Episode 73: On the Folly of….Politics — The Psych Files Podcast

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"On The Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping For B" is a well known article by Steven Kerr that appeared in The Academy of Management Executive. Want an example of how insightful Steven Kerr was with this article that is still relevant today? Look no further than the US election and Comedy Central.

In the "On The Folly…" article, Kerr states that,

Whether dealing with monkeys, rats or human beings…most organisms seek information concerning what activities are rewarded and then seek to do (or at least pretend to do) those things often to the virtual exclusion of activities not rewarded.

In politics, official goals…may be relied on to offend absolutely no one…The American voter typically punishes (withholds support from) candidates who frankly discuss where the money will come from, rewards politicians who speak only of official goals but hopes that candidates (despite the reward system) will discuss the issues operatively [i.e., with specifics].

As an example of Steven Kerr’s insight into how rewards and punishment affect politics, take a look at this video from Comedy Central. Stewart’s "Generic-Off" shows how politicians are reluctant to talk specifics.

Here is another video from The Daily Show in which Stewart points out that in Obama’s acceptance speech, he makes many, many promises with no specifics (the section of interest starts around 1:00 and goes for about a minute):

Another example might be when presidential candidate John McCain attempted to answer a very difficult question. In this video, is he trying to think of an answer to the question, or is he – like most politicians who understand how Americans reward and punishment politicians – trying to think of a way to answer the question so that the answer contains no specifics?

Resources for this Episode

Here is where you can read the Kerr article online: On The Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping For B

Additional Resources

ProCon.org is a website where you can see exactly where the presidential candidates stand on a variety of issues. Click on Election 2008.
GlassBooth.org "connects you to the 2008 presidential candidate that represents your beliefs the best" – in other words, you fill out a brief survey of where you stand on various issues, and then this site helps you determine which candidate is most like you.