Ring a Bell And I'll Salivate

mosch writes "Humans have been trained to yearn for ice cream in the same way as Pavlov's fabled bell. I won't be impressed until they can make a healthy human male yearn for a nice healthy vegan dinner."

Comments

i wonder how much commercials

[Unknown Poltroon]

contributes to the obesity problem in america? The constant programming every 5 minutes that food makes you happy? Reminding you to eat ever 5 minutes? How does that affect your brain?

Re:At what point was this doubted?

[JanneM]

Yep. There is one fun exercise a class can do to a teacher if they want:

Decide on some desired behavior (the typical example would be standing by the door, and/or standing with the back towards the class). Then, whenever the teacher does something that is a bit like the desired behavior - moves a step or two towards the door, for example, some people should perk up a little, smile a little more and show a little more interest in what the teacher says. If the teacher moves away from the desired goal, do the opposite - lose concentration, look less happy and so on.

_If_ the class does this unobtrusively, so the teacher does not conciously notice something going on, you are likely to have that teacher finishing up the class standing next to the door, talking over his shoulder.

In social animals, such as humans, the most powerful reinforcer of them all is social interaction. It works far better than any other rewarding stimulus.