Hopefully Anonymous

Optimimizing and Modeling key life events

1. First an overdue recommendation for Synedoche, New York. I saw it a few weeks ago, and there were a few brilliant and relevant scenes in it, mostly moments where the protagonist is observing his theatrical simulations of his life, and the simulations within the simulations. Kaufman joins a select group of thinkers that simultaneously had ideas that were kicking around in my head for awhile.

I'd like to simulate three particular categories of microsocial experience (the third type is regularly simulated with regards to professional life).

Type 1 is daily, weekly, and monthly routine social experiences. They can be broken down into stages like morning household experience, travel to work, work experience, travel to after work activities, afterwork experience, travel home, evening household experience. Each has a staging ground, a relatively fixed time period, a regular cast of characters or type of characters, and me, engaging in micro-social performances that can be optimized. Individual performances tend to be lower stakes, but performances over time tend to be higher stakes.

Type 2 is seasonal events, such as family thanksgivings, family holiday gatherings, friends and network holiday gatherings, annual profession, trade, or interest conferences. Individual performances (for example at family thanksgivings) can be higher stakes.

Type 3 is life arc events. funerals, weddings, job interviews, promotion interviews, significant birthdays.

I'd like to optimize all three categories of experience, using the best of micro-social theory, simulation, and skill-building (improv, pua training, negotiation training, game theory, etc.) with an eye to maximizing my persistence odds (not getting my motivation hijacked by trying to get laid, get high status, etc. disconnected from trying to maximize my persistence odds).

I rate this post a 9.75 in terms of maximizing my persistence odds.

Tracking Celebrities with similar traits to optimize micro-social performances

I'm going to start compiling a list of and tracking celebrities and prominent people with immutable traits similar to mine to help optimize my microsocial performances and strategies.

Rating of how much this post help improve my persistence odds: 9.25

No Quantitative seduction method?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22quantitative+methods%22+%22pick+up+artist%22&start=0&sa=N

"quantitative methods" and "pick up artist" google search seems to get no meaningful results.

Strange and surprising to me.

Don't be too macro

1. It's not my comparative advantage to be macro (I'm not a macro-social scientist, I'm not a celebrity, I'm not as wealthy as a sovereign nation).

2. My reality is micro, and psycho. Macrotrends are to be understood to optimize micro performances and psycho management, not to be challenged or studied infinitely.

I give this post a 9.5 in maximizing my persistence odds.

pop advisors/experts, j.d. roth, social scientists

It's not all postured as transparent empiricism, like recent books by behavioral economists, but J.D. Roth and a cohort seems to be distinguishing themselves as attempting to give solid advice rather than fleecing their audience.

Still, I'd like to see how empirical social scientists would dissect and analyze advice by more reputable pop advisors/experts like J.D. Roth

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/08/25/the-seven-enemies-of-financial-success/

"

The Seven Enemies of Financial Success

    Print

Tuesday, 25th August 2009 (by J.D.)  
This article is about Basics, Odds and Ends

Earlier today, I wrote about Brett Wilder’s The Quiet Millionaire. It’s different than most personal finance books I’ve read. It’s targeted at those who are further along their financial journeys rather than at those just starting out. Still, there are bits and pieces in The Quiet Millionaire that are applicable to everyone.

I particularly liked Wilder’s list of the seven enemies to financial success (which is my phrase, not his). Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself thinking of this notion again and again. He writes:

If you want to become and stay the quiet millionaire, you must plan and manage your financial way of life…You must be proactive in order to obtain the financial life you want. By doing this, you will overcome the seven major obstacles to financial success.

Wilder is saying that we know there are certain common barriers to wealth. These obstacles arise for everyone. Because of this, it’s possible to plan in advance to cope with them. First, however, we have to be able to name these enemies so that we can prepare the proper weapons to fight them.

According to Wilder, the seven enemies of financial success are:

• Lack of discipline. Without discipline, it’s difficult to build wealth. In fact, it’s impossible to get rich — slowly or otherwise — if you spend more than you earn. The math just doesn’t work. Wilder also warns against compulsive spending, and he urges readers to track where their money is going.

• Materialism. Stuff will not enrich your life. It’s so very easy to find yourself “keeping up with the Joneses”, succumbing to lifestyle inflation. But materialism breeds discontent. Instead, Wilder says, focus on intellectual and spiritual pursuits to obtain fulfillment.

