It is. Superstitious behavior happens when the delivery of a reinforcer or punisher occurs close together in time (temporal contiguity) with an independent behavior. Therefore, the behavior is accidentally reinforced or punished, increasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
For example, you walk under a ladder and a minute later you trip and fall. It is easy to attribute your accident to "bad luck" and the irrelevant ladder. The reason an association is easy to form is because your cultural belief that walking under a ladder will bring bad luck is positively reinforced by your fall that occurred soon after walking under the ladder. In terms of pulling up closer to the stop line at a traffic stop, if you do it once in a while, and the light changes, then you're more likely to pull up more often. If a perceived contingency is established, (i.e., it occurs just frequently enough) then the person is conditioned to pull up at traffic stops. larry On 1/20/06, Deanna Schneider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Traffic light pull ups? You mean the idea that something you do in the > approach to a traffic light will affect how quickly the light changes? > That's not a superstition. :) > > On 1/20/06, Ben Doom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Hey, like I said. It's totally anecdotal and a good example of > > superstitious behavior (though not as good as traffic-light-pull-ups or > > slot machines). But it's gotten burned into my brain now. So I guess > > I'll keep risking it. > > > > -- > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:193609 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=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
