1.02 Self-Control

Questions to ask yourself . . . When was the last time you lost your temper? Did losing your temper make the situation better or worse? What could you have done to keep your temper in check?

What is Self-Control? The ability to manage your feelings, words, and actions Stopping to think before speaking or acting

Self-Control and Body Language Body language includes gestures, facial expressions, posture, eye contact, and any other nonverbal communication. Your body language reveals as much about what you are thinking as the words you use.

Benefits of Self-Control Helps you to maintain good interpersonal relationships Helps you to cope with difficult people Helps you to protect yourself from others Helps you to avoid becoming defensive Helps you to keep your mind clear

Benefits of Self-Control Cont’d. Helps you to prevent burnout Helps you to have a positive attitude Helps you to maintain your dignity Helps you to enjoy greater professional success

How to Develop Self-Control Conduct a self-observation Determine what causes you to lose control Train yourself to react differently Track your progress

How to Exhibit Self-Control Control your body language Remain calm even when provoked Avoid the use of inappropriate language Listen without interrupting Show empathy toward others Be patient Laugh at yourself

What would you do? Your boss accidentally emailed you another employee’s work evaluation. Would you read it or delete it?

Self-Control Techniques Reward Technique – reward yourself Punishment Technique – set consequences for yourself *“In psychology, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing. In other words, conditioned behavior eventually stops. For example, imagine that you taught your dog to shake hands. Over time, the trick became less interesting. You stop rewarding the behavior and eventually stop asking the animal to shake. Eventually, the response becomes extinct, and the dog no longer displays the behavior.” (*http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/g/extinction.htm)

Techniques Continued… Alternate behavior – learn a positive alternate behavior for the undesired behavior. Ex: An alternate behavior that most of you have already learned is instead of calling out in class, raise your hand. *Stimulus Control – “Stimulus control is a term used to describe situations in which a behavior is triggered by the presence or absence of some stimulus. For example, if you always eat when you watch TV, your eating behavior is controlled by the stimulus of watching TV. (This can be an important insight to some people.) If you are talkative with your friends but you never speak out in a classroom, your speech behavior is controlled by your social environment.” (*http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/stimulus_cont rol.html)

Check out these situations . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFkRbUKy19g Angry Birds Lesson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ2j-p0wBLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOi4FR2UruA Your Inner Strength