Let Me Guide You

If you've ever taken a psychology class (or read any parenting/animal training books), surer than shit you know all about positive reinforcement. Maybe if you're really cool, you remember reinforcement schedules. I forgive you if you don't.

Positive reinforcement is a powerful behavior-shaping tool. Basically, if someone does something you want them to keep doing, you reward them (but they pretty much have to do it of their own volition, this isn't bribing, folks). If you REALLY want someone to keep doing something, you put them on a variable reinforcement schedule, which means you don't reward them every time they do something, but rather in an inconsistant and unpredictable manner. This is how many compulsive behaviors (like gambling) and superstitions are established.

Of course, you have to figure out the appropriate reward, right? Lot's of people feel rewarded by money or pysical sensation, but me, I am almost exclusively motivated by attention. Hence, I love getting e-mails and comments on my pictures and blogs... maybe a little too much. Since I never know when I'm going to get an e-mail, I check as often as I possibly can. When its a slow week, I'll find myself checking less often, but as soon as the drought breaks, I'm back to checking several times whenever I'm in my room or at my desk at work.

Yesterday evening, I was getting a crazy number of e-mails (pretty much all of them stupid, but hey, an e-mail is an e-mail), to the point that I could not fall asleep because I was thinking about how much I wanted to check my e-mail.

Are you crazy like me? What is your reward?

Categories: About Me [t]

You can apply this to nutang. You post a blog and people leave you comments. You log back in and read it and get all excitted and want to post a new blog to receive more positive comments. Before you know it, you are online reading peoples blogs leaving them positive comments and getting involved in others lives. How did this happen?? :)
» kkama67 on 2007-05-07 11:29:19

Well I like to read other peoples blogs, but not to crazy about th email stuff, I just delete what doesn't sound good, and read maybe one out of ten of what I get, no I can easily quit, not really addicted to anything well maybe tv but not like smokers, theres just some shows
» catatonicloki on 2007-05-08 12:29:58

Attention.. I'd like some of that but not too much. Though I'm lazy to check my mails cause most of the time they're forwarded emails.
» Nuttz on 2007-05-08 01:06:19

Sorry, you do not have permission to comment.

If you are a member, try logging in again or accessing this page here.