Behavior Modification

One of the behaviors I most wish to unlearn is interrupting others when they talk. This behavior serves to undermine my health because it makes me stressful when I annoy my closest friends and loved ones. I suffer enormous anxiety from being told by others that I care little about what they have to say or that I love to hear myself talk because I interrupt all the time. It has stressed me out to the point where I suffer guilt and depression when others view me in this manner, since I know the behavior is unintentional and I truly care about what others have to say. It has gotten to the point where I am almost too intimidated to speak to other people, even when I am close to them, for fear that I will interrupt them and then anger or annoy them to the point where they will want to distance themselves.

I learned this behavior while growing up, as everyone in my family typically talks at the same time and over one another. Such a behavior is beginning to impede my interpersonal communication skills to a level I am uncomfortable with. Despite my intention to respect others and be genuinely interested in what they have to say, I find myself interrupting as a normal part of conversation. I first became aware of this behavior when other people I communicated with that were not family members began to express annoyance over it. I was at first a bit confused as I was used to communicating in this manner. As time went by though, some of my better fr

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ior I hoped to change was my habitual behavior of interrupting others when they speak, a behavior that severely affected my health and peace of mind by generating extreme stress and social anxiety within me in speaking situations. Reasons for Behavior Modification There are a number of reasons I wanted to extinguish this behavior from my communication pattern. The first is that it was wrecking havoc with my interpersonal relationships, causing me depression, stress and anxiety. The second is because it is offensive and annoying to my friends and the people who I speak with. The third reason is because I feel it will limit my personal and professional success if it is a behavior I do not modify. A final reason stems from my seeming inability to control the behavior now that I am aware of it as something limiting. Behavior Modification Plan My plan to modify the behavior was threefold: 1) Having my friends inform me when I was interrupting and keeping track of these instances; 2) Using a rubber band to visually remind me of my goal as well as serving as negative reinforcement to help extinguish the behavior; and 3) Keeping track of times, dates, situations, and moods when I interrupt in a journal. Discussion of Compliance

Category: Psychology - B