Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. mich...@thepsychfiles.com http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: @mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29085 or send a blank email to leave-29085-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
I agree but I would choose to take the illustration a bit further, even for intro students, to note that what might be intended as extinction can, when it fails, produce a more extinction-resistant strain of reinforcement. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3519 x7295 rfro...@jbu.edu http://bit.ly/DrFroman Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. -Original Message- From: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. mich...@thepsychfiles.com http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: @mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: rfro...@jbu.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8an=Tl=tipso=29085 or send a blank email to leave-29085-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29088 or send a blank email to leave-29088-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
I always cringe when someone suggests a real life example of operant conditioning because life is not a Skinner box where the Grand Researcher maintains a particular schedule of reinforcement for specific behaviors or chains of behaviors. Trying to explain why a behavior occurs or is maintained requires one to know *all* of the schedules of reinforcement that are operating and in real life these schedules can be quite complex, possibly with concurrent schedules with variable modes (i.e., ratio and interval) of reinforcement. I can understand why some people might want to oversimplify situations and to present it as a simple example but this would be misleading. I suggest taking at look at the following article for an example of the issues involved: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jeab.1992.57-317/abstract And one can get the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323233/pdf/jeabehav00010-0080.pdf I leave it to Tipsters to decide when oversimplification becomes misinformation. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu -Original Message- On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:51:00 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: I agree but I would choose to take the illustration a bit further, even for intro students, to note that what might be intended as extinction can, when it fails, produce a more extinction-resistant strain of reinforcement. Rick Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. -Original Message- From: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29089 or send a blank email to leave-29089-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
It is, of course, true that behavior is multiply determined. The topic of discussion here is not the premature diagnosis of a real life situation but the use of a fictional episode as an illustration (not empirical evidence) of a psychological principle. Science does sometimes isolate variables in order to understand phenomena outside of their uncontrolled natural environment. I think it is acceptable to use simplified examples of such principles to illustrate the concepts. Real life (and good science) does a pretty good job of reminding us that nothing is as simple as it might appear in such an illustration but if all we do is tell people, there are so many variables impinging on this situation as to make it incomprehensible, there is no room left for elucidation of psychological principles. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology Box 3519 John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 rfro...@jbu.edumailto:rfro...@jbu.edu (479) 524-7295 http://bit.ly/DrFroman The LORD detests both Type I and Type II errors. Proverbs 17:15http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs%2017:15version=NIV From: Mike Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 8:39 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: RE: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction I always cringe when someone suggests a real life example of operant conditioning because life is not a Skinner box where the Grand Researcher maintains a particular schedule of reinforcement for specific behaviors or chains of behaviors. Trying to explain why a behavior occurs or is maintained requires one to know *all* of the schedules of reinforcement that are operating and in real life these schedules can be quite complex, possibly with concurrent schedules with variable modes (i.e., ratio and interval) of reinforcement. I can understand why some people might want to oversimplify situations and to present it as a simple example but this would be misleading. I suggest taking at look at the following article for an example of the issues involved: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jeab.1992.57-317/abstract And one can get the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323233/pdf/jeabehav00010-0080.pdf I leave it to Tipsters to decide when oversimplification becomes misinformation. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edumailto:m...@nyu.edu -Original Message- On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:51:00 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: I agree but I would choose to take the illustration a bit further, even for intro students, to note that what might be intended as extinction can, when it fails, produce a more extinction-resistant strain of reinforcement. Rick Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. -Original Message- From: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com]mailto:[mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: rfro...@jbu.edumailto:rfro...@jbu.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8an=Tl=tipso=29089 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-29089-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-29089-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29090 or send a
[tips] Funny example of extinction
