Cheaponomics

| 3 Comments

"...things aren't as cheap as you think."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raj-patel/cheaponomics_b_454057.html

This is an interesting article that explains some of the actual costs of the items we buy and the activities we do. Clearly, after reading this article it may very well change some peoples' behaviors. How would we explain this using behavioral terms and concepts? How does the article function within the ABCs of behavior?

3 Comments

This article almost uses scare tactics to get people to make an emotional response and change their behavior. For instance, in the bottled water section, they imply that if we do not stop drinking bottled water, greenhouse gases will continue to increase and the planet will be clogged with water bottles. It is like the authors of this article are trying to say that punishment will occur if the readers do not alter their behavior now. So the ABCs could appear as follows:

A=Need a drink of water
B=Buy a bottle of water
C=Contribute to greenhouse gases and build-up of garbage

The article will elicit a change in behavior by emotional appeals that will serve to warn readers of impending punishment. The article also states some reinforcement things, like if we stopped drinking bottled water than this great environmental help would occur. This would be negative reinforcement because it involves something bad (degraded environment) being removed.

Terms: ABCs, elicit, punishment, negative reinforcement

A=Lack of time for lunch and need a cheap meal
B=Buying a values mean
C=Health repercussions and labor exceeds 200 dollars

This articles was interseting. When we uses cell phones, buy a values meal, or even google an answer on the internet we are emitting greenhouse gasses and other environmental pollutants we do not even realize. To think that just by buying bottled water the consequences impact out environment aversively by producting the equivilent to 10,000 cars on the road and 1 billion pounds of CO2. However, we "Think" we are getting postivelyreinforced by these behaviors becasue they are cheap, easily, and convient. When in reality, the long term consequences of our actions elict negative reinforcement.

Terms: Antecednet, behavior, Consequences, aversively,elict, negative reinforcement, postive reinforcement

A=Lack of time for lunch and need a cheap meal
B=Buying a values mean
C=Health repercussions and labor exceeds 200 dollars

This articles was interseting. When we uses cell phones, buy a values meal, or even google an answer on the internet we are emitting greenhouse gasses and other environmental pollutants we do not even realize. To think that just by buying bottled water the consequences impact out environment aversively by producting the equivilent to 10,000 cars on the road and 1 billion pounds of CO2. However, we "Think" we are getting postivelyreinforced by these behaviors becasue they are cheap, easily, and convient. When in reality, the long term consequences of our actions elict negative reinforcement.

Terms: Antecednet, behavior, Consequences, aversively,elict, negative reinforcement, postive reinforcement

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