Battling the "Remote" Possibility of Bulge

Whether you are transitioning to working remotely, or currently not working, you may find yourself having to adjust to the new situation. A big part of this quick transition is finding ways to eat nutritiously, and not overeat.

As someone who lost 120 pounds over a 15-year time span, this was certainly a concern for me as I made the transition this week. Here are a few things that I find are helping, and are based in good behavioral science.

Contextualize Your Eating

It's important to eat at regular times, and to restrict your eating to specific places. This means that if you normally eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and have a snack or two, keep that schedule.

Think about where and how you are eating, working, surfing the net/social media, texting, streaming video, etc. Try as much as possible to keep these activities separate. If you have limited space, and have to work remotely from your eating space, then make sure you move your work items out of the way to a separate corner of the table before you eat. Similarly, try not to eat while you are online or watching TV (except perhaps the occasional snack). This will help you to get better control over your eating habits. It will take some creativity and practice, but with time you can do it!

Stay Active

This may seem counter-intuitive when we are currently distancing ourselves socially, or even under shelter-in-place orders. Some of us may have relied on the structure of a gym membership or friends to get our regular cardiovascular exercise. Here are some tips:

• Set a timer to get up every hour. Stretch, walk around, etc. 
• After each meal, try going for a 10-20 minute walk in your neighborhood. This helps with digestion, and allows you to get some fresh air. 
• If the weather is not good, try a walking or exercise video. There are many online apps and video that you can find by searching for "Walking at home", and the like. 
• Consider investing in a set of dumb bells or weights to keep your muscle tone. If you don't have weights, you can check out these alternatives. 
• If you have the capability, use Skype or similar apps to connect in real time with friends or coaches to help you stay focused and have fun being active together
• Calisthenics are also a great way to maintain your muscle mass without any weights. You can learn more here. 

Remember: Staying active is just as important as nutrition. It's easy to forget this during stressful times, but with a little planning you can make it happen.

Consider Keeping Track

Many of us have a hard time keeping track of what we eat and how we are doing over the day with respect to nutrition. Using an app that allows you to track your food and activity is useful to get a sense of how you are doing. One way you can use that information is to help you to keep track of your calories, and your nutrients, throughout the day. If you have that information, then you can decide what types of foods to eat at your next meal or snack.

For example, if you have carb-loaded (as many of us might in these times!), then you could see that your macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat percentages) show smaller-than-recommended levels of protein and fat. You can then make a decision at your next meal about the types of foods you can eat to alter than balance. Look at making decisions overall for the day, and for the week. (Here is a short article I wrote a few years back for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in case you would like to learn more about the scientific and theoretical reasoning behind why such apps can be useful.)

Remember...

Your environment has changed dramatically, and so has your behavior. With a few tweaks to your environment now, you can gain control over your behavior in ways that benefit you. This is within your control with some effort and planning.

Be well!

D. E. Crone-Todd, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA

Changes and the Parable of the Chinese Farmer

Bad News, Good News...Who Can Say?

I feel truly fortunate to have had amazing mentors in my life. At the time when I started studying in the field of behavior analysis, I was excited to learn about evolution of behavior as being similar to that of genetic evolution. One wondered, "Where will this take me? Is this a good path to travel for my career or not"? As I made my way through, I would stop to think about this from time to time, and then decide to just keep studying, researching both animal and human behavior, and let the environment guide me as to where to expend my energies.

 

One area in which I have been working over the past few years is on the board of directors for the B. F. Skinner Foundation. This work has allowed me to contribute expertise and time to the important work that the foundation does, including written and editorial work for their online free subscription publication, Operants. My interactions with many other people on this board have only increased my knowledge and expertise, and allowed me to develop and disseminate work that derives out of the science of behavior for which Skinner is so famous.  

At a recent get-together by the board members and the foundation President, Julie Vargas (Skinner's daughter), there were stories shared about Skinner. One of those stories was about how he liked to quote the "Parable of the Chinese Farmer" at times when someone was either upset or very excited. Here is a link to an example of that parable. Essentially, at each stage when something happens, the people around the farmer make judgements about whether that event or thing is good or bad news. Sometimes what seemed like bad news later on led to a seemingly good outcome. What that outcome necessarily good? It's hard to say, because that led to another outcome that seemed good or bad, depending on whether one looked at it immediately or long-term in relation to what happened next. 