• Debt. Not all debt is bad, of course. A reasonable mortgage on a sensible home is fine. But consumer debt — or a bad mortgage on a big house — is an enemy to financial success. In fact, bad debt may be the biggest enemy to financial success.

• Taxes. It’s our responsibility to pay the taxes we owe, but we’re under no obligation to pay more than that. “It is not unpatriotic to reduce paying your taxes,” Wilder writes. We should instead actively work to keep our tax burden as low as possible.

• Inflation. Inflation is wealth’s silent enemy. It will not destroy you all at once. But it’s always there, nibbling at the corners of your life, consuming a little cash every year. It’s impossible to keep inflation completely at bay, but you can learn to mitigate its effects.

• Investment mistakes. As many investors learned last year, poorly structured investment portfolios can be a killer. This enemy is fought through education, through an understanding of diversification and asset allocation, by taking the emotion out of investing.

• Emergencies. The final enemy to financial success is the unexpected: unemployment, death, illness, and legal complications. Without a plan for emergencies, you leave yourself at the mercy of the fickle fates. Carry adequate insurance and maintain an emergency fund!

I’d argue that there’s at least one additional enemy to financial success: lack of purpose. If you don’t know why you’re saving and investing, you have no reason to do so. Without a destination in mind, you cannot set a course. The road to wealth is paved with goals.

Note that some of these financial enemies are external and that some are internal. Some of these enemies come from inside of us.

I’ve fought all of these enemies at one time or another. I seem to have vanquished my internal foes — at least temporarily. But to ward against the external foes requires constant vigilance. And there’s always the chance that an internal enemy can rear its ugly head again.

Which of these foes is your greatest nemesis and why? How do you fight it?

"

Glossary Mash-Up: Improv, Seduction, Negotiation, Game Theory

These all seem to me to be major sub-components of Micro-sociology.

Improv Glossary:

http://improvencyclopedia.org/glossary/index.html

Accepting

Advancing

Agreement

Ask-for

Ask-for Continued

Audience Suggestion

Backline

Beat

Blackout

Blocking

Blue

Breaking The Routine

Bulldozing

Canadian Cross

Canceling

Character Journal

Chivalry

Clap-in Edit

Comedia dell arte

Comedia dell arte characters

Commenting

Conflict

Cross Fade

Denial

Edit

Embodying

Endowing

Finding the Game

Focus

Freezing

Fuck Your Fear

Gagging

Give and Take

Gossiping

Guerilla Improv

Handle

Hedging

Heightening

Hoedown

Host

Ignoring

Impro

Improv

Instant Trouble

Jabbertalk

Joining

Justifying

Kabuki

Lights Edit

Line Game

Long Form

MC

Monologue

Mr. Nice Guy

Mugging

Narrative

Never-ending Story

Notes

Object Work

Offer

Offer from Space

Opening

Out Of Your Head

Overloading

Pimping

Platform

Playlist

Post Mortem

Postponing

Props

Questions

Raising The Stakes

Rehearsal

Reincorporating

Revolving Door Edit

Running Gag

Self Edit

Setup

Shelving

Short Form

Sidecoaching

Sideline

Sidetracking

Space Object

Space Work

Status

Storytelling

Subtext

Sweep Edit

Tag Out

Taking Care of Yourself

Talking Heads

Third Idea Improv

Tilts

Time Dash

Transaction Scene

Transitions

Truthfulness

Voice-over Edit

Waffling

Walk-Through

Wimping

Yes And

Seduction Glossary:

http://www.diabolikseduction.com/pick-up-artist-glossary/

Glossary of Proven Seduction & Dating Tactics, Theories, Concepts and Common Terms

Don’t expect to completely understand this instantly, no matter how simple I’ve tried make this. This is the nuts and bolts of seduction. These methods come from sales tactics, scientific behavioral psychology, evolution theory, hypnosis, blind luck and experimentation. These are advanced subjects which have been simplified for a specific purpose. Every known method of persuasion has been studied and what governments, organized religions, advertising executives, salesmen, corporations, and cults use to influence the masses-applies here. Everything you see here All has been tested thousands of times and proven to work.

*close
Kiss close or f**k close… depends on the context of what the person is talking about. Usually means kiss close. A pro can be making out with a girl in under 20 minutes.

