What's in the News?
What I would like you to do is to start applying what we are learning in class to real world matters. Some might ask, "What good is learning psychology if we can't apply it to real world matters?" So that is what we are going to do with this divergence assignment.
What I would like you to do is to either go to NPR (http://www.npr.org/ ), the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ ) or any news site listed at the bottom of this page (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ listed in their news sources) and read, watch, or listen to something that is interesting to you and relates to what we have been learning in the class.
Please respond the blog by BRIEFLY telling us what the piece you chose was and why you picked it (what made it interesting for you)? What did you expect to see? What did you find most interesting about the piece?
Next discuss IN DETAIL how it relates to the class using terms, terminology, and concepts that we have learned so far in class.
Include the URL in your post.
Make a list of key terms and concepts you used in your post.
Let me know if you have any questions,
--Dr. M
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11529187
The piece that I chose to read was one about Egyptian ministry officials being jailed over the theft of a Van Gogh painting. I picked it because I find art to be interesting, especially art with a lot of old value, so this article intrigued me and I wanted to see what it was that had taken place. As it turns out, the painting got stolen while the museum it was held at was under very poor security. In reading this I expected to see mostly what I got out of the article, but I definitely didn't expect the security to be so poor when we're talking about pieces of art worth millions upon millions of dollars. That is what really perplexed me.
As far as relating this article to class, I would like to focus primarily on the museum's director and others who have been charged in this case. You would think that having millions of dollars worth of art would be a strong reinforcer to push getting better security installed, but instead they did virtually nothing to fix the problem. So within this context, here is what took place.
A= In the context of the museum
B= Culture Minister doesn't approve money necessary to improve security
C= security is weak so more easily robbed
AND
A= In the context of this robbery
B= Thief steals extremely valuable painting
C= Minister gets blamed for not improving the security that would have stopped the robbery
The minister and museum director are definitely at fault, due to the fact that the museum only had 7 working cameras and no working alarms. That is just crazy. They are currently in the midst of being punished for the behavior they emitted by not improving the security of the museum. In ignoring the problem, they showed a lot of undesirable behavior that wasn't seen by the public eye until it was brought on full force by this robber. It looks like he picked the right place.
undesirable behavior, punish, reinforce, ABC's, emitted, reinforcer
The piece that I have chosen is a piece done on the remote control becoming absent in our nation’s households. This piece came to my attention because I find the newest technology interesting, so I was anxious to see what in fact will replace the remote control. Having a remote control for your television, dvd player, gaming system, etc, can clutter up a living room (as they do mine). Even though they do have universal remotes, they don’t control every electronic in your home. Essentially, there will be an app for every device in your home, therefore every time you use the app on your smart phone or ipod, it will control your device that you have selected.
This type of an application is known as continuous reinforcement, because you are getting reinforced every time you use it. For example, if you were wanting to turn your television on, all you would have to do is use your phone (which is most likely already in your hand or beside you) to turn on the tv, rather than searching for the remote designated for that electronic. This type of an app would also be an example of a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, because it takes a certain number of presses to get to the app to turn on the electronic. Since the process is not intermittent, or random, then it is not a variable schedule. This can be shown in the ABC’s.
A) In the context of watching telivision
B) Use the designated App for the telivision
C) The TV turns on
This would be known as positive reinforcement also, because we are adding the presence of a certain stimulus, being the power on the tv. The app elicits a high rate of response from the television, which will therefore reinforce our behavior to use the app to control the tv.
Terms used: continuous reinforcement, fixed ratio, intermittent, positive reinforcement, elicit
URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126114979
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/13/130537409/rescued-miners-may-face-psychological-and-other-health-issues
The article I chose is about the miners that have been stuck underground for months. The article discusses the effects on the miners both physiologically and psychologically. The reason I chose it is because it’s very recent and I was interested in knowing more about what happened. What I found most interesting was the amount of negative affects this can have on a person and the type of person you have to be to willingly accept a job with those consequences.
