The Science of Consequences Heads for the Far North

Oslo (public domain)

I'm about to embark on my first overseas book tour, and I couldn't be more excited.  Norway and Sweden will be hosting me for five talks and a one-day seminar.  I'm looking forward to meeting friends and colleagues there and doing some exploring--and birding, of course.

Stockholm City Hall (public domain)

 When I was a youngster, I used to read children's books and National Geographic children's magazines about the lives of people in nations around the world, marveling at how different they were.  It seems likely that may have been useful in helping me develop some skill at perspective-taking.  Any thoughts on other methods that help?  Plenty of consequences are involved, of course--including the improved basis for communication and interaction that comes with successful perspective-taking.

Meanwhile, I find that since The Science of Consequences was published a year and a half ago, I have done over eighty book tour events--talks, book signings, and interviews.  It doesn't seem possible!

Aubrey Daniels on Creativity in Business

Well-known management consultant Aubrey Daniels was kind enough to provide back-cover advance praise for my book.  He's also better than I am at reliably maintaining a helpful blog--in his case, about how the science of consequences can help businesses, managers, and employees alike.

In a recent post, he discussed workplace creativity and how to encourage it, touching on everything from the invention of the microwave oven to the problems of bureaucracy.  I love this quote:  "As a matter of fact everybody is creative every day." Daniels' eight suggestions for businesses are well worth a look--and sometimes counterintuitive.  (No suggestion box?)  See the entire blog post at this link.  

As a matter of fact everybody is creative every day. - See more at: http://aubreydaniels.com/blog/2014/01/17/encouraging-creativity/#sthash.UHM1o16I.2ov3F17q.dpuf

As a matter of fact everybody is creative every day. - See more at: http://aubreydaniels.com/blog/2014/01/17/encouraging-creativity/#sthash.UHM1o16I.2ov3F17q.dpuf

As a matter of fact everybody is creative every day. - See more at: http://aubreydaniels.com/blog/2014/01/17/encouraging-creativity/#sthash.UHM1o16I.2ov3F17q.dpuf

William Least Heat Moon on the Smoked Cisco

I keynoted a conference in snowy Michigan last week, back near the Great Lakes of my youth in Chicago.  While my family frequently explored the Great Lakes region, somehow I missed out on smoked ciscoes, a local favorite that's the main incentive in a story by William Least Heat Moon that I read recently.  Some of you may remember that I cited his classic book Blue Highways several times in The Science of Consequences, and his 2013 collection Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories from the Road is also worth a look.

In one of these stories, Least Heat Moon reminisces about the delightful smoked Lake Superior ciscoes he enjoyed as a child.  (That's a small commercial fish.)  You can't go back again . . . right?  Although it took some doing, when he finally tracked them down, they were as good as he remembered:  "Their sweet delectability made finishing one almost a regret; even having a dozen others iced down, enough for several more lunches and dinners, didn’t relieve my sense of impending cisco deprivation" (p. 282).  Talk about a trip down memory lane . . . and a positive reinforcer enhanced by its rarity.  The schedule of reinforcement and the nostalgic associations both influence the value, not that I doubt Least Heat Moon's objectivity.  Anyway, that was hardly the purpose of this quest!

Least Heat Moon's difficulty in finding this delicacy had me concerned about its sustainability--look at the collapse of the Grand Banks cod fishery that I wrote about in TSOC, and all the threats to so many fisheries around the world.  But in Lake Superior, anyway, it appears that this small species, while not as abundant as it used to be, is holding its own (source, Minnesota Sea Grant).  I'll be back in Minnesota this summer for a conference.  Wonder if I can find a smoked cisco in the Twin Cities . . .

Consequences, Public Health, and the Boiling of Water: Bringing Change

When I was in training overseas in the Peace Corps, I came down with a very unpleasant digestive infection because I'd drunk unboiled water.  I was not alone.  While all the trainees knew we were supposed to take this extra step, others got caught out too.  The problem was the social consequences:  Even though the local families we lived with were wonderful and would have accommodated us, they themselves did not always boil the water before drinking it.  After a while, it simply became hard to ask.  (Not after we got sick, though!  Consequences . . .)

