8/20/2010

Pavlov’s Law in action

Pavlov is famous for his experiment in substituting a stimulus to elicit a desired response. Animals can respond for instance to a bell or a light and salivate as if it is responding to a food stimulus. After reading the papers these few days, I can relate to how we train our young to respond to money as a stimulus. Little school children were given tickets to watch YOG programmes but have to sign an undertaking to forfeit a $5 deposit if they did not turn up. If we keep training our children to respond to this money stimulus, soon their minds will respond to it in a predictable manner. It will be very effective when they become adults. Do not litter or you will be fined. Our streets will be cleaner. We can save a lot of time and trouble teaching children to behave responsibly as a rightful thing, as an ethical thing, as a good thing. Just use the money stimulus will do. Efficient and effective! No need to explain and explain on the whys. Pavlov called this kind of reaction as conditioning. The circus, the zoos and bird parks around the world also use this method very effectively to train animals to behave in the way they want them to.

5 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

Hehe,

Are you suggesting that this red dot is one whole Pavlov experiment?

Haha.

I've a little Pavlov experiment of my own too. When I told my grandson that if he does not stop bullying his sister, there will be no big ang pows during Chinese New Year, the shenanigans stopped immediately. Now, I can teach him to behave responsibly and protectively towards his sibling but Pavlov's method is absolutely effective instantly!

Anonymous said...

You see. Even from young they learn that greed is good. What can we say?

Anonymous said...

The Leadership of Sin had long surpassed the so called 'Pavlov's Law which is no law at all, at most it was Pavlov' observation or experimentation.

In Sin, bits and pieces are thrown to those in needs who are/were made to beg for them through a process of registration of the beggings. The beggars are then given a little, neither sufficient to last a week nor starve one to death. Then the beggars are told to show cause if he/she wants more with no guarantee of getting what is applied for.

Goods and services maybe cut off and terminated with threats of legal actions and punishments. Anyone who gets into this sad state of affairs of course cannot blame anyone as there is NO LAW that states that ones' survival is the duty of anybody to maintain except in practice the parents will do their best for their broods.

By extension, an abandoned baby will not be the responsibilty of anyone to ensure its' survival except only the parents. And funnily usually only the mother, is responsible and culpable for any consequence of the child.
Ok, a little elaboration here, IF there is Law that states that any parent who has to abandon any child due to whatever reason have to send the baby/child to any hospital or police station without having to give reason and cause, then me thinks the parents shall and should be severely punished if they failed to do so.

What kind of human society are we living in ? Sin ??

patriot

Anonymous said...

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100816-232388.html

Better still ...threaten to put trash bag over their head????

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Human beings have large brains and a neo-cortex, which means they are more adept at using their conscious awareness than other animal species.

Pavlov works in dogs. It has very limited success in humans. Sure, the neurological response is there: for e.g. I get excited when a hot woman shows me her spread vagina. However my human conscious awareness cuts in (thankfully) so I choose my subsequent actions to be appropriate for the time, place and relationship with the bitch.

For example, if I didn't know her that well, it would be inappropriate (and illegal) for me to stick my shoe in her wide-open beaver.

So as humans, no one needs to succumb to their "natural instincts". You can choose.