Marking an epoch: Coronavirus Creates a Shift

So, today we find ourselves "outwitted" by a virus that has fundamentally changed our cultures. In what seems like a split-second, many of us are fortunate to be working remotely. We are told that we must "socially distance" ourselves to "flatten the curve", and in fact many places have moved to "shelter in place". These shifts in our behavior seem like a bad moment because we don't have access to the people, places, and things we enjoy (what behaviorists like to call "reinforcers"). However, there is also an opportunity here. Let me explain. 

We have all been observing the steady decrease in "brick and mortar" retail establishments, as commerce moves increasingly online. Doing it well is a matter of opinion and data, and many businesses were poised with having the potential capability, but not being able to devote time and energy into the needed development. Now is the time to use the downtime and energy to create better systems and develop employees. 

We have also seen education moving toward more and more offerings of hybrid and online courses. This is likely to continue, and in fact for some time now students sign up almost immediately for these online courses. Now, this is another area in which high quality is so very important. After all, a weak system that has little oversight and quality control produces too great a variability in terms of the students who graduate from its doors (whether virtual or brick-and-mortar). (For a few tips on the sudden need to move to remote teaching/learning, see my "Teaching as Learning" blog.)

Behavior analysts are uniquely poised to contribute to helping make this shift in a way that benefits humanity. It would be presumptuous to state that we have all of the answers. We don't. However, with collaborative teams of people from different disciplines working together, I believe that we can help businesses and educational settings move from their current practices into the next advance.

This is the time and the place to do act. Will it be good news or bad news? Who can say?

My next blog will be on why socially distancing and shelter-in-place is hard, and things you can do to help.

Stay well!

D.E. Crone-Todd

Some Tips for Self-Regulation

Hi Everyone!

I felt it was time to resurrect this blog with the hope of providing some helpful hints about how to help us get through the current events related to the novel Coronavirus, Covid-19.

Let's not fool ourselves: This is a big shift for everyone. For at least a while, we have to behave differently than usual. It is unclear how long that will last, and returning to the "new normal" will take some time.The purpose of today's blog is just to help with respect to having a plan for some activities while being at home.

Self-Regulation
One difficulty in transitioning from our usual schedules and places is now we may be on our own. We may be working or studying from home, and that comes with new freedom and challenges. Recently, there was a nice example of a schedule for kids who are now at home shared on Social Media. Here is the link to that schedule.
 
It is important to develop a system to help you keep organize your time and activities. This is true whether for children or for ourselves. For example, your day might normally include walking or riding to work in some fashion, having a morning cup of coffee, and then settling into your work schedule. If that is the case, consider including a some walking time and a cup of coffee into your morning schedule as though you were going to work. (In fact, if you usually drive or take some other form of transportation, this is an opportunity to keep fit.) Here is a nice overview of some of the considerations you might take into account when working remotely.

Next, mark out your time for what you would normally do, and keep to that schedule. For example, as a professor and department chair, I typically have open office hours and meetings. My current plan is to hold those hours via Zoom or Skype, and will keep those open times on my schedule. Likewise, I mark out time for preparing for class, providing feedback and guidance to students, and working on my own writing for publication. My challenge now is to transition over to marking out the time to do this, and to keep boundaries around that time. This can be "easier said that done", as I will admit that I tended to be overly-available via email the first few days, and forgot about drinking coffee and writing. However, now I am back on track, and that's the point: It's okay if we aren't perfect. We just need to continue to adjust and try new strategies.

All of this relies on establishing our "boundaries" related to time and space. I will have more to say on this in future posts, but here are three important things:

• Designate a separate space in which to work. This can be anything from a separate room, a separate desk, or a specific portion of a table on which you work. Whatever it is, you will find it helpful to designate that space as your "work space".
• Controlling distractions is important.
•  First, let's consider what is not under our direct control: We may be working at home with family members including children, parents, pets, etc. As such, we need to be clear about when we are working, and have some signal that we cannot be disturbed unless it is a dire emergency.  This can include strategies such as closing the door to your office, having a sign that is red versus green (indicating "Do not Disturb" when red, and "Okay, disturb me!" when green), or perhaps wearing earphones when working. 
• Second, what is under our control are our devices. Keeping the TV, phone, or other devices related to news and noise off or in "Do Not Disturb" mode is useful. Consider texting any friends or family ahead of time to let them know your schedule. This way, you can help them learn your schedule and when you are available. If you have serious commitments to family or friends who may have an emergency, you can include them in a list of contacts who can phone or text you no matter what. If you have an iphone, you can use these instructions to set up a "VIP" list that can contact you no matter what. Here are instructions for Android systems. 
• You do not have to immediately answer everything. Remember, that if you are in a conversation with others or completing a task, you do not have to immediately respond to email. You can set the expectations that you will respond as soon as you are able, and you can respond to other high-need requests with a polite, "Got it - will reply later today", or a similar type of message. The important thing here is to make a commitment to respond in a timely fashion without stressing yourself out. 