That experience made it easier for me to understand a classic example of the challenges in disseminating evidence-based practices, from Everett Rogers' classic Diffusion of Innovations.

Decades ago, rural folk in a particular South American village typically did not boil their water, and a number were periodically coming down with infections as a result.  All of the local water sources were contaminated.  For these low-income people, the extra effort and fuel involved in boiling was one barrier, but not insuperable.  So this seemed on the surface a great opportunity for public health officials to offer assistance, and a local health worker tried to convince the villagers to change.  Doable, right? 

The villagers' lack of scientific knowledge was one of the challenges.  The existence of invisible microbes was news to them, and let's face it, the idea that living things far too small to see can make you sick is not an obvious one. It took many years until this fact was demonstrated and accepted in Western science.  But the upshot was that traditional village rules about when water should and should not be boiled amounted to longstanding albeit unscientific taboos.  The delays between drinking contaminated water and getting sick did not help, given all the other possible sources of sickness, and of course people frequently drank the water without becoming ill.  The consequences simply were not clear.

Of about 200 families in the village, special efforts were made with 21.  Of these, 11 did start boiling regularly--but that was after two years of effort.  How very frustrating, and how sad to think of the unnecessary suffering.

Modeling can have very large effects on behavior and consequence value:  Getting respected village leaders on your side means a huge advantage in supporting change.  But that's easier said than done.  Rogers analyzed why a few of the villagers did switch:  One woman was already a social outsider, so she had little to lose from the disapproval of others. Another adopter was a social insider more subject to peer pressure, but her medical conditions made it traditionally acceptable for her to boil.

More broadly, of course the power of community social norms and traditional knowledge was and is significant.  So how best to disseminate evidence-based "best practice"--and make changes like boiling water sufficiently reinforcing?  We're still working on that, but we've made significant progress.  Certainly the importance of treating contaminated water is noncontroversial now in most places in the world.  Change seldom comes overnight, and it takes work.  Knowing something about the science of consequences can help.

The Joy of Closure

The holidays bring plenty of reinforcers, and one is simply completing the many preparations.  All my cards are sent, and I purchased my last gift yesterday.  Oh the joy!  Toss that completed Christmas list with a light heart.

More generally, completing any sort of project, big or small, can be reinforcing--whether it's one you've been dreading or anticipating.  I was raised on the rule that when you start something, you see it through, lacking good reasons to the contrary.  Homework, for example.  For me, that approach generalized to playing piano pieces all the way through, finishing long books, completing gardening projects, almost anything.  An interesting but unfortunate side effect makes completion failures into aversives, even when they really shouldn't be. Why not stop halfway through a book or piece that's become unreinforcing?  I have no trouble now quitting midway, but it took a while to work through these opposing consequences.  (And I still end up skimming the rest of the problem book!)  Maybe it's a matter of taking the useful skill of self-control--going for that larger-later reward over the smaller-sooner--a bit too far.

It's also curious how this effect appears to contribute to my daily sense of accomplishment or lack of accomplishment despite similar effort.  Because long projects don't provide the reinforcer of closure until they're done, I have to remind myself that I am making progress.  That does help, and so does the chance to complete shorter tasks along the way.  Can anyone else relate? 

Here's a wish that we can all relate to:  Happy holidays, everyone! 

Thunder Indoors

It used to be that rummaging in your local produce section was downright dangerous:  Without warning, the sprinkler system would turn on, freshening up the broccoli but dousing your hands in the process.  Several of my local grocery stores play a very clever soundtrack as a warning so you can avoid this negative consequence of selecting your veggies:  They run a short tape of a thunderstorm first!  I applaud the cleverness of whoever thought this one up--and I've duly learned to withdraw when I hear this signal.

This is a really short post, but I've had a cold for over two weeks now <sigh>.  Hope all of you are doing a better job at staying healthy!

Step by Step: Exercising the Positive Way

As we plunge into the holiday season in much of the world, weight management might be on your mind.  I covered a number of consequence-based methods that can help in the book, and new research comes out every day.

