That's a Switch!

[c7sus]

It makes you wonder, though. Do sexually attractive people perform more enthusiastically in bed because their partners expect them to be hot? Just asking...

Actually, young attractive women are way more hung up about their bodies than older more experienced women, i.e. women that have had children and have gained weight as a result. If you go to a nude beach or party you are much more likely to see the less-than-perfect women actually getting naked rather than the young tight little hotties.

Also, "performing" more enthusiastically does not necessarily reflect a heightened degree of actual pleasure.

AKA faked orgasm.

 

[NotThatBright]

I think we respond positively to being seen positively. Apparently, to become expert at something, we need two things: time, and a good coach. The coach gives feedback that you can't supply yourself, but the coach also provides you with encouragement and challenge. And positive self-esteem, if not overtly, then through the very fact of all that fucking time he's investing in you. I think the clinic's a kind of coach.

This sort of philosophy will work with some personality types and backfire with others, just as a negative reinforcement philosophy will work or backfire depending on the person it's being applied to. I don't subscribe to any as a blanket personal philosophy, though I guess those who have to deal with a shitload of people at a time might have to make a choice and pick one.

 

[Anders Erisian]

How accurate were the polygraphs with the questions you answered? They only measure how nervous you get, right?

Pretty much. I never saw the results from those tests though.
I did do some other polygraph experiments focusing on the fallability of polygraphs and deliberately confounding the results. While it may not be so easy to make a lie appear to be a truthful response, or vice versa, it is pretty easy to confound the data to a point where the results can only be viewed as inconclusive. Controlling heart rate through breathing techniques, recalling emotionally traumatic life events, causing yourself pain during the test, taking psychoactive drugs prior to the test are some tactics. Especially effective if you screw with the baseline physiological response questions before the interrogation proper. If you know you are up for a lie detector test some time in advance of it occurring, and know what the questions involved will be, it is not hard to train yourself to believe your own lies too. I suspect most politicians, sales and marketing people would excel at this.

 

[dobro]

This sort of philosophy will work with some personality types and backfire with others, just as a negative reinforcement philosophy will work or backfire depending on the person it's being applied to. I don't subscribe to any as a blanket personal philosophy, though I guess those who have to deal with a shitload of people at a time might have to make a choice and pick one.

Show me one OP in the Clinic who doesn't respond positively to the overall helpfull support there.

 

[NotThatBright]

Show me one OP in the Clinic who doesn't respond positively to the overall helpfull support there.

I'm still talking about the classroom example. I think there's got to be a definite difference between an anonymous person getting feedback from another anonymous person on a website, versus a person getting feedback face-to-face from a teacher. You are probably right about the clinic example, but if a teacher were to get in a student's face and say, "You suck, your work sucks," there are people who would be totally deflated by that, and some that would get pissed and motivated to prove her wrong. Conversely, if the teacher were to say, "I know your work is going to be great," I'm sure there will be some that will be motivated by that to turn in good work because they want to be proven worthy of the respect she's shown, and some that will think, "Glad she's off my back," and turn in something that's not great.

Of course, with a lot of kids, teacher behavior is a moot point. They are going to do well or poorly regardless of how she treats them.

 

[NotThatBright]

Pretty much. I never saw the results from those tests though.
I did do some other polygraph experiments focusing on the fallability of polygraphs and deliberately confounding the results. While it may not be so easy to make a lie appear to be a truthful response, or vice versa, it is pretty easy to confound the data to a point where the results can only be viewed as inconclusive. Controlling heart rate through breathing techniques, recalling emotionally traumatic life events, causing yourself pain during the test, taking psychoactive drugs prior to the test are some tactics. Especially effective if you screw with the baseline physiological response questions before the interrogation proper. If you know you are up for a lie detector test some time in advance of it occurring, and know what the questions involved will be, it is not hard to train yourself to believe your own lies too. I suspect most politicians, sales and marketing people would excel at this.

The good ones, anyway. In the immortal words of George Costanza... "It's not a lie... if you believe it."

 

[dobro]

I'm still talking about the classroom example. I think there's got to be a definite difference between an anonymous person getting feedback from another anonymous person on a website, versus a person getting feedback face-to-face from a teacher. You are probably right about the clinic example, but if a teacher were to get in a student's face and say, "You suck, your work sucks," there are people who would be totally deflated by that, and some that would get pissed and motivated to prove her wrong. Conversely, if the teacher were to say, "I know your work is going to be great," I'm sure there will be some that will be motivated by that to turn in good work because they want to be proven worthy of the respect she's shown, and some that will think, "Glad she's off my back," and turn in something that's not great.

Of course, with a lot of kids, teacher behavior is a moot point. They are going to do well or poorly regardless of how she treats them.

Most of us are wired to believe authority. That's why rebels are unusual.

 

[NotThatBright]

Most of us are wired to believe authority. That's why rebels are unusual.

I wonder about it these days. As I kid, I just hated the idea of being told what to do, so I acted up against teachers. It was really nothing personal against them, I just couldn't handle feeling "beaten" by them. This was before the internet was huge. With all this information available on the internet, I would think that a lot of kids that would have fallen in line years ago might not do so today, just because concepts of rebellion that might not have occurred to them naturally are now there to be ingested so easily. I could be wrong, I'm just assuming.

 

[Anders Erisian]

The good ones, anyway. In the immortal words of George Costanza... "It's not a lie... if you believe it."

Haha, i just couldn't resist the snide cynicism, but this really is one of the great truths, and G.C. surely ranks well amongst the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century, even if he is a total fabrication.

 

[Greg_L]

 

[BroKen_H]

Life is like a mixing board: Everybody has a mix of rebellion/authority/love/hate/spiritual/carnal/happy/sad all going on at the same time (and lots of other strips as well) and each is tweaked by the EQ of our life's experiences. And they're not exclusive channels. You can have authority dimed and still have rebellion up, etc. But the point is, you need to gain control of the faders and decide where you need to be...not necessarily where you want to be. And just like in recording music, the best "sound" for your life may not look right to you when you stare at the board, but when you crank up the mains, it will BE right. Just be careful which audience you're working for, and you'll get the mix right.

 

[dobro]

blank

 

[TAE]

Life is like a mixing board:

I like the analogy however in the big picture...... IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

 

[c7sus]