Patience
We also need to recognize that not everyone will adapt as quickly to these changes. So, we might be ahead of things in our own setup and adaptability to new platforms; however, not all of our co-workers, colleagues, supervisors, and students will. So, give yourself and others time to test out and become familiar with these systems. 

Keeping Active
Some of us may be missing our usual physical activities. Perhaps we are used to working out with friends in groups, including at now-closed gyms. Again, this is a good time to consider shifting our physical activity to our home-base. There are several types of online workouts related to cardio fitness/walking, and these can be something to help keep us fit while we are at home. The key, though, is to ensure that you plan for this activity on a regular schedule so that you can mark out the time to do it. If you usually work out with a friend, and you cannot be together, then consider calling or texting each other to keep each other motivated. If you have the technology available, you could potentially Skype together using video chat while you work out.

Some Things to Remember
This is an evolving situation that is very fluid. So, that creates some uncertainty for us. However, as a culture, we have many ways to be connected to help us get through this. Check with your employer, college/university, friends, and family members to help you find ways to stay connected if you cannot be together. This is a short post just to get a few ideas out there for you to try. I will have more in the coming days and weeks, so if there is something that you would like me to try to cover, feel free to let me know.  I may not be able to cover all requested topics, but will answer those that I can.

Be safe, and be well!

Facebookless February

A few years ago, I started taking a month at a time off of Facebook. In this blog, I write about my Facebookless February experience. While that might seem difficult, remember that February only has 28 days. If one is going to take a month off of something, I think it's good to start small.

So, what is it about Facebook that keeps us interested? As a behavior analyst, I would have to say that the thin schedule of reinforcement is what does it. However, at times on Facebook, that schedule of reinforcement shifts to an even thinner one, and sometimes becomes more complex with the addition of aversive events in the system.

As you have probably noticed, the newsfeed sometimes has interesting stories or updates. Sometimes it just does not. In any event, people scroll through the feed to find something interesting, finally hitting upon something (or settling on something) that is interesting. At the same time, there are a myriad of stories about the last time people went to the bathroom, my cats, and other events/people/events that are probably only interesting to a subset of people (or not).

Days 1-3 were the hardest to stay off of Facebook.  For one thing, some of my friends only message me through Facebook, and I needed to contact them. So, I will admit to logging back in to check my messages to find their email addresses on Day 1. That was unavoidable.

The other issue was that the apps on my phone and tablets automatically log you back in - even if you log out! Yes, that's right. You logout, and the next time the app loads, it automatically logs you back in. After some experimentation, I finally deleted the apps from these devices. I do not plan to add them back in. It was nice not to be tempted to open those apps when I was looking at email or reading the news.

By about Day 5, I realize what had to be done when I came back. I know that not everyone will agree with me, and may even de-friend me because of this, but it is the way that I feel. In my case, I needed to relocate past students who should really be linked to me through professional social networks, such as LinkedIn. Many of my local knitting friends need to be linked through Ravelry. I will remain friends with actual friends, family, and colleagues with whom I regularly communicate.

Now, don't misunderstand me: It's not that I do not cherish these various relationships. It's just that I need to keep my spheres in place.

Update 05/21/2015: I have replicated the "month off of Facebook" several times, and enjoy it more each time. I always go back, but over time my relationship with the experience has changed quite a bit. Be warned: Within a day or two, Facebook starts sending you messages about what you are missing. It must use some algorithm based on your logging-in behavior.

Written? Kitten!

A colleague sent me this link - it is a space in which one can write, and for each 100 words written, a kitten is presented. If pictures of cats are reinforcing for you, this might be helpful as you write your final papers in your classes. You can write the text in the box, and then copy and paste it into your papers.

Link: http://writtenkitten.net/

Here is what I wrote in about 10 minutes this morning, while trying it out:

This is a great idea. I am going to share it with friends who like to write, but have a hard time getting to the number of words that they need. There is automatic feedback on the bottom of the screen, which provides a current count of how many words you have produced. At the end of the last sentence, I was at 53. What this also reveals is that it is possible to really write about nothing, a la Seinfeld, just see what happens when you finally reach the goal of producing a substantial number of words here: 100.