Exercise is an important part of weight management, and quite apart from that, it's an important healthy habit for everyone.  Here’s a link to the US Center for Disease Control’s webpage with exercise recommendations. The idea is to get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week, and tackle strength training twice a week.  If you’re at these levels, you’re ahead of the game!  How do we get--and keep--ourselves on track (literally)?

Simply recording how much you exercise can provide enough reinforcement for effective motivation.  I know that one of my friends who bought an electronic pedometer started walking more.  After all, what fun to watch the number of steps add up.  If you monitor your progress on a graph with a rewarding upward slope of steps per week, all the better.  Some of the devices on the market do this automatically.

A recent study by University of Florida researchers in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis used an admirably simple approach to investigate what might help inactive older people.  The participants didn't even have to come in to the university much, because the Internet let them submit their results far more easily and frequently.  At first, they followed their usual routines while wearing pedometers, providing a "baseline" level of activity.  Using these initial data, the researchers then set goals for each participant individually.  Everyone submitted their results each night--and got to see graphs of their progress.  In one group, that was essentially it.  In another group, small payments were available in addition for meeting the goals.  Would money make a difference?

Well, yes, the group getting the financial incentives did do better, meeting nearly all of their goals.  But that wasn't the take-home point.  Instead, and even more encouraging:  Both groups exercised substantially more than they had been.

Of course, take advantage of social support, commitments, intrinsically rewarding forms of exercise, etc.  And enjoy the holidays!

Video Games, Schedules of Reinforcement, and a Lot of Money

An NPR radio report this morning covered the way companies use data from online video games to keep kids playing and to sell in-game products.  (Here's a link.) The report says that the for-profit study of these games has "become a science."  Indeed, even several decades ago, science was being applied to the early games.  But few could have anticipated just how big the video game industry would become. 

Why play at all?  Because of the reinforcing consequences--consequences on schedules of reinforcement.

Anywhere there are consequences (which is everywhere), they're on schedules.  So applications of schedules are everywhere, video games included. A classic article on the reinforcement schedules in video games appeared in the trade magazine Gamasutra in 2001 (article link). And author John Hopson got the schedules absolutely right:  ratio (work-based), interval (time-based), etc., and the typical behavior patterns they produce.  Obviously, game designers generally want a high, steady, and persistent rate of play.  If you've read my book, you know why they go for variable ratio schedules for those basic experience points or extra skills.  But designers also utilize time-based schedules:  With the slower rates of play that they foster, these schedules encourage more exploration--more chances to check out the new possibilities that the game designers introduce for variety.  After a while, also, anyone can get tired of a frenetic pace and want a bit of a break.  The international connections provided by the real Internet friends who are helping or fighting you adds another dimension, with social reinforcers adding to the attraction.  You can see where the science comes in, as game designers try to build in optimal schedules of reinforcement as they balance all the other factors they need to consider. 

Negative consequences play a role too:  You want to avoid getting killed in the game, or losing tools, or friends.  The possibilities are infinite, and avoidance is a powerful motivator.  The NPR report notes what scientists find, that being given an immediate threat enhances the power of the opportunity to pay real money for survival aids.

On a larger scale, reaching the next level in the hierarchy of accomplishment is a big positive reinforcer (shaping!).  While World of Warcraft offers different scenarios, most with dozens of levels, Candy Crush Saga has hundreds of levels.  Caught up in the game for weeks or months, kids and adults alike can lose track of how much they've spent.  Because the games are online and require permission to join, every click can get recorded into the database.

How big are these effects?  The top games raise millions of dollars every day.  That's the power of consequences . . .

Culture and Consequences

Weisman Art Museum

I hit the road again in a couple days, only a week after I returned from my big southeastern book tour.  This time it's a short trip to the Weisman Art Museum, the University of Minnesota's Gehry-designed building in Minneapolis.  I will be one of the presenters in an anniversary evening devoted to a discussion of choice, and I want to devote this blog post to one of my topics: culture.

