For this assignment please find a short video clip online where superstitious behavior is occurring.
I would like you to:
1) write a brief description of the video and provide the url
2) Based on what we covered in class so far, I would like you to identify the ABC's (These should be listed out A=; B=; and C=). The main behavior involved in the video, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences of the behavior using the terms and terminology we have learned from the book, class, and other sources.
Remember we are looking for superstitious behavior.
Keep these questions in mind when formulating your response. Is there an establishing operation involved? Any discriminative stimulus? What is the context? Who / what is eliciting the behavior? Who is emitting it? Etc.?
Use these questions when you formulate your video response - don't simply answer each questions.
3) Finally, please make a list of the behavioral terms used in your response.
This is due Thursday.
Let me know if you have any questions,
--Dr. M
1) http://www.hulu.com/watch/127858/family-guy-psychic-nonsense
This is a family guy video in which Bryan is trying to explain to Lois how people can develop superstitious beliefs about psychic’s using Peter as a demonstrator. Unfortunately for Peter, and this is a common occurrence in real life as well, his success then causes Peter himself to form superstitious beliefs about his own psychic powers.
2) A- Bryan’s using Peter in a demonstration for Louis sets the occasion for
B- Peter asking random, general questions to a girl in the park which results in
C- Reinforcement for Peter’s belief in his own psychic powers.
Superstitious behaviors are formed when a reinforcer is given out randomly such that the person (or animal) associates the reinforcer with whatever behavior was emitted prior to the random reinforcer. This is often referred to as the “post hoc ergo propter hoc” (after this, therefore because of this) fallacy in logic. We read in chapter 3.1 that Thorndike’s Law of Recency, which states that the behavior that occurred most recently prior to the reinforcer is the most likely to reoccur, is often a very beneficial tool for the learning process. Although it is likely that the most recent behavior is the cause of the consequence, this fact alone is insufficient. Superstitious beliefs seem to be the downside to this system.
Peter would have assumed that if you randomly ask questions to people you will get randomly positive and negative responses (probably 50/50 or less, in favor of negative responses). However, if the questions are general enough you will be reinforced (get positive responses, which is positive reinforcement) much more frequently than common sense might suggest. The repetitious nature of the questioning gives a great example of Thorndike’s Law of Exercise, whereby repetition strengthens associations.
Although Peter is reinforced pretty much every time (CR) the strength of reinforcement slightly varies, and over the long run he would be reinforced on a variable ratio SOR since the number of questions he must ask to get reinforced would vary. Peter’s reinforcement is obvious based on his excitement at the terrible things going on in this girl’s life, culminating in his pronouncement, and the point when we know he’s truly acquired a superstitious belief, “Hey, you don’t wanna hear the truth don’t come to the park.”
The women’s responses are actually discriminative stimuli since after all Peter is not making claims but asking questions, they could be considered reinforcers or punishers depending on prior beliefs regarding psychic phenomena, statistics, etc. They set the occasion for an operant response. Peter simply chooses to interpret them as reinforcement by assuming that his questions were in fact pronouncements, at least when she agrees. It is likely that if she disagreed he would have instead chosen to interpret his questions as questions only. As Thorndike explained behaviors which lead to desirable outcomes are generally stamped in, whereas behaviors leading to aversive outcomes are stamped out, or in this case forgotten. Skeptics commonly refer to this as “remembering the hits, forgetting/dismissing the misses.”
Another important establishing operation for psychic powers and precognition is using questions in exactly this way, since questions can be answered with a number of responses. As we learned in chapter 1 a known antecedent may have unlimited behaviors and conclusions attached to it. A question itself is an antecedent to the behavior “answer the question." Question emitting behavior invariably elicits answering behavior.
Peter had the opportunity for reinforcement or punishment after the more or less random presentation of a discriminative stimulus. Due to his preconceived notions regarding the likelihood of various events occurring Peter was reinforced, and thus erroneously formed an association between his questioning abilities and the girls responses. This caused Peter to form a superstitious belief that rather than chance and psychological principles, his intuition alone was responsible for the girl’s elicited behaviors, and he will likely generalize this to numerous other contexts which will further strengthen these associations making Peter’s superstitious belief even more powerful.
