I just love the television program, "The Big Bang Theory" and happily watched the TBBT marathon, in part, on TBS on New Year's Eve. As part of this marathon (by the way, this is the only sort of marathon I'll ever participate in -- and live to tell about it), an episode was aired in which Sheldon attempts to modified Penny's behavior by rewarding her with chocolate whenever she displayed behavior Sheldon approved of, such as moving from his spot, leaving the room to speak on the phone. In the show, the change was immediate. As soon as Sheldon introduced the positive reinforcement, Penny immediately began to modify her behavior. Obviously, the joke would grow stale quickly without this immediate change in behavior. It is, after all, just a 30 minute sitcom and not a study in psychological behavioral conditioning.
I laughed with Sidney and my dad but it got me thinking about how we reward ourselves, introducing positive reinforcements for certain behaviors, mostly without even realizing we are doing it. In other words, we all have chocolate. If this is true, then it also seems that I could start becoming aware of what behaviors I reward myself for and what behaviors others reward, then I could use this incredibly powerful tool for behavioral change to make positive improvements in my life.
But I probably shouldn't use chocolate. I think I'm fluffy enough already without increasing my chocolate intake.
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