Different cultures and subcultures maintain different standards in the arts and elsewhere, and consequences are clearly involved.  If everyone at a party prefers pop music and you start playing country/western or rap or classical, there might well be adverse consequences.  Speaking of classical music, a century ago, the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, with harsh, unpredictable rhythms and dissonance, famously provoked a riot.  One leading critic called the music "barbaric."  Where have we heard this more recently?  Oh, yes--the introduction of rock music in the 1950s and 60s was greeted with similar expressions by some.

How do we develop musical or artistic preferences to begin with?  Often from positive childhood associations, and sometimes explicit consequences and rules:  "This is considered a classic." - meaning "Most people like this so you probably should too."  Social norms operate all over the place, don't they?  All these processes are dynamic, of course, and our preferences and associated reinforcer values can and do change over time. 

Food cultures have a few extra wrinkles.  In his recent book Cooked, Michael Pollan discusses the laborious process in Korea of developing a taste for the sour national dish, kimchi--in its basic form, fermented cabbage.  I've tried it several times--most recently on my southeastern trip--and with all the good will in the world, I could not make myself eat much of it.  (But I hasten to add that the rest of that Korean dinner was great.)

For many Korean kids also, a taste for the dish must be trained over time:  Eating kimchi is modeled by adults, there's a slew of positive associations in the larger culture that enhance its reward value, and the youngsters get directly praised for persistently trying it.  It goes beyond, say, acquiring a preference for your local barbecue style in the US, because for most people kimchi is definitely an acquired taste.  It's a healthful, nutritional dish, though.

Among the obvious applications, taking advantage of these cultural value-enhancement methods can help to develop healthy eating habits in youngsters.  I'll devote a future post to approaches like the successful Food Dudes program encouraging kids to eat fruits and vegetables.

Learning to See

A recent post on Current Developments in Behavioral Science summarized the latest research showing that babies have to learn to perceive and avoid the apparent dropoffs called "visual cliffs."  Even though they can see, their lack of experience with depth perception and the dangers of heights puts them at risk.

While that's taken for granted these days, I was reminded of two related findings even more dramatic.  The first can be illustrated by an example from anthropologist Colin Turnbull's classic, The Forest People, in which he describes his time living with the Pygmies of what's now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  On his first trip away from his dense jungle home into large open spaces, Turnbull’s friend Kenge thought distant objects like animals really were as small and bug-like as they appeared.  His background had not provided suitable experience in perspective, showing how important learning from consequences is to this essential skill.  Presumably, as children we have to learn this too.  Anyone remember their experience?

Then there's the line of research on blind people whose sight has been enabled.  Way back in the 17th century, John Locke speculated that such people who were blind from birth would be unable to visually discriminate shapes without some experience.  He appears to have been right (and that's also the case for many blind people who'd previously had sight, but not for many years).

In one recent case study, a young woman born blind had her sight partially restored in one eye at the age of 12.  According to her parents, only after months of learning was she able to acquire skills such as the ability to recognize people visually (Ostrovsky, Andalman, and Sinha, Psychological Science, 2006).  These researchers summarized current views about these skills as "learned over time through experience" (p. 1013).  For a less positive example tracking the ups and downs of the process in detail, neurologist and author Oliver Sacks described the case of "Virgil" in An Anthropologist on Mars.  As Sacks pointed out, unfortunately, a number of the re-sighted never attain anything close to normal vision, and some understandably become depressed. 

Talk about depressing, some experts used to think that most re-sighted blind people would never be able to use their vision properly because of irreversible changes in their brains.  Let's hang on to some hope, though:  Clearly some can.  And, while the extensive brain plasticity that we now celebrate is far from unlimited, perhaps new help for rehabilitation may come from the introduction of methods from the science of consequences--much as has been the case for stroke victims (described in Chapter 4 of my book).

Who's Got Rhythm?

Animals do!  People used to think that our own species might be unique in following a musical beat.  Wrong.

