No, it's not the actual chime that I dislike. I actually really enjoy the chime. It tells me that I am basically about to finish my "shift". No, what I hate is what the chime represents to the passengers. Apparently when the chime goes on, and the light illuminates, it does not mean return to your seats and remain seated (even though we explicitly explain this to everyone at the beginning of EVERY flight...maybe someone should do some research work on whether passenger's memories become like that of goldfish as they forget almost immediately quite possibly EVERYTHING that we outline in detail and instruct them to do for the duration of the flight). The chime indicates for some reason or other that they should all get up and start a mile-long queue for the bathroom. Do you not feel the aircraft descending? Do you have superhuman ears that don't feel the pressure? Is there ANY indication to you that we are about to arrive into your destination?

I have a theory. Remember Pavlov's dogs?
He conditioned them to drool just at the sound of the bell ringing. Now who is the idiot who decided to condition these passengers? It's definitely not the flight attendants. Or anyone that works up in the air really. This phenomenon is such an inconvenience to us.  We are already scrambling to clean up the unreal amount of garbage that was created by the pax during the flight (another phenomenon that I ponder at the termination of every flight).  In case you all haven't noticed, the galley is not the largest area in the world.  Having to work around you guys standing around waiting for the bathroom while we are trying to secure everything for landing is not an easy task. Oh and thank you for filling the air with that intoxicating smell of airplane bathroom. It's great. If not for the simple fact that it would prolong your stay in the bathroom, it makes me want to gag all over you.

I just want to put this out there: when the light illuminates and the chime goes off, it does NOT mean go to the bathroom. It means getting in your seats, fastening your seat belt, and holding that excrement for just FIVE minutes and you can go ahead and relieve yourselves in the terminal building.

And no, you CANNOT use the bathroom once we're on the ground.  Seriously I'm going to hand out pamphlets that advertise adult diapers and phone numbers of local walk-in clinics, because if you really can't hold your pee for 5 extra minutes (or if you had to go SO badly I'm pretty sure you had to go 15 minutes ago, but the neurons in your brain somehow misfired and thus you didn't receive the alert message to go to the bathroom) you should either really consider investing in adult diapers or visiting a local clinic to get yourself checked out.

I have major problems with using physical violence to solve any problem, let alone the 'problem' of how to guide a child away from 'bad' behaviour towards 'good' behaviour (quite aside from the entirely subjective and context-dependent question of what is necessarily good or bad - something that can change drastically from culture to culture and historical period to historical period. With perhaps the exception of doing the nasty with goats. That's usually a taboo wherever you go. Oh, and siblings... well, let's just leave it there)* - although there does seem to be a case for it in very specific situations, such as those argued for under the Doctrine of Double Effect. But as far as I can see, if using violence to discipline does achieve its aims - reducing undesirable behaviour - then its corollary is also to engender a culture of violence, and establish a clear hierarchy based on who has the greatest capacity to wield force and do damage. Think of old-style private boarding schools, military academies, prisons, and other heavily hierarchised confined systems where behaviour is strictly controlled.**

And there are so many other ways to achieve the same effect (which is really compliance from your kids, if you think about it)- usually all of which involve time, patience and effort, which is hard for a lot of people. The strategies would differ depending on the age of the child - distraction with something shiny doesn't cut it with a five-year-old (well, unless it's electronic, made by Apple and retails at over 200 bucks), but they almost all involve empathy, reciprocity and understanding. I find that if I really want Tiggy to pay attention to me, getting down to her level - where I can look her in the eye - and dropping my voice so that she has to strain to listen to me works a treat.

I am not perfect. Sometimes I am so frustrated that I want to lash out, but that's more to do with me than Antigone. I never have, and I hope I never will.

* And I'm not insisting on a slippery antinomian moral relativism where 'there is no good or evil', just trying to keep the differences of other cultures in play as I submit to the values and strictures of my own society. In other words, a moral code that's quite solid but blurs a bit at the edges. Tricky to do, that.

** And don't try to sell me that 'smacking aint violence' shtick. Coz I aint buyin'. Violence has a host of meanings, all of which have to do with force and a desired effect, from destruction and damage to coercion. Consider state-sanctioned force, always employed for a certain effect, from coercion and compliance to submission.

Ieri gita fuori porta a Chiaravalle.

Sono ormai 12 anni che vivo a Milano, da tempo volevo visitare l'abbazia e ieri ci siamo decisi ad andare.

A un certo punto Antonella si ferma e fissa la torre dalla particolarissima architettura.  "Cosa stai facendo?", "Sto fissando la torre per imprimermela nella memoria e ricordarmi di questo momento felice"

Stava praticando un'ancora emozionale. Lo stava facendo in modo spontaneo, naturale. Forse le ho anche parlato in passato di questa strategia della Programmazione Neuro Linguistica, ma di certo non se ne ricorda. Gli è venuto naturale farlo.

Ma cosa è un'ancora emozionale. Beh, niente di nuovo. All'inizio del secolo scorso un tale Pavlov riuscì a creare una risposta automatica dei suoi cani ad un preciso stimolo. Pavlov iniziò a far suonare un campanello ogni volta che dispensava cibo ai suoi cani. Ben presto si accorse che bastava far suonare il campanello per ottenere dai cani le stesse reazioni che avevano presentandogli il loro cibo: salivazione, eccitazione. Aveva generato un comportamento condizionato in risposta ad uno stimolo che non aveva nulla a che vedere con il comportamento stesso.

Questo tipo di condizionamento vale per i comportamenti ma vale anche per gli stati d'animo. E' possibile generare uno specifico stato d'animo in risposta ad uno stimolo neutro. Guardo una foto e l'associo al sentimento che provo per la persona ritratta, ascolto una musica e l'associo allo stato d'amino che avevo nel periodo in cui l'ascoltavo spesso, ricordo l'immagine di una torre e rivivo la spensieratezza, la gioia, la felicità di un momento.

Grazie Lella, per quello che, con o senza consapevolezza, sei capace i insegnarmi ogni giorno

PNL Segreta Libro, di Giacomo Bruno ISBN: 9788861740334 Raggiungi l'Eccellenza con i Segreti dei Più Grandi Geni della PNL PNL Audiocorso, di Giacomo Bruno ISBN: 9788861740280 Trucchi e segreti della Programmazione Neuro-Linguistica   PNL Videocorso, di Giacomo Bruno ISBN: 9788861740044 Trucchi e Segreti della Programmazione Neuro-Linguistica

"klioup, klioup, klioup..."

