Thoughts on Monologistic Comedy Contingencies

Last Friday, my husband and I joined some great friends to go to out for dinner and to a comedy club in Boston. This was a great night, as we were able to enjoy a great variety of preferred people, edibles, and activities!

After dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant, we all drove into Boston together in one car. Driving in one car had several advantages. First, such carpooling creates a smaller "footprint", which could be viewed as an avoidance behavior (delayed, negative reinforcement). Second, we were able to spend more time with friends who we really enjoy (a preferred activity, and we are more likely to do this again, so it's also a positive reinforcer). There are probably several other benefits, but I think you get the picture.

We arrived at the club, and some people were asked to show their driver's license. At first, the reasons for this were not clear to me, but it appears that they ask for these from anyone who looks under some age. Now, consider that most of us were asked for them, even though our ages range from 27 to 40+. This means that the bouncers were asking for ID from people who definitely look over the legal age for purchasing alcohol. We could think about their behavior in several ways. First, by asking more people for ID (increased response rate, and generalizing to other age groups), they are less likely to let in a minor (which could result in a problem with the liquor license). So, perhaps this is again negative reinforcement (avoidance behavior). However, it may have an additional contingency: As the bouncer asks older people for their ID cards, they receive smiles and "thanks" from various patrons who seem happy to have been mistaken for an earlier age. So, such social reinforcement could also be maintaining their behavior. As Skinner said, behavior is complex. I agree, but it's cool to observe, and think, about all of the possible contingencies that operate on one's behavior.

Now, the most salient examples of negative reinforcement come from the comedic act itself. At the front of the theatre, right below the stage, there was a table of about 8 people. One of the women at the table appeared to us to be intoxicated. Every time the performer said something with which she agreed, she gave a very large, high, thumbs-up. The topography of the response included waving her arms straight above her head. At other times, the same sort of behavior occurred, but with thumbs down. Eventually, she started shouting things out. However, none of this really got the attention of the comedian until she stood up and started shouting at him. At this point, he made a comment about how standing during a performance and yelling was a sure way to get security's attention. She continued, and he called her a few names that I will not repeat here. Eventually, security came along and talked to her. For a while, she was quiet. Eventually, the behavior started again, and included her talking about the price she had paid, and why couldn't she engage him in conversation? Of course, he stated that some people just do not understand that a "monologistic" performance implies only one person talking. Yes, we paid to hear him talk, and not her. Finally, she took a picture of him with her camera phone, and security escorted her and her date out of the theatre.

So, in thinking about this, let's consider the contingencies surrounding the apparently inebriated woman, the comedian, the security, and the audience. The inebriated woman, in making large arm gestures and calling out statements has probably been reinforced in the past for doing so. Or, perhaps she does this at home while watching TV, and has generalized to this new environment. In any event, we cannot be completely sure about her history, but it seems as though at least some of this behavior was likely reinforced in the past. To the comedian, this can be an aversive situation. His audience has all paid to hear him, and now this audience member is trying to steer the conversation to be between the two of them. So, he calls out for security as an escape response. However, when security comes, what sort of contingencies are operating on their behavior? It can be aversive to have such a guest in the audience, but if they kick her out without warning, then they may get sued. So, they avoid this by first giving a warning (avoidance behavior). Further, she stops calling out to the comedian and standing up, so again the warning has served as a negative reinforcer for the security people. Finally, the warning can be viewed as aversive to the guest, and she responds more appropriately to avoid being kicked out.

Now, after some time passes, perhaps these contingencies are no longer acting on her immediate behavior. With more alcohol and the passage of time, there is a resurgence of the behavior. As it is not being reinforced, and the comedian again calls for security, the cycle is about to be repeated. However, in the intervening moments, she engages in one more behavior that leads to the stronger contingency: Taking a picture with her camera phone. So, the combination of yelling out, standing up, and using one's camera are now presumably punished by being taken out of the theatre (negative punishment). Will this operate as punishment? The only way to really tell is whether or not her behavior changes in the future.

As we left the theatre about 45 minutes later, she was standing outside with her date. She was complaining about the whole experience to anyone who would listen. We guessed that engaging in attention-seeking behavior was something that had been reinforced in her past on some sort of intermittent schedule.

From the audience point of view, many were calling for her to sit down, be quiet, or to leave. Clearly, it was aversive to the audience to have someone trying to derail the monologue and "make it all about her". Having her be quieter at first, and eventually removed, likely served as a negative reinforcer for calling for her removal.

That's the analysis for this week. It was a fine evening, and we really enjoyed ourselves. I was excited to think about the opportunity to write about all of this here as well.

Virtual Places with More Information

Today I am thinking about the wonderful behavioral community that provides support and maintains behavior on the part of behaviorists.

Here are just a few places:

The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) has a number of resources. An exciting new development is that their flagship journal, The Behavior Analyst, is now available on Pubmed! For a geek like me who likes to look up articles from anywhere there is a connected computer, this is great news. (Still, I love walking over to the library too!)

There is a page where you can find more information about local organizations from around the world. It has been wonderful during the past few years to see the discipline extend to other countries, and to see ABAI hold international conferences in a number of different cities around the world.

Closer to home, we find the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. This is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone with an interest in the area. Will there be a guest from the CCBS at our class soon? Stay tuned for exciting developments!

What sort of resources can you find? If you find one, send it along and I'll add it to the list.

May your day have more positive consequences for overall good than other types of consequences.

Shaping Delineated

The discussion today was great. The students did a really good job on it, and had some really nice insights into how this works in everyday behavior.

So, the principles involved in shaping are reinforcement and extinction: Reinforce the first approximation (any response that in any way resembles the final, target response), and then place that response on extinction. The extinction burst should result in a closer approximation (this is due to an increase in variability on the part of the organism), which should lead to the next approximation being reinforced.

Here is a fairly good video of a pigeon who has been "taught to read". You can see the feeder mechanism working at the side of the operant chamber, the cumulative recorder, and of course Skinner explaining intermittent reinforcement.

If you have any good videos that you think would be relevant, please send them along!

The First Step

The first step in any new adventure is an important one. As Lao Tzu is quoted as stating:"The journey of a thousand miles must being with a single step".

Currently, my students in the learning seminar are reading "Science and Human Behavior" by B. F. Skinner. What I love about this is that they get to discover his writings anew, and I get to refresh my reading and understanding of his work.

This week we are reading about shaping. Shaping involves changing some aspect of a behavior: The frequency, duration, or perhaps form of the response. Just as an artist weaves color into fabric, or a potter creates something out of a lump of clay, so too does any shaping process start with a step. That first response is reinforced, and then closer and closer approximations are reinforced until the final stage. At that final stage, we see what appears to be a new form, but it really only rests on the shoulders of what came before.

All of that being said, what comes before is just as important as what comes next.