antecedent for my swearing, and making a corresponding mark in my notebook can be interpreted as a form of punishment in itself.
Experiment Summary
Overall, this experiment was an interesting experience. Over its course, my swearing was reduced almost by half. The conscious part of swearing was most affected, and researching why that is the case seems interesting. Furthermore, it would be interesting to continue observing and measuring the effect of this experiment over a longer period, or repeat it with a different set of punishments or a reward for extended periods without swearing. Personally, being more mindful and critical of myself felt rewarding, and having solid, measurable improvements was heartening. By the end of day 3 of the experiment, my swear box had $3.15 in it.
References
Baruch, Y., Prouska, R., Ollier-Malaterre, A., & Bunk, J. (2017). Swearing at work: the mixed outcomes of profanity. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 32(2), 149-162.
Burger, J. M. (2018) Personality (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Stephens, R., & Zile, A. Does Emotional Arousal Influence Swearing Fluency? J Psycholinguist Res 46, 983-995. (2017).