Même si littéralement parlant, écrit sous vos yeux ce mot ne vous dit rien, il représente le bruit quotidien de femmes sublimement parées, le plus souvent d'échasses plus ou moins grandes, leurs permettant d'affiner des jambes toutes en courbes. Quand le rythme de ce bruit s'accélère c'est qu'elles courent. Quand il est irrégulier et plus grave c'est qu'elles descendent les escaliers. Le plus souvent, si elles habitent à Paris ce sont les escaliers du métro.

La femme parisienne atteignant l'âge le plus intéressant de la trentaine avancée (ou la préquarantaine, au choix) si elle revêt un caractère aventurier et est sûre de ses échasses coure pavloviennement au bruit strident du départ du métro.

Oui, il est vrai qu'il y en aura un autre quelques minutes plus tard, mais ici, tout est une question de temps en plus d'être un challenge important de maîtrise et de rapidité.

Vous comprendrez donc bien que quand la porte se ferme sous son nez, celle ci se trouve quelque peu énervée contre le conducteur dans un premier temps, puis désemparée quant à sa piètre performance. Mais alors, quand elle arrive et qu'une bande de jeunes, qui ont pourtant l'air d'être sur la fin de leur développement pubert, rient hyéneusement en bande de 8 fesses molles dans le train, la température monte. Surtout quand un hyénon, particulièrement coriace, la montre du doigt...

Elle sourit élégamment, le visage rosé par l'effort et les dents réfléchissantes. Aucun résultat, le charme n'agit nullement, il montre toujours du doigt, tous rient plus fort, et le train ne part pas. "Ça vous fait rire?!" ......... Aucune réaction toujours le brouhaha de hyènes en rut .....

La parisienne en question après avoir épuisé les armes dues à son rang et à ses multiples charmes se surprends à revenir au niveau collège : " Toi là !!!! Vas te percer les boutons!!!!" La honte l'envahit suite à cette très mauvaise réplique.

Silence

Les sept autres comparses se retournent contre ledit "boutonneux" et rient de plus belle mais, de lui. Satisfaction minime, digne d'une cour de récré, d'avoir vaincu même en ayant piqué les armes de l'ennemi.

Image de : Une tête qui tente

Article de : Une tête qui tente

Another more positive thing is that my shipment has arrived from hongkong, dealextreme. Takes for ever to get it but hey it is cheap as hell and so far nothing has been stopped in the custom.

As most educators who have been in the profession can attest to, behaviorism has been a dominant force in thoughts and policies. Before a person can decide if a school of thought is for them, it is important to understand the underlying ideology of that school. In this essay we will take a closer look at what behaviorism is, what are some of the basic tenants, and is it still a viable school of thought in today's educational world.

What is Behaviorism?

While this term is well known in the education world, what does it actually mean? Behaviorism is a school within psychological that deals with learning and personality.
When dealing with an organism, be it human, monkey, pigeon, rat, lawyer, etc...there are three components:

• The stimulus
• The brain
• The outcomes

The Stimulus

This is any change in the environment. It is something that causes the organism to leave a state of equilibrium and seeks to once again regain a stable relation with its environment.
The environment can be both internal and external. The external environment is what is around us. Hot, cold, bright, dark, loud, quite, anything we find ourselves immersed in outside the body. The internal environment is what is going on inside our bodies. Are we tired, hungry, under stress, etc...
So a stimulus is any change in our internal and/or external environments.

The Brain

Behaviorism was developed in part as a reaction to the then pervasive introspective ideas of psychology. Behaviorist holds dear the idea that the brain and thoughts cannot be directly observed and therefore are not part of the overall equation of behavior. This is a polar opposite of introspective psychology. Introspective is when the individual thinks about their thinking. They self report on their own thoughts, desires and sensations. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2008)
The term observable is a sacred word in behavioral psychology. All stimuli, and outcome must be observable. Thoughts are subjective, they cannot be objectively studied therefore are inconsequential to the true behaviorist.
Keep in mind as the discussion continues that observable is a key term in behaviorism. If it is not observable, and cannot be objectively measured then behaviorists do not sully themselves with it.

Outcomes

This is the organism's response to the stimuli. This is the component of the equation that behaviorist are interested it. It is by manipulating the stimulus that outcomes should change

Join us for Part 02 Classical Conditioning

• Stuff White People Like - I usually don't like things that are really popular, but as a white person I truly enjoy the tongue-in-cheek nature of this one.

• I Can Has Cheesburger? - Another one that's pretty popular, yet I managed to never hear of it until about a month ago.  I confess, I am completely addicted.

• From Soup To Nuts - A truly geeky blog...I'm not sure if this blog should be on that site.

• Simply Ubuntu - I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

• Online Advertising, Web Development - This guy is pretty obsessed with Silverlight, and I like to pretend like I'm staying ahead of the curve...

• Ubuntu Blog - You guessed it, another one about Ubuntu.  This one takes aim at helping average humans like you and me install and use (and maybe even understand!) the wonderful world of Ubuntu.

• Pavlov - I don't know how to describe this one, or explain why I read it.  I just found it one day and found it interesting.

On with our regularly scheduled program...

I'm down here right now instead of upstairs eating dinner with my family.  Yeah, I feel like a total putz for that, but sometimes, the only thing I can do is remove myself from the situation - often because I know that my angst is palpable and will only make things worse when the kid in the mix grasps no one else's feelings almost ever, with the one exception being when someone has angst - because of him.  Now, mind you, that's not empathy or sympathy coming out, and it isn't that it's the only feeling he can read.  No, it is because if I have angst because of him, it directly affects his ability to do whatever the hell he wants.  Yes, often in the Aspie world, if you can't figure out why a child is acting the way they are, you need to re-center and remind yourself that their world is 100% about themselves and, therefore, about how THEY get to interact with the world, not about how the world interacts with them.  Resort to the simplest question of, "Is there a way that he could be making this entirely about himself?" and you'll almost always find your answer.

I have ADD, and one facet of that for many people, myself included, is the need for praise/reward for behavior.  If I do something nice, I need to hear that I did.  Some people would call it being self-centered.  Some would call it having low self-esteem.  I'll grant you a component of both, frankly, but truly, it's because that is how *I* interact with the world.  Praise/Reward creates energy in someone with ADD; it's a snowball effect.  And, truly, it's usually pretty pathetic how little praise/reward it takes to have that snowball rolling down the hill like a freakin' meteor in the direction you want it to go.

Explains A LOT about my years as a teenage girl and the barge-load of mistakes I've made with boys/men all my life.

