Performance Change

Desired Performance Change

Throughout my life, I have always had a fear of dogs. When I was seven years old, a dog bit me on my face. To this day, the scars on my face are a constant reminder of how dangerous and vicious dogs are. Whenever I am near a dog, my heart beats faster, I get nervous, and I just want to get away. This anxious feeling has affected my social activities with my family and friends. For my performance enhancement project (PEP), I want to conquer my fear of dogs.

Target Behaviors

I would like to fully overcome my fears for dogs. By doing the first step in my Action Plan, self-monitoring, I have already gathered some useful baseline data. I have been carrying around a notepad where I write down how anxious I feel whenever I am in the vicinity of a dog. The level of anxiety is rated on a scale from 1 to 10. In addition to keeping track of my anxiety level, I also write down the situation in which I am experiencing these anxious feelings.

From analyzing the baseline data, I noticed that in my everyday school life, I do not encounter a lot of dogs. If I do have an encounter, I usually just change my path slightly to avoid the dogs. What I noticed is that most of my direct encounters occur when I visit friends or families who have dogs. During these times, I always feel uncomfortable due to the fact that there is a dog wandering freely around their house.

My target behavior must be specific behaviors-in-situations that I would like to change. For this PEP project, I would specifically like to reduce my fear of being in a house with dogs. I would like to be able to visit my friends and family who have dogs without any hesitations. I don't want to require that my friends and family come to my house just to avoid the dogs.

Present Stage of Change

Based on Prochaska's Transtheoretical Model of Change (Smith, 2001), I am currently in the "Preparation" stage. Because I acknowledge that I have a problem and I am seriously considering and planning to change, I consider myself already past the "Precontemplation" and "Contemplation" stage.

By doing this PEP project, I am setting up specific goals and developing a general plan to change my irrational behavior. These are things that show me that I am currently in the "Preparation" stage. Having this PEP project accomplished, I will be ready to progress into the "Action" stage.

Goal Setting

For my long-term goal, I want to overcome my irrational fear that all dogs are ferocious. More specifically, I would like to be able to control my feelings when I am around dogs. I don't want to be afraid, but instead be calm and relaxed. Hopefully one day, I will be able to own a dog myself.

As for my short-term goal, I will learn relaxation techniques taught in class. This will help me control my anxious feelings. Next, I will learn how to use mental imagery to imagine myself with a dog. Lastly, I will set up a Stimulus Hierarchy so I can desensitize myself from the fear for dogs. The Stimulus Hierarchy will be described in detail in the Action Plan section below.

Action Plan

I am planning to start my program during the first week of my summer quarter. Right now I am in school and I do not feel that I have the time or the effort to be able to commit fully to my program. Summer vacation will be the perfect time. There are still three weeks left of school so I will use this remaining time to start my self-monitoring process to gather some baseline data on how I feel when I encounter dogs.

1. Self-Monitor My Anxious Behavior for 3 Weeks

I have already started my self-monitoring stage. I carry around a notepad with me. Whenever I am near a dog, I write down my anxiety level on a scale from 1 to 10. I also keep track of the situation that I am in. I will continue recording my observation throughout my self-enhancement project.

2. Perform Progressive Muscle Relaxation Techniques 3 Times Per Week

I will use the technique taught in class. Every other day after I wake up, I will spend 20 minutes practicing this technique. Over time, I will be able to relax myself with one breath. This will greatly help me control my anxious feeling when needed, especially when I am at a house with dogs.

3. Engage in Mental Imagery 3 Times Per Week

After performing the relaxation techniques, I will perform mental imagery of me interacting with dogs. I will try to remain calm and relaxed during this time. The imageries that I will be performing are listed below in the Stimulus Hierarchy. By performing these imageries, I will get the chance to mentally practice each hierarchy steps before I go and perform the steps with a real dog. This will improve my confidence in the ability to control my anxious feelings.

4. The Stimulus Hierarchy

I will be performing a step from the Stimulus Hierarchy three times a week. I will first perform each step in the process using mental imaging. Then I will perform the exact step again the following day, but this time with one of my friend's dogs. During this time, I will practice the relaxation technique to keep myself calm. If I feel anxious, I will move down one step in the hierarchy. I will continue this until I have accomplished all the steps in the hierarchy. Below is the complete list of the hierarchy steps:

Be around a dog

Have the dog bark at me

Pet the dog

Call the dog over to me

Play fetch with the dog

Have the dog lick me on the hand

Have the dog lick me on my face

Have the dog eat off my hand

I firmly believe that if I am capable of letting a dog lick me on my face and eat off my hand, dogs will not longer be as much of a threat in my life. Throughout the program, my friend will be present to monitor his dog in case something unpredictable occurs. He will also provide support for me.

Timetable and Reinforcement Plan

As mentioned above, I have already started my self-monitoring stage. I will continue self-monitoring