3) Terms: Superstitious, reinforcement, associates, emitted, law of recency, reoccur, positive reinforcement, law of exercise,CR, variable ratio SOR, discriminative stimuli, aversive, establishing operation, antecedents, elicits, response, generalize, context.
1.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcnlgBQQ5DE
My video is from MadTV. Ty and Gray are at the casino and they have a superstitious behavior of always having to bet on black and performing the same actions before they bet. If other people interrupt their game, they get superstitious that their bet will not work.
2.)
A: Being at the casino and playing Roulette sets the occasion for
B: performing the exact same routine before betting and betting on black each time, which results in
C: Ty and Gray winning that round of Roulette and being reinforced of their superstitious behaviors.
The context of this superstitious behavior is being in a casino in which Ty and Gray are emitting superstitious behaviors about betting. Each time that their behavior is reinforced, the winning streak elicits even more superstition in that they must emit the behavior of repeating the same routine and always betting on black. Even though Ty and Gray win every time (except the last time), their chances of winning are variable.
This video is an example of a variable ratio, because the chances of winning vary and the chances of winning depend on how many times Roulette is played, what color is bet, etc.
Although not successful, the people that try to interrupt Ty and Gray's game, could be an example of discriminative extinction stimuli. The guy and the one couple threaten Ty and Gray's winning streak because it messes up their routine of events that "cause" them to win. Ty and Gray think that adding other people to the environment will result in them losing, in which they will no longer be reinforced of their superstitious behaviors. However, Ty and Gray still win despite other people in the enviroment, but if they would have lost they would serve as examples of discriminative extinction stimuli.
After Ty and Gray finally lose (winning streak is extinguished) and they realize that Carrot Top's show is free, they decide to quit playing Roulette and go watch the show. This is an example of extinction because it stops their reinforcing behaviors that were previously reinforced by their winning streak.
3.) Terms: reinforced, elicits, superstitious behavior, context, emitting, sets the occasion, variable ratio, discriminative extinction stimuli, extinction, extinguished
1.) The video I found was of a girl reporting about the Ben Ming Nian year. This is a time where people born in the year of the rat have bad luck. In the video the young girls goes around and asks people what she should do to fend off the bad luck. An old man tells her that she needs a red belt, socks, clothes, and shoes. He says this because wearing red is supposed to give you good luck because it drives away evil spirits and bad luck. In response to what the man tells her, she goes and looks for those things. As she is looking she runs into a young girl and asks her for advice. The young girl tells her the same thing. This girl also says that it is her year of bad luck and shows that she is wearing a red belt and a Pixiu, which is a mystical Chinese beast that wards off bad luck. After all of this, the girl reporting goes and buys a red belt. In behavioral terms, the Ben Ming Nian is the antecedent to this behavior. The behavior is wearing red. The consequence of this would be good luck instead of bad. I would say, in this context, that the behavior or responses elicited by the interviewees made the girl emit a buying behavior of red apparel (or superstitious behavior). Since bad luck would be aversive to the girl, she buys a red belt to reinforce herself that she will have good luck. If she didn’t do this the consequence would be negative reinforcement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LppvfUyada4&feature=related
2.)
A = Ben Ming Nian
B = Wearing red
C = Good luck for the year
3.) Terms: response, antecedent, behavior, context, aversive, elicited, emit, reinforce, consequence, negative reinforcement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kelmDTjj0AI
In this video clip Ross is taking care of his daughter Emma when he come across the classic song “Baby got Back”. By singing the song to Emma Ross is eliciting the superstitious behavior that this song is what makes Emma laugh. The behavior in this clip is Emma laughing therefore she is emitting the behavior. Since Emma is just a baby there is no way that she is listening to the words of the song and laughing. When Emma starts to laugh Ross or Rachel get excited and starting singing the song more or reinforcing her by smiling when she laughs. By doing this they are establishing operations. I would predict that is it the ways Ross and Rachel are eliciting the song that make Emma laugh. Therefore, (even though in this clip every time they sing the song Emma laughs) In real life not every time this song is played will laughing occur.
