The Paragraphs of the Following Essay Have Been Scrambled So

question 6

Short Answer

The paragraphs of the following essay have been scrambled so that they are out of order. Read them and then answer the question(s) that follow.
How to Break a Bad Habit
_____ (1) Then, after awareness of a negative habit has been raised, substitution can take place. (2) Every time a person is tempted to engage in the undesirable behavior, he or she can replace it with a new, more desirable behavior. (3) For example, if a student grabs a bag of chips and a soda every time she sits down to study, then she can replace that habit with grabbing a bottled water and an apple, or just the water. (4) If a person is used to lighting up a cigarette after finishing a meal, he or she might get in the habit of chewing a piece of gum instead.
_____ (5) The process begins with increasing awareness of an undesirable behavior. (6) A bad habit is often so deeply ingrained that it becomes unconscious, and people do not realize when and how much they do it. (7) Therefore, a person must first think, "I'm doing it again" every time he or she lights up a cigarette, grabs a handful of chips, or puts off doing something.
_____ (8) Almost everyone has at least one bad habit he or she would like to get rid of. (9) That habit might as be as big as smoking cigarettes, procrastinating, or overeating, or as small as biting fingernails or misplacing keys. (10) All of them are tough to break. (11) But it's not impossible; in fact, any bad habit can be broken by following a three-step process.
_____ (12) People who have used this three-step process say that they were able to finally conquer their bad habit. (13) In the end, they not only improved their lives by giving up an unpleasant or unhealthy behavior, but they also felt more powerful for having been strong enough to free themselves from something that once held them in a very tight grip.
_____ (14) The final step of the process involves persevering over time. (15) A bad habit is not going to go away overnight; experts say that breaking it will take at least three to four weeks. (16) Therefore, a person has to persist with daily substitution. (17) At the same time, he or she must resist the urge to give up on the whole idea of breaking the habit if a lapse occurs. (18) Setbacks and resistance are inevitable, but they don't have to result in complete failure. (19) Keeping the long-term goal in mind and continuing to imagine the positive end result will help ingrain the newer, better habit.
Select the number of the sentence that best expresses the thesis statement of this essay.
a. Sentence 1
b. Sentence 8
c. Sentence 11

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Definitions:

Operant Conditioning

A method of learning where the potency of certain actions is changed via positive reinforcement or negative punishment.

Prejudicial Stereotypes

Oversimplified and widely held beliefs about a particular group of people that are often negative and unfair.

Insidious

Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way but with harmful effects, often without being noticed until it is too late.

Conformity

The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to what is considered normal or socially acceptable in a given group or society.