Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!oddjob!ncar!ames!lll-tis!oodis01!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry
From: terry@wsccs.UUCP (Every system needs one)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Free Will & Self Awareness
Summary: whoops.
Message-ID: <573@wsccs.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jun 88 04:00:17 GMT
References: <770@onion.cs.reading.ac.uk> <1177@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <566@wsccs.UUCP>
Distribution: comp
Lines: 38

In article <566@wsccs.UUCP>, dharvey@wsccs.UUCP (David Harvey) writes:
> In article <5323@xanth.cs.odu.edu>, wet@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Warren E. Taylor) writes:
>> Adults understand what a child needs. A child, on his own, would quickly kill
>> himself. Also, pain is often the only teacher a child will listen to. He
>> learns to associate a certain action with undesirable consequences.
> 
> Spanking certainly is a form of behavior alteration, although it might
> not be the best one in all circumstances.  It has been demonstrated in
> experiment after experiment that positive reinforcement of desired
> behaviors works much better than negative reinforcement of undesirable
> behavior patterns.

David:

	But what about th "pseudo-observer effect" (my pseudo-terminology)?
If you beat your child, and then the child proceeds to behave in the manner
you desired him (or her, if she's your daughter and not your son :-) to behave,
then the beating worked (produced the desired effect).  In this fashion, the
parent (or total stranger who beats children) has positive reinforcement of
the beating effecting the behavior.

	Given that the child has responded to being beaten once, it is logical
to assume that he would do so again... this, coupled with the prior positive
reinforcement to the parent (or stranger), makes it more likely that they
will beat the child in the future, given a similar situation.

	Consistent reinforcement is more effective than inconsistent
reinforcement, be it positive or negative.

	Besides, you always have your hands; how often do you happen to have
ice-cream immediately available?

| Terry Lambert           UUCP: ...{ decvax, ihnp4 } ...utah-cs!century!terry |
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| SLC, Utah                                                                   |
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