A=Trying to make Emma laugh by singing a song
B=Ross and Rachel singing Baby got back
C=Emma laughing
Terms: Elicit, Emit, Establishing Operation, Superstitious Behavior, Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence
How our behaviors can shape individual superstitions.
This video is a combination of old-school b/w footage of a mouse pressing a lever to receive his food, and a modern psych researcher (YouTube blog) talking about behavior, B.F. Skinner, superstitions, bowling, and successive approximation.
The main idea is how our behaviors can become superstitions. The example used in this film is how some people lean while they are bowling (to help get a strike). People are reinforced by the actions they took while completing a certain behavior.
A = family bowling night
B = "leaning" to help get a strike
C = superstitious behavior for those who lean and DO end up with a strike - this reinforcers the leaning behavior while they are bowling (and continue to do so because they feel it help them achieve the target behavior - strike!)
Terms: behavior, reinforced, reinforcer, target behavior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04TDoiqohKQ
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/deadliest-catch-sig-on-superstitions.html
In this video, Capt. Sig Hansen from Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch," discusses the superstitions of fisherman at sea. It's pretty incredible how superstitious they really are. He talks about all kinds of weird things he has become accustomed to that have come a part of his life. He realizes that these are just associations that elicit a rewarding feeling of safety and probably bring him no real good fortune (even though there are some that say you create your own luck), but as he states in the video, he will even go as far as turning the boat around to satisfy this target behavior of his. These superstitous items allow Sig to emit behaviors such as comfort and joy as bad luck or misfortune while fishing at sea would prove aversive to him and his crew. As he states, they have been raised or conditioned to behave this way--whether it's not allowing bananas or horseshoes on the boat or stepping onto a boat with the correct foot. At some point during their adventures or experiences, Sig must have been positively reinforced (perhaps by catching more fish)and associated this behavior with some material object (like his erasors, post-its, or a fishing lure necklace). As he states, they have been conditioned as time passes to check for these superstitions and if everything is not in place, a psychological hell breaks loose. Here is a good example from the clip:
A= Superstitious behavior of fishing at sea without allowing any suitcases on board
B=Force Discovery Channel crew to unpack their cameras and leave their suitcases on land
C=Positive experience at sea, no misfortune, Capt. Sig and crew are reinforced for their superstitious behaviors of not allowing suitcases aboard. Thus superstition remains unbroken, actually reinforced, conditions same behavior to be repeated
Terms: Behavior, Conditioning, elicits, emits, reinforced, positive reinforcment, superstition, antecedent, behavior, consequences, rewards, target behavior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZaKA2Z7QKk&feature=related (start the clip 4:45 into it)
1) This is a clip from the movie Cool Runnings. In this clip the Jamaican bobsled team about to begin their first trial run. Break-man, Sanka, invites a fellow teammate to kiss his lucky egg. The teammate rejects the invitation, but it does not stop Sanka from continuing in his superstitious behavior. Even though Sanka receives and aversive response from his fellow teammate, he receives positive reinforcement from the egg because he feels as though it brings him luck. Sanka believes the egg brings him luck because he is the Jamaican pushkart champion, and he kissed the egg before all of his pushkart races, which has brought him positive reinforcement. Since Sanka kissed the egg before every pushkart race he felt as though he needed to kiss the egg for bobsledding as well. The bobsled and pushkart races are eliciting Sanka's superstitious behavior of kissing the egg, Sanka is emitting the superstitious behavior. Eventually, later on in the movie, the teammate that was previously not receptive to Sanka's egg asks if he could kiss it. In the time between his teammate making fun of the egg and now, Sanka has become shyer about his superstition, but since his teammate asked to kiss the egg his teammate became a discriminative stimulus. In the course of the movie Sanka's team environment was changed. All of the teammates became close friends, the team began to receive support from the bobsledding community, and the teammate that previously rejected the egg became more accepting, which created an establishing operation, allowing Sanka to become proud of his lucky egg once again.
2)
a= Bobsled race
b= Sanka kissing the egg
c= Sanka feeling as though he has received good luck from kissing the egg
Terms: Positive reinforcement, aversive, elicit, emit, discriminative stimulus, establishing operation
YOU TOOK THE BEST SUPERSTITIOUS EXAMPLE!!! Also, GREAT MOVIE!!!
