I think you're spending too  much time in the bathroom!
But, I'd be willing to bet that there's plenty of evidence that
non-human animals value symmetry. Now that I am supposed to be writing a
test, you have given me a distracting task.
Carol




Carol DeVolder, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Chair, Department of Psychology
St. Ambrose University
Davenport, Iowa  52803

phone: 563-333-6482
e-mail: [email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Froman [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 1:53 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: RE: [tips] the matching law and toilet paper

I like the symmetry hypothesis too. Is there any evidence that animals
may also value symmetry? How could we develop a critical test of the two
competing theories: symmetry vs. matching?

Rick

Dr. Rick Froman, Chair
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR  72761
[email protected]
________________________________________
From: David Epstein [[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 1:46 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] the matching law and toilet paper

On Wed, 4 Mar 2009, Rick Froman went:

> In those situations where both are always available, I wonder if
> this is an example of the Matching Law in which the number [of]
> responses made to each choice will match the work required to
> achieve the reinforcement.

My guess is that there's an active aesthetic choice being made: people
like symmetry and will therefore keep the two rolls at roughly equal
sizes.

There's a really silly thesis project just waiting to be done here.

--David Epstein
   [email protected]

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