In my book, I cited a 20th century anecdote from author and animal lover Gerald Durrell:  "A hand-raised pigeon loved music and would snuggle close to the speaker of an old-fashioned record player. What’s more, the bird performed distinctive dances to marches and waltzes."  That would seem to indicate some sense of rhythm, along with possible intrinsic reinforcement value for moving in time to a beat.  I'm sure there must be many such anecdotes.  (Do share them if you know of any!)  In the end note accompanying Durrell's story, I mentioned a sulphur-crested cockatoo that appeared to be following the rhythm of rock music, made famous on a youtube video that went viral.  Researchers in the journal Current Biology concluded that indeed the bird was.

The next step:  Check it out with a mammalian species--and one that's not especially good at vocal flexibility in response to consequences.  In a recent issue of the Journal of Comparative Psychology, Peter Cook and colleagues showed that Ronan the female sea lion could learn to bob her head to different rhythms just fine, even from complex music.  Thirty weekend training sessions was all it took.  Standard positive reinforcement methods were used, and if you want to enjoy watching Ronan in action, check out "Beat keeping in a CA Sea Lion" on youtube.
 From lab studies, we've known for many years that animals can learn to time events quite accurately.  How cool that scientists are now building on this research to look at something that appears to come naturally to many people.  I would say everyone, but I've danced with some who could have used a few lessons!

Most people, like Durrell's pigeon, find that moving in rhythm with the beat of music is rewarding.  Where does that come from?  Would Ronan eventually enjoy "dancing" and do it spontaneously, like Durrell's bird?  Stay tuned for further research.

George Marshall and the "It changed my life" memory

Continuing with the last post's theme of memory, I just finished Ed Cray's biography of George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff during World War II and chief author of the postwar Marshall Plan for European reconstruction (for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize).  Talk about an individual who had a big impact on the world . . .

His prospects didn't start out looking very good, though.  As Cray reports, the young Marshall was a mediocre student.  Planning to attend the Virginia Military Institute for college, Marshall overheard his older brother urging his mother not to send George there, because he couldn’t cut it.  Hearing that, Marshall said later, gave him loads of extra motivation; in terms of the science of consequences, it considerably changed the reward value of academic and military success.  In his first year, Marshall worked hard, was ranked 18 out of 82 academically, and was named "first corporal" for the following year, a distinct honor. 

That's all neat and tidy, and I'm not doubting that this one overheard remark did have a big impact.  But in any human life, so many things influence consequences and motivation, it seems important to remember that they act in a messy, cumulative way. (It's a system!)  That's taking nothing away from the good story value and real significance of the "It changed my life" memory--which I appreciate as much as the next person.  Indeed, I have a few of my own . . .

Perhaps we all are under some pressure to develop rather simplified answers to common questions like "What's the secret of your success in school/your chosen career/your marriage?"  Think about the consequences for long, rambling, indeterminate answers.

Trying to remember

Yesterday I struggled to remember something I'd intended to mention during a phone conversation.  If I don't write it down ahead of time, it's a hit-or-miss proposition.

Same thing for those great thoughts I might have while I'm driving, or when I awaken at 3 AM.  When I arrive at my destination, or get up at 7, those thoughts have flown the coop.  The science is clear:  Using mnemonic techniques can help us cage those flighty birds.  Even in the 21st century, mnemonics have a place.

In Introductory Psychology, students learn about a method used by the ancient Greeks:  associating things to remember with locations or objects in a consistent sequence.  You might imagine walking around your living room, noting landmarks like a lamp, an end table, a sofa, etc. To remember that you want to attend your niece's trombone recital, you picture a horn sticking out of your lamp.  (The weirder the image, the better.)  For a whole list of things to remember, just add associations to the standard landmarks, in order.

With smartphones and all the rest of our high-tech doo-dads, do we really need mnemonic devices?  Not as much as the ancient Greeks, surely.  But they still come in handy surprisingly often, and the skill is a useful one to develop.