As we all tend to reflect what we want, ADD'ers also tend to give a lot of praise/reward, sometimes to the point that we can seem overbearing, stifling, or flat-out crazy.  To us, our words of praise or encouragement mean the world, but I imagine they often mostly just bounce off others as fairly insignificant comments or, at best, leave only a fleeting impression.  We are the quintessential example of "a smile can make someone's day."  Truly, a kind word and a smile from someone as I hold the door for them coming out of the gas station can absolutely turn my day around 180 degrees.

The point is that I had imagined that my child would be like me (don't we all).  I'm sure every parent is disappointed in many respects when it comes to that fantasy; Junior has no interest in football and doesn't care about your favorite car, and Janie would rather drive a forklift than take ballet and refuses to even consider the flute.  As the ADD parent of an Aspie child, the person I want to make happy more than anything else in the world couldn't care less about my wants, my efforts, or my good intentions brought about by my love for him.  My drive to see him happy means absolutely nothing to him, even when I am successful, and in the end, it is my innermost being that feels it has been resolutely rejected.  It is crushing, in the worst of ways.

While I try to take comfort in a partial silver lining that, on some level, he doesn't suffer from a need to please others or put their wants above his own, I know that is built not of confidence but deficiency.  I can see the edges where that frays with his peers and know that the time is coming where those things will start to, if not matter to him then become a source of terrible frustration and angst of his own.  And, somehow, I will have to find a way to help him through it and teach him how to deal with it, on his terms, and hopefully before it molds him into an angry young man.  Yes, I will have to teach him how to understand people like me.

And so it is that I am here with my hurt, by the lamp light, tears streaming down my face, because I cannot yet even imagine when or where I will find the strength for that challenge.  I just have to believe that I will.

Have been very inspired during lectures:

'Whether the egg or the chicken came first depends on whether you side with Pavlov (behaviourist) or Piaget (cognitivist)'- DOA

More can be seen at my little gallery younglass

I have to start cleaning up the posts on this blog...some of them are way too long and can be broken up in separate posts. I wonder how to keep chronological order though? anyway, I am on a psychoanalytic spree at the moment. Sure causing my poor teacher some headaches (as I always do hehehe).

Call me the teacher's pest! =]

Health tip: You may not look a gift horse in the mouth, but you may look a gifted chicken in the .....

(P.s. 'sanity is statistical' - 1984, George Orwell)

Embora isso signifique que os cães sortudos estejam vivendo sua era dourada, o status de membro da família também pode exigir que um cachorro siga certos padrões de comportamento. E, ao contrário do que você pode pensar ao ver a variedade de produtos caninos disponíveis, os cães não são pessoas pequeninas e peludas. Eles têm sua própria maneira de pensar e fazer as coisas. Milhares de cães são entregues a abrigos de animais todo ano, ou permanentemente relegados a um cercadinho no quintal dos fundos, pelo simples fato de agirem como cachorros.

É possível que cães e pessoas vivam juntos em harmonia, mas isso requer que os donos façam o esforço de atravessar a barreira que existe entre as duas espécies e adestrar seus cachorros para que se comportem de maneira apropriada na sociedade humana. Há muitas maneiras diferentes de adestrar cachorros e vários adestradores prontos para dizer que a maneira deles é a única maneira "certa", mas a verdade é que há inúmeros métodos que funcionam. A principal diferença entre eles é a rapidez com que funcionam e o quão prazerosos são para o cachorro e seu dono.

Neste artigo, vamos explorar a história e as idéias por trás da maioria dos métodos de adestramento canino e falar sobre um dos métodos mais populares atualmente: o adestramento com clicker.

Aprendendo teoria

O adestramento canino costuma ser baseado no condicionamento operante. O primeiro cientista a definir este conceito foi B. F. Skinner, que estudou o trabalho do fisiologista russo Dr. Ivan Pavlov sobre o comportamento animal. No estudo revolucionário de Pavlov, os cães aprendiam que um estímulo (no caso, um sino) significava que era hora de receberem comida. Começando com duas coisas que estão naturalmente associadas (salivar e comer), Pavlov adicionou um terceiro componente ao tocar a campainha antes da alimentação. Após alguns testes, os cachorros aprenderam a associar o sino ao ato de serem alimentados e salivavam ao ouvir o som do sino, prevendo a presença da comida, mesmo ela não estando presente naquele momento.

Famoso estudo de Pavlov

Como os cães começam a salivar naturalmente quando recebem comida, a comida é um estímulo não-condicionado. Não é necessário condicionamento ou adestramento especial para fazer o cão salivar, o que é uma resposta não-condicionada. Por outro lado, um sino tocando não costuma fazer com que cães salivem, sendo necessário condicioná-los para que associem um sino ao ato de serem alimentados. Assim, o sino é um estímulo condicionado. A nova reação do cão é um reflexo ao estímulo e é uma resposta condicionada.

Vários de nós vemos isso com nossos próprios cães, quando eles têm crise de latidos ao ouvirem a campainha, algumas vezes até com o som de uma campainha na televisão. Neste caso, o cachorro foi condicionado a associar o estímulo da campainha à iminente chegada de um estranho.

Ao vermos luzes piscando ou ouvir uma sirene atrás de nós enquanto dirigimos, podemos ficar tensos automaticamente e nossa freqüência cardíaca pode se elevar. Fomos condicionados a associar o som de sirenes à experiência desagradável e estressante de receber uma multa. Esse é o condicionamento clássico. Tanto os animais quanto nós podemos aprender a relacionar dois eventos e responder ao primeiro prevendo o segundo. Tal tipo de aprendizado é passivo e involuntário, acontecendo sem que o aprendiz faça qualquer coisa (e, muitas vezes, sem que ele perceba).

Enquanto o trabalho de Pavlov estudava uma reação reflexa a um estímulo condicionado, Skinner interessou-se em criar uma reação de comportamento específica a um estímulo através da introdução de um reforço. Um reforço tanto pode ser uma recompensa quanto uma punição. Uma recompensa é qualquer coisa que aumente a freqüência de uma ação. Já uma punição trata-se de qualquer coisa que diminua tal freqüência.

Quando somos recompensados por um comportamento específico, provavelmente iremos repetir tal comportamento; assim como quando somos punidos, provavelmente iremos parar esse comportamento. Esse tipo de aprendizado é ativo e voluntário, ou seja, depende das ações de quem está aprendendo.

Como a definição de um reforço depende da sua eficácia, é importante lembrar que o que é uma recompensa para uma pessoa pode não ter importância para outra, deixando de ser uma recompensa. Da mesma maneira, o que é uma recompensa em um contexto pode não ser em outro.

Um rato em uma caixa de Skinner simples

Skinner demonstrou que tanto os animais quanto as pessoas manteriam certos comportamentos se recebessem uma recompensa.

