On 6 Aug 2003, sylvestm wrote: > did you hear about the black minister in Louisiana > who will give $5 and $10 to each white person who attends > his church on Sundays and Thursdays? > Could this be the bridge between Religion and Psychology > we have been looking for?
It's been done. An obscure early American (someone named Benjamin Franklin) reported: "We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted, they were promised...a gill of rum a day...I said to Mr. Beatty: "It is, perhaps, below the dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum, but if you were to deal it out and only just after prayers, you would have them all about you". He liked the tho't, undertook the office and, with the help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended..." There are a few curious things about this story. As Franklin died in 1790, it appears there was a rather lengthy publication delay before it appeared in print in 1969. Second, its publication seems to have been arranged by another obscure American named B.F. Skinner. But Skinner (shame on him!) never said where this passage appears in Franklin's writings. Reference Franklin, Benjamin (1969). Operant reinforcement of prayer. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 247. Stephen ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