My favorite clip for illustrating a variety of concepts in learning has always been this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_0bhT98g9Y. Students LOVE it. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, schedule of reinforcement, etc. This one has it all. Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/ Husband, father, grandfather, bluegrass fiddler, banjoist biopsychologist... in approximate order of importance --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29094 or send a blank email to leave-29094-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Funny example of extinction
I've used that clip for years. It's awesome. Jon === Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637-5329 fax: (630)-637-5121 jfmuel...@noctrl.edu http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu Pollak, Edward (Retired) epol...@wcupa.edu 10/25/2013 9:35 AM My favorite clip for illustrating a variety of concepts in learning has always been this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_0bhT98g9Y. Students LOVE it. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, schedule of reinforcement, etc. This one has it all. Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/ Husband, father, grandfather, bluegrass fiddler, banjoist biopsychologist... in approximate order of importance --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: jfmuel...@noctrl.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13269.01f6211e00cc8f00a7b68e8e24b1b4d6n=Tl=tipso=29094 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-29094-13269.01f6211e00cc8f00a7b68e8e24b1b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29095 or send a blank email to leave-29095-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
When this behaviorist taught schedules of reinforcement, I characterized them as a factor involved in the nature of multiply determined behavior (e.g., one can see evidence of the effects of both interval and ratio contingencies in the behavior of catching a bus (or a bass ;-)). Similarly -- pure fixed schedules are uncommon in the real world (and hard to achieve even in the lab!). So again, it's a question of do we see the post reinforcement pauses characteristic of fixed schedules, accompanied by a fairly narrow range of variation, or is the response rate even enough to characterize the example as a variable schedule. And one can see the effects of an operant contingency even if the details are too messy to ascribe a specific schedule. The most one may be able to determine as a response rate differential. And of course teaching ALL the schedules of reinforcement would be a graduate seminar starting with Ferster and Skinner (1957) updated by the subsequent literature. ALL science involves simplification; isolating variables. The identification of the Higgs Boson is the ultimate simplification. And finally, simplification becomes oversimplification when relevant variables are left out without being identified; misinformation when inaccurate predictions result. And the above is an oversimplification, but not misinformation ;-) On Oct 25, 2013, at 8:39 AM, Mike Palij wrote: I always cringe when someone suggests a real life example of operant conditioning because life is not a Skinner box where the Grand Researcher maintains a particular schedule of reinforcement for specific behaviors or chains of behaviors. Trying to explain why a behavior occurs or is maintained requires one to know *all* of the schedules of reinforcement that are operating and in real life these schedules can be quite complex, possibly with concurrent schedules with variable modes (i.e., ratio and interval) of reinforcement. I can understand why some people might want to oversimplify situations and to present it as a simple example but this would be misleading. I suggest taking at look at the following article for an example of the issues involved: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jeab.1992.57-317/abstract And one can get the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323233/pdf/jeabehav00010-0080.pdf I leave it to Tipsters to decide when oversimplification becomes misinformation. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu -Original Message- On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:51:00 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: I agree but I would choose to take the illustration a bit further, even for intro students, to note that what might be intended as extinction can, when it fails, produce a more extinction-resistant strain of reinforcement. Rick Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. -Original Message- From: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29096 or send a blank email to leave-29096-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Funny example of extinction
http://www.hulu.com/watch/35968 One from the Simpsons that has the same lessons as the Family Guy one. Patrick Patrick O. Dolan Associate Professor of Psychology Drew University Madison, NJ 07940 On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Jonathan Mueller jfmuel...@noctrl.eduwrote: I've used that clip for years. It's awesome. Jon === Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637-5329 fax: (630)-637-5121 jfmuel...@noctrl.edu http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu Pollak, Edward (Retired) epol...@wcupa.edu 10/25/2013 9:35 AM My favorite clip for illustrating a variety of concepts in learning has always been this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_0bhT98g9Y. Students LOVE it. Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, schedule of reinforcement, etc. This one has it all. ** *Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D.* *Professor Emeritus of Psychology* *West Chester University of Pennsylvania* *http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/* http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/ *Husband, father, grandfather, bluegrass fiddler, banjoist biopsychologist... in approximate order of importance* ** --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: jfmuel...@noctrl.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13269.01f6211e00cc8f00a7b68e8e24b1b4d6n=Tl=tipso=29094 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-29094-13269.01f6211e00cc8f00a7b68e8e24b1b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: pdo...@drew.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13443.99ec8b626a47132c52969dd081cdd808n=Tl=tipso=29095 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-29095-13443.99ec8b626a47132c52969dd081cdd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29098 or send a blank email to leave-29098-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
