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- Apr 14, 2006
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Whenever I play golf, I recall the basic psychology class I took in college. In particular, I'm reminded of the Skinner box with the pigeon.
As I recall the experiment, if food comes out every time the pigeon pecks the lever, the pigeon leaves the lever alone until it gets hungry, then pecks only enough to get the food it wants. If the food never comes out, the pigeon stops pecking the lever entirely. But, importantly, if the food comes out randomly, the pigeon will peck the lever incessantly until it dies.
Similarly, if you hit a great shot every time, you'll play golf when only necessary to fill your larder. And if every shot is a duff, you'll give up golf entirely. But the sad fact is that you can shank the ball five times in a row, and then, out of nowhere, suddenly hit that long straight drive that looks like it could be on TV. And that is what keeps us coming back to the links time after time after time.
As I recall the experiment, if food comes out every time the pigeon pecks the lever, the pigeon leaves the lever alone until it gets hungry, then pecks only enough to get the food it wants. If the food never comes out, the pigeon stops pecking the lever entirely. But, importantly, if the food comes out randomly, the pigeon will peck the lever incessantly until it dies.
Similarly, if you hit a great shot every time, you'll play golf when only necessary to fill your larder. And if every shot is a duff, you'll give up golf entirely. But the sad fact is that you can shank the ball five times in a row, and then, out of nowhere, suddenly hit that long straight drive that looks like it could be on TV. And that is what keeps us coming back to the links time after time after time.