Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with behavioral

Theory and Practice Agree in Theory but not in Practice

jasonhong — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:58:01 -0800

In what cases is game theory a good model of actual human behavior? I'm curious as to the extent that game theory has been empirically validated as being a good model of human behavior, in terms of theories and domains. If you know of any specific theories or domains that have been validated, or any good survey papers or introductory material, I'd really appreciate it.

For example, (I'm making these next statements up) "game theory turns out to be surprisingly effective for modeling dating behavior among high school students" or "the predicted results of Prisoner's Dilemma based on game theory highly correlates with our user studies".

I'm familiar with the basics of game theory (minimax, nash equilibria) and basics of behavioral economics (the ultimatum game, Kahneman and Tversky's Prospect Theory,
The Paradox of Choice, some of George Loewenstein's work).

Recommedations for CBT therapists in Austin?

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:00:43 -0800

I have a friend who suffers from anxiety and panic disorder. She currently sees a therapist, but is interested in a more structured approach. Does anyone have a recommendation for a female therapist in Austin, TX who specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? I would also be interested in getting recommendations for brief inpatient programs.

Calling my mom would be cheaper.

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:30:54 -0800

I'm not getting a much out of my cognitive-behavioral therapy. Do my therapists suck, or are my expectations just too high? So I recently decided to seek some mental-health help for chronic issues I've been having with procrastination, anxiety, depression and unproductivity. Based on the research I did, it seemed as though cognitive-behavioral therapy would be a good approach; I think I'm a fundamentally sane person, but I have lots of bad mental habits and issues with self-control that weren't being fixed by my own best efforts. I thought CBT would offer a stepwise, research-based way of thinking myself out of those un-useful patterns and starting to develop better habits-- kind of like personal training for the brain.

Since then, I've been to two therapists who claimed to be CBT-oriented, and I'm wondering whether I just picked poor specimens, or whether my expectations for this form of therapy were too high. The first one basically sat and chatted with me, occasionally detouring into bigger philosophical discussions/debates or little autobiographical vignettes. He occasionally gave me direct advice about my life ("Well, it seems like you should stay in your grad program...") and dispensed little nuggets of chicken-soupy wisdom ("You know, love always means taking a risk"), but never gave me any homework or did any exercises or, you know, worked on anything.

After two sessions, I left Therapist #1's practice and signed on with Therapist #2; we've had four meetings to date. She's less pompous than T1, but still not especially helpful: essentially, we talk about my life, and she offers the kind of sensible suggestions I've been getting all my life from people more organized than I: Try getting on a schedule! Break your tasks down into little pieces, then do them! Don't wallow in regret over past failures; move forward! It's all great advice, but honestly, if I could have achieved any of those things just by willing myself to do so, I wouldn't be seeking therapy in the first place. I know nobody can do my work for me, but I was hoping CBT would offer some sort of ladder of steps I could climb to help me become able to keep to a schedule, or to move on from guilt and regret-- in other words, a sort of manageable couch-to-5k program, not just a big sign saying GO RUN THAT MARATHON.

I know folk here speak highly of CBT, so I was hoping someone who's had success with it could comment on my experience. Is what I'm getting a good representation of the cognitive-behavioral approach, or should I seek out yet another therapist? And if the latter, any hints on picking someone better this time?

Give me the job already, dammit!

KokuRyu — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:34:02 -0800

How should I prepare for behavioral questions in a job interview? I'm in the process of switching from contracting to full-time employment. Through my work as a consultant, I know a lot of HR and hiring managers in the town where I live. Over coffee, I mentioned to one of these people that I had just had a job interview. She said, "you're a writer, aren't you? Why don't you apply for the writing job at our company?"

So I did. Tomorrow, I have three hours of interviews with 8 people, including all the stakeholders up to the CEO (it's a startup of 50 people).

The job involves creating marketing collateral, etc., with no responsibilities other than being the house wordsmith (no technical writing or documentation). It's a fast growing company, so there *may* be a ladder up to bigger and better things. But I like writing, specifically creating content that builds a brand or helps people sell stuff.

Behavioral questions always throw me. "Could you tell me about a time when," or "What would you do if?"

I think I have the "What is your biggest weakness?" question down:

Identify weakness (eg, time management) + ways you are addressing this weakness

But the questions the HR managers lob at you always leave me scrambling.

Any help would be appreciated.

How might we stop one of our cats from yanking out great clumps of her hair?

yoga — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:59:52 -0800

Neurotic cat filter: How might we stop one of our cats from yanking out great clumps of her hair? It started last summer, after we got rid of our living room furniture, which had slipcovers under which she frequently tented herself. Thinking maybe she missed tenting, we created other tenting places for her: blanket draped across chair arms, bed under a desk, clearing under a nightstand. The yanking continues.

We tried this stuff to de-stress her, which semi-works on & off. She's always been people-shy and skittish - she was feral, and adopted very young. But the hair yanking thing is new. Her much older (by about a decade) companion cat who was already present when Queen Neurotic came to roost died about 2 months ago. We also acquired a new cat last summer, which she was fine with for the first month he was here. They don't fight or hiss, they're just not close.

No food or litter changes, no laundry detergent changes, no carpet cleaners or other deodorant-ish substances have been introduced to our house.

So short of shaving her so she *has* no hair to yank, paying out the yingyang for a behavioral consultant, or putting her on freaking valium, WTF can we do?

Signed, also balding from trying to figure out the feline neurosis.

Everyone's Pissed

scrump — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:35:58 -0800

Our cats are urinating inappropriately, and seem to be targeting our kid. Can the situation be salvaged? We have two indoor-only cats that predate our kid by about a year. Until this point, kid and cats have coexisted peacefully: he doesn't torture them, and they seem to actually enjoy his presence.

However, for the past several months, one or both cats have been increasingly urinating inappropriately on his changing pad, the laundry in his room, and the twin bed in his room. If his clothes are in a load of our laundry, they've occasionally targeted the entire load of our stuff.

We have no idea which cat is the problem.

Both cats have been examined by a veterinarian, and there is no health-related reason for this. It certainly seems like they're targeting him. We're changing the litterboxes twice a day. We're giving the cats plenty of attention.

We're at our wits' end. We very much do not want to have to choose between the cats and the kid, because that's not a choice at all, but we can't live like this, washing every load three times and basically reconfiguring our entire lives around unpredictable feline behavior.

Has anyone successfully solved this problem? If you have, how?