The reason this article relates to this class is because once the miners get out from underground, there are a lot of behavioral changes that must be emitted. The miners have to wear sunglasses when first exposed to the sun because their eyes haven’t seen natural light in such a long time. As represented in the ABCs:
A: Being underground for about two months
B: Eyes lose ability to adapt to natural light
C: Wear special sunglasses
On the same subject of lacking natural light, the miner’s biological clocks were also distorted. This elicited them to emit the behavior of exposing themselves to daylight to restore their natural schedules. Another consequence of being stuck underground was poor circulation which required the miners to wear compression socks which help prevent blood clots from forming. Each of these consequences can be put into the ABCs because the miners have to emit certain behaviors due to being trapped for so long underground. Psychologically, the miners are advised to participate in counseling, especially group therapy. Doing group therapy can be a positive reinforcement because it helps them heal.
A: Experiencing a traumatic event
B: Group therapy
C: Healing and coping
Terms: emit, elicit, positive reinforcement, behavior modification, ABCs
On the BBC news website I choose a story that related to me in two ways. One way being a show that I grew up with and is very popular, the simpsons. The second related interests is a popular graffiti artist using the show to share his message. The story is about the new Simpsons intro that Banksy, the Graffiti artist had created that was very controversial. Within the intro it had kittens being ground up to make bart Simpson dolls, and dieing unicorns being used to punch holes into DVD’s of the Simpsons. This is what Banksy really likes to do with his graffiti, it is controversial and political, and meant to be sort of a slap in the face of realization.
This article relates to what we have learned mostly I would say with discriminative stimulus. Using what signs already exist or places that give information, and then the artist changing the given information to give the discriminative stimulus a deeper meaning. For example, if a sign tells us to “stop” but the area is covered with garbage one way to communicate that differently by altering the stimulus emitted would be to write, littering, after the word “stop” to make it ironic but also giving the sign a second way of emitting a certain behavior.
Terms: discriminative stimulus, emitting, stimulus
BBC site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11510513
Youtube of vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haNyA0WSaP8
Artist website: http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/outuk/horizontal_1.htm
The article I chose this week is about an Indian athlete, Rani Yadav, who has been suspended while awaiting a hearing for failing a drug test.
Honestly, I chose this article because it is the first one I came across where the ABCs jumped out at me. I found what I expected to find because instances like these are pretty common...at least they get a lot of attention from the media which makes them seem common.
This example obviously related to class because with every behavior comes a consequence. In this particular case though, the target behavior elicited punishment. The ABCs look like this:
A: taking drug (anabolic agent 19-norandrosterone)
B: fail drug test
C: get suspended
So, in the context of taking the drug, Yadav failed a drug test which resulted in her being suspended. This is an example of positive punishment because something is being added (getting suspended) and the consequence is aimed to decrease the behavior.
Instances like this also serve as a learning tool for other too through the use of vicarious learning. Because we are all generally aware of the consequences of taking drugs while competing in sports, instances like this should elicit a reduction in drug taking behaviors in athletes, but apparently it hasn’t done a good enough job at doing so!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9086467.stm
Terms used: consequence, target behavior, punishment, elicited, positive punishment
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/12/130509380/-the-simpsons-tries-to-get-its-edge-back-with-a-kind-of-daring-opening
I choose to use this piece on a sort of risky opening clip from the popular television show The Simpson's. The clip is as the author puts it a "fantasy" scene depicting a sweat shop. This brought up a lot of controversey and attention. Many people didnt like the fact that it was showing things going on in other countries that we just accept in the U.S. The main reason I decided to use this article is because it is such a popular television show and many people can relate it directly to their lives.
This particular news story can be related to the class in many different ways, it just depends how you look at it. One way it would be relevant to behavior modification is by being a positive punisher of the fox news station. The show is partically animated in South Korea and many think this clip is to poke fun at the network for their outsourcing. If this positive punisher was broken down into the ABC's it would look like this. A=network outsourced B=clip shown on episode C=network got upset. Because a clip was added to the situation to punish the network it is an example of a positive punisher.
Another way this clip relates back to the class is the idea of intrinsic value. The network knows that people in other countries will work for less money so they outsource to those people to save money. To an artist in the U.S. such as Blanksy this is an outrage because he feels the network is cheating him and/or the people in the other country out of the money they deserve. His art is intrinsically important to him so he lets the network knows how he feels by emitting an aversive behavior to show he is against the outsourcing.