1) I found a video regarding the old superstition "Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck". The video is more of a spoof on this saying, but it still shows the behaviors that are associated with this superstition. In the video, a man encounters a penny and picks it up. However, each time that he picks the penny up, something bad happens to him that causes him to drop the penny. He still continues to pick the penny up. The video is interesting because it is showing a more realistic view of what happens when someone randomly picks up a penny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mpFQ2Duwc
2) A=Seeing a penny on the ground
B=Picking up the penny
C=Something bad happens (man knocks him over, woman knocks him over, car knocks him over)
This video is interesting because according to the superstition, the consequence should be good luck or things happening that are good. That is what makes this superstition so powerful. The saying indicates that picking up the penny will elicit positive reinforcement. The discriminate stimulus is the location of the penny. The context is very important in this situation. One must see a penny in an unusual situation, such as on the sidewalk or stuck in a corner of the room. If the penny is in a change purse or somewhere that it belongs, then everyone knows that the "good luck" is no longer a consequence. The interesting thing about this video is that it shows that even in the case of being punished for picking up the penny, the behavior may still continue. This could be explained as an extinction burst. Perhaps the man in the video has always had good luck and was positively reinforced when he picked up pennies in the past. Now that he is not reinforced in the way that he is used to, he will continue trying the behavior in the hopes that the positive reinforcement will eventually occur.
3) Discriminative stimulus, elicit, positive reinforcement, ABCs, punishment, extinction burst, context
I chose a video based on the superstition "don't step on the crack or you'll break you're mothers back". obviously the idea is ridiculous and I think the girls in the video may have been drunk. The video is of some college age girls out messing around and one of them is walking in an odd manner so she doesn't step on the cracks in the sidewalk. The antecedent in the video is the environment or the presence of the sidewalk with all the cracks in it. The discriminative stimuli in this video is the cracks in the sidewalk, it is setting the occasion for the girl to emit these strange behaviors. The behavior being emitted is a girl walking in a strange way as to not step on the cracks. The consequence for the superstitious behavior would generally be your mothers back doesn't break. But this video is obviously the girls messing around so I think the consequence is her friends laughing. Her friends are giving her positive reinforcement which is why I feel she is continuing to emit the behaviors.
Terms: antecedent, discriminative stimuli, emit, consequence, positive reinforcement
I forgot to post the link to mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkinvsFCas&feature=related
1) This is a clip from Friends, in which Monica is mad at Joey, Rachel, Ross and Phoebe because it is Thanksgiving and they insulted her or her food in some way. She locked them out of the apartment and they are trying to get back in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUQAeGkhsoY&feature=related
2) A= Monica locking them out of the apartment because she is upset and won't let them back in. B= Joey doing his "weird eye contact thing" to try and get them to unlock the door. C= Monica and Chandler not looking him in the eye because they think it really works. I would classify this as superstitious behavior because the first time Joey emitted his weird eye contact, it probably got him whatever he wanted. This led to everyone believing it was some kind of special power, when really it was just a weird expression. I doubt the eye contact would allow Joey to get whatever it is he wants. Although the behavior worked once, that does not mean Joey will be reinforced every time he emits the behavior. Although, since he has received reinforcement in the past, he believes it really works. If at some point he would get punished for the behavior, he may stop emitting it, and then the behavior might become aversive. In this particular instance, Monica and Chandler eliciting their behavior of locking them out, allows Joey to emit his weird eye contact, and Monica and Chandler really believing it works.
3) emitted, reinforced, emit, reinforcement, punished, emitting, aversive, eliciting
1)This is a really short video depicting a child stepping on a crack, and then watching her mother's back break. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu-yz26j_3g&NR=1. I wasn't able to find a scholarly article about the origins of the saying, but usually people interpret the superstition as meaning 'if you step on a crack, you will have bad luck'. This video takes the phrase literally, and shows the cartoon mother's back breaking after her daughter emits the behavior of stepping on a crack.
2) A= Daughter steps on a crack
B= Mother's back breaks
C= The daughter will not emit the behavior of stepping on a crack again because it elicits her mother's back breaking. This is an example of positive punishment because it is the introduction of an aversive stimulus.