@close
e-mail close (also see: close, *close, # close)

101
Turning interest on, then off, then on, etc, not necessarily at regular intervals. Basically “hot & cold”, sometimes you’re good to a chick and sometimes you throw her a challenge, to keep her guessing and make you more unpredictable. A more elaborate form of 101 is “Push & Pull” method

3s / 3s rule
3 second rule. The rule that you should immediately try to meet a women within 3 seconds of seeing her (or her seeing you). 3 seconds isn’t exactly literal, but the translation is “DO NOT HESITATE”. Any hesitation will give you more time to falter and come up with fear-based excuses in your mind. It also give your target time to think negatively about you. Mystery

AFC
Average Frustrated Chump. A “nice guy”. A guy who has no pick up skills and rarely manages to close a target pick up. Also a guy who tends to supplicate in his behavior to HBs. Meaning, buying flowers for a chick when going out for coffee, putting her on a pedestal, and generally letting women walk all over him in the vein hope of somehow being seen as attractive in their eyes. A common term used for AFCs that have seen the error of their ways but not yet gained PUA skills is RACF (Recovering AFC)

AI
Approach Invitation. Unconscious actions by an HB to get your specific attention (rather than peacocking to get ALL men’s attention) in order for you to have an opening opportunity with her. EC, hanging around you for an extended time for no reason, dropping something in front of you, asking you a question, fumbling with something in front of you, making nervous gestures, etc. By looking for AIs rather than wasting time on cold approaches, your PU game will become 3x more efficient while minimizing C&B results. If made use of in target-rich environments, quality approach opportunities can increase 10x. Observation of AIs is best done after warm-up (a few throwaway approaches)

ambiguity
The use of phrases or words which sound alike but differ in meaning, such as blow and below. In use: “I have it in my bag, below me, right here.” This registers on a sub-conscious level as-”I have it right here in my bag…blow me right here.” If you’re pointing at your “special place” it can install the idea in her mind, without you even actually saying it! Can you imagine…?

AMOG
Alpha Male Other Guy - In reference to a situation where you are trying to close on a chick and there’s direct (in-your-face) competition from another PUA. This is different than a cockblock because the normal disarming strategies don’t work.

Anchor
A physical touch to associate that touch with an emotion being felt at the exact time of the touch. Anchors can also be inserted mentally (as a forward-looking mechanism, such as causing a person to recollect a feeling when they experience something in the future) or visually (such as a Self Point) Sounds can be anchors, like when you hear a song that reminds of a good time, and you relive those memories and feelings. A general hypnosis concept

Anti-AI
Anti Approach Invitation. Unconscious actions by an HB to do everything to avoid your specific attention. Walking away from you, avoiding EC, creating a c**kblock scenario, etc. Don’t waste your time on chicks giving anti-AI to you unless you really like a challenge or spending all your time in TA mode.

ASD
Anti-Slut Defense. The chick logic a woman (especially younger ones) will go through to relieve the guilt of having sex too quickly with a man, assuming she has enough time to “think” about the consequences - a reaction which causes them to come up with objections or reasons that they shouldn’t fuck you in order to relieve their guilt of taking *responsibility* for doing something that society would often call “slutty”. Post-sex ASD is usually boiled down to comments from her to her friends like “it just happened”. It might be possible to consider waiting for a guy to make all the moves as an ASD. This forces HIM (in her mind) to take responsibility for the fact that she slept with you. “It just happened”, “he wouldn’t give up”, etc. In reality, both people are responsible for their own actions.

BAFC
Below Average Frustrated Chump

bitch shield
Not a derogatory term - used to describe a behavior women use when attempting to fend off would-be suitors. Usually in use in clubs, bars, and other pick up places. Sometimes just referred to as a “shield”. ?

BC / BOOT CAMP
Dance clubs and crowded bars, “meat markets”. The most likely places on the planet for AFCs to get rejected and, therefore, the best place for AFCs to build up a thick skin. THE best places to crash & burn.

BT
Buying Temperature - the level of attraction a given girl has for you or someone else at any given time. Not necessarily 1:1 specific, based on overall state of arousal. For example increasing a girl’s buying temperature very quickly is called “spiking her buying temperature”. Also, her buying temperature can be transferred to someone else, or transferred from someone else to you.

