SLOP1521

Introduction to Life: Foundations of Being a Person

Week 12 — Integration

Back to the empty chart

Week 1’s chart, blank until today.

Filled in live with the class’s anonymised, aggregated self-reported change.

Today’s scope

This week teaches nothing new. It’s designed to prove retention, not add content.

A full-semester review, structured as evidence-gathering.

What’s ahead

  • Revisiting Week 1’s habit-formation research
  • What actually changed and how we know
  • Closing the loop

Definitions

  • Evidence (noun, callback) — something that actually happened.
  • Intention (noun, contrast) — something you meant to do.

Key point 1 — Revisiting Lally et al. (2010)

A 12-week semester falls short of the 66-day average from Week 1.

Stated honestly. Not overclaimed.

Check-in: Based on Week 1's research, would you expect every habit in this course to be fully formed by today?

Key point 2 — What actually changed, and how we know

The Then and Now method: pull up the five scores from Week 1’s starting point check, alongside every schedule and plan built since.

Pick the one area that changed the most, and back it up with something you actually did this semester — the same starting-state/what-changed/actual-reason shape as Week 8’s incident report, except this time the outcome is good.

The point: a self-report alone can’t tell “I got better at this” apart from “I’ve decided I got better at this.” A schedule you actually kept can.

This week’s lab runs the method itself, using the scores and schedules you bring with you.

Check-in: Between a self-report and a kept schedule, which one can actually tell you apart from someone who just decided they'd improved?

Key point 3 — Closing the loop, part one

The fridge, from weeks 2, 4, and 10 — condiments and one ageing lime then, a photographed week of planned groceries priced against a real budget now.

The sock pile from week 2 — twenty-three unpaired socks, down to four, tracked against a schedule that finally states a frequency.

Week 1’s desk — its clutter replaced by a shallow tray with somewhere for things to go.

Key point 4 — Closing the loop, part two

Jordan’s Week, from week 4 — six stated intentions and zero actual times then; a sleep and exercise schedule that either held or has an honest account of where it slipped, now.

The 600-word message, from week 9 — the three-sentence rule, applied to whatever actually needed sending since.

Check-in: Of these five callbacks, which one do you have real evidence for in your own semester — a number, a photo, a schedule — rather than just a sense that it got better?

In-lecture activity

Repeat Week 1’s anonymous show-of-hands questions, verbatim.

Who has a regular laundry schedule? A regular bedtime? Has spoken to a stranger this week?

Compare the spread live against Week 1’s.

Conclusion

Real, evidenced change, however partial, over the exact timeframe the first lecture’s own research predicted.

The semester’s promise, checked against evidence, not just claimed.

Coming up: the final lab (Then and Now, and the capstone showcase), and Assignment 3 (Time to be an Adult) due this Friday at 12:00.

This week’s reflection

Due 12:00 the following Tuesday:

Name one habit from Week 1 that held all semester, and one that reverted the moment nobody was checking.

References

Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. (Callback to Week 1.)

Competence is a skill like any other. CS culture just never taught you this one.

Thanks for the semester.