I'm gonna get extra credit for this???

So, since I routinely have to give myself a little breathing room when it comes to my grades, I chose to take one of my professors up on a little EX CRED challenge: posting comments to her blog online. (It's a good site! Check out www.laurafreberg.com !)

The assignment is simple: read a blog entry and post a comment that contains more than the words "that's cool...". So, I chose to comment on her "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat" post. It's all about how we strive to win, even though people will say [read: lie] about how it really isn't all about winning. Here goes:

"I couldn't agree more with Garrett [USC's athletic director.] Ever since I was a child, I learned about the Psychology of parenting by observing my own. My mom always TOLD me that I needed to be a good sport (apparently I had inherited the competitive gene from my dad) whilst my father would SHOW me how to win (i.e. "keep your eye on the ball"). I can't imagine that anything in life is worth doing unless it's worth doing well. And, in order to do that, you have to try to win.

It is the basic psychological principle of positive reinforcement. We try to win, because of all the accolades we receive when we do so -- the trophies, the pats on the back, the cash money, the "atta girls (or boys, for the guys)." Thus, the rewards for winning reinforce our behavior to such an extent that we try to continue the same behavior over and over again to receive the reward.

Unfortunately, one cannot control all the factors involved with any given scenario (such as the weather, competitors, or controlling exactly what one ate that day and how many milliliters of water one consumed). So you get our Marion Joneses of our generation, trying to up their edge by injecting chemicals to make them have the edge biologically. Why would one go to such lengths? It MUST be all about winning..."