On 28 Nov 96 at 13:44, jack hirschfeld wrote:
> Replying to LO11136 --
>
> Robert Bacal comments:
>
> >Reminds me of the concept of "superstitious behaviour" suggested by
> >Skinner (actually by his pigeons). He noticed that his pigeons were
> >developing very weird behaviours, head bobs, dances and so on associated
> >with feeding time and their own pecking at the bar behaviour. The pigeons
> >had somehow associated these bizarre behaviours as something required to
> >receive their food, accidentally, when no real association existed.
>
> Although a very brilliant man, Skinner had a mechanistic view of the
> universe, which disabled his ability to understand everything he saw.
>
> Some of us have learned through observation, contemplation and practice
> that if you don't bob your head and do your dance you might get a kernal
> of corn when you peck, but it won't be the same as if you had.
I was obviously unclear about the point I was trying to make, which is
independent of Skinner and whether one feels he got it or didn't get it.
First, this is an observed phenomenon, and one verified by others. Second,
the point being that we fall into patterns of behaviour (whether you
choose to explain them in a mechanistic way, another psychological way, a
philisophical way, etc, and that those patterns of behaviour and
perceptions limit our ability to learn different ways of behaving and
perceiving, UNLESS we can identify those patterns (eg. stereotypes), bring
them out into the light of day, and entertain, and perhaps be entertained
by them.
I am not sure what you took from my message, but maybe this will clarify.
Robert Bacal, Bacal & Associates, rbacal@escape.ca
Join us at our Resource Centre at
http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~dbt359
Phone: (204) 888-9290
--"Robert Bacal" <rbacal@escape.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>