C&F / CF / C/F
Cocky & Funny. A type of attitude that shows confidence and humor. Women respond well to this. Takes time to become congruent.

close / # close
To complete a pick up by getting a girl to commit to a “date”, giving you her phone number, or bedding her literally on the spot. Most PUAs like to differentiate between different kinds of closes (kiss close, number close, f**k close, etc.) Comes from sales terminology. i.e. “Close a deal”. (also see: *close, @close) Mystery

c**kblock / CB
When obstacles take your target away or get your target disinterested in you.

crash & burn / C&B
To attempt an approach/PU and fail miserably. A learning process. Warm-up. Don’t confuse with “CB” which is short for c**kblock.

DAI
Dead Approach Invitation. Opening on an AI that turns sour and creates an Anti-AI response from the HB(Hot Babe). Different than a crash & burn on a cold approach because it involves taking advantage of positive signals you detected from a chick. DAIs are rare if you know how to detect AIs properly

DDB
“Doggy Dinner Bowl” [Look] - The look on a chick’s face when she’s tranced out or lapping up your words with a phased out look in their eyes. In that state, they are metaphorically ready to eat out of the palm of your hand. This is when you make a bold move. Kiss close, escalate to sex…etc.

DHV
Display High Value (action/verb) or Display(s) of High(er) Value. An action or story which increases your perceived value. Can be used positively or negatively depending on your perceived value prior to the DHV and whether the chick is Lower Value (you increase hers or reduce yours, preferably increase hers) or Higher Value (you increase yours or reduce hers, preferably increase yours) These can be pre-planned routines and stories.

DLV
Display Low Value (action/verb) or Display(s) of Low(er) Value. An action or story which decreases your perceived value. Can be used positively or negatively depending on your perceived value prior to the DLV. AFCs fall into the trap of DLVs all the time and the main reason for a PUA to consciously DLV is if the chick’s perceived value (her perception of herself) is significantly lower than your perceived value and you run the risk of blowing yourself out of the set because of the disparity. HOWEVER, if her perceived value is lower due to LSE then never DLV and avoid the DLV and simply cater to her negative view of herself (otherwise you lower your value past her own perceived value and blow yourself out).

E&E / EwE
Eject & Explain / Eject-with-Explanation. Ejecting from a situation with a chick without completely burning bridges but doing it in a way that allows her the opportunity to understand and “fix” the reason(s) that caused you to eject. You eject her from your sphere/world, not the other way around.

EC
Eye Contact

EV
Elicit(ing) Values. This is done to gain rapport and legitimately qualify your attraction to her other than her t and a. You make a strong connection with this.

f close
F**k close.

FB
F**k Buddy.

FMAC
Acronym for Find Meet Attract Close. Simplified basis of seduction method.

FTC
False Time Constraint - Used early on to open a girl and make her feel like you may leave at any second. This keeps her from thinking, “When will this guy go away?” or “Is this guy hiiting on me?” It shows you are busy and not that interested in her. ex. You: “I can only talk for a minute, but check this out…!”

FUG
Fucking Ugly Girl. A REALLY ugly chick. On the 1-10 scale, a 0.

g close / GC
Girl Close. A g close is what happens when you contact close (# or @ or both) a chick and it leads to a f close rather than a flake or LJBF. G closing also happens when you same-day f close a chick whether you got her contact info or not. If you get a chick’s contact info in order to follow up later (no same-day f close) and can walk away with the full confidence that you WILL lay her soon, that’s a g close. Anything else is mental masturbation and you will likely have a flake on your hands. G closing is always better than contact closing.
A g close, however, is not the outcome itself, it’s just a sort of required progression stage in order to achieve the end goal of a full close. Check the original post on g closing. Here’s some more info:

Essentially, what I was (and always am) trying to say is that contact closing a chick, or even extracting her, or isolating, is going to be fruitless unless your main focus is on attracting her versus prioritizing contact closing, extracting, or isolating.

I am saying: attraction before logistics.

If you don’t get a chick highly interested in you (g close) then no logistic in the world will help as a chick will simply not do a guy who she’s not interested in. So, get & build that interest first as your primary goal, and the logistics will be secondary, sometimes she’ll even figure out the logistics FOR you by suggesting contexts which seem innocent in a societal sense yet provide her with enough convenience and fluidity to allow her to relieve herself of responsibility and be able to say “it just happened”. And, remember, detecting a g close is not always easy to detect, so you must always be calibrating her interest level (pay attention for IOIs, reverse-kino, close questions/comments, negated comments coming out of the blue, etc.)
Formhandle

GPUA
Green PUA. Replacement for the RAFC acronym. See RAFC for more explanation. Teaches a guy to make ‘i am’ rather than ‘i want’ statements about himself. f.m. breakbeat

HB
Hot Babe

HC / LC
High Class / Low Class. Sometimes in a different context, HC will stand for “Hardcore”. ?

