yes we tried it, after having read about it in a textbook. I also suggested trying it when I was teaching learning theory. In that course I had students do many different labs using people rather than animals.
For instance one lab on shaping the students, in teams of two - an experimenter and an observer, goal was to have their vict^H^H^H^H subject increase the amount of personal pronouns in normal conversation. They were first to take a baseline measure of how often the subject used the word I, he, she or whatever target word they chose. Then after measure the baseline frequency they were to reinforce use of personal pronouns by paying more direct attention to their subject's conversation and use visible and auditory encouragement (ie., lean forward whenever the person says "I" or use verbal encouragements "um-hum" "Really" etc). After the behavior was established and maintained, they were to extingush (no longer reinforce the behavior). Of the 10 sets of lab partners only one group could not show the conditioning. That group had the misfortune of selecting a subject who had been through the class in the previous semester. larry On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 13:39:47 -0800, Ian Skinner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Did you really do this? Or are you passing along the old urban legend? > > Ian Skinner > > > Larry C. Lyons wrote: > > >What I've always found useful for those boring as warm day old spit > >classes was to look at how the stuff could be applied in a practical > >setting. Either that or seriously mess with the instructors mind with > >some subtle questions etc. > > > >For instance in a humanistic psych class our instructor always would > >rail against behavior modification and how it really did not work with > >people. Since several of us were also taking a behaviorism class at > >the time we decided to see if we could demonstrate how effective > >behavior mod really was. The target behavior was getting the prof to > >do his lecture in one corner of the room - he had the habit of roaming > >back and forth at the front of the class. So first we had to get him > >to stay on one side of the room. We asked questions and visibly paid > >attention to him only when he was on that side of the room. Then > >after that we narrowed things down almost to the corner. By the end of > >the class we had him talking mostly from the corner. > > > >Just as the class ended, we let him know what happened. Interestingly > >enough he did not rant against behavioral psych for the rest of the > >course. > > > >larry > > > > > >On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 12:31:55 -0500, Michael T. Tangorre > ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > >>Let me just say that out of all the graduate level courses, certification > >>training classes, undergraduate classes, etc, the graduate level class I am > >>in now ECO-550 "Economics and Management" is the most boring class I have > >>ever taken. How do you economists stand it? > >> > >>Do you really enjoy looking at regression models of demand? Do you really > >>like reading about higher coefficients of determination? > >> > >>This class is like being tied to a rock with wet leather straps in the > >>middle of the dessert... slow, painful death. > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:145429 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