I could summarize some of the extensive data showing that these methods really work.  But instead, I want to focus on why we use them.  And that's--consequences!  I can personally testify how annoyed I get when I think I'll remember something and I don't.  Ouch.  Conversely, when I take the extra time to use a mnemonic technique, how rewarding when it works--and how much more likely I am to use it again.  Even a simple method, like saying out loud what I want to remember, does take extra time and effort.  It's a choice:  a more effortful behavior with the likely consequence of a longer-lasting memory, versus just hoping for the best and (all too often) forgetting.  Those darned delays are an inherent part of these particular choices, exerting their usual drag.  But over time, we can learn to remember--given enough consequences.

Schedules of consequences on the Pacific Crest Trail

 "Every time I moved, it hurt.  I counted my steps to take my mind off the pain, silently ticking the numbers off in my head to one hundred before starting over again.  The blocks of numbers made the walk slightly more bearable, as if I only had to go to the end of each one" (p. 63).  That's a quote from Cheryl Strayed's engrossing, bestselling memoir, Wild, which I recently read.  After personal losses and struggles, Strayed saved up to be able to hike much of the Pacific Crest Trail, from southern California through Oregon.  With boots that were too small and feet rubbed raw, her persistence wins readers' hearts.

The strategy in the quote will be familiar if you've read my book:  Added signals that indicate progress can double as extra rewards that help us keep going.  The schedule for these particular signals?  A steady hundred by hundred means a fixed work-based schedule, the same as a "fixed ratio."  Keeping track of progress in other ways ought to have helped too, such as making it to the next bend, then to a particular tree, etc.  Little rewards can make a surprisingly big difference.

Much farther along the trail, out of water during a heat wave and desperate (and still with those painful feet!):

"I counted my steps, working my way to a hundred and starting over again at one.  Each time I completed another set it seemed as if I’d achieved a small thing.  Then a hundred became too optimistic and I went to fifty, then twenty-five, then ten" (p. 193). 

Not to spoil it, but obviously Strayed did live to tell the tale.  And this application from the science of consequences helped.

More on Signals: Reviving "Over"

My most popular blog post to date is last September's on "Extra Signals."  In it, I provided examples of the benefits of "extra" signals like the color coding for the "Send" button in gmail.  I still muse over these daily applications of the science of consequences, so here's a not-entirely-whimsical suggestion as a follow-up.

Ever get slightly annoyed when a phone conversation turns into an awkward tussle over taking turns?--where you and your phoner jump in at the same time, or, avoiding the unpleasantness of an interruption, you let the phoner drone on about something far too long?  The visual cues in a one-on-one are lacking. 

Clear and efficient communication is especially critical for airplane-control tower conversations, among others.  We all know from movies and TV that "over" is a standardized signal that the speaker is ready to become a listener. How about bringing this into our ordinary phone conversations?

Speaker 1: Yadda, yadda, yadda . . .  And by the way, I wonder how your daughter's been doing with that.  Over.

Speaker 2:  Well, she yadda, yadda, yadda . . .

If anyone tries this, let me know how it goes!  Over and out.

Helping Kids Undergo Medical Procedures

Adults have enough trouble with painful medical procedures.  Think about what kids face . . .  How can we help them cope? 

An article in the March issue of the Monitor on Psychology, a magazine from the American Psychological Association, summarizes several approaches, including one based directly on the science of consequences.  (See link here; the article is called "Vulnerable Patients.") 

Psychologist Keith Slifer (Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University) helps children with sleep apnea, who may have to wear an uncomfortable breathing mask at night.  By gradually introducing the mask--watching others use it, for example--and rewarding the children for making progress, the youngsters have less trouble adjusting to wearing it. 

What reinforcers are used in this sort of work?  Praise is pretty universal, but beyond that, not surprisingly, they vary.  While stickers work for many kids, they don't work for all.  One youngster hated getting wired up for an electroencephalogram (EEG).  Slifer's team ended up using the chance to toss a ball as a very effective reward.

One successful innovation also used elsewhere is "break cards."  Children undergoing a procedure can give these to the nurse when they need a break--getting immediate reinforcement by escaping the discomfort, plus the benefits of control.  (Not a bad idea for adults either.)  Do the kids ask for too many breaks?  No, says Slifer, they're generally reasonable--a real win-win situation.

