"Sex works even better than chocolate to modify behavior" and "build a better girlfriend" - the fact that Sheldon used both these phrases in this episode has to be less coincidental than the Kim/Sandy Cheesecake Factory thing. Thank God the failures of Skinner's Behaviorism have been well documented.
The problem with any extrinsic motivation is that the behaviour is only modified so long as the need/desire remains fixed. If I'm gifted a large box of chocolates from someone else, or have toothache, I have zero compliance with your wishes. And punishment is doubly problematic because, at some point, I become desensitized or outright hostile; then, you have made an enemy. Manipulation? or cooperation? Choose wisely. 😊
I don't see anything bad in that - teaching a bimbo with no talents, low morals and no manners is actually positive. There' such a small chance that she's going to be of any use to the society, so any way of teaching her, even if it is a technique for training dogs, should be considered ethically appropriate. In any case, she's not intelligent enough to understand or even to read what "positive reinforcement" is.
the 5:58 catch was only a hop skip and a jump from hopping out of a pool. actually Kaley Cuoco must have (been) trained for a week to catch like that on command during the live audience filming.
4:30 oops he made a mistake lol. Squirting water in the face would be a positive punishment, not negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement would be removing a stimulus to encourage a behavior, positive punishment is adding a stimulus to discourage a behavior
I don't really see the problem here. It's not like he's forcing her into anything, he's just applying a light positive pressure towards certain behaviors by means of a reward structure. Nothing sketchy here. I'd say it's a step up from the obvious negative pressure methods he usually uses. This at least makes him come off as generous rather than overbearing.
I love how after Leonard shows his anger and understanding Sheldon has the gaul to try it in him. When that fails he uses negative reinforcement. 02:25 03:47
Yes! Finally someone included that scene! Sheldon tossing chocolate to Amy like a dog! She catches it!!! 05:50 I wonder how many takes it took achieve success.
