How I used psychology to get two 9-year-old girls to do my bidding today.

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I was at the pool for several hours this afternoon. I spent about an hour reading a book, and then about two hours leisurely doing laps. With me at the pool was a Spanish-speaking family. There was an apparent mom, dad, and grandma, along with a 1 1/2-year-old boy, a 2 1/2-year old boy, and two girls who appeared to be about 9-years-old. I clapped when the little ones did something special, like jumping into the pool, but otherwise left the family alone. After I had been swimming for about an hour, I noticed one of the girls splashing water on something near the side of the pool. She said, in perfect English, "It's a bee!" As some of you know, I have a thing about rescuing bees right now, as the Earth's bee population is apparently declining. Rather than say, "Don't drown the bee!" I said, "Oh, I think I can save her!" I jumped out of the pool, stole a leaf from a nearby plant, and coaxed her onto it. I then dropped her near a plant, and said, loudly, "She will dry off there and then fly off. We saved her!" I went back to swimming laps, but the girls then made a game out of search for bees to save. The bolder of the two found one at the edge of the pool, trying to escape a "deep" puddle, grabbed a leaf, saved her, and dumped her on the same bush that I had used as a "bee hospital." When the family left, I waved goodbye to everyone, and one of the girls said, in perfect English, "Nice meeting you!" I said, "Nice meeting you as well!" Can you guess what those girls are going to do next time they encounter a bee struggling in the pool or in the water along side the pool? I "manipulated" them by using what psychologist Albert Bandura calls "modeling." If you want a kid to do something, don't tell them to do it. Just do it while they're watching. Soon, it will be a part of their behavioral repertoire.