kind of like life and boxes of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get when you go to dr. boals' intro to psychology course. today we discussed operant learning and dating. operant learning is bascially a fancy way of saying that behavior can be learned or modified through a series of punishments and reinforcements. all that was a fancy way of saying that we change what we do based on the continuous response of others. this is important to know, i promise...at least for the purposes of this blog.
like i said, we were discussing operant learning and dr. boals asked the class to give examples from our own lives about how we reinforce negative behavior even if we don't really mean to. so this guy sitting right in front of me raises his hand and begins to tell the class about how he is pathetic when it comes to girls because even when girls blow him off for something else he will still call them a few days later and ask to hang out again. (for those of you who are wondering why this is an example of operant learning this guy continued to explain that by doing this he is making the girls think that they can get away with blowing him off and doing what they want) poor guy. at this point i was shaking my head in pity.
well, dr. boals thought this was an excellent example. he then proceeded to tell us that it might be a good idea to purposely use operant learning in our own dating lives to get our significant others to do what we want. it makes sense. through a series of well executed reinforcements you could make someone change just about any behavior. sounds like i have a new hobby!
just kidding! not too much of the rest of the day has happened since then because that was only 3 1/2 hours ago but if something worth reporting occurs then maybe i'll share it. or maybe not. my blog is kinda like a box of chocolates too; you never know what you're gonna get!
here is some more dating advice from dr. boals. this is a topic that actually comes up quite a bit in that class! i'll be sure to add to the list as more comes.
* (for the guys) invest in a 2-person umbrella, or better yet just a regular sized one, and stand outside buildings on rainy days waiting for cute, umbrella-less girls to walk out. offer to walk her to class under your umbrella
* (for the girls) avoid creepy men that stand outside buildings waiting for cute, umbrella-less girls so that he can walk them to class.
spellcheck...learned should be learning (1st line in 2nd paragraph. out should be our in 2nd line, 2nd para.
ReplyDeletebesides that, it's fuuny