Terms:Positive Punisher, intrinsic, aversive, emit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11538873
This is an article retrieved from the British Broadcasting Corporation website. It tells of the new findings based on prison guard's responses that says short term prison sentences are generally ineffective in rehabilitating inamtes. I chose this article because a reoccuring topic in our class discussions is the use of punishment instead of reinforcement, particularly in our legal system. This sounded like a relevant and perhaps educational article on the effectiveness of punishment.
Over 200 current and former prison governers participated in a study that analyzed effective versus ineffective prison methods. An astonishing 94% of the respondents reported that they thought short term prison sentences were effective in rehabilitating offenders. Many short term inmates are incarcerated for misdemeanors such as drug possession. Only 25% of the respondants believed a short sentence was enough to elicit clean behavior.
One topic that has brought the prison system into a lot of heat is the budget. The funding for prisons is being cut, yet many argue that more prisons are needed to accommodate the incoming inmates. One interviewee stated that probation officers, or other personalized methods would be more effective in rehabilitating offenders.
Now that we've got the bulk out of the way, let's draw this out in behaviorist lingo.
The current technique utilized is as follows:
A: Legal system
B: Commit simple misdemeanor
C: Short term prison sentence
Since the consequence involves adding something (prison sentence), it is positive. The behavior is being reduced (misdemeanor), therefore it is punishment. Therefore, this is positive punishment. Here, we are concentrating on the consequence. Is the punisher an effective treatment in the prevention of future aversive emissions?
Some prison guards argue addressing these criminals in a different manner:
A: Legal system
B: Commit simple misdemeanor
C: Assigned individual probation officer
Is the threat of a probation officer enough to keep criminals from re-offending? Personally, I'd rather have a probation officer over a prison sentence. To dig deeper, behaviorists should look closely into the treatment received in prisons, and evaluate their effectiveness. However one wants to approach this situation, it is no doubt a hot topic in modifying the behavior of criminals.
Terms: positive punishment, punisher, elicit, emit, aversive
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_school_lunches
Now I know this isn't from one of the provided websites Dr. O, but I found this article and thought it was really interesting. Hope you don't mind!
"School cafeterias to try psychology in lunch line" is the title of this article. It looks into what is being done to change the approach of school cafeterias to fight against the growing child obesity problem.
The schools are switching from quick to pick up, non-healthy food options, to changing the position and look of the healthier food items. Yes, they are manipulating the antecedent. They put the fresh fruit in nice looking baskets to make them look more appealing, or more reinforcing. The chocolate milk is being placed behind skim milk to sort of "hide" it. Also, they have introduced fresh sandwich or wrap bars so that students can build their own sandwich like they were at Subway. All of these changes were made by behavior scientists in an effort to elicit a healthy eating behavior.
A: In the context of the cafeteria
B: Eating healthy food option
C: Becoming healthier in the long run
This breakdown shows that by manipulating the placements and even the look of the cafeteria's food line, kids will tend to eat more of the healthy alternatives.
They also tried changing the name of some foods to make them sound more appealing. This is a great example of an establishing operation. They are making carrots or green beans seem like more of a positive stimulus, as opposed to an aversive one. If they sound cool, kids will like it. Thus making the consequence for choosing the beans or carrots more reinforcing.
It was nice to hear an up to date account of what is being done in schools to help with the country's weight problem. We need students to emit healthy eating behaviors and it can be done with a little manipulation. Which is what this class is all about right? Hehe just kidding. But not really.
Terms Used: behavior, establishing operation, reinforcement, antecedent, emit, elicit, reinforcing, in the context of, positive stimulus, aversive
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113479801
This article is entitled, “Alcohol Abuse Rising Among Women; DUIs, Too”. It is a conversational article of a few interviews amongst women and their struggle with alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Alcohol abuse seems to be rising amongst women. I am interested in how reinforcement might work in addictions and thought that I could try and break down reasons why alcohol might be reinforcing.
I really thought this quote was powerful, so I would like to use it first.
