You Catch More Flies with
Honey
You Catch More Flies with Honey
Skinner found that reinforcement(rewarding good behavior) is more effective for changing behavior than
punishment. Punishment can make people feel controlled, leading to negative side effects like anger or
avoiding the person who punishes them. In contrast, reinforcement makes people feel they have a choice,
increasing their willingness to change.
For example, rewarding someone for biking instead of driving makes biking more appealing, while
punishing them for driving makes them feel restricted. Environmental efforts should focus on reinforcing
positive actions rather than using fear or punishment.
Feelings also play a role in maintaining behavior. Positive emotions (like joy from biking) can reinforce
good habits, while negative emotions (like shame from punishment) can discourage them.
Timing Is Everything
● Timing Matters: Rewards and punishments are most effective when given
immediately after the behavior, so their connection is clear.
● Continuous vs. Intermittent Reinforcement:
Continuous Reinforcement: Provides a reward every time a behavior occurs.
It is effective initially but can lead to quick extinction if the reward stops.
Intermittent Reinforcement: Rewards are given only sometimes, which takes
longer to establish but makes behaviors more resistant to extinction.
● Types of Intermittent Reinforcement:
Fixed Ratio: Reward after a set number of behaviors (e.g., every fifth bike
ride).
● Fixed Interval: Reward after a set time period (e.g., once a week).
● Variable Ratio: Reward after an unpredictable number of behaviors (e.g., after
an average of five bike rides).
● Variable Interval: Reward after an unpredictable time period (e.g., random
times each week).
● Effectiveness: Variable ratio schedules are most effective for encouraging
consistent and long-term behavior, while fixed interval schedules can lead to
procrastination.
The Short and Long of It
● Immediate vs. Future Effects: Sometimes, doing something that feels good
right now (like driving) can lead to problems in the future (like pollution). Even
if we know the future problems, the immediate benefits often win out.
● Getting Stuck in a Cycle: We can get trapped by the short-term benefits and
keep doing harmful things. But we can break this cycle by making changes
that help align what’s good for us now with what’s good in the long run. For
instance, not buying a parking pass makes driving less tempting.
● Choosing Personal Gain Over the Group: Sometimes, what’s good for us
personally can hurt everyone else. For example, if everyone overuses a
shared resource, it can get ruined for
● Group Effects on Individuals: In some cases, when we do things that harm the
group, it eventually comes back to harm us, too. Realizing this can help
people make better choices that benefit everyone.
Old Habits Die Hard
● Changing Habits is Tough: Bad habits are hard to break because they’re ingrained in us.
But with practice and the right incentives, we can build new, better habits.
● Peer Pressure Matters: What others think and say can push us to change our behavior. For
example, if your friends call you out for not recycling, you might start doing it to avoid their
criticism.
● Making Good Habits Stick: By consistently practicing good behaviors and getting support
from others, these behaviors can become strong habits that are hard to break.
