Comment by travjones
10 years ago
The author rests his entire argument on illusions to "the mind" that are untested and impossible to test. For example, "If you work quickly, the cost of doing something new will seem lower in your mind." Not sure how we get into someone's mind to measure the "cost of doing something."
We could not confirm or disconfirm this as truth, say in the context of an experiment. This phenomenon is better described by the concept of immediacy of reinforcement. As one decreases the delay to reinforcement, the strength of behavior maintained by that reinforcer increases [0].
Sounds like you're advocating a return to strict behaviorism.
Strict behaviorism? I'm advocating for the experimental analysis of behavior (sometimes referred to as radical behaviorism). When applied to practical human problems, it is referred to as applied behavior analysis.
The study I cited provides support for the authors conclusion. However, his description is flawed because it doesn't provide means for prediction and control of behavior.
It's a blog post - an opinion piece - not a scientific paper.
Do you go around criticizing all opinions that refer to people's thought processes as 'flawed because it doesn't provide means for prediction and control of behavior'?
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It sounds like he is trying to substitute jedi mind tricks for personal discipline