Behavioral and Social Cognitive Approaches to Forming Habits

Behavioral and Social/Cognitive Approaches to Forming Habits

Elliot Villanueva

UOPX PSY/250

Monday March, 3, 2014

Behavioral and Social Cognitive Approaches to Forming Habits

Before I became a father to my little girl, I used to hang out with my friends sometimes we would drink and other times, we would not. I drank too much at times when I would hang out with my friends, but it is through the love of little girl and the fact that I truly want to be a good role model for her that made me consider not drinking. I feel that through my life, since she has been involved in it, I have always wanted to be a good example for my daughter and my ultimate wish is for her to not live the life that I lived and to not do some of the crazier things that I have done.

Drinking explored through the course of my life

To the best of my recollection, I had started drinking when I would hang out with my friends in high school; we felt that it was the coolest thing to do on the weekends. Going out with my friends to the clubs or each other’s house were some of the best times that I had before my little girl and the love of my life who is her mother came into my life. I have been blessed that I have not got into any legal troubles or had any major problems as a result of my drinking. I used to drink to socialize with friends and family but now I just do not have the desire to do that because I have my daughter and her mother to keep me very content in my life. The situations that my friends have told me about (getting in trouble with the law, fights with family or loved ones) those things have clarified for me that I can survive without the problems that alcohol can cause in people’s lives whether it’s the person who has the drinking problem or the loved ones of the person who drinks. I personally have too much to look forward to at this time to look forward to with school and my family to go down the destructive path that excessive drinking can cause in a person’s life. Those same friends who I still keep in touch with have had problems with relationships due to their drinking or have had problems with the law as a result of drinking. The people who I started drinking with were older and at the time, I thought it would be cool to hang out with older kids and be more like them.

When a person starts drinking, no matter how they start, there are genetic predispositions that can make a person turn into an alcoholic. There are many factors that can determine a person’s susceptibility to alcoholism: those would include how a person was raised, their social environment, well-being