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From: afo@pucc-k (Laurie Sefton)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: OC
Message-ID: <353@pucc-k>
Date: Sat, 29-Sep-84 14:28:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: pucc-k.353
Posted: Sat Sep 29 14:28:59 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 1-Oct-84 03:49:57 EDT
Organization: Inside a linked list
Lines: 23

(sorry, no reviews)

OC stands for operant conditioning, one of two connective learning theories.
B.F. Skinner is the one who first proposed OC as a learning/training method.
The whole idea is this:  if behave in a certain way, and the behaviour is
reinforced, then you will keep doing that behaviour.  If it is not reinforced,
either by punishment or by extinction (no goodies for the behaviour at all),
the behaviour will go away.

Now, why the psych lecture?  Because some comic book writers have OC on the
brain.	They have heard it is a nasty, evil, manipulative thing, and therefore
use it in all their 'hero(ine) gets brain fried by baddies' story lines.
Re: the story line in K/W:  Kitty is basically re-programmed using OC concepts;when she does something that which is what her captors want (elicits the       correct behaviour), she is rewarded (the behaviour is reinforced);when she
doesn't her captors 'punish' her (remember the laughing when she fell over?,
that is an example of punishing non-wanted behaviour).

Anyway, the comic book writers seem to think that OC is the only method 
of changing behaviours, and I'm gettin a little peeved at being exposed to
their interpretations of it...


Laurie
{allegra, ihnp4, harpo, decvax,}pur-ee!pucc-k!afo