HP
Hook Point. The point at which general interest and neutral interest communications with a set turns into the set being “hooked” by your presence (the group has an active interest to want you to stay, a chick’s feeling of attraction is switched on).

HV
High Value

IOD
Indicator of Disinterest - Used to subtly signal disinterest to a girl to show that YOU are the prize. Can be used to punish bad behavior. ex. You’re having a great conversation with her, then she brings up some guy she likes, you let her catch you looking at another girl or you can just excuse yourself and go use the bathroom. Start a new topic when you return.

IOI
Indicator of Interest - signs/signals from you or from the chick which indicates (real) sexual interest. 4 common examples-She laughs at your jokes, she asks what your name is, she comes over and asks which bedroom is yours, she asks if you have a girlfriend.

IVD
Instant Value Display/Interactive Value Demonstration - Something which cues, very quickly, a display of your value

Jealousy Plotline
Jealousy is a much more powerful motivator for a girl than being horny. When a girl feels jealous, she realizes just how attracted she is to you. So help her to feel jealous. The principle is that people are more willing to work for an existing investment rather than make a new one. The fear of loss is more powerful than the anticipation of gain.

KAMI
Kino Anchored Motion Inducement

KJ
Keyboard Jockey. A guy who spends all his time posting about pickup, but is almost never (or literally never) out in the field. Not a person you want to take PU advice from.

Kino
Short for Kinesthetic (physical touching). Usually of a sexual nature, to get a woman in a state of approval and arousal. Touching and stroking the side of her arm, her elbows, stroking her hair, cheeks, stroking her hand or wrist, etc.

LD/HD
Low sex drive / high sex drive. Referring to the level of sexual drive a chick has, specifically in reference to LTRs. Depending on the context, could also mean Long Distance (as in Long Distance Relationship).

LDR
Long Distance Relationship

LJBF
“Let’s Just Be Friends” - a slammer statement uttered by women which essentially closes the door on any chance of you ever sleeping with her. We’ve all been there!

LMR
Last Minute Resistance

LR
Lay Report

LSE
Low Self Esteem

LTR
Long Term Relationship

LV
Low Value

mental masturbation
The concept that what you THINK is happening is really just a fantasy about what you want rather than the reality of what has occurred, is occurring, or will occur. For example, going to a strip club, attempting to PU a stripper, getting normal “customer” attention from her, then going home empty-handed with the distorted idea that you may have a chance with her.

MLTR
Multiple Long Term Relationships. An acronym and a methodology. Multiple polyamorous sexual relationships. NOT a string of ONSs or an accumulation of FBs, but rather maintaining multiple sexually-centered LTRs at the same time. It is best to inform all the women in your MLTRs that you are polyamorous (have other girlfriends).

MLTR2 / MLTR^2
An enhanced form of MLTR where the goal is to accumulate a number of LTRs with chicks that are bisexual (at least 1 who is your Primary), so that they or she help(s) with the work of finding more chicks for you (sometimes called “Tandem Hunting”)

MLTR3 / MLTR^3
A further enhancement of MLTR2/MLTR^2 where the goal is to utilize 1 or more bisexual Primary chicks in your “harem” of LTRs in order to garner sex with at least 3 women at the same time. Not necessarily through tandem hunting but of accumulating connections with multiple women who’ve been pre-screened for bisexuality and then coordinating meets with your Primary(ies) so that you end up with 3 or more girls. Could also be just simply having MLTR where you regularly fuck at least 3 chicks at the same time from the “harem” regularly.

MCDS
Most Chicks Don’t Suffice. A feeling in a guy (whether AFC, PUA, doesn’t matter) that most chicks he meets don’t interest him enough, even more so than a typical looks preference. Usually MCDS is an extreme scenario as only being interested in chicks who are extremely beautiful or have an extreme personality type.

