"From unruly retrievers to pampered pugs, Victoria has seen them all. But what about the owners who live with them? It's not just the dogs that need help! It's Me or the Dog follows Victoria Stilwell as she tries to restore harmony in homes where pets are running riot and the family is in the dog house."
What Wilson is trying to do, late in his influential career, is nothing less than overturn a central plank of established evolutionary theory: the origins of altruism. His position is provoking ferocious criticism from other scientists. Last month, the leading scientific journal Nature published five strongly worded letters saying, more or less, that Wilson has misunderstood the theory of evolution and generally doesn't know what he's talking about. One of these carried the signatures of an eye-popping 137 scientists, including two of Wilson's colleagues at Harvard.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/04/17/where_does_good_come_from/?page=full
(Thanks to Osman for sending)
TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR FOR 41 HOURS
(Thanks to Ashley G. for sending)
"In the punishment system, people are held responsible for their actions by being punished for doing things that are especially wrong. In this way, the punishment system displays a kind of respect for people's choices. The criminal is treated as being responsible for having done the thing that is especially wrong."
http://pages.pomona.edu/~mjg14747/034-2007/Morris.shtml
After reading this blog, how wuold you view this issue of the right to be punished from a behavioral perspective?
"Fort Worth, TX - The reward system for university professors should be changed to offer more incentives for excellence in teaching and service and to place less emphasis on traditional research and publishing.
"Faculty do not perceive excellent teaching or service to their professions as being as important as research in influencing decisions on promotion, tenure, or merit pay," said Valleau Wilkie, Jr., executive director of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, which sponsors the forum."
http://www.sidrichardson.org/pubreward.htm
How does this relate to what we have been studying about behavior modification?
How do the contingencies we place on individuals shape the behaviors they emit?
What are your thoughts about the University Reward System?
"Three of the nation's largest banks said Friday that they expect to be sanctioned by the U.S. government for their foreclosure practices, securities filings show.
The disclosures come on the heels of reports federal regulators are nearing a multi-billion dollar deal to settle allegations that the biggest banks abused borrowers and illegally foreclosed on homes."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/25/banks-expect-penalties-foreclosure-probe_n_828552.html
Behaviorally speaking is this punishment?
Behaviorally speaking do you think this punishment will be effective?
Do you think the government could use differential reinforcement instead?
"If you were given the chance, how would you help kids at your school graduate?
If you look around the education system, it is easy to observe that our kids are struggling. Our school system's children come from all over, facing different adversities, living in different environments, and learning in different ways. Is it really a surprise that the dropout rate is as high as it currently is? Students are not happy. They are not learning, not thriving, and not being driven enough to fully desire a graduation of their own."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/20/students-sound-off-high-s_1_n_825298.html
"WASHINGTON -- In December 2003, security forces boarded a bus in Macedonia and snatched a German citizen named Khaled el-Masri. For the next five months, el-Masri was a ghost. Only a select group of CIA officers knew he had been whisked to a secret prison for interrogation in Afghanistan. But he was the wrong guy."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/at-cia-grave-mistakes-led_n_820627.html
How does this related to what we have been studing about reinforcement and punishment?
Can you apply the ABCs of behavior to this article?
Are you curious about what is happening in Egypt right now?
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
Can we explain what is happening using the ABCs?
What kind of antecedents might be in play for crowd control?
Are there any discriminitive stimuli present that might influce the behavior od the crowd?
"Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- If an elementary school teacher graded you on your involvement in your child's education, what kind of a grade would you get?
Should your kid's first-grade teacher be grading you in the first place? If Florida state Rep. Kelli Stargel's bill becomes law, public school teachers will be required to grade the parents of students in kindergarten through the third grade."
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=19
How does this relate to the ABCs of behavior?
How does this relate to punishment?
How does this relate to the the idea of taking away the parent's driver's license some of you commented on before?
(http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/01/revoking-driving-rights-for-parents-of-truent-kids.html)
"WASHINGTON -- Drug legalization is an "entirely legitimate topic for debate," President Barack Obama said Thursday during his online YouTube town hall, in response to a question from a former deputy sheriff who has turned sour on the drug war."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/obama-drug-legalization-debate_n_815074.html
How does this relate to punishment?
How does this relate to the ABCs of behavior?
How does this relate to what V Fox the ex Mexico president had to say about legalizing drugs?
(http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/2011/01/mexicos-ex-president-vicente-fox-legalize-drugs.html)
What do you think would happen if we stopped punishing drug use?
How does this relate to the ABCs of behavior?
(Thanks to Kayla for sending)
Video games are already a ubiquitous component in the lives of young boys and grown men alike, but a new Japanese game is literally making a splash all its own.
The AFP reports that Sega has debuted four types of "Toylets," or urine-controlled games, in Toyko men's rooms in pubs and game arcades. Urinals are fitted with special pressure sensors, with eye-level LCD screens displaying the action. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/19/toylets-mens-room-video-games_n_811102.html
How does this relate to the ABCs of Behavior Modification. What is the Antecedant, Behavior, and Consequence here?
How does this tie into our notion of punishment and changing the antecedants. If you don't want someone to break the law, change the law?
"One problem is that students just aren't asked to do much, according to findings in a new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses." Half of students did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester, and one-third did not take a single course requiring even 40 pages of reading per week."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/45-of-students-dont-learn_n_810224.html
How does this relate to what we are trying to accomplish with the hybrid class?