“Diane Schuler's car plowed into oncoming traffic on a New York state parkway in July... The suburban mother killed herself and seven other people, including her own 2-year-old daughter and three nieces. She was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.19 percent - the equivalent of almost 10 drinks. Her husband, Daniel Schuler, insisted that she didn't have a problem with alcohol.”
Terrible consequences like the ones above are obviously things we don’t like to hear about in the news. Alcohol, and alcoholism have great consequences on our lives. The behavior of drinking drunk can have huge consequences. People are both positively and negatively punished for drinking drunk. People will get a fine or ticket, which means they are adding the ticket in order to decrease the people. This is how they are positively punished. But people are also negatively punished by many times getting their license taken away after receiving a DUI. Losing of one’s license would be a negative punishment because it takes away something, the license, in order to decrease the behavior. These are just ways that our law enforcement tries to decrease and punish the target behavior of driving drunk.
One woman in the article stated,
“Drinking is a remarkable, automatic release and a way of relaxing.”
Here I would like to focus on the behavior of consuming alcohol. I wanted to look at the ways in which alcohol could be reinforcing, both positively and negatively. As the woman above stated, alcohol is a great way to relax. Here, I would like to break down the behavior of consuming alcohol to relieve stress.
A - In the context of home
B - Drinking alcohol
C - Relieves stress
Here, the behavior of drinking alcohol is being negatively reinforced by the alleviation of stress. A person is reinforced because the stress, an aversive stimulus, is taken away. This will then increase the behavior. Many women find themselves working, raising a family, and even doing the housekeeping. These women may experience lot of stress as a result, so drinking is negatively reinforcing for that matter when she might sit down with a glass of wine at the end of the day. Alcohol is also positively reinforcing.
A - In the context of the home
B - Drinking alcohol
C - Gets a buzz (alcohol is a stimulant)
This is positive reinforcement because the target behavior of drinking alcohol is increased when adding a buzz effect to the person. This is a pleasant stimulant that will then increase the behavior to happen again.
Both positive and negative reinforcement are involved in alcoholism. I wonder that if for treatment options behavior modification would work to help people with alcoholism. I would see treatments of reinforcing and rewarding other behaviors, or simply changing the context of situations in order to try and decrease alcoholism. The law uses punishment well to try and decrease alcohol consumption, but I just wonder if there are other ways of going about this.
Terms used: behavior, punishment, reinforcement, reinforce, context of, consequence, target behavior, negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, negative punishment, positive punishment, aversive, stimulus
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/14/harry-whittington-dick-cheney_n_762418.html
The title of my article is “Harry Wittington Still Waiting For an Apology after Dick Cheney Shooting.” The article goes on to say that five years ago, then Vice President Dick Cheney was hunting in Texas and accidentally shot a man, hitting his face, neck, and chest. The bullets obviously did not kill him, but caused problems then, and during this long recovery. Although Wittinton says he is not angry at Cheney, he has still not received an apology. He still has his hunting vest, which was cut open, and is splattered with blood.
There are two ways behavior modification could play in to this article. First would be the way Wittington is responding to the situation. He has saved the vest and is using it as a way to educate friends and their children. He tries to demonstrate the danger of firearms.
A= In the context of teaching danger of firearms
B= Shows blood splattered vest and tells story
C= Children learn
The other way is in punishment to Dick Cheney for shooting a man, however accidental. Wittington was wearing the orange colors required, in order to try to prevent shooting other hunters. This article does not say that Cheney was punished in the least, so perhaps he was but I think an apology is the least he could do after shooting the man. I feel that it would be a sort of punishment, to acknowledge what he did was wrong.
A= In the context of Hunting
B= Shot someone
C= Apologize perhaps have his license suspended.
While I’m sure that he had to do something in penance, and I’m sure that he felt horrible, I think he should have at least apologized to the man for the problems he caused. Also, I think having his hunting license suspended for at least a little bit would be appropriate negative punishment.
Terms used: ABC’s, Punishment, negative punishment.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130512216
The piece I chose was " School Cafeterias to try psychology in lunch line" The reason I chose this article was because I remember how questionable the lunch at school tended to be on a regular basis and wondered how could they possibly alter students unhealthy eating habits which I learned a lot about in health psych. I expected to see something boring and nothing too exciting because it is about such a tired subject but it was actually somewhat interesting when it pointed out the relevance of location in making healthier choices.