MPB / PMB
Male Pattern Blindness / Pattern Male Blindness - A condition that afflicts men in which they are in a situation where a woman is giving every signal he needs to make a successful close but he does not notice. Later on, he may finally realize his blunder but the realization comes too late.

MPUA
Master PUA

neg / neg hit
An indicator of disinterest, also known as disqualification theory-A remark towards a girl designed to break her indifference to you by showing her that you are indifferent to her beauty (or other striking features). Not an insult, that would be bad. More like “Those are interesting nails - are they real?” or “It’s really cute how your nose wiggles when you talk - look, there it goes again! “. No more than 2 negs on an average HB (7-9/7-9), a maximum of 3 on a super HB (10/10). Negs are pretty much a necessity for 10s or strippers (whether they’re 10s or not - simply because they are in an environment which is conducive to them thinking they are 10s)

NLP
Neuro Linguistic Programming. A term coined in the 1970s, from the book Trance-Formations : Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. A way to subconsciously place people in a trance for the purpose of encouraging them to do things you want.

NRFR
“Not Ready For a Relationship” - a statement uttered by women (similar to LJBF) which essentially indicates that although she’s not in a current relationship, she wouldn’t want one with you let alone go out with you. Although it’s similar to LJBF, it’s possible to TA the situation quickly. It’s important to note that women don’t need a “relationship” with you to want to sleep with you. ?
obstacle
Any person (or thing) which could potentially block your chances with the target girl. Mystery

one-itis
A disorder commonly found in AFCs, that forces them to think that one chick is so special that they’ll do ANYTHING to get into her panties. The most common cure for this disease is to go out and fuck a Baker’s Dozen of other chicks to see that one snowflake isn’t that special

Opener
A prepared script used to start a conversation with a stranger. They get you in “under the radar” because an amateur hits on a woman right away-a pro waits 8 to 10 minutes. Openers are field-tested and proven to work predictably before being shared. The best openers can get you into groups while showing no pre-planned agenda, they can create instant interest and attraction.

ONS
One night stand

OQ
OverQualify. The point where the chick rules herself out for not feeling competent enough for any kind of relationship with you. A situation where you come across so smooth and alpha that you simply overqualify yourself to your target

pAImAI
“pre-AI male AI, a semi-passive action or series of actions meant to induce a chick to initiate an AI. A means to “pre-condition” a chick to initiate some form of non-verbal IOI before actually approaching her or doing an opener, usually the best IOI response to the structure being an AI. Essentially, it’s a conscious male tactic (applied as if it was unconscious) that reverses the frame of a female unconscious “PU” tactic. 3 levels of pre-approach: 1.) No AI, walk into a room full of 100 chicks, randomly approach 10, randomly get 1 or 2 interested, perhaps not your best choice of chicks overall, but still better than 0. 2.) AI observation, walk into a room, observe the 10-20 chicks giving you AI, pick the 5 that interest you, spend half the time interacting with half as many chicks who’ve shown already shown interest (2 * 2 * 2 = 8x efficiency, with increased chick quality). And, with the more positive interactions, social proof for the other 95 chicks is enhanced, providing a method of roughly 10x better results. 3.) pAImAI+AI, walk into a room of 100 chicks, vibe intent everywhere and make presence known, observe chicks selectively (like a calm hunter), and cause 30 chicks to display clear IOIs or initiate significant AIs, approach the few (2-3) that REALLY interest you, knowing they are already highly interested, and that you’ve already displayed intent (10x AI efficiency * 1.5chicks * 2x interest = 30x efficiency, with MUCH increased chick quality). Overall, the first method is still better than what most guys do, so understanding pAImAI/AI structure, even without many PU skills under one’s belt, increases opportunity at least 30x, if not 100x. Note: Some people migth refer to pAImAI as IAI (”Inducement to Approach Invitation”). Also, capitalization isn’t strict on pAImAI - it can be typed as paimai or PAIMAI, and pronounced “pie-my”

Pattern
An arrangement of neuro linguistic programming (NLP) phrases and speeches used to direct the target girl and get her into a state which allows her to be hypnotically lead subconsciously into a state of sexual arousal

PAWN
Enhanced social proof. A PAWN can be any woman in any situation, doesn’t have to be a friend or acquaintance of yours, and can be created on-the-fly. On-the-fly PAWNs are best for building up social proof literally out of thin air, snowballing into more PAWN opportunities and further enhancing your status in the eyes of any potential targets (even ones you have not seen yet). PAWNS can be unwitting participants or completely willing to help your game.