So now that I have attained 100 words, and found that a cute, striped cat was presented along with the words, "wored out, ur turn bees teh cute nao", I just have to write 100 more words. Or, at least attempt to write 100 more words. It's hard for me to figure out why people write things like "bees teh cute nao", since that makes no sense to me. At least "wored out, ur turn" makes some sort of sense. I must be getting too old or something; clearly the use of a semi-colon is evidence of my advancing age.

Okay, the black and white cat laying across the dog's front leg was worth writing for! It makes you wonder if that is natural, or photo-shopped. Either way, you can not help but try for 300 words now just see how it will turn out. In fact, in that last sentence, I changed "can't" to "can not" just so that I would count one more word than I would have otherwise been able to count. This is interesting - it is fun to try to add more words, and I find myself writing the exact number of required words here.

That was a bummer. The fresh kitten was the same as the first. I kind of feel robbed after writing 300 words. Are they trying to recycle the cats? Maybe they should ask people to send in pictures of cats from the world over. I mean, I would support that effort. Cookie is a photogenic cat, and I think that people would write quite a bit to see her in various poses with thought bubbles, or even without thought bubbles. It is interesting that I am now writing faster in an attempt to get to 400 words. Will it work?

Yes! Yes, it did work! A new cat was presented!! Nice pose, and things are "looking up" both figuratively and literally. This cat has very large ears. It strikes me that I am still really only writing about nothing. I could be spending my time working on my latest manuscript, or editing another paper. What am I doing? I am writing about pictures of cats being used to reinforce writing. I have also produced 475 words in doing this. This is equivalent to two double-spaced pages with 1 inch margins. Incredible as it seems, these cats work to reinforce writing.

Riemann Surface Neck Warmer

Dear Reader: Some of you know that I am a knitter. This craft is something that I learned at a young age, and continue when there is time. The best thing about this craft is that it can be used as a model to explain reinforcement, discrete and continuous behavior, shaping, chaining and fading.

Recently, I developed my first design. This was inspired by a question asked on the Ravelry geekcraft discussion group, where a member needed to develop a scarf for her brother, who asked her to base it on the Riemann Surface. Obviously, the Riemann Surface could not easily be worn, but hopefully you will get the idea from this pattern.

Note that this is a new pattern, and has not been tested extensively. Your feedback on it would be appreciated!

Riemann Surface-Inspired Neck Warmer

This pattern was inspired by a quest for a scarf that approximates the Reimann Surface, which you can read about here. The first thing that I did was to make a quick paper model of this form to understand how it might be constructed. If you would like to do this first, here are the instructions for the paper model:

Cut a thin, long piece of paper (approx 1 inch wide, by 11 inches (clearly influenced by the only paper I had available). Next, cut a vertical slit about 1 inch from the one end that is large enough for the other end to slip through.

Once the other end slips through, then staple that end to the end with the slit. Voila!

When you look at the model, you should notice that if you knit it, then it would provide an automatic double layer all the way around, with a cross-through. Here is the pattern:

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn (at least 440 yards)
One set of 4.5 mm (US/British size 7)
Tension: 20 sts to 10 cm (4 inches)

Provisionally cast on 20 stitches, and using stockinette stitch (k 1 row, purl one row), complete 3 inches of fabric, ending with having completed a wrong-side row. Measure how wide your knitting is at this point. Note that if you are knitting to gauge, then it should 4 inches wide; however, if it is not that exact measurement, it does not matter much as long as you are consistent in your knitting.

Next row: Knit 10, and then start another skein of yarn to knit the remaining 10 stitches. You will now work on both sides of the slit, using separate balls of yarn. Knit the separation part until the length of the separation is equal to the width of your scarf, or approximately 4 inches (it can be slightly shorter, but I’ll leave the ratio up to you - the smaller the slit in relation to the width of the scarf, the more it will bunch up when you pass it through). End with having completed a wrong-side row.

When you have knit to the appropriate length, cut the yarn from the second ball, and continue to knit using just one ball at a time (i.e., close the slit now by knitting straight across).

Now, knit until the length is long enough to have the knitting pass through the slit, wrap around as per the diagram found here, and be ready to graft the stitches to the provisional cast on. The shorter the scarf, the closer it will fit around your neck, so the choice about length it up to you. As per the diagram, if you make it too short, you won’t be able to get your head through. (However, it would make a beautiful model for your collection of geek knitting).

Variations: Using different weights of yarn, experimenting with knitting stitches, length, width, and so forth. Enjoy!

