Some fascinating psychological detective work was once done in a second-grade classroom. The teacher had complained that the children were getting harder and harder to control. They were standing up and roaming around the room rather than doing their work.
Two psychologists spent several days at the back of the room with stopwatches, carefully observing the behavior of both the children and the teacher. Every ten seconds they recorded on their pads how many children were out of their seats. On average, some child was standing 360 times in every 20-minute period and the teacher said “Sit down!” 7 times in every 20-minute period.
The psychologists suggested that she consciously increase the number of times she commanded “Sit down!” and see what would happen. So in the next few days, according to observers, she yelled, “Sit down!” an average of 27.5 times per 20 minute period. Did that change the children’s behavior? Indeed it did. They were out of their seats 540 times per period, or an increase of 50% …
Here is the kicker. For the final week,
...