Peacocking
The act of wearing attention getting clothes and or items. Gives girls that are interested in you an excuse to talk to you. Her: “I LOVE that ring!” You: “Bulls**t, you’re attracted to me.”

pivot
A woman (LJBF material or one of your MLTRs) who you can use as social proof when out on PU session. Used to enhance your status in the eyes of any potential targets (even ones you have not seen yet). Similar to a PAWN but prepared in advance.

player
A guy who gets laid a lot by a particular type of girl(but not nearly as much as a PUA)

POTF
Pattern On-The-Fly. Rather than just memorizing specific patterns (which is very inflexible), it’s better to get to the point where you can take any situation and create a pattern for it on-the-fly.

PLRM
Pre Lay Relaxation Mode - “Basically you just have to be very natural about everything you say and do on the way to the lay venue. There is this point in any same day lay as you go from the decision point to your place that could get awkward if she suddenly changes her mind.”

PTS / SP
Point To Self / Self Point. Pointing briefly to yourself by touching your chest or your stomach or motioning to yourself. An aspect of delivering a pattern which anchors a certain feeling, phrase, or idea to you. Also, depending on the context, could mean “Sticking Point”, relating to a mental limitation that is affecting a guy’s game.

PU
Pick Up. The act/art of meeting and attracting women.

PUA
Pick Up Artist

PUG
Pick Up Guru

PUM
Pick Up Master

rAFC / RAFC
Recovering Average Frustrated Chump. A guy who realizes consciously that he is an AFC and is taking the steps to correct the situation. A lot of guys have chosen to deprecate this acronym in favor of GPUA (Green PUA), which is much more positive. In that regard, a guy is only RAFC for the moment he realizes his AFCness and chooses the path to PUAdom. Once choosing that path, he becomes a GPUA. Some guys make use of a small “r” in rAFC to denote that their recovery from AFCdom is still being worked on. So, if you can follow this logic, the levels of skill, in order of precedence is: WBAFC, BAFC, AFC, rAFC, RAFC, GPUA, PUA, PUM, PUG (although PUM and PUG are rarely used). Most guys in the western hemisphere are AFC.

recycle
When a PU venue turns stale (you’ve approached all the HB’s you can possibly approach in there or the opportunities have staled out) and you need to move onto a new venue.

Role Reversal
This is when you steal her frame and act as if you’re the hot chick. Instead of her saying these things, you steal her lines before she says them. ex. You: “I don’t want to rush things.” or “I don’t do that on a first date.” or “You just want me for my body.”

sarge

The act of explicitly going out and picking up women using pick-up and seduction techniques.

sargeholic
Sort of like an alcoholic… except addicted to wanting to meet, pick-up, and seduce women…. do I really need to describe this?

Self Point
Discreetly pointing to oneself while talking about a characteristic, feeling, or positive topic. Use of NLP visual anchoring.

SHB
Super Hot Babe

s**t test
When a chick does or says something which is meant to judge the reaction or response from a male, whether the test is done consciously or unconsciously. The specific words of the response are less meaningful than the method and mode (attitude) of the response.

SO
Significant Other

Social Proof
The concept from behavioral psychology that when you are seen as accepted by other women or a group, your social status is raised in the eyes of HBs in the near vicinity. Other forms of display can be seen as social proof (chummy with everyone at a certain place, at ease in your environment, etc.) Robert B. Cialdini,PhD.

SOD
Statement of Disinterest. e.g. “I don’t think I like you.”

SOI
Statement of Intent / Show of Interest. In initiating conversation, or perhaps during fluff-talk stage, making your intent (sexual interest) clear so as to nip LJBF in the bud early on. By declaring your intent (directly or subtly) clear early on, you avoid later resistance to taking the conversation in that direction and clear the way for an easier close. Show of Interest: A (sincere) compliment - Followed by a QUESTION intended to elicit some values (which can be fed back to her later). Statement Of Intent: To suggest doing some romantic activity together. Followed by a CHALLENGE - that is either to do a takeaway, or take the comment back with a “Just Kidding!” or whatever

SP
Sticking Point. Could also be short for “Social Proof” or “Self Point”, depends on the context. Sticking point relates to a primary aspect of a guy’s game that he seems to be having issues with. Pinpointing such a sticking point usually helps a guy to focus on fixing that point and continuing to progress with the improvement of his overall game