3) Emit, elicit, positive punishment, aversive stimulus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EmrqEhs1ec
This is a clip from the HBO television show Entourage. Vinny Chase and the boys are going to Las Vegas for a fun night. The first thing they do when they get into the hotel is put a five dollar bet on red at a roulette table. If they win the bet it is guaranteed to be a great weekend/night.
A= Vinny Chase is at a roulette table in a casino.
B= He places a five dollar bet on red.
C= wins the bet and they know they are going to have a good weekend.
The context of the behavior is that Vincent Chase and his friends are having a leisurely night in Vegas. An establishing operation for this behavior as eluded to in the video was when Vinny and his entourage used to go to Atlantic City when they were younger and they always started the night out with a five on red bet. The roulette table was a discriminative stimulus because they would not be able to make the bet with out the table there. Vince was eliciting the gambling behavior so him and his entourage could have a great weekend.
Establishing operation, elicit, discriminative stimulus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udKhSs4QfA
1) This is a clip from Scrubs. JD and Turk are talking about how Turk is on a good streak right now with his patients, and he believes that his lucky do-rag is the reason for it. Turk believes that he has to wear 'whatever is hot' in order to do the surgery well. The clip also talks about how last month he didn't wear underwear because he believed that was what was causing him to perform well (reinforcement).I believe the discriminative stimulus is either the do-rag or would it be surgery?
A=Turk is in surgery
B=Wear same do-rag, perform surgery well
C=Performing the surgery well means Turk will emit the behavior of wearing the do-rag again (he now believes the do-rag to be lucky).
3) Emit, behavior, reinforcement, discriminative stimulus
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahLT-TBdg10#t=4m7s
From my favorite movie of all time, Major League. This point of the video is Willie Mays Hayes going through his pre-at bat routine superstition. He fails at getting the bat to bounce back up into his hand, then hits what would be a shallow fly out every single time he makes contact.
2) I think a discriminative stimulus in this situation would be standing in the batter's box with a pitcher throwing him the ball.
A=Preparing to hit and impress the manager/coach
B=Flipping his bat, wiggling his hips, windmill arm motion, adjusting batting helmet
C=Ineffective hitting
Willie Mays Hayes emits this superstitious behavior, then he doesn't hit the ball well. His ineffective hitting display elicits an immediate negative reaction from Pepper Leach, then after a few more attempts Lou Brown imposes a positive punishment on Willie Mays Hayes, as he is now supposed to do 20 pushups every time he hits the ball in the air, which is the introduction of an aversive stimulus.
3) superstition, discriminative stimulus, antecedent, behavior, consequence, emit, elicit, positive punishment, aversive stimulus
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvHcXjAPxI&feature=related
This is a clip from Disney's "Mulan". This scene is when Mulan's grandma believes she has a lucky cricket in her cage. The grandma proves how lucky the cricket is by closing her eyes and walking across the extremely busy street unharmed. She makes it across the street fine but causes severals horse and wagon collisions.
2)
A=Grandmother with lucky cricket wanting to prove the crickets luck
B=Grandmother walks across busy street with her eyes closed holding cricket
C=Grandmother and cricket make it across the street unharmed (confirming that the cricket is lucky) and everyone who avoided hitting Grandmother has collided with others.
The Grandmother emitted the behavior of walking across the street to prove the reinforce the cricket's luck. I think the establishing operation was at one point in time the cricket was present when the Grandmother was reinforced with something pleasant, and ever since she has believed it is lucky. As for the cricket, I think it reinforced the idea that the Grandmother has a little too much faith in what the cricket is capable of doing. To the cricket, the aversive experience of crossing the street was a positive punishment as it risked its life.
3) emitted, behavior, reinforce, establishing operations, pleasant, aversive, positive punishment
1.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd64AdXPqzI
The video starts with showing cars in traffic. Then a black cat prances across the street and all the cars halt to a stop. All the people’s faces appear to be scared and shocked.
