Stupid Textbook Tricks

[lydy]

Allow me to quote from my Psychology textbook, Essentials of Psychology by Stephen L. Franzoi. "How do you know something is a reinforcer? Simple. Observe whether it increases the behavior it follows. While 'friend play' reinforces my daughters' room-cleaning, I have learned that allowing them to watch a football game on television with me is not a reinforcer." What a boneheaded sentence. It's not a matter of not being able to guess at what he means. It's just that his sentence doesn't say that. (No, football watching had not been referenced earlier, nor is it referenced later.)

I hate textbooks. They're full of crap like this. It drives me mad.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

That is, actually (speaking as one who uses/lives with a serious devotee of reinforcments training) not only badly worded, but completely wrong.

TK