October 2011
9 posts
2 tags
Three-Term Contingency of the Day: Hold Your...
Antecedent: Standing in the doorway to the apartment building. There is a distinct smell of urine (definitely not pleasant)
Behaviour: I hold my breath.
Consequence: Get through the doorway and no longer smell the offensive odour (negative reinforcement; escape the smell).
Somebody or something likes to take the occasional whiz in the side doorway of our building. It's inset and along the side of our building away from the street which presumably offers a discrete location to relieve oneself. Either that, or one of our fellow tenants is an incredibly lazy dog owner.
Regardless of the source, I've gotten pretty good at holding my breath while I fumble with my keys and eventually get myself inside. I even preemptively hold my breath as I approach the doorway anticipating that I will smell something foul. My behaviour works for me, but what I'd rather do is catch the person doing it (or allowing it to occur) and be the MO source for them to avoid doing it again. Avoiding the possibility of getting caught can motivate people to do something else. In this case, they can take a leak somewhere else.
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What is Anti-Punishment?
I hear often from people that they are “against punishment”. What they fail to realize is that their continued existence (and to be around to make such a statement) is in part because of the effect punishment has had in protecting themselves from past harm. It may be more correct to say you’re against the means in which “punishment” is delivered by people at times....
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Anonymous asked: Can you give some practical examples of UMO's, CMO, CMO-T, CMO-P, CMO-R etc.? Also the punishing side of the MO's?
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#ABAchat and Data →
I’m trying to get an #ABAchat going on Twitter. Before intervening, I should probably gather some data. If interested, please click on the link above and share with us your preferences, ideas etc.
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“Grande half-sweet, extra hot, no whipped pumpkin spice latte.”
– ~ A private event of me practicing my order as I enter the line at Starbucks.
Got self-talk?
Private events are our thoughts. In radical behaviourism thoughts are also considered behaviours that fall within a three-term contingency. The issue with thoughts as behaviours is that we cannot...
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Why Punishment Exists: Running Into Traffic
Earlier today I saw a kid nearly get smoked by a car. He appeared to be training and ran into an intersection on a red as a car was making its turn. Screech of the tires, a few honks on the horn, and a collective gasp from the bystanders later, and this kid was back on the sidewalk where he belonged.
I don’t know if he was not paying attention or if he defies traffic signals for the sake of...
