Tim Case Study

Tim Case Study

1. It’s definitely a natural response because he did not do so well on the past quiz he ends up doubting himself and therefore subconsciously giving up. He’s nervous because he is looking back at his previous experience with the recent quiz he did badly on and equating that experience with his current quiz, which also raised his stress levels and hindered him from focusing on the actual quiz.

2. His nervousness decreased because he was able to confide in his friend Susan, who was able to give him study tips. Susan taught him to do more than just one type of problem so there won’t be any surprises on the test and he learned from her to set goals for himself as well.

3. He changed his study habits first of all because it was not working for him anymore and secondly he saw that Susan tended to do well on her test and he wanted to get good grades too. The reason he sustained his study habits is because he started doing very well on the quizzes, eventually even getting his highest score so far and this gave him motivation to keep on studying.

1. After not doing so well on the previous quiz Tim lost confidence since he panicked and failed. On his next quiz just after a few answers, which he wasn’t even sure about the answers he circled. He thinks, “I’m not sure I can do this. Maybe I should drop algebra.”

2. No one told Tim he has to do better on the quizzes he took matters in his own hands and made the choice to talk to Susan for help. With that said he chose to implement similar learning habits and also set the same goal, doing three problems of each type, as Susan and by doing so it kept him on track. When he started doing better on the test it showed that his studying methods were working and this boosted his confidence and motivation allowing him to keep studying the way he is because it is showing results. His self-talk in the end was a lot more positive than when he started and it helped him to see that he can do it with his newly found study skills.

3. Yes, Susan did engage in cognitive modeling by demonstrating to Tim why she studied the way she did and also explained to him why it works for her. She showed him to do several problems that way he won’t be fooled on the test and to keep track of the problems he does he can make a chart to show what he’s accomplished.

4. I do believe there were reinforcements that Tim used, one was the fact that he himself did not want to fail his quizzes any longer and wanted to get better grades. Another was so he can raise his grade on his weekly quizzes which is why he decided to improve his study habits in the first place.

5. Modeling seems to be the concept from social cognitive theory. Tim saw the success of Susan on the quizzes and due to the fact that Susan is a peer of Tim he was easily able to model and imitate her behavior. Rather than a teacher who supposedly already knows how to do each of the problems, she might just teach and show him how to do all the problems, but not give him advice or give him something to relate to by showing him how she would personally study.

6. Yes a teacher can use cognitive behavior modification with their entire class, but it is of course not guaranteed to work with all students. A teacher needs to start with cognitive modeling, so depending on what the student is struggling with, such as time management, a teacher needs to put themselves in the students should and set up a realistic model of how a student can save time, such as no watching TV when doing homework. Goals need to also be put in place so that the students can see what they have accomplished and have improved on. Self-talk plays a crucial role when the students are not supervised so as a teacher motivation as well as compliments on what the students are doing great on needs to be acknowledged.