Honking Dog Trains Man

On Sunday, my wife and I were awakened because of a car horn sounding in the driveway next to our house.  Initially, in my groggy state, I thought it might be a car alarm. Then I considered that it might be the friends of one of the teenagers who are our neighbors.  Just as I thought about getting up to see "what was the matter," as the classical Christmas story says, the honking stopped.

A few seconds later the honking began again and stopped with a man's voice yelling, "Cut that out!"  However, the honking started again.  At this point I decided that I needed to look out the window and offer some neighborly advice to the horn honker.  I was surprised to see a small dog with his hind legs on the driver's seat and his front paws on the middle of the steering wheel.

I observed as the older gentleman walked away from the car.  I realized that my neighbors were out of town and that this man was mostly likely feeding their black lab, Sophie, who did not travel with the family.  As the man walked away, the small dog inside the car began honking the horn!  Immediately the man yelled out to the dog and walked back to the car.

In the classic book, Science and Human Behavior, B. F. Skinner describes the behavioral principles that govern much of human (and animal) behavior. The premise of the book is that behavior is influenced by the consequence of the behavior.

If a behavior receives a positive reinforcement (for example, you give your dog a treat when he obeys a command) that behavior is more likely to be repeated.  However, if you are punished when engaging in a certain behavior, theoretically, you may be less likely to repeat it.  Research and history have both shown that punishment is largely ineffective in the long-term.  Short-term, it may be some immediate effects, but usually those effects are brief.  The table below depicts the conditions under which behavior is influenced.

Karen Pryor is an animal trainer and has worked with large marine mammals such as dolphins and orcas.  In her book, Don't Shoot the Dog, she discusses the fact that whales do not accept punishment.  If the mammal misses a trick and is given a punishment, the whale will no longer respond to the trainer. 

In the case of the dog and man I described earlier, the dog was positively reinforced because when he honked the horn, the man gave attention to the dog.  The man was negatively reinforced because he increased his behavior of providing attention to the dog in order to have the negative event (honking horn) stopped.

It is possible to have our behavior influenced, without our knowledge, by the animals and people around us.  By becoming more aware of what influences our behavior, we can take an active role in what occurs in our lives.  Additionally, a knowledge of behavioral principles will help influence others.  I encourage you to read either Science and Human Behavior (challenging read) or Don't Shoot the Dog (fast and easy read).

Play With Enthusiasm

My daughter, Erika, has been taking piano lessons at a nearby university's pre-college piano program for about three years.  "Pre-college" is a generous descriptor of all of the students who range in age from preschool to high school.  Each year the pre-college teachers accept some new students.

Towards the end of each semester students participate in a recital.  To prepare for the recital, the teacher hosts a practice session in the recital hall.  Tonight, we attended the practice session for this semester.  There were some students and families that I had not seen before.  This was the first time I had the opportunity to see and meet them.

With all of the busyness, frustration, and often cynical, jaded views of life, it is easy to forget the excitement and passion that young children experience as they interact with the world.  In his book, You Already Know How to Be Great, Alan Fine reminds us that all of us were once one-year old and fascinated by exploring the new world around us.  Some of the young piano students required extensions to be added to the bench and for their feet in order to have the correct posture and hand position for the piano.

Tonight I was reminded of that excitement.  One little girl arrived in her pink ballet leotard and her piano book in-hand.  As soon as the teacher asked for a volunteer, she jumped up and walked briskly toward the stage.  The teacher helped the girl get situated at the piano and her 15-second song began.  Our little ballerina was smiling from ear to ear as she played, and even when she made mistakes she just kept playing, repeating as needed to correct certain passages.

Ballerina girl was followed by another young pianist who appear to be just as enthusiastic.  When the teacher ask for the next student to play, the first girl quickly raised her hand!  I love to see this kind of enthusiasm and passion.  There were much more accomplished, slightly older piano students in the audience but this did not affect the performance of these two new students.

I believe that the lessons from these observations that we can apply to our lives are these:

1.  Have fun no matter what.

2.  Don't let mistakes keep you from having fun or impeding your progress.

3.  Be a risk-taker and volunteer to go first.

4.  Others may be more talented, intelligent, or attractive, but persevere anyway.

Make A Difference

I am in the process of reviewing a book by Raf Stevens entitled No Story, No Fans.  Soon, I will be posting a review of Raf's book to this blog.  In one section of his book he shared a link to a YouTube video from the Thailand Military Bank.

The video is about a group of boys in a small village who dream of having a field near their village on which they could play soccer.  The major challenge the boys must overcome is that their village is a "floating" village, so no land is available for recreation.  How they overcome the challenge is the story told in the video.

What small difference can you make today that will lead to accomplishing larger goals in the future?