2.) A- Traffic B- Cat walks across the road C- Cars stop; the two main behaviors in these videos are emitted by the cat and by the drivers. The cat emits the behavior of walking across the road which elicits fear from the car drivers which leads the drivers to stop driving. The antecedents were the drivers were in traffic. The consequence to the behavior is fear from the drivers because a black cat walked across the road. This fear reinforces the drivers to stay stopped and shocked. There isn’t really a discriminative stimulus because the behavior emitted by the cat was unexpected. The context of the behavior is based on the belief that black cats are bad luck.
3.) Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence, Reinforcement, Discriminative stimulus, Reinforces, Emitted, Elicited.
1) The video the I found was clips of crack and mothers. It explained what will happen if you step on a crack. Avoid Cracks because you could break your mothers back!
2) A:Walking
B: Step on a crack
C: Break your mother's back
The person emitting the behavior of stepping on the crack. The discriminative stimuli is the huge cracks in the video that encourages you not to step on! Knowing that you could break your mothers back reinforces you to watch where you step. If you step on the crack it is a punishment to you and your mother. The cracka are consider bad luck if you step on them. No matter how big or small the crack is you could break your mother's back.
3) emit punishment reinforce discriminative stimuli behavior
1.) This is a video that shows Tiger woods wearing his red shirts on Sundays. Tiger has a supertition about wearing red on on Sundays which happens to normally be the final round in tournaments. Red symbolizes good luck in Thailand, the birthplace of Tiger's mother, Kutilda.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q2Ulbk1em4
2.)
A= Tiger Woods wearing red to get lucky
B= Wearing red
C= Tiger birdied to final 2 holes to win by one in the Memorial.
Tiger emitted the behavior of wearing red to increase his luck at winning the tournament. Tiger is reinforced with a victory, which would be positive reinforcement. He is more likely to wear red in the future.
Emitted, reinforced, positive reinforcement.
Tiger's superstitious reference
http://au.askmen.com/top_10/sports/top-10-reasons-to-hate-tiger-woods_9.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ys-forbescurses041808&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
OOPS..I for got my video..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQru6WDi1Q&feature=related
1.) I found it kind of hard to find a superstitious video, unless you already knew what you were looking for i can see this assignment taking awhile just to find a video that contains some sort of superstitious activity. After looking for about 15 minutes now i found this video of a young man bowling. He walks around the the ball return and does a type of spin move before he bowls his ball down the lane. Unfortunately for this young man the behavior he's emitting superstitiously doesn't really help him achieve the ends for which he was hoping.
2.) The antecedent is the young man bowling, the behavior being emitted is one of superstitiously walking around the ball return and doing a spin move before he bowls, the consequence is that the young man throws a gutter ball (apparently his superstitious little jig didn't do much for his bowling game). It my opinion that the bowling alley is eliciting the superstitious behavior that the young man is emitting. It could quite possibly be that before this video was shot this young man performed the same superstitious activity and bowled several strike, but when the video was shot he emitted the wrong response and bowled a gutter ball. I dont think his superstitious activity really reinforced his little dance that he did in a positive way.
3.) Antecedent, behavior, consequence, emit, elicit, reinforcement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q_hYPOPaAQ
I had no idea how to go about finding a video of someone emitting a superstious behavior, but here's one of a little girl avoiding cracks in the sidewalk.
The superstion says that if you step on a crack that your mother's back will break.
Antecedent = Walking.
Behavior = Step on a crack.
Consequence = Your mother's back breaks.
BUT
Antecedent = Walking.
Behavior = Stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk.
Consequence = Your mother's back is ok!
The cracks serve as a discrimitve stimulus which remind the individual of the phrase "Step on a crack and break your momma's back". This causes individuals to emit a behavior where they step around and hop over cracks in the sidewalks.
However, I think the little girl in the video is too young to really understand what a superstition is or why she's emitting this behavior. I think just the mere thought of your mother with a broken back or the fear of 'what if' serves as a reinforcer for the behavior.
