Sunday, November 10, 2013

Astrophysisist uses operant conditioning

Imagine returning home from the university. You’re tired and ready for a relaxing night of watching Anime television to wind down.
But there is one problem. Your roommate has this annoying girlfriend who he often invites to the apartment. She obnoxiously interrupts with crazy stories, including one about her one-nostrilled classmate.
“Her behavior was always getting on my nerves,” Sheldon Cooper told us, “My roommate, Leonard, refuses to do anything about his girlfriend’s behavior, so I took things into my own hands.”

The next time Leonard’s girlfriend, Penny, came over to watch television with them, Cooper rewarded her for behaving the way he wanted her to.
“She started off by talking about irrelevant subjects during the program. I reminded her that her chattering was not appropriate here, and she told me she would be quiet. ”
After shutting her mouth, Cooper rewarded Penny with a chocolate, as positive reinforcement to motivate her to stay silent instead of talking about idiotic things.

Cooper stated “Leonard was not happy about the last way I tried to correct Penny’s actions, so I figured operant conditioning would be a much less difficult and acceptable procedure in his eyes.”
Cooper also told us that he had a spray bottle handy in case Penny would get too out of hand, as a form of negative reinforcement.”
“I never ended up using that technique on Penny. When Leonard forbade me from conditioning Penny, I sprayed him instead.”