Skip to content
Simplifying Relationships Simplifying Relationships

A concise guide to dealing with other people, living your best life and connecting in disonnected times.

  • BOOK
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contents
  • Testimonials
  • Groups
Simplifying Relationships
Simplifying Relationships

A concise guide to dealing with other people, living your best life and connecting in disonnected times.

Intermittent Reinforcement

jodyandrews, August 2, 2024August 2, 2024

Reinforcement learning is the idea of being able to assign credit or blame to all the actions you took along the way while you were getting that reward signal.
-Jeff Dean

Experiments in learning found if they consistently rewarded a rat with a pellet every time they pressed a lever, they had a contented rat. If the rat never got a pellet, the rat moved on. However, if they gave only an occasional pellet at random, the rat would stay – obsessively pressing the lever in the hope of an eventual reward. It is the same premise used in gambling, newsfeeds and social media. Our devices are like pellet dispensers, generating a sense of anticipation, excitement and desire. Anyone in our lives can act as a dispenser – employers, friends, family, and partners, intermittently dispensing whatever it is we desire – love, connection, belonging, admiration, security. It is unhealthy and it can keep us stuck.



Simplifying Relationships with Other People

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Reliability in Relationships with Others

June 2, 2024July 7, 2024

“Trust should be guarded to the end: without trust we cannot stand.“–Confucius Reliability of commitment begs the questions: Can I trust you? Can I count on you? Do you do what you say you will do and when you say you will do it? – Do you walk the walk,…

Read More

Reliability in Community

June 26, 2024June 26, 2024

Definition of good neighbor: someone to be trusted; a courteous, friendly source of help when help is needed; someone you can count on; someone who cares. –Edward B. Rust Jr. Being a reliable, contributing or (at least non annoying) member of a community or neighborhood is another essential element of…

Read More

Checklist for assessing work relationships

June 30, 2024July 7, 2024

Use a checklist to assess your professional relationships: Reciprocity: Is the work being shared equally? Do I feel I am being reimbursed fairly? Are my cheerful greetings returned? Reliability: Are my colleagues and supervisor(s) reliable and predicable? Do they help get the job done as promised? Respect: Do I feel…

Read More
©2025 Simplifying Relationships | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes
Product successfully added to the cart!