Terms! emit, superstitious, antecedent, behavior, consequence, discrimitive stimulus, reinforcer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_jNy7x01g
I chose a video based on the superstition "don't step on the crack or you'll break you're mothers back". obviously the idea is ridiculous and I think the girls in the video may have been drunk. The video can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkinvsFCas&feature=related
The video is of some college age girls out messing around and one of them is walking in an odd manner so she doesn't step on the cracks in the sidewalk. The antecedent in the video is the environment or the presence of the sidewalk with all the cracks in it. The discriminative stimuli in this video is the cracks in the sidewalk, it is setting the occasion for the girl to emit these strange behaviors. The behavior being emitted is a girl walking in a strange way as to not step on the cracks. The consequence for the superstitious behavior would generally be your mothers back doesn't break. But this video is obviously the girls messing around so I think the consequence is her friends laughing. Her friends are giving her positive reinforcement which is why I feel she is continuing to emit the behaviors.
Terms: antecedent, discriminative stimuli, emit, consequence, positive reinforcement
I understand that phobias are irrational fears . . . but who the heck is afraid of balloons?
This clip is from Maury in which he is trying to help women with phobias. I believe her name is Evan. The antecedent is being on the show where she is going to have to experience the balloons to get over the fear. It all started when she heard the sound of balloons popping, the discriminative stimuli. It was setting the scene for her to freak out. The behavior was that the balloons immediately began to elicit her to panic, scream, and try to escape. The consequence was that Maury had to go to her, make her calm down and remove the balloons before she would return to the stage.
A = being on the show
B = completely over reacting by panicking, running, screaming, crying, and trying to hide.
C = Maury had to calm her down and she looked like a fool on national TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjJVN_RkbTw
Terms: discriminative stimuli, antecedent, behavior, consequence, elicit
1) This is a super short video on a boy spilling the salt, and since he's superstitious he spilled more over his shoulder so he wouldn't have bad luck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKiPbx-1HXQ&NR=1
2) The antecedent in this video is needing the salt at a meal
The behavior the boy elicits is spilling the salt and throwing more over his shoulder
The consequence is that since the boy is superstitous he now believes he wont have bad luck because of his behavior.
The main behavior involved is the boy emitting to throw salt because he spilled it all because he's superstitious. As a consequence to his behavior of throwing salt, he feels better. Personally I am not superstitious, Mark Twain once said that superstitious people are ignorant, and I don't want to be ignorant ;-)
Amazing terms from our text: emit, behavior, consequence, antecedent, elicit
I chose a clip from the movie Dumb and Dumber for this post. In this clip, Harry and Lloyd are in diner and Harry spills the salt. Lloyd tells him it is bad luck and that he needs to throw some salt over his right shoulder. Harry then throws the salt shaker over his right shoulder, hitting Sea Bass, who in turn spits in Harry's burger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yab9fyO3M14
A= Harry grabs his drink
B= Knocks over the salt and then throws the shaker over his shoulder
C= Hits Sea Bass, who spits in his burger.
Harry's drinking behavior knocked over the salt. This is the antecedent. He then emits a throwing behavior but hits Sea Bass. The consequence of this action was Sea Bass spitting in Harry's burger.
I think that this could also be viewed as positive punishment as Sea Bass wants Harry to stop bothering him so he presents the behavior of spitting in his food.
I forgot to list the terms I used:
behavior, antecedent, emits, consequence, positive punishment
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vfLBGRGP78
In this video, the New York Jets are preparing for one of the most important football games of the 2009 season. The Jets are preparing to take on the Colts, whom they previously defeated in a game earlier in the season, where they upsetted the Colts 13-0 undefeated record. This play-off game will determine who is going to the superbowl- the ultimate dream in the NFL.
Several members of the team and even the head coach are emmiting superstitious behavior to prepare for the game, in hopes that their behaviors will lead them to another victory over the Colts.
2. A= preparing for the playoff game against the Colts
B= emitting superstitious behaviors such as wearing the same shirt, not shaving for 3 weeks, moving the bench on the field
C= hoping for another Jets victory that will take them to the superbowl
The superstitious behaviors occur within the context of a football game. The establishing operation could be pregame routines because the procedure makes the victory (reinforcer) more reinforcing. The objects or things believed to be superstitious to another Jets victory act as discriminitive stimuli, such as the Coach's grease-stained shirt, a 3 week long beard, where the bench is located on the sidelines. The previous victory elicits a superstitious behavior among the jets coach and players, who then emit superstitious behaviors.