Em seus experimentos com ratos e pombos, Skinner mostrou que os animais podiam aprender a pressionar uma alavanca para receber uma recompensa em forma de alimentos. Quando os animais foram apresentados à caixa de testes pela primeira vez, eles se moviam nela de forma aleatória. Então, quando acidentalmente apertavam a alavanca, uma bolinha de ração era liberada, o que fez com que aprendessem rapidamente a apertar a alavanca para obter uma bolinha. Ele também moldou comportamentos mais complicados ao reforçá-los por etapas. Skinner chamava essa abordagem de "condicionamento operante", já que o comportamento do animal operava no ambiente (pressionar a alavanca) como uma resposta ao resultado esperado (obter alimentos como recompensa).

Recompensar para encorajar bom comportamento e punir para desencorajar o comportamento ruim é algo que a maioria de nós faz de maneira instintiva, trata-se de bom senso. O condicionamento operante já tinha uma longa história no adestramento de animais mesmo antes de Skinner lhe dar um nome. O Coronel Konrad Most, que publicou "Adestramento canino: um manual", em 1910, usava vários dos mesmos princípios que Skinner estudou, só que décadas antes dele tê-los descrito. Os métodos de treinamento do Coronel Most parecem um tanto quanto cruéis para os padrões atuais, mas muitos o consideram como o pai do adestramento canino moderno. Most e outros adestradores usavam as recompensas e punições para moldar e reforçar o comportamento desejado.

A seguir, vamos ver como os reforços são utilizados no adestramento de animais.

Fonte: Hannah Harris, traduzido por HowStuffWorks Brasil.

Leia também: Como funciona o adestramento canino - parte II, III, IV e V.

This game is designed by Nobelprize.org and is mean to help teach children about Pavlov's concept in an interactive way. That and it's pretty cool! Stop over and try your hand today!

Behaviorism

It can be traced to figures such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke David Hume, George Berkeley and David Hartley.

Hobbes viewed man as a natural and social creature. And the other aforementioned thinkers stressed the importance of the association of ideas.

In 1739, the so-called ‘British empiricist' philosopher David Hume wrote in A Treatise of Human Nature:

The qualities, from which...association arises, and by which the mind is after this manner conveyed from one idea to another, are three, viz. resemblance, contiguity in time or place, and cause and effect (A Treatise of Human Nature London: Collins, 1962 [1739], p. 54).

The scientific study of behaviorism begins with the Russian, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who conditioned dogs to salivate not just at the sight of food but also at the sound of a bell that preceded feeding.

The American psychologist J. B. Watson (1878-1958) generalized these findings to human beings, emphasizing the importance of recency and frequency. This means that if we have smiled every time we've seen a child for the past ten years, we're very likely to smile if we see one the next day.

The American B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) extended this system to include the idea of positive and negative reinforcement.

Pavlov's type of learning is usually called classical conditioning, while Skinner's is called operant conditioning.

Skinner became the chief figure in behaviorism. He argued that past reinforcements determine behavior. We learn to repeat or decline behaviors based on their consequences. This is called the Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement (S-R-R) model.

Skinner also formulated the notion of shaping. By controlling the environmental rewards and punishments for behaviors, one is able to shape behavior. Psychologist also call this behavior modification.

Critics of behaviorism say it's a soulless, mechanistic view of mankind. Instead of resembling a pleasure-seeking machine, mankind, they say, is a uniquely free being with emotional, conceptual, intuitive and spiritual concerns extending well beyond the narrow confines of immediate rewards and punishments.

Daniel Dennett argues that we are Skinnerian, Popperian and also Darwinian creatures. This means that we learn from stimulus, response and reinforcement but we also have the inner ability to test hypotheses prior to enacting them in the real world.

This challenges Skinner's anti-mentalism, as does Dennett's Darwinian component.

For Dennett we act partially in accord with ancestrally acquired knowledge. With language, for instance, many believe that human beings are "hard-wired" or "pre-programmed" to learn languages, providing that we are raised in a suitable environment--e.g. a child parented by wolves in the wild will not be able to speak a language.†

---

†Wittgenstein's notion of a private language might seem to challenge this idea. But Wittgenstein, himself, argues that any kind of representation which is not socially shared cannot truly be language. More recently, the postmodern notion of connotation complicates this claim--i.e. if everyone understands signs differently, are we really communicating?

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• http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html

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As compras por impulso consumista é uma realidade.

Mas a crise leva-nos a pensar melhor. Será realmente imprescindível aquele objecto ?

Temos que nos questionar sobre o que desejamos e o que necessitamos.

Fazer uma lista do necessário para o dia a dia. Não fazer compras em volume para o mês. Estar atento aos preços.

As promoções são todas marketing. Não são ofertas.

Observem e analisem antes de comprar por impulsos exteriores.

Caminar lentamente en la fila de un banco, deberia servir de ejercicio para todo aquel que sea sordo o mudo, o su equivalente al que desconoce la teoria de Darwin sobre la Evolución del Hombre. Se necesita ser un imbécil a tiempo completo, como cualquier diputado dominicano, para ´seguir´gentilmente la ordenes que se nos dan mediante una hoja pegada a la pared, donde se advierte que no se puede hacer, en un lugar donde usted va a realizar una diligencia de índole monetaria.
Claro, a los bancos no les importa que SU dinero esté bajo sus garras, perdon, su bóvedas; que usted tiene todo el derecho del mundo a exigir sus derechos (no encuentro la redundancia).
Pues bien, leamos a continuación las advertencias que nos hacen los bancos, sobre la actitud que debemos adoptar al visitar una sucursal (que por cierto, su alquiler es pagado con nuestro dinero también).

* No Gorras o Sombreros:
Entiendo perfectamente, que aparte de formar parte de una serie de precauciones de seguridad, la paradoja se funde con la ficción, cuando usted observa que el ´guachimán´ de la puerta, tiene una gorra. Y no precisamente, ni del banco, ni de la compañia de seguridad que representa. Me puedo quejar de esto? No creo, ya que antes de protestar, dos bellas criaturitas con cara de estudiantes de Unibe, me miran con ojos de cobradores de guagua de Los Alcarrizos. Hay que quitarse la gorra.

* No Lentes de Sol:
Si usted entra a un banco con el aspecto del ´matatán de Don Rhon´, creame que hasta yo agarro la escopeta del ´guachi´ y la sobo par de veces. Por si aca. Pero en Santo Domingo, donde el sol tiene vacaciones de por vida, es lógico que usted espere un momento para adecuar la visión al nuevo espacio al que ha ingresado. Por lo visto, no lo ven o no lo notan quienes ´quieren´ proteger nuestro dinero, como si fuera de ellos mismos. Pero claro, todo es por seguridad. Hay que quitarse las gafas.