The rewards for the psychologists?  Seeing their patients cope better, with less pain and frustration.  Successfully thinking up more ways to ease the process.  And, not least, the fun of coming up with creative rewards for their patients. 

On not getting the reference: When popular culture fragments

People may disagree about the consequences, but not about the basic fact:  In the United States, as elsewhere in the developed world, popular culture ain't what it used to be.  So many entertainment, educational, and other cultural choices are now available that the mass media are reaching far less massive masses, and common ground can be hard to find. While that makes it easier to enjoy your favorite niches, it's become harder for people to connect.

Herman Melville

I think of this every time someone exclaims about a character in a new TV show I never heard of.  (I don't have cable.)  The other day, someone showed me a New Yorker cartoon of Captain Ahab and a red whale.  Allusions to well-known classics like Melville's Moby Dick may still be safe for most New Yorker readers, but certainly not everyone.

What's especially interesting for me is, naturally, the connection to reward value.  Hearing an unknown reference can make tracking it down reinforcing--sometimes so much so that I head for my computer and do it right away.  Talk about creating motivation.  It's almost like a mystery to be solved. 

What makes it sufficiently reinforcing that this happens?  Lots of factors, of course.  If the reference is made by someone I chat with regularly.  If it's positive and comes up more than once or twice.  If it's relevant to what I do, or something else I find rewarding.  Even if I hear total strangers discussing it, if it sounds sufficiently humorous or important or popular.  You can generate your own list, an interesting exercise in understanding your own motivations.  If I'm crunched for time--recall that we always have choices between different consequences--then I might forget it, or make a note of it for the weekend.

Sometimes the effects are considerably delayed.  I'm not sure what finally did it, but after resisting for years, I finally read the whole Harry Potter series and saw the movies. Now I know what everyone was talking about!

Holes in the jeans

Find holes in most items of clothing and throw them out or fix them up.  Holes in jeans, it's a style!

Faddish fashion rewards can and do regularly overrule common sense.  When I taught college in Minnesota, I well remember my surprise at seeing students wearing jeans with holes in the frigid midwinter.  Brrr.  The celebrity who got this one started has a lot to answer for!  The style has been passé for years, which is some reassurance.

But then, no one said that rewards have to make sense.  And no one said marketers couldn't try to make weird things desirable.  They can and they do. 

And we do too.  On a more everyday basis, consider the effort we go to to get others interested in what we like--that is, to change its consequence value for them.  (If they come to like it, that's rewarding for us.)  It might be something unusual, or it might just be a new movie.  Know people well and you know exactly what approach has the best chance of working.  After all, you've seen what works for them in the past.

You might even be able to convince them to put holes in their jeans.

Preschooler Self-control

Choices.  Go for the impulsive smaller-sooner or the larger-later reward?  These decisions challenge us throughout our lives.  Develop self-control, and choose the wiser larger-later more consistently.  Just as we can see in our everyday experience, researchers find a host of benefits.

But we all know it's not easy.  Starting young helps, but how do we get kids to resist their natural impulse to grab?

In a new article in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, researchers at the University of Kansas checked out a few of the possibilities--for preschoolers.  One of the established methods includes a type of shaping process (called "delay fading"), in which individuals face the same delay to the two choices at first, and naturally choose the larger reward.  The delay to that outcome is then gradually increased.  Voilà!  Maybe self-control isn't so hard after all.  Another successful method involves teaching kids to repeat a rule about the benefits of waiting.  A third is providing other activities to help bridge the delay.

In their study, the researchers tested different forms of self-control aids that don't rely on gradually increased delays: (a) provide a timer, (b) include a brief rule, one that's not repeated, and (c) make toys available during the delay.  The delay to the larger reward was only 5 minutes.  Even so, in this case, only (c) reliably enhanced self-control for the children.

Psychologist Walter Mischel famously found that preschoolers who had more self-control in the "marshmallow test" (one marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes for two) also did better on their college exams many years later.  Self-control matters.  So start 'em young!