It relates to the modifying the elcited function of a target behavior emitted by students selecting unhealthy foods. The article explained that by just removing pop machines it did not change much, but by simply changing the way the food was presented or located it drastically altered the students eating habits with minimal effort. It also talked about more food choices and calling them different names which would help with generalizing the food since not all students like carrots or celery etc..
One way to look at it is
A=School Cafeteria
B=relocating unhealthy food
C= More students eat healthier
With this very specific depiction this aspect is positive reinforcement because they want to increase the target behavior of relocating unhealthy foods and are reinforced when more students eat healthy food.
Terms used: elicit, target behavior, emit, generalizability, positive reinforcement, reinforcement
The article I chose is located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/13/school-cafeterias-to-try-_0_n_760839.html. The article talks about how food behavior psychologists are being paid 2 million dollars by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to come up with ways using psychology to combat childhood obesity by getting kids to eat healthier in school. The article lists a variety of tricks already being used; for example, salads are being put near the end of the line by the register, make-your-own subs or wraps stations are added, ice cream is placed in coolers without glass making them out of sight, and putting the plain milk in front of the chocolate milk in the coolers. The article also suggested giving the kids a choice between 2 vegetables and asking if they want a salad with their pizza on pizza day.
The food behavior psychologists are trying to come up with ways to change the target behavior of eating unhealthy food at school. The consequence of the kids eating better would be that they weigh less, and are healthier. I think that the kids should be reinforced for choosing to get healthier food. They could maybe get more recess time or the school will show a movie during school time to reward them for eating healthier. The school could probably also get the parents in on the plan. The school could make the parents aware that they want the kids to be healthier at school and it would be helpful if they could get reinforced at home for eating healthy during lunchtime. Otherwise the kids are not going to get healthier food because in the short term, nothing aversive is happening to them. An example of a breakdown of this positive reinforcement would be:
A- It is lunchtime at school.
B-The kid eats a sandwich and fruit for lunch.
C-Kid gets an additional 5 minutes at recess or some other reward.
Terms used: target behavior, consequence, reinforced, aversive, positive reinforcement
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/14/animal-abuse-registry-suf_n_762905.html?ir=New%20York
The article I chose was titled "Animal Abuse Registry: Suffolk County, NY Creating Nation's First Public Database Tracking Animal Cruelty Offenders." Basically, Suffolk County in New York is passing legislation similar to Megan's Laws. The only difference is this new legislation refers to abuse of animals. If you are caught neglecting an animal, you must register with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Your name will remain on the list for five years. Anyone on this list will not be able to adopt a pet from an animal shelter. If you choose not to register, you face one year in jail or a $1000 fine.
The goal is to reduce the frequency of animal abusing behaviors. Here is a breakdown of the ABC's:
A. In the context of owning a pet
B. the owner emits an abusive behavior toward the pet
C. resulting in registry with Suffolk County's Prevention of Animal Cruelty society.
Registering as an animal abuser is an aversive process, so people will be less likely to abuse animals.
Since C is adding something, it is positive.
Since B would (hopefully) decrease, it is punishment.
Therefore, this is positive punishment.
Analysis: In the context of owning a pet, the owner emits an abusive behavior toward the pet. This abusive behavior elicits the registration with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (if the abuser is caught).
This is positive punishment, because an aversive consequence was added to reduce undesirable behaviors. As a result, this should decrease the frequency of the abuse of animals.
Terms: emits, aversive, positive punishment, elicits, consequence
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11548090
This article is about a group of government troops harassing and raping a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This happened in the same area as a mass raping done by Rebels in July and August. I chose this piece because I am an advocate against rape and violence, so this article struck a nerve in me when I read the title. I expected the article to be basically what it was about, the title didn’t hide much.
The article relates to class because this is an issue that I feel needs to be resolved. There is no reason for raping and violence. These are both aversive things, but I do not believe that they are punishment because the villagers, who have been raped and beaten, did not do anything to deserve it. I do think, however, that the people doing the raping should be punished for their actions, but I do not know of an effective punishment if these people do not realize what they are doing is wrong.