* No Uso de Celulares:
Se necesita ser familia de cualquier imbécil a tiempo completo, como cualquier diputado dominicano, para faltarle el respeto a la lógica de que si usted va a un banco a hacer una diligencia de índole monetaria, es preciso que esté al tanto de lo que sucede a su alrededor. Y por supuesto, c´est claire que queremos estar comunicados. Hay que apagar el celular, o atender la llamada más tarde. Pero, Oh! Bogo! como nos dejas a merced de la voluntad de los demás?!

Creo que ahí está la respuesta que buscaba: todo es inducido, a creer que nos hacen un favor, cuando en verdad la caridad la damos nosotros, a cambio de convertirnos en autómatas.

En resumen: mierda pa´los bancos!

pb

For å forstå det, må man forstå de mekanismene som ligger bak oppbygningen av et dataspill. De som faktisk får deg til å ville fortsette å spille spillet.

BEHAVIORISMEN: I det Herrens år 1849 kom russeren Ivan Pavlov til verden. Pavlov skulle vise seg å bli grunnleggeren av en svært innflytelsesrik psykologisk teori kjent under merkelappen behaviorisme. Pavlov observerte hvordan hunder reagerte ved å begynne å sikle hver gang de fikk mat.

Ved å sette en klokke til å ringe hver gang han fôret hundene, begynte de etter hvert å sikle bare ved lyden av klokken. Hundene hadde lært at hver gang klokken ringte, var det mat å få, og responderte ved å utskille mer spytt selv før de så snurten av maten. Konklusjonen var ikke til å ta feil av: hundene assosierte nå klokken med mat, og Pavlov hadde klart å endre hundenes atferd.

Tanken var jo selvsagt at disse mekanismene kunne overføres til mennesker. Behaviorismens fundament er at mennesker kan læres til å reagere på en bestemt måte ved å utsettes for bestemte ting, såkalte stimuli.

FORSTERKERE: Gjennom årenes løp utviklet Pavlovs observasjoner seg fra å være en sykelig besettelse av hundespytt, til å bli godt etablert i psykologien. Behaviorismen fikk mange tilhengere og ble videreutviklet blant annet av amerikaneren B. F. Skinner. Skinner har æren for innføringen av prisnsippet om forsterking. Sagt veldig enkelt: bli belønnet for å gjøre noe riktig.

En baby som ser en skje på tallerkenen, vil kanskje gripe etter den og kaste den ned på gulvet. Mamma bøyer seg ned og plukker opp skjeen fra gulvet og legger den tilbake på tallerken. Babyen griper skjeen igjen og kaster den på gulvet. Mamma bøyer seg ned igjen og plukker opp skjeen.

Resultatet kan vel de fleste tenke seg fram til.

At mamma plukker skjeen opp fra gulvet er en respons som fungerer som en forsterkningsmekanisme for babyen, og får babyen til å fortsette å kaste skjeen på gulvet. Hadde mamma bare latt skjeen bli liggende, altså fjernet den forsterkende konsekvensen, er det lite sannsynlig at babyen vil fortsette særlig lenge.

UTBREDT: Bruk av forsterkning er en viktig del av den kompliserte prosessen som kalles læring. På Allergot ungdomsskole på Jessheim har man begynt et prøveprosjekt hvor man tar i bruk en amerikansk teknikk kalt TAGteach. Prinsippet er en liten plastdings som læreren trykker på for å lage en skarp klikkelyd.

Hver gang en elev utfører en aktivitet på ønsket måte, blir han eller hun belønnet med en tag, altså et klikk med TAGteach-plastdingsen. Fravær av tag betyr ingen respons, altså ”prøv igjen”. Prøvekaninene på Jessheim hadde klare oppfatninger av den nye metoden:

- Innsatsen i timen blir litt bedre, for da vil man ha 'klikk' og sånn da.
- Ja, man føler på en måte at man får belønning for det man gjør da. Man får et 'klikk'. Det er jo ikke så mye, men det er ett eller annet som bare gjør sånn at du føler deg litt bedre da. Eller på en måte at du klarer det ordentlig.

TILBAKEMELDING: Umiddelbar positiv tilbakemelding på ønsket atferd er en velkjent og velbrukt fremgangsmåte i skole og arbeidsliv. Den positive tilbakemeldingen må gis så snart som mulig etter at den ønskede atferden er utført, slik at mottakeren lettere kobler den opp mot atferden.

Men det jeg snakket om var jo selvsagt spill, og hva har alt dette med dataspill å gjøre? Svaret er enkelt: det har alt med dataspill å gjøre. Men hvor i spillenes verden kan vi tydelig finne igjen alle disse prinsippene?

MMORPG: World of Warcraft er kanskje en av de aller største spillsuksessene noensinne, og tilhører sjangeren kjent som MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Som kjent har slike spill som oftest en månedlig abonnentsavgift, og det er dermed i utviklernes interesse å beholde spillerne så lenge som mulig.

De må derfor rett og slett lære spilleren at han ønsker å fortsette å spille spillet deres.

Spilleren blir derfor konstant utsatt for forstekingsmekanismer. Ved å se på et typisk World of Warcraft-oppdrag, som å drepe et gitt antall giraffer, blir det hele ganske tydelig. Spilleren får et oppdrag og tilbud om en bestemt belønning for å utføre oppdraget.

BELØNNING: Når så spilleren begynner å kverke giraffer, vil han få umiddelbar tilbakemelding om det han gjør er riktig. Hvis han dreper et neshorn skjer ingen ting, men hvis han dreper en giraff vil han momentant få positiv tilbakemelding.

For å utføre oppdraget vil spilleren kanskje få et flott sverd som belønning, men vil også motta en pen sum erfaringspoeng. Disse inngår i en større forsterkingsmekanisme, der ønsket om å nå et høyere nivå får spilleren til å ville fortsette å gjøre oppdrag, siden høyere nivåer låser opp nye muligheter.

Dette finner en igjen i forskjellige former i de fleste dataspill, men er nok spesielt tydelig i MMO-spill. Det spesielle med disse spillene er også det sosiale aspektet; at man spiller sammen med tusenvis av andre.

SOSIALT: Som medlem av et laug (guild) vil nettopp det å ha oppnådd et høyt nivå, eller fått tak i et bestemt magisk sverd, dekke et behov for anerkjennelse i spillverdenen, som igjen er en forsterking som oppmuntrer til å stadig strekke seg lenger for å skape begeistring. Maslows behovspyramide illustrerer dette veldig godt.

