Operant conditioning in humans sometimes occurs without the individual’s awareness of just what response is being reinforced. In this activity a participant is asked to play the role of a job applicant who must tell you about himself for 10 minutes. He need not tell the truth, all that matters is that he impresses you enough that you offer him the job. After these instructions, the participant leaves the room. The rest of the group is asked to record the number of personal pronouns (I, me, myself, we, us, ourselves, he, she, it, they, them, you) the participant uses during the two 5 minute interview segments. During the first 5 minutes, you respond to the subject only when necessary. During the next 5 minutes, you change your behavior by nodding, smiling and saying “um-hm” after each personal pronoun the participant uses. At the end of the activity, ask the participant whether he/she was aware of the contingency used. The participant should be unaware of that contingency. Now ask the recording group which segment did the subject use the most personal pronouns.
Operant conditioning in humans sometimes occurs without the individual’s awareness of just what response is being reinforced.
In this activity a participant is asked to play the role of a job applicant who must tell you about himself for 10 minutes. He need not tell the truth, all that matters is that he impresses you enough that you offer him the job. After these instructions, the participant leaves the room. The rest of the group is asked to record the number of personal pronouns (I, me, myself, we, us, ourselves, he, she, it, they, them, you) the participant uses during the two 5 minute interview segments.
During the first 5 minutes, you respond to the subject only when necessary. During the next 5 minutes, you change your behavior by nodding, smiling and saying “um-hm” after each personal pronoun the participant uses.
At the end of the activity, ask the participant whether he/she was aware of the contingency used. The participant should be unaware of that contingency. Now ask the recording group which segment did the subject use the most personal pronouns.
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