Posted by Jason Kottke on under prae, ollie, rewards, rage, parenting, attitude, psychology, appearance, teeth, parents, parental pressure | 
When the usual methods of getting your child to do something fail, perhaps try the exact opposite approach instead.
They direct the parents to temporarily back off almost entirely: to stop asking their child to do the desired behavior and say it's OK not to do it at all, stop offering praise or other rewards for doing it, and mask their attitude of engaged enthusiasm or frustrated rage with an appearance of bland disinterest in whether the child does it or not. What happens next, frequently, is that within a day or two the child starts doing the behavior with no prompting from parents or anyone else.
The explanation of why this technique works is pretty interesting. We've tried it a bit recently with Ollie and his extreme disinterest in brushing his teeth and we're seeing some promising results, although I imagine this works better with slightly older kids.
Tags: parenting psychology
Tagi: prae, ollie, rewards, rage, parenting, attitude, psychology, appearance, teeth, parents, parental pressure
Posted by Jason Kottke on under iturra, show of strength, miners, government officials, cigarettes, carrot, prizes, psychology, nbsp, doctors, chile, magazines, images, love |
The continued reports from Chile about those miners trapped in the mine are kind of fascinating. Here's an article about the battle between the miners and the doctors, psychologists, and government officials attempting to manage them from afar.
In an effort to dominate the miners, the team of psychologists led by Mr Iturra has instituted a series of prizes and punishments. When the miners behave well, they are given TV and mood music. Other treats -- like images of the outside world are being held in reserve, as either a carrot or a stick should the miners become unduly feisty.
In a show of strength, the miners have at times refused to listen to the psychologists, insisting that they are well. "When that happens, we have to say, 'OK, you don't want to speak with psychologists? Perfect. That day you get no TV, there is no music -- because we administer these things,'" said Dr Diaz. "And if they want magazines? Well, then they have to speak to us. This is a daily arm wrestle."
(via mr)
Tags: Chile psychology
Tagi: iturra, show of strength, miners, government officials, cigarettes, carrot, prizes, psychology, nbsp, doctors, chile, magazines, images, love