Akkurat som at babyen gjerne fortsetter gåtreningen, hvis begeistringen er stor fra omgivelsene.

De enorme mulighetene for kontroll, og den umiddelbare tilbakemeldingen, gjør at spillene i realiteten fungerer som rene forsterkingsmaskiner.

KONTROLL: Enkelte mennesker opplever liten grad av kontroll og forutsigbarhet i hverdagen, og spillet blir lett for dem en flukt fra virkeligheten inn i en verden der også de finner kontroll og forutsigbarhet. En kan spille for å oppleve behagelige ting, eller en kan spille for å slippe unna ubehagelige ting. For mange er det nok litt begge deler.

Men en ting er sikkert: vi lar oss alle henrive av spillenes fantastiske evne til å oppsluke.

The idea of conditioning human behavior is a rather old one. Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics,outlines his method of moral education. Essentially it is a program of habituation. For example, one becomes brave by being conditioned to face danger (an approach long utilized in military training). After Aristotle others built on this theory such as Pavlov (in his famous dog experiments) and Skinner (in his behaviorist approach). Naturally enough, men have long been regarded by some women as dogs to be trained or domesticated and this often ends up in humor as well.

There are, of course, moral concerns about intentionally using training techniques on someone you love in order to change their behavior. Such an intent seems to be a matter of manipulation and seems to show a lack of respect for the person. It further seems to be based on the assumption that people are not free agents and can be conditioned and controlled. This view of humans is seen as morally repugnant by many people.

That said, there is the obvious fact that people always try to change the behavior of others towards what they would prefer. For example, I try to get my students to learn, write better and do well in class. This is done, in part,  by  motivating them with rewards (good grades) and punishments (bad grades). As another example, if I am interested in dating someone, I would act in ways that I hope would incline her to go out with me. Of course, it could be said that in doing such things I am not using animal training techniques to make a person conform to my will. This, it could be argued, is a morally relevant difference.

While that is a reasonable point, there is the main question of whether such techniques are immoral or not. In the case of pets, the techniques are, in general, morally acceptable.  After all, pets do not have a very good grasp of language and are somewhat limited in terms of their powers of reason. Hence, conditioning techniques are what are needed. In general, such training does benefit the animal. A well trained and well behaved pet is generally happier than a poorly trained and badly behaved pet. After all, a badly behaved pet could well be sent to the shelter or end up creating conflict and unhappiness. For example, a badly trained dog might end up destroying furniture and attacking other dogs or even people. A well trained dog, on the other hand, will not exhibit such bad behavior.  So, the techniques are justified in that they are effective and the end for which they are intended is a good end. Of course, some animal training uses methods that are needlessly brutal and some is aimed at bad ends. In those cases, such training would be morally unacceptable.

Turning to humans, the same sort of justification can be used. If the end is laudable and the means are the most effective, then such conditioning could be justified.

In the case of Sutherland, her goal seems to be to have a better marriage by modifying behavior that creates needless conflict. That seems like a laudable goal. In general, if woman used this technique to create a better marriage in the sense of reducing needless conflict and enhancing domestic tranquility, then the ends would be good.

What, then, about the means? Is it acceptable to use conditioning techniques on humans? Since humans are, one hopes, rational beings (to some extent) it would seem that such techniques would not be acceptable. People should attempt to use reason in order to change the behavior of others.

Naturally, this assumes that people are rational and are governed by rationality. This is sometimes the case, but often not the case. If people were generally rational, they would behave in ways much differently than they do now.  In reality, most people tend to be ruled by their passions and desires and do not submit readily to arguments and fine ideals (to steal from Aristotle). In such cases the only viable option is to use methods that work. As Aristotle argued, habituation does work. Further, merely convincing someone that their behavior is causing problems only rarely causes them to change that behavior and act in ways that would less problematic. In order for someone to actually change and stick with the change, they need to be habituated to change their behavior. This can, of course, be done by the person himself. But it does help to have exterior motivations (such as salsa and chips-as used by Sutherland). To use an analogy, think of exercise. Almost everyone believes that exercise is beneficial. But believing this does not result in most people exercising. To get people to exercise generally requires more motivation. Getting someone to stick with it requires habituation.

Naturally, if such techniques are used to achieve unacceptable ends, then such actions would be immoral. History shows that people can be readily conditioned in ways that are oppressive and abusive. Clearly, such things would be harmful and hence immoral.

In light of the above discussion, it seems that conditioning people can be acceptable-provided that the methods are benevolent and the goals are laudable.

Inderdaad is een psychiater een arts, een dokter. Maar psychologie is een apart wetenschappelijk discipline. De laatste hoeft zich in beginsel niet met de 'zieke' medemens bezig te houden. De psycholoog onderzoekt immers de geest in al zijn facetten, gezond of ongezond. Hoe komen wij tot wasdom? Welke wetmatigheden zijn daarin te onderscheiden? Welk aandeel heeft de biologische constitutie, en wat is de invloed van leren?

Het wetenschappelijk bedrijf dient altijd geplaatst te worden binnen de context van de 'Zeitgeist'. Daarom speelde onderdrukte sexualiteit een bijzonder grote rol in de theorieën van Sigmund Freud. De burgerij had net het preutste tijdperk sinds eeuwen van zich afgeschud. Vandaar.

Freud, tussen twee haakjes, was een klassiek geneesheer. Net als de Russische fysioloog en tijdgenoot Ivan Pavlov. Door psychologen wordt Pavlov wel gezien als de 'vader' van deze studierichting. Met name door het belang dat hij hechtte aan onderzoek, en daarbinnen naar het leerproces.

Met 'leren' kunnen psychologen iets, aangezien dat impliceert dat er vaste patronen zijn. Voor jou en mij, in wezen, identiek. Als mensen niet zouden kunnen leren, zouden ze niet door psychologen behandeld kunnen worden. Dan rest de pil van de dokter, de psychiater.

Hoewel 'leren' als rationeel principe haaks lijkt te staan op het 'onbewuste' (das Id) van Freud, stonden beide axioma's sterk in de belangstelling tegen het einde van de fin de siècle. Zaken die elkaars tegenpool lijken, blijken bij nader inzien heel verwant. Ook Freud, als Godfather van alle duistere spelonken van de menselijke geest, had aandacht voor de ratio. Sterker, de Weense arts beschouwde civilisatie als belangrijk doel bij het overwinnen van primitieve driften.