How to be happy

Almost a year ago, thirty-one miners in Chile were trapped inside a coal mine when a cave-in occurred.  Unbelievably the men survived underground for 69 days.  For several days, rescuers were not certain that the men were even alive.  However, after signs of life were detected, rescuers were able to design a delivery system for food, water, and other supplies while a solution to rescue the men was designed and implemented.  Miraculously, all of the men were rescued.

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning, there was an article on how the miners are doing today.  Sadly, all but one have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.  The men have had a variety of adjustment problems.  Despite hopes of riches from telling their stories, most have turned to other menial jobs and only two have returned to work as miners.

In 2010 the miners inspired people with their ability to work together under pressure. But there was a turning point in their collaboration, which they pin to television. When the miners got a TV and a projector underground, they started getting into fights about what to watch, and people started neglecting chores. Franklin says eventually the miners started sending back food that wasn't warm enough and iPods that didn't have the right music selection.

"So there's this real dichotomy between the union they had when they were completely cut off from the world and they had their own society, and this bickering and conflicts that began once the television and their so-called conveniences were put down to them," he says.

I challenge you to take a break from television (including news) for a period of time.  Start with three days, expand to seven, and see how it goes after that.  Use your newly available time to read a book, spend more time with family, or learn a new skill.  Let me know how it goes.

Excel Column Headers

Public Failure

I've been watching America's Got Talent, or AGT for short, for a couple of seasons.  Each year contestants compete for $1,000,000 and a chance to headline a show in Las Vegas.  After a couple rounds of performing before the judges, the last 48 contestants compete for a chance to be on of 24 acts in the final rounds.  For these rounds it is the American public that votes via phone or text.  The acts perform before a studio audience and the show is broadcast live to the nation.

The "talent" varies considerably from people dressed like elves to dancers, magicians, singers, and child acts.  One act this season is "The Kinetic King" aka Tim Fort.  Tim creates chain-reaction structures from pop-sickle sticks and other items to create entertaining displays similar to domino layouts that you may have seen others setup and perform.

At last night's performance, when the Kinetic King was introduced, he initiated the structure that he had spent two days creating.  The reaction didn't start.  Tim tried again to trigger the reaction.  After just a few inches the reaction stopped again.  Tim tried several times to start the reaction before giving up and announcing that it wasn't going to work.  His explanation is that humidity affected the wooden pop-sickles causing the pieces of wood to stick together.

Remember that last night's show was live.  Even though he handled it well on stage and in front of the audience, I'm sure the Kinetic King was embarrassed and upset. 

Think about a time you may have been embarrassed.  It really doesn't matter whether it is in front of family, friends, or in public.  It doesn't feel good.  The good news is that people will usually move on to something else and the effects of your embarrassment will only be temporary.  The best thing to do is try to avoid reacting, acknowledge the situation, and move on.

Motive

Today I watched the movie Aliens on Netflix.  The sequel to Alien, Aliens is set about 60 years into the future from the time when Aliens occurred.  Aliens begins with the main character, Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, awakening from a medically-induced inter-space coma meant to ease the long travel burdens when traveling to distant galaxies.  Carter Burke, played by Paul Reiser, is one of the first characters to speak with Ripley and tells her that many things have changed in 60 years.

One of those things is that the planet where Ripley successfully battled the alien in the first movie is now a colonized planet with over 70 families living there.  At first, no one believes Ripley's story about her alien encounter, but soon contact is lost with the people currently on the planet.  Burke, who is a representative of "the company" asks Ripley to act as an adviser and accompany a marine expedition to the planet .  Though hesitant at first, Ripley agrees only if the company and Burke agree to kill any extra terrestrials encountered rather than bringing specimens back for research.

Despite his promises, once aliens are encountered - and even after several characters are killed and turned into hosts for the alien hatchlings - Burke attempts to convince Ripley that two of the aliens that remain  alive in research containers should be returned to earth for bio-weapons research.  This would mean millions of dollars that Ripley and Burke could split.  Ripley refuses and further adventures ensue.  If you haven't seen Aliens - and like suspenseful movies - and have an opportunity to watch this classic movie, you will be entertained.

Greed has always been a popular plot in movies and probably always will be.  Aliens is a good reminder that, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and clear danger, some people will try to take advantage of the situation for personal gain at the loss of others.

The desire to be successful, no matter how you define success, is worthy, however not at the expense of others.  If you are honest with others about why you are contributing to a project or working in a certain area, they will be accept your honesty.  Problems usually arise when you present one motive to others and conceal another personal motive. 

What happens is movies is one thing:  how you live real life is another.  Be open and honest in your communication with others.  If your only reason for being involved in a project is personal gain, people may not like it, but they will accept your honesty.