Another reason this related to our class is because I feel that these people need some serious behavior modification. Obviously reinforcement would not be used, but I am not sure that punishing them would work efficiently. Something is making the behaviors they’re emitting more reinforcing, what that might be I do not know.
terms: punishment, aversive, punished, reinforcement, punishing, reinforcing.
http://www.popeater.com/2010/10/14/angelina-jolie-bosnia/
I choose a piece from the entertainment section and I always find media drama more interesting and exciting then anything else, sadly.
The famous actress Angelina Julie is filming a movie with two Bosnian actors, regarding a love story between two opposing sides (enemies). This seems like an innocent movie production, but in citizens eyes, its everything but, because it could show misleading events from the war, and can lead to corruption from either side.
This piece relates to our class, because it shows someone in high power, government, will manipulate other peoples behavior to make sure the history is left uncorrupted. The particular behavior actors choose to emit will produce specific consequence to a specific nationality. Having this movie publicly released , could cause punishment toward a certain culture, because it would be aversive for them to watch being portrayed as bad people and that can develop to a stereotype.
A: In Bosnia,
B: making a movie about events in the war,
C: public and government disagreements.
And
A: In Bosnia,
B: citizens seeing the movie,
C: leads to higher discrimination.
Citizens seeing the movie may hate and discriminate the other side more which leads to problems. Operant behaviors are war events, which sets the occasion for either punishment or reinforcement depending on what side you happen to be on. In context of being an Bosnian citizen, depending on your religion and culture, you will be seen as a friend or an enemy, depending which side of the story is shown.
Terms Used: punishment, emit, reinforcement, operant behavior
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130216706
At Some New Jersey Schools, Ds No Longer Count As Passing. This is the title of the article I read. It caught my eye because I am curious about the direction and fate the US education system seems to be heading. As I began to read the article, I expected to read about poor test grades and other undesirable figures about our school system. It was very interesting, therefore, that the principle of one school took out the D grade as a form of reformation of the current standards of the school. Kids that receive lower than 70% in the class must take it over. I am curious to see if this proves to be successful.
This relates to this class in thinking about a possible outcome for this new reform idea. One outcome is that the kids begin to perform better in school. This improvement could be expressed as being a fixed ratio. It is fixed because we infer that the improvement, due to the negative punishment of taking away the letter D for a grade (making it harder to pass a class), is constant and permanent. In experimental terms, you would say that the taking away of the letter D is the independent variable, and that the ensuing success or failure of the kids would be the dependent variable. Another point of view is through the ABCs:
A: Too many students receiving Ds
B: Principle takes away letter D as passing grade
C: Kids are more accountable for being at least average
Terms: fixed ratio, negative punishment, independent variable, dependent variable
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/shoplifter-punishment-dress-in-sesame-street-costume-11883504?tab=9482931§ion=1206839&playlist=2737498&page=1
I chose this particular clip because it is so funny!! In this clip it talks about a store owner who caught an 18 year old kid shoplifting at his costume shop. The owner did not want to punish the kid with an arrest on his record but did not want to reinforce the behavior by letting it go so the owner found a different way to positively punish the 18 year old.
A= at a store
B= shop lifted
C= wear Bert costume and Hold sign.
The kid emitted a shoplifting behavior and the owner added an aversive stimulus to decrease the behavior. The stimulus was making him wear a costume in public and hold a sign stating that he got caught shoplifting. He added a stimulus (positive) to decrease the behavior(Punishment) therefore it is positive punishment!
Terms: Positive Punishment, Emit, aversive, Negative
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/video/flight-attendants-safety-dance-11812629&tab=9482931§ion=1206839&playlist=2737498
I love this story, it is about a Filipino airline that is having thier flight attendents recite the safety instructions to Lady Gaga with a dance that goes with it.
A= On an flight
B= Flight attendants doing safety Dance
C= People pay more attention
The behavior here is trying to get people to take an interest in the safety instructions and to pay more attention. So we are trying to increase the target behavior (emitting interest is the safety instructions) which makes it positive. They are also giving people an enjoyable stimulus which is reinforcing so this is positive reinforcement. I think this is a gread way to try to get people to pay attention and learn the safety instructions and hopefully be more ready if there is a crash!