Maar terwijl Freud zijn inzichten baseerde op de casus, voornamelijk rijke welgestelde dames met psychische klachten die in het huidige tijdsgewricht nauwelijks meer voorkomen, te weten de hysterie, ging Pavlov methodich en experimenteel te werk. De Rus heeft met de ontdekking van de 'klassieke conditionering' baanbrekend werkt verricht. Pavlov bewees dat een willekeurige stimulus, in zijn geval het luiden van een bel, een niet aangeboren respons teweeg kan brengen, hier: speelselsecretie bij een hond. Deze verbinding, conditionering onstaat als de stimulus een voldoende aantal keren aan de natuurlijke prikkel (een bak met eten) is gekoppeld.

De klassieke condionering is later verfijnd tot een fijnmaziger variant, de operante condionering. Maar de implicaties waren hetzelfde: leren speelt een veel grotere rol dan voordien voor mogelijk werd gehouden. Wat ook betekent dat de mens zijn boeien van predestinatie kan overwinnen.

Toch heeft binnen de muren van de kliniek de pil gewonnen. En die pil, die wordt door de psychiater voorgeschreven. Bij gebrek aan beter, dat wel.

What others might find interesting are the more general differences between a Japanese school and schools elsewhere. For example, schools here do not have dining halls or canteens. Lunch is served and consumed in the classroom, with the students sitting at their desks. In fact, students spend a great deal of time in that same classroom, as they do not move from one room to another between lessons (unless it is for something like science or art), it is the teachers who move and come to them.

One of the most striking contrasts is the fact that Japanese schools do not have cleaners. They do not need them. The students and the teachers clean their own schools.

I am not merely talking about the casual sweeping of the floor and the standing of chairs on desks that we would partake in at the end of the day at primary school back home, I am talking about the full scale scrubbing, purging and sterilising of every corner of the building. Grass is mowed, carpets are vacuumed, toilets are scoured, cupboards are dusted. The heavy duty cleaning fluids emerge, the gardening equipment is heaved out. Every student has a job, and has to sign off their work with a supervising teacher at the end of the allotted 15 minutes each day.

Oh, and the whole thing is done to the accompaniment of classical music.

I had been warned to expect all this before I came, but still didn't take it entirely seriously. Sure, there might be a cursory tidying of the classrooms at the end of the day, perhaps the occasional sweeping of the corridors, maybe once in a while a student or two might even by roped in to sweep up some leaves outside; but surely the real cleaning must be going on at some other time, undertaken by somebody else.

The first day after the students had returned to school following the summer holidays in my first few weeks in the job soon disabused me of that notion, and removed any doubt in my mind as to the level of seriousness in which the task was approached. As the school hadn't had a proper going-over for a good few weeks during the break, this was to be a bumper cleaning session. I was sat at my desk working, not paying much attention to the activity outside the staff room, confident in my assumption that it was the normal hustle and bustle of a hectic first day back. I eventually glanced up from my painstakingly crafted self-introduction poster (that I would later that day spill coffee all over and have to bin), and in the corridor outside saw a group of monkey-like first years clambering over the banks of six-foot high shoe racks, furiously dusting away.

I wandered outside to admire their work, then strolled on to chat with those polishing the bookshelves in the library, questioned the sanity of those huddled over outside in the humidity picking out tiny rocks from the glorified sand pit serving as a sports field, and lent a hand with the emptying of the waste paper baskets.

Come the next day, and the sounding of the bell for cleaning time, I approached the vice-principal, and in a mixture of Japanese, English, and gesturing (but largely the latter), enquired as to what my role in the process would be. No doubt keen to keep an eye on the gaijin and his as yet untested cleaning abilities, he led me outside, in plain view of the staffroom windows, where a group of first year girls were weeding the grass.

"OK?" he asked.

"OK," I responded, with a thumbs-up, despite secretly harbouring misgivings about my new job locating me in the full glare of the evil, evil sun. Nevertheless, I greeted my fellow workers, exchanged a few pleasantries, and got to work.

I really haven't looked back. Despite the heat at first, and now the cold, I enjoy my fifteen minutes outside, trying my best to chat with the students, coming across strange looking insects and frogs and finding out what they're called in Japanese, being chased by spider-brandishing first years after having foolishly revealed my one crippling weakness, and absorbing the boisterous laughs and comments of the third years, who seem to find the notion of my doing any kind of manual labour, hilarious. They do have a point, I suppose.

There is also variety in my work. At first the job was all about weeding, and nothing more, which sounds less than riveting, yet proved to be a task I found strangely therapeutic. As the seasons changed so did my role. I have found myself attempting to remove roots with ineffective pieces of wood masquerading as some sort of tool, or sweeping up leaves but not collecting them, meaning that the whole process had to be started again the next day. Currently I am involved in an unfathomable exercise wherein I use a dangerous looking spiked apparatus to stab, smash and churn the ground. I can imagine it might have something to do with loosening the earth during these cold winter months, but it hardly seems worth it for the mess it leaves.

If there's one complaint to be had with the whole cleaning affair, it's the classical music. It quickly started to grate, consisting, as it does, of the same three pieces every single day, No doubt the CD player's eject button has ceased to function and so we are stuck with "The Idiots' Guide to Classical Music." I'm no classical buff, but it seems such a waste of an opportunity to introduce the kids to some new and interesting pieces, and not merely instill in them some Pavlovian cleaning response to the Blue-bloody-Danube.

Despite that, the whole thing is very much something that would benefit school life back home. Of course, there is not a chance in hell that the students (or the teachers for that matter) there would take to it. The fact that every school in Japan follows the ritual without question or transgression speaks more to the Japanese state of mind and tendency towards homogeneity than it does the intrinsic appeal of the idea.

Someone once said that it was a pity that communism never made it here, as it would have been the one place in the world where it might have stood a chance of actually working. The professionalism and dedication I witness at cleaning time at my school every day certainly gives me reason to believe there might be an element of truth to that statement.

New practitioners of the Pomodoro Technique often doubt that the tick-tack sound of the kitchen timer is quiet enough to not disturb their focus. And the ringing is questioned as well – is it disturbing to other people if you ring in a shared space?

A Pomodoro is a 25 minutes working session with maximum focus on the task. To gain as much result as possible from these 25 minutes of effort, I want to have a sustainable pace during the whole session.

The suggested method of starting a Pomodoro is to wind up a kitchen timer, and then focus on the working task until the timer rings.

Is it an advantage if the signals are more subtle than an alarming kitchen timer? What about if I use a quiet mobile phone with a summer? Or perhaps I just need to have my eye, now and then, on the wristwatch?

Do I really need to have regulated sessions at all? If I just start working when I'm ready and then, when I feel unfocused, just stop working – would that create the same result?

Focus enablers and disablers

All my mental engines should start immediately when the Pomodoro is started. And they shouldn't decrease their power until the session time is over.

