Rats are taught that if they press a bar, a food pellet will be released. Once they are conditioned to press the bar, you can remove the food source and they will continue to push the bar in hopes of getting food. He called this superstitious behavior, and said it is the same as Christians praying even though their prayers are seldom, if ever, answered.
We've often heard of athletes who use visualization - imagining themselves flying over the high jump bar or sinking the impossible putt. I suppose that is another example of superstitious behavior - something that works just often enough that you would be tempted to try it again.
Lately I have been trying something similar.
We put our hummingbird feeders out a week ago, and I have been staring at the feeders attempting to will the hummingbirds back.
I'll let you know if it works.
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