Terms: Positive reinforcement, stimulus, Target Behavior, Emitt.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-womack/no-really-if-you-dont-vot_b_777468.html
Since I am way behind on my blogs, and today is election day I decided to do this web divergence on the election. The article I chose to read was about why it is a good idea to vote, and why people now-a-days don't actually emit the voting behavior. I was expecting to read an article about why we should vote, listing the pros and the cons in support of it, but what I ended up reading seemed to be a rant about how terrible republicans are, and how they never get anything done. It was humorous to see that the author had even made a comment about how liberals would "rather write angry comments on blog posts than go out and vote." Granted he will probably be voting today, but it seems like he is doing the same thing when it comes to the angry comments. He ends the article by stating "If Democratic voters can be bothered to show up, they could very well keep control of the House. If they don't, they're unlikely to see it back within their grasp for a very, very long time."
A: Election day
B: Democratic Vote
C: Keep control of the House
The authors attempt to use positive reinforcement, by adding guilt to voters in order to get them out to vote today is definitely related to behavior modification. Now, whether it works or not is a different story.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11701575
The above story is about chocolate. I am a chocoholic so obviously this story caught my eye. This story is about a young lady, Lyn Lee, that used to be a lawyer but then switched her career to being a chocolate cake maker! Anything about entrepreneurs is quite interesting to me because it is always so inspiring to hear their story of how they started, and the fact that it's about chocolate is just a two in one! I don't really know what I expected to see. Maybe something along the lines of promoting her business and using it more as an advertisement, especially since it was on the side of the page rather than under one of the main articles, but it was more of her story of how she became the success she has. What I found most interesting about this whole story was that it stemmed from her buying a very expensive piece of cake that ultimately tasted like crap!
This closely related to what we have be learning about in class (at that time) in multiple ways. First of all, the initial piece of cake Lyn ate was extremely aversive, in the fact of taste, it was actually a form of positive reinforcement though because adding the bad tasking cake to the target behavior of eating chocolate cake in hopes to increase said behavior, the fact that it tasted bad actually served as a motivator for her to branch out on her own and make something better! Maybe it served as an establishing operation because it made the consequence of enjoying a good tasting cake even more enjoyable. In regard to schedules of reinforcement, I believe Lyn Lee taking the chance of trying opening one shop and hoping it takes off is an example of variable ratio. On average, the number of cakes she sells depends on if she will be reinforced by the customer returning or the customer referring other chocolate cake lovers to her particular shop. So lucky for Lyn, her average happened to be one. Possibly turning into a continuous reinforcement, every time someone bought and ate one of her chocolate cakes, the customer was reinforced by such a great tasting cake and Lyn was reinforced by their returning business thus allowing her to open multiple shops!
Terms: aversive, positive reinforcement, target behavior, establishing operation, variable ratio, continuous reinforcement
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9137401.stm
I chose an article from the bbc that deals with the problem of creating a universal translator. I found this article quite interesting because I have always told myself that i was going to learn at least 2 additional languages some time in my life, my first 2 choices being Spanish and Japanese. The article directly references Japanese as being one of the most difficult languages to learn at the beginning and made it more enticing for me to read further.
When reading this article I kept thinking about the difficulty of the Japanese language compared to the difficulty of the Behavioral language. If not used properly words can easily misconstrue the original meaning that they were intended for. In Japanese sentence structure goes subject, object then verb. In English we use subject, verb, object, and in Bmod we use ABC. For each of these to be right it is very important to have things in the right order.
This article could also relate to class in that rather than relying on a translating device, we could take approaches to learn a language or at least familiarize ourselves with one before we go somewhere.
Rather than placing ourselves in an aversive situation where we have to rely on a device or another person to inform us we could set aside time in advance to making a trip and use bmod tools to shape a desirable behavior in which we emit a language learning behavior and reinforce it so that it becomes part of a daily routine. A good establishing operation for this might be viewing films only in that language. By doing this you will be inclined to try to understand what is going on in the film.
term- establishing operation, emit, aversive, desirable, behavior