<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">Here's the idea: for the purpose of doing studies, we have to have measurements, very preferably in numbers of some sort, that we can do again and again and get very similar results. In psychology this is difficult.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">That calls for operational definitions: the concept is defined by the measurements used. That enables us to say intelligence is the score on the STanford/Binet test, which sounds silly to most people.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">But that is exactly what we are looking for. We are not trying to tell what the concept is. That usually calls for words that themselves need defining, like what I wrote in response to Dave. Synonyms just won't work. 'Willpower means not quitting.' OK, now - just what does that mean? We now have to define 'not quitting'. No good. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4">From Google: '</font><span style="color:rgb(32,33,36);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif"> </span><b style="color:rgb(32,33,36);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif">the operational definition of anxiety could be in terms of a test score, withdrawal from a situation, or activation of the sympathetic nervous system</b><span style="color:rgb(32,33,36);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif">.</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(32,33,36);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(32,33,36);font-family:Roboto,arial,sans-serif">All of those are behaviors that we can easily measure and agree upon. bill w</span></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Apr 9, 2022 at 4:48 PM Will Steinberg via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Willpower is the ability to physically execute plans. That's a simple one</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Apr 9, 2022, 5:34 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Dave, that's not bad. It does contain words that could be turned into experimental manipulations. But it still lacks the measurement function. What is short term? Long term? How will we define gratification? All problems of measurement. bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Apr 9, 2022 at 2:46 PM Dave S via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="arial, sans-serif">On Fri, Apr 8, 2022 at 7:29 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></font></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font face="arial, sans-serif">and until someone comes up with a noncircular definition of willpower (which would not make me wrong) I rest my case. </font></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>"Willpower is the ability to resist short-term gratification in pursuit of long-term goals or objectives." <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/personality/willpower" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.apa.org/topics/personality/willpower</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>-Dave</div></div></div>
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