Being able to wake and start the day without hesitation sets a foundation for the rest of the day to build upon. When a person fails to get up after their first alarm and ends up falling back to sleep, the sleep cycle can start over, leaving the person feeling even more tired than they would have initially (Blagrove & Smith 2015). We can observe a “trickle down” effect regarding this irregular sleep-wake cycle. If a person falls victim to this pattern, it is likely that they will experience greater difficulties throughout the course of their day, as compared to taking on the day properly rested. This poor habit can lead to many other negative consequences, such as poor health, lack of concentration, and mood disorders. Humans in common with all other mammals except cetaceans (Siegel, 2005) and most other animals, cycle regularly between states of wakefulness and sleep (Fort, Bassetti, & Luppi, 2009). Sleep is essential, but even more than that, good restful sleep and a waking routine are essential to the success of daily life both short and long term.
Before we can look at the specifics of the experiment, we must first be able to understand how sleep relates to behavior modification. The act of sleeping, in and of itself cannot be classified as a behavior according to the article, Sleep: A Behavioral Account . In the article, Blampied and Bootzin say, like other biobehavioral states (e.g. being alert, being pregnant), behavior is involved in the transition into the state, the maintenance of the state, and the termination of the state, but the state itself is not a behavior. I will focus on the time it takes from when I awaken from a sleeping state to when I get out of bed, a behavior that occurs almost daily, without fail.
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I will attempt to correct this problem through an experiment using positive reinforcement. It is to my anticipation that with the use of positive reinforcement, I will be able to get out of bed much easier in the morning, resulting in a consistent daily routine. I will prove this hypothesis using an experiment lasting four weeks. Positive reinforcement is defined as delivery of a stimulus contingent on a response that increases the future likelihood of that response (Fisher, Piazza & Roane, 2011). It is my goal, to use a stimulus that will increase the likelihood of a future response; The stimulus being an edible treat, and the future response being getting out of bed faster when the alarm sounds. Food is often used as a stimulus in behavior modification with positive reinforcement. For example, in the article, Identifying and enhancing the effectiveness of positive reinforcement , the authors discuss how you might hear a parent say, "I used M&Ms as positive reinforcement for my child during potty training." The idea is the same in varying situations. A “reward” will be cause for improving the likelihood of behavior.
Literature Review
Quite a number of authors have delved in the positive reinforcement area with special focus on how it affects the activities of animals. Smith and Blagrove (2015) focused on lucid dreaming and how it relates to the alarm snooze button. When a person is woken up by an alarm, they get into a partial state of sleep. At this point, they may know events taking place but cannot fully comprehend them.
They can tell the occurrences vividly but chances of getting into the lucid status are low, unless one makes an effort to get off the bed. When the alarm goes, an individual has the choice to continue sleeping or to wake up. In such a status, he or she can extend the hand to put off the alarm and continue sleeping (Smith & Blagrove, 2015). Such a procedure is carried out in a subconscious state. This explains why most people wake up late cursing the night due to their subconscious action of switching off the alarm sound.
Fort and Luppi (2009), in their article, focus on the biological operation of the brain with regards to responses. The human nervous system is comprised of the neural networks that regulate the operation of the brain and other body parts. This network in the brain receives impulses from various body parts to trigger a given response. For instance, when a finger touches a hot iron rod, the skin on the finger sends impulses to the brain whereby the neural network activates the hand muscles to withdraw from the hot object. Such a move is called involuntary response.
Piazza, Roane and Karsten (2011), in their article, Identifying and Enhancing the Effectiveness of Positive Reinforcement, dwell much on how positive reinforcement can influence the character of an individual. They aver that positive reinforcement can actually inspire one to carry out tasks that they never imagined of doing in their life.
Method
Participant
This study consisted of one self-monitored participant, myself. I am a 24-year-old Caucasian man. I was not compensated, and I volunteered to be a part of the study. I chose to use myself, because I needed someone who had ambition and drive, and wakes up on a regularly set schedule throughout the week.
Materials
For this study, there were minimal materials used. The first material would be a notebook for recording 3 weeks of data. The data collected consisted of the initial time the alarm clock sounded, the time the participant got out of bed, and the total amount of time between the two. The second material was the items used for positive reinforcement. In this case the items consisted of sweet baked goods, such as donuts or cookies. These items were of minimal cost.
Procedure
The design of this study is an ABAC within subject design. For this study I will be self-monitoring and during the first week I will be measuring a baseline of the difference in time between when my alarm goes off and when I get out of bed. During the second week, is when I will start to use positive reinforcement. The idea is that, if I perform a task, in this case getting out of bed after my alarm goes off, then my behavior will be reinforced with something enticing, a baked good. I will be continuing to measure the difference in time between when my alarm goes off and when I get out of bed. The third week will be another baseline recording week. I will still be measuring the difference in time between when my alarm goes off and when I get out of bed. For the final week, I will be performing another “intervention,” using positive reinforcement. The difference during the fourth week will be that the reinforcement will be greater and will consist of the baked good as well as 10 dollars spending money. It is my anticipation that once the four-week study is over, I will be better able to get out of bed within the first few minutes after my alarm sounds.
Results
Week 1
| Day | Baseline | Pos. Reinforcement Present | Time taken to Wake up |
| MONDAY | Applied | Not applied | 37 Minutes |
| TUESDAY | Applied | Not applied | 39 Minutes |
| WEDNESDAY | Applied | Not applied | 33 Minutes |
| THURSDAY | Applied | Not applied | 30 Minutes |
| FRIDAY | Applied | Not applied | 33 Minutes |
| SATURDAY | Applied | Not applied | 34 Minutes |
| SUNDAY | Applied | Not applied | 32 Minutes |
Week 2
| Day | Baseline | Pos. Reinforcement Present | Time taken to Wake up |
| MONDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 12 Minutes |
| TUESDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 9 Minutes |
| WEDNESDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 11 Minutes |
| THURSDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 10 Minutes |
| FRIDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 6 Minutes |
| SATURDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 6 Minutes |
| SUNDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 8 Minutes |
Week 3
| Day | Baseline | Pos. Reinforcement Present | Time taken to Wake up |
| MONDAY | Applied | Not applied | 42 Minutes |
| TUESDAY | Applied | Not applied | 47 Minutes |
| WEDNESDAY | Applied | Not applied | 40 Minutes |
| THURSDAY | Applied | Not applied | 46 Minutes |
| FRIDAY | Applied | Not applied | 47 Minutes |
| SATURDAY | Applied | Not applied | 43 Minutes |
| SUNDAY | Applied | Not applied | 40 Minutes |
Week 4
| Day | Baseline | Pos. Reinforcement Present | Time taken to Wake up |
| MONDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 3 Minutes |
| TUESDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 2 Minutes |
| WEDNESDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 3 Minutes |
| THURSDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 2 Minutes |
| FRIDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 1 Minutes |
| SATURDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 2 Minutes |
| SUNDAY | Not Applied | Applied | 1 Minute |
From the table, it is evident that I took an average of 34 minutes to wake up after the alarm sounded. On week 2, I consumed an average of 8.8 minutes before I got out of the bed. I remained in bed for an average of 43.5 minutes prior to waking up on week 3 during my experiment. On the last week, I only spent an average of 2 minutes in bed before waking up.
Discussion
The purpose of this experiment is to ascertain how positive reinforcement impacts on the waking up pattern of an individual whenever an alarm sounds (Blampied and Bootzin, 2013) . This process requires a keen mind that is ready to stick to all requirements of the experiment. Since I was the specimen of the study, I followed the entire procedure to increase chances of getting accurate and verifiable results.
From the results, it is apparent that I took an average of 34 minutes to wake up after the alarm clock sounded. On this week, I did not have any object to create positive reinforcement. Therefore, there was nothing that motivated me to get out of bed (Fort, Bassetti and Luppi, 2009) . Lack of motivation denies an individual the urge to engage in a given activity that seems to take them away from their comfort zone.
The second week saw me take a substantially shorter period of time to wake up. This week, I introduced some cookies which served the purpose of positive reinforcement. The presence of motivators (cookies) played a monumental role in encouraging me to get out of my bed (Piazza, Roane & Karsten, 2011) . A huge margin of time spans between the first and second week underscores how effective positive reinforcements can be to a human behavior.
There is a big contrast between the second and third week. On the third week, I withdrew the motivator and went back to the status of the first week. However, I realized that the average time taken to wake up on this week was extremely longer than the time I took during the first week. The explanation to this is that on this week, the positive reinforcement was withdrawn after the mind had begun making adjustments following the second week’s occurrences (Lechermeier & Fassnacht, 2018). In essence, the withdrawal of the motivator was an indirect form of negative reinforcement.
