Thanks for the re-mind, Rick. I remember doing that routinely as part of general class assignment in my learning and memory class.. It worked about half the time and was especially interesting during the extinction phase of the project. And yes, they pulled it on me and ti worked, but for a much shorter time. (ha ha) Usually they (my students) would break into gales of laughter and spoil everything. d
On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Rick Froman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > I am preparing to teach Theories of Learning this semester and I > remembered the story told during my graduate training about a professor > being shaped by students to lecture toward the corner of the room. They > evidently paid close attention or performed some other reinforcing stimulus > whenever the professor moved in a certain direction until he was actually > lecturing to the wall. > > > > It sounds like a clear urban legend (of the hoist of his own petard type) > and Snopes <http://snopes.com/college/pranks/trained.asp> classifies it > as a legend (of unverifiable nature) and concludes that, “Many people > claim to have been in a class where such training took place (or to know > someone who was); undoubtedly a few attempts have actually been made.” > > > > However, it appears from this site > <http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00C0Tw> that > the anecdote actually may be sourced to none other than B. F. Skinner > himself. It is funny that the version I remember was the one described by > Carl Rogers on that site: a behaviorist professor being manipulated by his > students. In fact, according to Skinner, the classroom version of the story > involved behaviorist students training a humanist professor and he also > recounted a time he did the same to a speaker at a professional conference. > > > > This probably isn’t news to many of you but I thought it was quite an > unexpected result to see that the story was not a pure legend or parable > but was described as fact in two versions by B. F. Skinner himself. > > > > Rick > > > > Dr. Rick Froman > > Professor of Psychology > > Box 3519 > > John Brown University > > 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 > > [email protected] > > (479) 524-7295 > > http://bit.ly/DrFroman > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13152.d92d7ec47187a662aacda2d4b4c7628e&n=T&l=tips&o=41438 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-41438-13152.d92d7ec47187a662aacda2d4b4c76...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > > -- David K. Hogberg, PhD Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Department of Psychological Science Albion College Albion MI 49224 Tel: 517/629-4834 (Home and mobile) --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=41439 or send a blank email to leave-41439-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
