You might want to include a video of Obama doing something similar for balance. Isn't one of the skills of a good politician an ability to talk at length on a subject but aviod saying anthing substantial? (Probably because the politician will have some people agree wholeheartedly while others disagree vehemently about any particular issue of any importance). The last thing you want to do is commit to some course of action that either you will regret later, or that you cannot later deliver on. So I agree that politicians are rewarded, probably for being a skillful rhetoritician, that is, appearing to please everyone (as much as possible) while offending no one (as much as possible--especially since offending someone is now probably the greatest 'sin' one can commit nowadays). This necessitates a skillful fence-sitting while hopefully appearing not to do so. --Mike
--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Michael Britt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Michael Britt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [tips] Reinforcement/Punishment example from Comedy Central To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 8:16 AM Back in the '70s Steven Kerr wrote a wonderful article called "On The Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping For B" which very clearly showed how we often don't pay attention to the factors that are truly governing our behavior (at least from a behavioral perspective). When I saw a recent episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central I couldn't help but think of Kerr's article. The piece was about how non-specific the presidential candidates are talking in their speeches. The candidate's "Generic-Off". Might make for a good class discussion when you get to the Learning chapter. I haven't gotten around to making an episode out of this yet, but you can find the videos on my site. I decided to include the video of John McCain attempting to answer the "birth control vs. viagra" question too. I don't think during the long pause he takes to answer the question that he is actually thinking about the question. I think he's thinking about how NOT to answer the question. Another example of how we don't reward politicians for specific answers (in fact, we punish them). I'm curious what you think of all this. Michael -- Michael Britt, Ph.D. http://www.thepsychfiles.com/blog [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