© January 25, 2011, Darlene Crone-Todd

Thoughts on Monologistic Comedy Contingencies

Last Friday, my husband and I joined some great friends to go to out for dinner and to a comedy club in Boston. This was a great night, as we were able to enjoy a great variety of preferred people, edibles, and activities!

After dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant, we all drove into Boston together in one car. Driving in one car had several advantages. First, such carpooling creates a smaller "footprint", which could be viewed as an avoidance behavior (delayed, negative reinforcement). Second, we were able to spend more time with friends who we really enjoy (a preferred activity, and we are more likely to do this again, so it's also a positive reinforcer). There are probably several other benefits, but I think you get the picture.

We arrived at the club, and some people were asked to show their driver's license. At first, the reasons for this were not clear to me, but it appears that they ask for these from anyone who looks under some age. Now, consider that most of us were asked for them, even though our ages range from 27 to 40+. This means that the bouncers were asking for ID from people who definitely look over the legal age for purchasing alcohol. We could think about their behavior in several ways. First, by asking more people for ID (increased response rate, and generalizing to other age groups), they are less likely to let in a minor (which could result in a problem with the liquor license). So, perhaps this is again negative reinforcement (avoidance behavior). However, it may have an additional contingency: As the bouncer asks older people for their ID cards, they receive smiles and "thanks" from various patrons who seem happy to have been mistaken for an earlier age. So, such social reinforcement could also be maintaining their behavior. As Skinner said, behavior is complex. I agree, but it's cool to observe, and think, about all of the possible contingencies that operate on one's behavior.

Now, the most salient examples of negative reinforcement come from the comedic act itself. At the front of the theatre, right below the stage, there was a table of about 8 people. One of the women at the table appeared to us to be intoxicated. Every time the performer said something with which she agreed, she gave a very large, high, thumbs-up. The topography of the response included waving her arms straight above her head. At other times, the same sort of behavior occurred, but with thumbs down. Eventually, she started shouting things out. However, none of this really got the attention of the comedian until she stood up and started shouting at him. At this point, he made a comment about how standing during a performance and yelling was a sure way to get security's attention. She continued, and he called her a few names that I will not repeat here. Eventually, security came along and talked to her. For a while, she was quiet. Eventually, the behavior started again, and included her talking about the price she had paid, and why couldn't she engage him in conversation? Of course, he stated that some people just do not understand that a "monologistic" performance implies only one person talking. Yes, we paid to hear him talk, and not her. Finally, she took a picture of him with her camera phone, and security escorted her and her date out of the theatre.

So, in thinking about this, let's consider the contingencies surrounding the apparently inebriated woman, the comedian, the security, and the audience. The inebriated woman, in making large arm gestures and calling out statements has probably been reinforced in the past for doing so. Or, perhaps she does this at home while watching TV, and has generalized to this new environment. In any event, we cannot be completely sure about her history, but it seems as though at least some of this behavior was likely reinforced in the past. To the comedian, this can be an aversive situation. His audience has all paid to hear him, and now this audience member is trying to steer the conversation to be between the two of them. So, he calls out for security as an escape response. However, when security comes, what sort of contingencies are operating on their behavior? It can be aversive to have such a guest in the audience, but if they kick her out without warning, then they may get sued. So, they avoid this by first giving a warning (avoidance behavior). Further, she stops calling out to the comedian and standing up, so again the warning has served as a negative reinforcer for the security people. Finally, the warning can be viewed as aversive to the guest, and she responds more appropriately to avoid being kicked out.

Now, after some time passes, perhaps these contingencies are no longer acting on her immediate behavior. With more alcohol and the passage of time, there is a resurgence of the behavior. As it is not being reinforced, and the comedian again calls for security, the cycle is about to be repeated. However, in the intervening moments, she engages in one more behavior that leads to the stronger contingency: Taking a picture with her camera phone. So, the combination of yelling out, standing up, and using one's camera are now presumably punished by being taken out of the theatre (negative punishment). Will this operate as punishment? The only way to really tell is whether or not her behavior changes in the future.

As we left the theatre about 45 minutes later, she was standing outside with her date. She was complaining about the whole experience to anyone who would listen. We guessed that engaging in attention-seeking behavior was something that had been reinforced in her past on some sort of intermittent schedule.

From the audience point of view, many were calling for her to sit down, be quiet, or to leave. Clearly, it was aversive to the audience to have someone trying to derail the monologue and "make it all about her". Having her be quieter at first, and eventually removed, likely served as a negative reinforcer for calling for her removal.

That's the analysis for this week. It was a fine evening, and we really enjoyed ourselves. I was excited to think about the opportunity to write about all of this here as well.