Terms: antecedent, behavior, consequence, establishing operation, context, discriminative stimulus, reinforcer, reinforcement, elicit, emit
I thought the video clip on Dumb and Dumber was really funny. It made me think of all the times I used to emit the same behavior. It didn’t literally throw the salt shaker though. It also made me think – Why did I ever emit this superstitious behavior? I understand that spilling salt elicited the behavior, but what consequence was I afraid of? In behavioral terms, all I can remember is that the consequence of not throwing salt over your right shoulder would be aversive. I do know that nothing bad ever happened to me if I emitted this behavior. So in this context, the consequence of throwing the salt was reinforcing – a positive reinforcement – which caused me to emit the behavior more often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15WSXGLI3fQ
1) This video that I chose examines the superstition that black cats crossing your path means bad luck. For some reason, black cats carrying bad luck is the one superstition that I always think of ... even if I don't believe in it. Maybe it's because I still like watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Who knows. ;) I thought it was interesting that this video examines the history of the superstition and the countries that believe in it.
2) I had a little difficulty determining the ABCs in this video since it's basically just an informational video about the black cat superstition. I ended up going with this:
Antecedent: A belief in the superstition that black cats are bad luck.
Behavior: A black cat crosses your path.
Consequence: Either something bad happens in your life and you attribute it to the black cat crossing your path or nothing bad happens and you forget about it.
The superstitious behavior could occur in a great variety of settings. Personally, black cats crossing my path sometimes elicit thoughts of the superstition about black cats, especially if I am all ready having a bad day. However, I do not actually believe in the superstition, so I do not allow seeing a black cat to prompt me to emit anymore behaviors related to the superstition.
3)Behavioral terms used: antecedent, behavior, consequence, emit, elicit
I thought the video clip on Dumb and Dumber was really funny. It made me think of all the times I used to emit the same behavior. It didn’t literally throw the salt shaker though. It also made me think – Why did I ever emit this superstitious behavior? I understand that spilling salt elicited the behavior, but what consequence was I afraid of? In behavioral terms, all I can remember is that the consequence of not throwing salt over your right shoulder would be aversive. I do know that nothing bad ever happened to me if I emitted this behavior. So in this context, the consequence of throwing the salt was reinforcing – a positive reinforcement – which caused me to emit the behavior more often.
Terms: emit, behavior, superstitious behavior, consequence, aversive, emitted, context, reinforcing, positive reinforcement
The number of terms is 10
I found a lot of video clip on Skinner's research. As we know Skinner claimed that all behavior is the result of reinforcement, but how do we explain superstitions? This video clip talks a little about how superstitions get started. It shows a few good examples. One in a bowling alley showing how your behavior can be affected by movements of the bowling ball as it rolls down the lane. It was funny to watch and think about times that I have done the same thing. Maybe if I move the right way...the ball will follow. I also thought the example of the girl hitting the elevator button several times was interesting. She will always be a little superstitious in that she thinks in some way she is making the elevator door open or get to her faster because when she pushes the button more than once.
Reinforcement.....Superstitions????
www.youtube.com/watch?v=04TDoiqohKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKtzBNqNq8E
I watched a movie last month that is perfect for this post. The movie is called Lucky 7 and it is about a woman named Amy whose mom passed away but left this book of her daughter's future life behind. In this book it says that the 7th man that she dates will be the one. Amy finds a great guy and thinks that he may be the one but he is only the 6th guy that she has dated, so she tries to take things slow with this guys and date another guy to be her 6th so the guy that she really likes can now be her 7th. (It's kind of confusing)
Antecedent- Book of life that says that the 7th guy she dates is the one.
Behavior- Takes things slow with the 6th guy, which is the guy that she really likes, to find a different guy to be her 6th guy so that she can go back to the original 6th guy and make him her 7th!
Consequence- The last guy that she dates to try and make her number 6, but is actually her number 7, is actaully the guy that she ends up with!
Amy elicits a behavior of trying to make her superstition of her true love to be the 7th guy that she dates become true by trying to find a guy to date to make her 6th guy, the one she really likes, her 7th, but the 7th guys she dates she actually falls in love with so the superstition prevailed.
Terms: Elicits, antecedent, consequence, and behavior.