Mr. Jingles - Bad Habits

Back in college I took a class called Social Psychology; I was pursuing a degree in Psychology, and it was one of the only Psychology classes offered through the Sociology department. The class wasn't too difficult, so I felt like I could get away with injecting some creativity into my writing assignment. I created a character called Mr. Jingles, who would be an example of how not to do something; my character, the Psychologist, would point out how he had failed and what should have been done.

This is the first assignment where I used Mr. Jingles. I'm pretty sure I got an A on this paper. For comedic sake I'm going to do some slight editing and include things I originally intended but left out for fear of having points taken off.

Suppose that you wanted to change a particular behavior of yours or a friend’s. Specify the behavior you wish to change. Develop a program that will change the behavior using at least three theoretical principles. Specify the principle and explain what it means. Then indicate how you could actually implement each principle. Discuss the practicality of the principles and how easy or difficult you feel they would be to implement.

Bad Habits

Mr. Jingles has a bad habit of interrupting people when they are talking. When questioning him about this he tells me that he wants to stop interrupting people and become a better listener, but he doesn't know how. Using what I have learned in my sociology and psychology classes, I can help Mr. Jingles by assisting him with what needs to be done to alter his behavior.

I tell Mr. Jingles that he needs to write down multiple times every day that he is a good listener. This is an easy method to bring about change in oneself. Even though Mr. Jingles thinks this sounds silly, I explain to him that if he labels himself in this way the behavioral change should actually occur. I use the example of self-help books and tapes where self affirmations, such as positive thinking, are very popular. If Mr. Jingles is particularly gullible, I can also try to offer him a sugar pill while saying that it will help him to become a better listener. By using a placebo Mr. Jingles will expect this affect to occur and it should become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But Mr. Jingles has proven resistant to these strategies. He attempted to grind up and snort the sugar pills, which nearly sent him into a hypoglycemic shock. He also believes it is silly to tell himself that he is a good listener, and his self affirmation notebook is full of nothing but penis illustrations. So I find a group of people who are all known for their superb listening ability. I explain to the group beforehand that, like them, Mr. Jingles is a skilled listener. When I introduce Mr. Jingles to the group they will expect him to be a good listener, and Mr. Jingles should conform to their expectations, somewhat similar to the burden of proof process, except Mr. Jingles would be conforming to their expectations of similarity instead of difference. Hopefully the social reinforcement of the group will help Mr. Jingles to model their behavior. This shouldn't be too difficult since Mr. Jingles simply needs to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jingles starts to lapse into his old behavior almost immediately. Having gotten a bad first impression of him, the group begins to stereotype Mr. Jingles as being loud and obnoxious, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. They also see how I was insincere with the group about Mr. Jingles's behavior and they start to believe I was being ingratiating with them to take a place in their group. This leads to both of us being forcibly removed. Having this attempt fail, I decide that putting Mr. Jingles in an unnatural situation may not be the best strategy. Perhaps he should merely try to look at his normal day to day activities. I suggest Mr. Jingles tries to use self-observation to change his annoying habit.

I tell Mr. Jingles that he should keep a diary, where he records whenever he interrupts someone as well as when he manages to listen. Just recording the negatives events may discourage Mr. Jingles from keeping good records. These entries should be made as soon as is possible, since memory can change your perception of an event. The entries should include the actions that lead to his habit of interrupting people and the consequences of these interruptions. Mr. Jingles may also want to consider rating his interruptions. A small comment made during a conversation should be marked as a one, while completely derailing a conversation and leading it along a pathway of his choosing should be considered a five. If Mr. Jingles doesn't notice when he is stealing a conversation then he should practice with his friends to identify when he has done so, otherwise he will have trouble identifying when he needs to record this data. Mr. Jingles could also have his friends keep recordings, so that he can gain valuable insight to his behavior from their alternative viewpoints; this may even help him to learn to see things from other points of view. Once Mr. Jingles has gotten enough data to know the extent of his interruption problem he can begin to focus on changing his behavior by consciously limiting his interruptions until they have ceased.

This too fails, as Mr. Jingles once again fills a notebook with penis illustrations. So I decide to try and implement examples from the field of behavioral psychology. Mr. Jingles could reward himself whenever he has been a good listener and the association with rewards should help Mr. Jingles modify his behavior. Similarly, Mr. Jingles could be punished for interrupting conversations. A device outfitted to deliver a small electrical shock perhaps. If Mr. Jingles isn't inclined to punish himself in this way I am sure his friends would be more than happy to assist him; perhaps with a cattle prod of some sort.

This proved quite difficult to implement. Mr. Jingles enjoyed the rewards for good behavior, but would not shock himself when he interrupted a conversation and proved resistant to being cattle prodded. After a harrowing incident where Mr. Jingles managed to wrestle one of the cattle prods away from his friends, it is decided by the group at large that Mr. Jingles should seek professional therapy. Through intensive psychoanalytical sessions Mr. Jingles discovers that his tendency to interrupt people comes from repressed hostility towards his family, who were very strict and always forbade Mr. Jingles to speak out of place. Having been cured of his problem, Mr. Jingles can now listen to a conversation fully without interruptions.