Tool kit

most simple model for behavior

  1. stimulus detected by organism
  2. stimulus produces response
  3. stimulus changes organism’s responsiveness to subsequent stimuli
  4. response changes environment
  5. response changes organism

Data Collection toolkit

  1. questions to ask
  2. what is the time horizon
  3. cui bono
  4. what are the basic underlying assumptions : e.g. active organism vs passive organism model, models of reality types of questions.
  5. Goals ( what is the function being maximized
  6. Priorities happy and safe –which one first etc.
  7. observational skills
  8. listening skills
  9. record keeping skills
  10. reading the scientific literature
  11. surfing the internet
  12. collecting data on yourself
  13. time budgets
  14. to do lists
  15. calendar
  16. email files
  17. imaging techniques
  18. biodata files
  19. memberships
  20. hobbies
  21. vacations
  22. friends
  23. pets
  24. job history
  25. usable assumptions : noble’s nostrums

Noble’s nostrums

Overview

  1. behavior is all there is
  2. all scientific statements exist in both theoretical/conceptual terms and operational definitions.
  3. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Put the same person in the same situation and they do the same thing. Unfortunately, people change over time and the similarity is a real tricky concept.
  4. People say what they say, people do what they do. The correlation is highly uncertain.
  5. Your childern will say what you say, your children will do what you do.
  6. Humans practice assortative mating; become the mate you want; you will get what you are-look in the mirror.
  7. We see everything through the lens of our own personal model of reality.
  8. Sensory/perceptual systems are designed to support survival/ not veridical perception.: seeing the world the way it really is is a disease called depression.
  9. Information transmission is minimized by design. In the human nervous system this rule is followed, in organizations it is routinely violated.
  10. Everyone’s model of reality is different
  11. Most people do what is expected of them, a few people do what they intend to do. Almost no one does what they’re told
  12. Reality is:
  1. uncetain
  2. ambiguous
  3. complex
  4. largely inscrutable and hiddden
  5. inconsistent
  6. largely out of our control
  1. People want a reality that is:
  1. Certain
  2. Unambiguous ( black white)
  3. Simple
  4. Clear and completely visiible ( what you see is what you get)
  5. Consistent
  6. Controllable
  1. People pay a lot for models of reality that ‘give ‘ them what they want : religion, magic, action movies, entertainement, but not for things they don’t want to hear ( e.g. science, )
  2. People are only locally consistent ( source: the book by the same name)
  1. Lack of correlation across different domains of risk preferences and all that (see decision making stuff)
  2. Multiple personalities disorder is just too much of a good thing.
  1. The stress of uncetainty comes not from an uncertain universe but uncertainty about our reactions to the UniverseBasic human fears
  1. Fear
  2. Need
  3. Greed
  4. Love/hate
  5. Curiosity/ information/mastery
  6. Control
  7. Reducing uncetainty
  1. The key to controlling people via reinforcment is to provide immediate certain and frequent reinforcement during the training phase ( size doesn’t matter). Delayed uncertain reinforcements are ineffective no matter how big. The optimal reinforcment protocols for acquisition and reinforcement aredifferent. Maximum performance requires a partial reinforcment schedule : the dogs deep secret.
  2. Humans are social by design and development
  3. All long term relationships are in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Abrupt changes in one person will produce adaptive changes in the other relationship or terminate the relationship.
  4. Your accomplishments are proportional to your goals.
  5. key question : who would do the work