Breaking the Chains of Overconfidence: A Behavioral Transformation for Academic Excellence - Free Paper

Behavior modification alteration of the event in the surroundings is connected to the behavior of the person (Blackman, 2006). For instance, implementation of the desirable conduct and disregarding the unimportant ones. For the purpose of achieving the goals of this process, there are various procedures to be followed keenly. Implementation of desirable conduct involves providing what can result in the best outcome (Blackman, 2006). The main aim of this paper is to describe a comprehensive step-to-step behavioral treatment that I will employ in eliminating overconfidence using operant behavioral conditioning techniques.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Overconfidence has, for a long time, negatively affected my learning by constantly interrupting and interfering with my studies by lowering my academic capabilities. Overconfidence is a biased interpretation of a situation. It is prudent to note that overconfidence leads to misjudgment of values, abilities, opinions, or beliefs (Blackman, 2006). Overconfidence makes me give my own objective features of a situation as I am normally not properly equipped with strategies for handling a specific situation. Personally, I have been faced with a big tussle based on the above circumstances, as I have thought that it is only my own sense of direction to my academic journey that is correct. My academic performance is a roadblock since I rarely consider other people’s subjective opinions on methods I can use to improve my performance. I have, for many years, believed that I am smarter than anyone else; however, this is not true because even my academic performance is below that of a majority of my classmates and friends. My way of doing my studies has been the most retrogressive compared to my peers in school. I have, for a long time, ended up with lower scores than I could have otherwise improved. It has really lowered my self-esteem among my classmates; this virtue has impaired my thinking by making me believe that I have a detailed understanding of the subject and that I have a photographic memory that I personally don't have. I sometimes fail to study for a test on a subject that has a false belief in; thus, I normally do poorly on such a subject due to a lack of adequate preparation. All these false beliefs have been the driving factors toward my academic dwarfism.

To improve my academic performance, I have decided to use an operant behavioral theory to aid me in improving my academic performance as I target getting a distinction in my final exam. Operant theory, which entails associative learning, occurs via punishment and reward basically by analyzing the consequences and merits of behavior (Blackman, 2006). The effects of overconfidence on my studies my future and the future of my family and community at large are graver than the advantages of the same virtue. Therefore, doing away with it as an option is set to bring me better than harm as a person.

I have realized that going into the future; I will not only think that my sense of direction on issues pertaining to my studies as better than it actually is but rather I will listen to my seniors, fellow classmates, and my parents on what is the most appropriate way to handle my studies. Having learned that people in my surroundings play I very crucial role in shaping my academic journey, I am set to take full note of the opinion of everyone within my reach as some of them harbor vital strategies on matters of education and learning. Even as a group leader in my study group discussion, I am set to consider all members as equal in their contribution to the group rather than furthering my own opinions unto the heads of my fellow group members. A mutual consensus will be the primary consideration in the decision-making process in case of any issue that would entail stringent decision-making. This will create harmony and a sense of belonging among members, plus it will also help me in weighing the strategies available and using the best way out in any hard situation in my learning.

Having experienced the hard way of the negative effects of acting smarter than the rest of my classmates on my performance in exams and socially, I have decided to renew my notion of myself as being smarter than the rest. Going forward, I will treat myself with a lot of care in front of my classmates and teachers since a person who is ready to learn normally acts like he or she knows nothing. I will also be very careful to gauge my understanding of my own abilities in various subjects including understanding the limits of my knowledge. All these are aimed at boosting my own self-esteem and enabling me to incorporate ideas and work together with my classmates.

On the other hand, I have come to the reality that I do not actually have the photographic memory that I believed I had neither done, or I have a genius understanding of any subject. I am therefore set to overturn the two virtues by fully deciding to study for any test regardless of how easy the test could be. By doing this, I will get adequate preparation for all the tests that I will be doing, which I believe will also boost my academic performance going forward into the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gearing all my focus on bettering my academic prowess by resuscitating my performance towards a distinction and acknowledging the positive effects of my good academic performance on my future and the future of my family, I will leniently follow all the above procedures based on operant conditioning theory I have outlined above as anything contrary to them will surge my academic performance into a worse level.

References

Blackman, D. (2006). Operant Conditioning (1st ed.). https://www.amazon.com/Operant-Conditioning-Experimental-Behaviour- Psychology/dp/1138299839.