Elephant in the room? Of course the muddiness of such concepts says nothing about the scientific/theoretical value of Behaviorism? I always found them to have a kind of practical value G.L. (Gary) Peterson,Ph.D Psychology@SVSU On Oct 25, 2013, at 10:55 AM, Paul Brandon pkbra...@hickorytech.net wrote: When this behaviorist taught schedules of reinforcement, I characterized them as a factor involved in the nature of multiply determined behavior (e.g., one can see evidence of the effects of both interval and ratio contingencies in the behavior of catching a bus (or a bass ;-)). Similarly -- pure fixed schedules are uncommon in the real world (and hard to achieve even in the lab!). So again, it's a question of do we see the post reinforcement pauses characteristic of fixed schedules, accompanied by a fairly narrow range of variation, or is the response rate even enough to characterize the example as a variable schedule. And one can see the effects of an operant contingency even if the details are too messy to ascribe a specific schedule. The most one may be able to determine as a response rate differential. And of course teaching ALL the schedules of reinforcement would be a graduate seminar starting with Ferster and Skinner (1957) updated by the subsequent literature. ALL science involves simplification; isolating variables. The identification of the Higgs Boson is the ultimate simplification. And finally, simplification becomes oversimplification when relevant variables are left out without being identified; misinformation when inaccurate predictions result. And the above is an oversimplification, but not misinformation ;-) On Oct 25, 2013, at 8:39 AM, Mike Palij wrote: I always cringe when someone suggests a real life example of operant conditioning because life is not a Skinner box where the Grand Researcher maintains a particular schedule of reinforcement for specific behaviors or chains of behaviors. Trying to explain why a behavior occurs or is maintained requires one to know *all* of the schedules of reinforcement that are operating and in real life these schedules can be quite complex, possibly with concurrent schedules with variable modes (i.e., ratio and interval) of reinforcement. I can understand why some people might want to oversimplify situations and to present it as a simple example but this would be misleading. I suggest taking at look at the following article for an example of the issues involved: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1901/jeab.1992.57-317/abstract And one can get the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1323233/pdf/jeabehav00010-0080.pdf I leave it to Tipsters to decide when oversimplification becomes misinformation. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu -Original Message- On Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:51:00 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: I agree but I would choose to take the illustration a bit further, even for intro students, to note that what might be intended as extinction can, when it fails, produce a more extinction-resistant strain of reinforcement. Rick Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. -Original Message- From: Michael Britt [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:14 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: peter...@svsu.edu. To unsubscribe click here:
Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction
Michael, as others have mentioned, I agree that these sorts of situations can lend themselves to multiple interpretations. Of course, I can see this video as Lois' attempt to extinguish Stewie's behavior, but an attempt that ultimately fails. As such, I would not use to illustrate that concept. In my mind, Lois' giving-in response serves to ultimately reinforce the many nagging 'mom', 'mommy', 'mama', thus my call for either a variable ratio/interval. I ask those in the know for a correction if my interpretation is incorrect. Because the scenario depicted in the video is analogous to many real-life instances of nagging children, I think the video is ideal for use in classes as a funny way to illustrate these important principles and I thank you very much for sharing it. Miguel From: Michael Britt mich...@thepsychfiles.com To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Friday, October 25, 2013 8:14:25 AM Subject: Re: [tips] Funny Example of Extinction It seems that whenever a post appears on TIPS about behavioral principles - such as my own regarding the Family Guy YouTube video - there is a back and forth about which aspect of behavioral theory the idea represents. It makes you want to not post anything on TIPS that is behaviorally related just to avoid these kinds of back and forths in which, in the end, it's hard to know what to think anymore (I'm sure there's an example of a behavioral principle at work right there - but I don't want to go into that). So let me ask this: can we agree that the video (http://youtu.be/aOLxQGLJouI) could be used in an introductory psychology class as an example of how a mother who wants to take a nap is attempting to extinguish her child's interruption behavior by not responding to it (i.e, reinforcing it)? Yes, her attempt fails in the end when she clearly and understandably loses patience with the child, but that just shows how difficult the extinction process can be. Could the video serve as a (funny) illustration of the extinction process? Remember - we're talking about introductory psychology students - many of whom will not go on to become psychology majors. Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. mich...@thepsychfiles.com http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: @mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: miguelr...@comcast.net. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=1133043.af3ec43309a63197bc82eb6702801542n=Tl=tipso=29085 or send a blank email to leave-29085-1133043.af3ec43309a63197bc82eb6702801...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=29107 or send a blank email to leave-29107-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu