Poor Intercultural Communication That Significantly Affected International Commerce or Foreign Policy Essay

In the following paper, I will analyze one of my habits and how the habit was developed. I will discuss whether or not there were role models during the formation of this habit and which, if any, people influenced the adoption of this habit. If I continue this habit and if there has ever been a time when I have attempted to break this habit will be analyzed as well. The behavioral personality theory will be used to explain why I formed this habit. I will describe components of social and cognitive theory and explain why the habit formed. I will also develop a plan that applies operant conditioning to change this habit. In conclusion, I will discuss which theory best explains my personality. When I was an adolescent child I remember absolutely despising three things in life, littering, drunk- people, and smoking, usually in that specified order too, smoking obviously being my least favorite of the three. It seemed like everyone I knew smoked, my entire family, including parents and grandparents, my cousins, even my friend’s parents, I didn’t understand why either. Wherever I went, whosever house, home, or vehicle I was in, friend or family, it was always filled with smoke, I hated that smell! I couldn’t seem to escape it, and whenever they smoked it was constantly in my face and eyes. I vowed then and there to never ever smoke, no matter what life occurrences transpire. When I turned sixteen, I started smoking. At first, I think I just enjoyed the so-called â€Å"buzz† from the nicotine rush when someone first begins smoking, we were young teenagers full of angst and rebelliousness, experimenting and trying new things and experiences. I was still underage so it was still illegal for me to buy or possess cigarettes, but teenagers are resourceful when it comes to these matters. Since everyone else was doing it I never looked-up-to any one person or had any specific role models, it was just normal behavior at that time and place. Within the first six months is when I realized I was probably addicted to the nicotine, and didn’t really find smoking as enjoyable. I didn’t exactly dislike smoking anymore, and I was fully aware or the dangers, but I think the most influential aspect was just my friends, it wasn’t peer-pressure, I just didn’t want to feel left out. I currently smoke, much less now than ever before, but I is still do enjoy the relaxing effects of cigarettes. I have quit several times throughout my life, but not from any gum, patches, or assistance programs, just sheer will power. When I was nineteen, I got so angry at myself for constantly smoking non-stop, I finally threw my packs in the trash and said told myself, â€Å"This is enough! † It was nearly three years later, after being cigarette-free for this entire duration, when I was paying for gas inside a convenience store and noticed my old brand behind the counter, staring me in the face of course, I decided to try it once more, and I have continued smoking ever since. Health psychology looks at the complex array of biological, social and psychological factors that influence our health and illness-related behavior. Smoking is a biological addiction, with nicotine as an additive, there is more likely a chance of being â€Å"hooked† on cigarettes than the physical addiction to nicotine. When people want to quit, they also have a psychological habit to break. Social learning theory describes how we learn by example from others. We are strongly influenced by our parents, and other people we look up to, such as peers, actors, famous people, or athletes. This can lead us to emulate their behavior and try smoking. There is an almost immediate effect on our brains with those first cigarettes, so we keep smoking to get this reward. Later we learn to associate smoking with other activities such as drinking coffee, going to the bar or club, or consuming alcohol etc. We can become conditioned so just the thought of the activity triggers the need for a cigarette, just like Pavlov’s dogs learned to drool at the sound of a bell. These psychological associations remain when smokers try to quit. Finally, you learn to keep smoking, because if you try to quit you are punished by withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, snappiness, or lack of concentration. Allowing oneself to have a cigarette gets rid of these symptoms, negatively reinforcing the desire to carry on smoking. Such conditioning keeps you hooked on smoking because the reward when you smoke is instant, whereas it takes years before you become aware of the damage in terms of your health. Similarly, when you try to quit, the ‘punishment’ of withdrawal symptoms comes quickly, whereas the benefits of better health take longer to realize. â€Å"Smoking: psychological and social influences,† ). Nearly all of my friends and I were raised in a home with cigarette addicts, we were exposed to the behaviors, values, and beliefs that have supported the addictive behaviors of these parents or caretakers. As a result, these learned addictive behaviors were incorporated into our cognitive processes, they became virtually subconscious thoughts and left us with a distorted sense of normalcy concerning family function and a full repertoire for justifying our own substance abuse and future addictions. Being raised in such environments as we were, I think may have also contributed to us becoming more likely to develop our individual behaviors which allowed us, or deemed us enablers for other substance abusers or addicts. Whether or not cigarettes are legal, they do contain drugs and additives, and in my opinion the addiction to, or use of these products should still be classified as substance abuse. I want to quit smoking before it is too late and I face serious health consequences as a result, so I have devised a few operant conditioning techniques to limit my personal intake. The first technique I used, which did not last long, was a contingency plan between myself, and one of my roommates, where we put a decently reasonable and affordable amount of money into a collective jar throughout a given week, whichever one of us did not smoke that week received all of the money back, providing positive reinforcement. This attempt failed miserably because of actual cost and affordability reasons. Another positive reinforcement technique I used was a self-rewards plan, where I would allow myself to eat or consume something delicious, watch a television program or movie, or perform an activity I thoroughly enjoy if I don’t smoke, and if I slipped up, I had to deny myself these simple pleasures. Another good technique my father taught me, which is negative, is immediate punishment. This is a very effective way to help me unlearn my behavior. I sometimes keep a rubber band on my wrist. Before I start smoking that cigarette, I snap it against my wrist as painfully as possible right after I light it, and again after I finish. This provides an unpleasant consequence to smoking in the form of pain which makes smoking a much less appealing practice. Although it does not cause great pain, which I seem to have a high tolerance to, it seems to work well. There are other pain inducing negative reinforcement techniques I sometimes use, but I chose to explain this one since the others are a bit extreme. Although my habitual behavior coincides and plays an important role with my personality, it is apparent both theories are relevant. I think the social/cognitive theory best explains my habitual behavior and tendencies, in terms of the environment I was raised in and the exposure I had to others and my surroundings, but my personality is still more behavior theory based and related. In writing and researching this paper, I discovered some different yet knowledgeable approaches to forming habits and how one of my own personal habits may have been formed. I have also found some techniques which will hopefully help me break free of this wretched and unhealthy habit in the not too distant future before any health complications arise.