After the Pomodoro comes a short break for 3-5 minutes. My mind should be totally detached from the working task during the break. If my mental engines are instantaneously stopped when the break starts, then the detachment will be optimal.

The need for disabling and enabling my focus on the working task happens many times every day. Ideally, I want this behaviour to be controlled by the spinal cord, without the need for a more cognitive evaluation of the situation.

Reflex as enabler and disabler

A specific signal (stimuli) that automatically generates a specific action is called a reflex. The signal could for example be a gesture or a sound. The action that is happening, in my case, is total focus on or total detach from the working task.

During his research on the physiology of digestion, the 1904 Russian Nobel prize winner Ivan Petrovitj Pavlov noticed that the lab dogs began to salivate every time when they saw the lab technicians who normally fed them. The fact that the dogs salivate when they saw the food is called an unconditional reflex. The food is the unconditional signal and the salivate is the unconditional action. Pavlov started to play a special sound with a tuning fork a few seconds before the food was served the dogs. After a while the dogs started to salivate also when only the sound was played, even though no food was served. This is a conditional reflex.

These two kinds of reflexes have different origins. The evolution of the specie created the unconditional reflex, while the experiences of the individual organism created the conditional reflex.

To focus on or detach from the working task is the actions of Pomodoro Technique. I want to associate unconditional signals for enabling these actions in an unconditional reflex. The signals should be easily distinguished – visible, audible or tactilely. And they should be unique in the meaning of not being used in other reflexes that I could confuse with the Pomodoro reflexes. To wind up the kitchen timer, to hear a tick-tack or to write a cross in my To Do Today form are clear gestures and sounds.

Reflexes as focus enablers in the sports world

Conditional reflexes are well known phenomenon in the sports world. Turk Wendell, a former Major League Baseball star, used to brush his teeth between every inning. Captain of Chelsea and England national football team, John Terry, always listens to the same Usher CD in his car, when he drives to a game.

And most impressive of all: One of the football world's best strikers in the 21st century, Adrian Mutu, stated very clear that "Curses cannot touch me because I wear my underwear inside out.". Mutu has trained a reflex, where the signal is to turn his underwear inside out and the action is to focus on the upcoming game.

Are these examples meaningless superstition acts or pure focusing enablers?

Putting it all together

1. I want a quick transition from the mind state of detached to the mind state of focus. This will let me have the pace already from the start of the working session.
2. To let my mind absorb what I just learned and to be able to see things from a new point of view I detach from the working task during a short break. I want a quick transition from the mind state of focus to the mind state of detached when I go for a break. This will be the optimal break.
3. I don't want to constantly consider if I should stop focus, when I'm in the mind state of focus. Something else should wake me up when it's time to transfer my mind state.
4. Pavlov showed that repeated signals could be used to provoke actions in a conditional reflex.

To wind up the kitchen timer is my signal to focus. The tick-tack is the signal that it's still focus time. And the ringing makes my mind transit to the state of detached from the working task.

What about sound pollution in shared spaces then? In order to not disturb my neighbours in my shared space, we all have our own personal ring signal.

Additional facts:

• The story of Pavlov is often told as if he signalled the occurrence of food by ringing a bell. His written notes revealed the use of a wide variety of stimuli. This includes whistles, metronomes, tuning forks, and even visual stimuli, in addition to ringing a bell.
• Francesco Cirillo, the inventor of Pomodoro Technique, wrote: "What’s more, to mark the end of a Pomodoro or to eliminate a finished activity from the To DoToday Sheet, Pomodoro practitioners should use explicit gestures. For this reason it’s better if these aren’t automated."
• Turk Wendell wore jersey number 99, in honour of a character in the movie Major League (played by Charlie Sheen). Also, in 2000 he signed a contract worth 9 999 999 dollars and 99 cents.
• Adrian Mutu was caught in a cocaine test in 2004 and was fired from Chelsea. He was then banned from English football for a while. But that didn't stop Italian side Juventus from signing a five year contract with him.

Dit zijn, natuurlijk, wanverhoudingen. Elke verhouding is zoek.

Soms lijkt het dat een ieder die voor het digitale tijdperk is geboren, er niet meer toe doet. 'Voor zonsopgang', in 1978 door uitgeverij Van Oorschot gepubliceerd in de reeks Russische Miniaturen, en in mijn bezit, heeft niet eens een ISBN-nummer. Michail Zosjtsjenko lijkt wel een fossiel uit een verre pre-historie, een mamoet uit de bittere toendra van Siberië.

Toch is de goede man pas in 1958 overleden, nu 50 jaar geleden. En: zijn proza is nog modern -- zelfs actueel.

Overigens, de Russische kranten meldden het overlijden van de schrijver in een éénregelig bericht. Ook in de Sovjet-Unie was hij al begraven voordat hij onder de zoden lag. Dat had echter niets met nullen en éénen, bits, te maken. Zosjtsjenko, de satirische succes-schrijver, wiens boeken in de twintiger jaren in een oplage van meer dan een miljoen verschenen, werd in 1944 in de ban gedaan. Hij had het gewaagd de novelle 'Voor zonsopgang' te schrijven waarin hij consequent op zoek gaat naar de bron van zijn neurosen. In de heilstaat van proletariers bestaan die vanzelfsprekend niet, en zeker niet in tijden van oorlog. Psychiatrische inrichtingen dienden voor het opsluiten van dissidenten, als zij al niet de kampen Stalin om het leven waren gebracht.

Voor zonsondergang is een fascinerend boek. Zosjtsjenko, gewend om krikiek op het communistische bewind slinks te verpakken, gebruikt de theorie van de Russische coryfee Pavlov als leidraad bij zijn zelfonderzoek. Pavlov is wereldvermaard geworden met zijn hond: hij toonde aan dat leergedrag kan resulteren in een vooraf gedefineerde respons. Dat was de geboorte van de stimulus-respons theorie, die overal de belangstelling voor bewust gestuurd leren aanwakkerde. Dat was een duidelijke breuk met het verleden waarin de duistere machten van Das Id de dienst uitmaakten.

Pavlov's bevindingen hebben geleid tot een psychotherapeutische benadering, de gedragstherapie. Die wordt nog volop gebruikt, met name bij enkelvoudige neusosen -- denk daarbij aan fobieën.

Ogenschijnlijk laat Voor zonsondergang zich lezen als een tot in het uiterste doorgevoerde gedragtherapie, een therapie van en voor de schrijver zelf. Maar de hele teneur is Freudiaans. Zosjtjsenko legt zichzelf op de canapé en analyseert tot het bittere einde -- tot de verlossende catharsis.