On the last week, there was a huge improvement whereby I took an average of two minutes to wake up. The desire to wake up was so high given since there were two objects of motivation (Cookies and money). It is proved that the higher the object of positive reinforcement, the lesser the time taken to wake up (Smith & Blagrove, 2015) . The above trend confirms that the human mind is designed to prefer motivations.
The findings augur well with the hypothesis. According to the hypothesis, positive reinforcement serves to motivate a human behavior to act as it would perform in the presence of such a reward (Smith & Blagrove, 2015) . The experiment proved this hypothesis since I was able to wake up faster whenever I had cookies and money as rewards. On the other hand, the absence of the two items increased the time I took to wake up when the alarm sounded.
There was no limitation of study since I planned myself prior to executing the experiment. By consequent, I was able to meet all the experimental requisites. The results augur well with the content the literature review. Piazza, Roane and Karsten (2011) talk of the massive impact of positive reinforcement on a human being. The results rhyme with what the aforementioned authors stated. While the authors generalized the various things that positive reinforcements can impact in a human being, the experiment results are specific to the fact that the presence of a motivator can make one wake up early when the alarm goes off.
The literature review reveals how the human brain is composed of neural networks that help transmit impulses from the brain to other body parts (Fort and Luppi, 2009).The theory behind the neural operations similarly applies to the positive reinforcement maxim. The mind of a Person is designed in a way that it adapts to a given stimuli whenever it interacts with the said stimuli.
As far as my experiment is concerned, the cookies and the money are the stimuli. When I regularly use them to motivate me to wake up, the mind records how they affect the body functions. Interaction with these items for long sets the mind to always trigger my body to wake up upon hearing an alarm (Fort and Luppi, 2009). With long term exposure to the stimuli, removing it (cookies and money) does not change my schedule since the mind would have adjusted to waking up without the influence of the stimuli.
The experiment is of great significance in the society. Human beings value rewards in their actions. Students, for instance, prefer motivation to perform well at school. Parents need to apply positive reinforcement to foster grade improvement among their children (Smith & Blagrove, 2015) . Guardians who want to teach their children certain behaviors can as well apply the positive reinforcement theory.
At the work place, managers can use positive reinforcement to foster hard work and commitment among their employees. Whenever they sense that workers are experiencing a low morale, they can apply positive reinforcement to rejuvenate their employees (Smith & Blagrove, 2015) . With the many benefits of positive response, it is necessary to do more research in this realm of study to establish how positive reinforcement can help improve the general welfare of society members.
Conclusion
Decreasing time to get out of bed using positive reinforcement is an experiment that was carried out to ascertain how positive reinforcement can influence someone to get out bed. I carried out the experiment on myself, and I achieved this through proper conduct during the experiment. Out of the findings and discussion, it is clear that positive reinforcement has several benefits like learner motivation and employee morale building. This kind of reinforcement should apply in various fields that are of benefit to humanity.
References
Blampied, N., & Bootzin, (2013). Sleep: A Behavioral Account. In APA Handbook of Behavior Analysis: Vol. 2. Translating Principles Into Practice, G.J. Madden (Editor in Chief) (pp. 425–453). American Psychological Association
Fort, P., Bassetti, C. L., & Luppi, P. (2009). Alternating vigilance states: New insights regarding neuronal networks and mechanisms. European Journal of Neuroscience,29 (9), 1741-1753. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06722.x
Lechermeier, J., & Fassnacht, M. (April 01, 2018). How do performance feedback characteristics influence recipients’ reactions? A state-of-the-art review on feedback source, timing, and valence effects. Management Review Quarterly : Systematic Literature Reviews, Meta-Analyses, and Replication Studies, 68, 2, 145-193.
Piazza, C. C., Roane, H. S., & Karsten, A. (2011). Identifying and enhancing the effectiveness of positive reinforcement. In W. W. Fisher, C. C. Piazza & H. S. Roane (Eds.), Handbook of applied behavior analysis; handbook of applied behavior analysis (pp. 151-164, Chapter xvi, 544 Pages) Guilford Press, New York, NY. Retrieved from http://pitt.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.pitt.idm.oclc.org/docview/964200939?accountid=14709
Smith, B. V., & Blagrove, M. (2015). Lucid dreaming frequency and alarm clock snooze button use. Dreaming, 25 (4), 291-299. doi:http://dx.doi.org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/drm0000012.
