Symmetry sounds like melioration to me -- a vague explanation
that is difficult to disconfirm.
I like a combination of stimulus salience and momentary maximizing.
The larger toliet roll is bigger, more salient, and captures
behavior more effectively at that moment in time. Over time,
changes in size between the rolls produce the superficial
appearance of matching.
We could model this in the lab by changing the intensity of the
keylights. My approach suggests that manipulation of the
change-over delay will have little effect. Anybody got a triple
of pigeons?
Ken
PS - tongue firmly in cheek
Paul Brandon wrote:
On Mar 4, 2009, at 1:34 PM, Rick Froman wrote:
We are talking about Herrnstein’s Matching Law in my Theories of
Learning class this week and as I was in the restroom, I started
contemplating the fact that whenever two rolls are equally available,
they dwindle at approximately the same rate. Of course, that defeats
the purpose of two rolls which is so you can use up one and then use
the back up until the janitor can re-stock the other roll. Some toilet
roll racks have been designed to actively thwart this tendency by
making it so the new roll doesn’t drop into place until the old one is
used up and removed.
In those situations where both are always available, I wonder if this
is an example of the Matching Law in which the number responses made
to each choice will match the work required to achieve the
reinforcement. Therefore, if both require the same amount of work, you
would expect both rolls to be depleted at a similar rate. If one was
more difficult to obtain (or contained a lower quality of toilet
paper), I wonder if matching would still hold (the degree to which one
was superior or easier to access would match the rate at which it was
used) or if people would just use the easier to access or the superior
quality until it ran out and then switch to the other one?
I'm not sure that the magnitude of the reinforcers or response cost is
high enough to affect choice in this situation.
For a behavioral explanation I'd look at the individual's history of
learned rules.
I suppose someone could make a dissertation out of a functional analysis
of relative position and size or TP rolls.
Of course, you'd have to add a changeover delay to minimize switching
between rolls ;-)
Paul Brandon
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Minnesota State University, Mankato
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
---
To make changes to your subscription contact:
Bill Southerly ([email protected])