S&R
Survive and Replicate - Your purpose on this earth

TA
Turn Around. To change an LJBF situation with a woman into something sexual

target
The girl you are trying to seduce/close

toolbox
The concept of having an overall set of resources at your disposal for accomplishing any given goal with chicks. Those resources can be mental, personally physical, material, or external cue factors (real or simulated). As a guy learns about pick-up and seduction, his overall toolbox grows. Also, as a guy improves his game, he begins to learn what aspects of his toolbox are best suited for any given scenario. Just as no particular situation needs all possible things in a guy’s toolbox to accomplish his goal, no particular situation can be overcome with just one tool from the toolbox. Collecting and perfecting tools into the toolbox is one part of the improvement process, knowing which tools to use at any given time is another.

UFEA
Universal Female Excuse Archive (”I’m washing my hair that night.”, “My grandmother’s cat died.”, “I’m having family problems for the next 3 months.”, etc.)

UG
Ugly Girl

UGCB
UG c**kblock

VC
Victim Chick. A chick which comes with a lot of emotional baggage (possibly of past abuse) who gives guys the opportunity to be a rescuer, feel like a hero, feel loved and vitally important in an intense way. Quite often, you’ll hear this type of girl say “I’ve never told anyone this…” when talking about her messed up past.

WARPIG
An UG (Ugly Girl) of rating 4 and under.

WBAFC
Way Below Average Frustrated Chump (Imagine Steve Urkel)

wing / wingman
A fellow pick up friend (possibly pick up artist) who goes along with you when you sarge or hit the clubs.

Negotiation Glossary:

http://interneg.concordia.ca/interneg/reference/glossary/index.html

The InterNeg Negotiation Glossary

Negotiation is a process that involves two or more agents who communicate for the purpose of exchanging some goods and defining the terms of the exchange.

The purpose of negotiation is exchange of goods, but the term goods should not be viewed in purely materialistic terms; goods may be services, favours, influences, political issues, etc. The negotiation requires exchange; the parties have to "give in order to get", if one side only gives (or gets) we deal with an altruistic donation. The necessity to define the goods and the exchange terms allows to distinguish negotiation from a straight exchange as, for example, sales. Finally, negotiation are based on communication, that is exchange of information. Hence one could say that:

Negotiation is an exchange of information for the purpose of defining the terms to exchange some goods (which may be information).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alternatives
A generic name for the possible choices that a negotiator may choose from. There may be alternative issues, options and packages. In decision science, alternatives are possible decisions,or elements of the set of alternatives, from which the decision maker may select.

Arbitration
A settlement process in dispute resolution in which the parties present their case or their final offers to a third party. The third party has a power to impose a solution (compromise).

BATNA
Best alternative to the negotiated agreement.

Boulwarism
A negotiation style named for Lemuel Boulware, a former vice president of General Electric, in which one's first offer is also one's final offer.

Circular logrolling
A concession process in multilateral negotiations that require each negotiator to offer another negotiator a concession on one issue and receive a concession on a different issue and form a different negotiator.

Closure
A need for, or desire to, immediate answers and resolutions to a particular situation.

Coalition
A subgroup of two or more negotiators (parties) who join together and pool their resources to influence the outcomes of a multilateral negotiations.

Commitment
An obligation or pledge to do or deliver someting.

Compensation, nonspecific
An integrative negotiation approach in which one party receives what they want and the other party is compensated (repaid) in some other way that is relevant to this party. The compensation invoolves one or more issues that are not subject to negotiations.

Compromise
A compromise or agreement is the package (combination of options) across all issues that both negotiators jointly agree upon after exchanging a sequence of offers.

Condorcet paradox
A result of a majority decision made by a group which depends on the order in which the alternatives are voted upon.

Confirmation error
A tendency to seek supporting arguments for someone's belief that may lead to ignore or discount information that is relevant but not supportive.

Confirmation error
A tendency to seek supporting arguments for someone's belief that may lead to ignore or discount information that is relevant but not supportive.

Cost cutting
An approach in integrative negotiations in which the costs of accepting a compromise are reduced or eliminated. One party achieves what they want and the other party's costs are reduced.

Fixed pie assumption
The belief that the set of possible packages is given and cannot be enlarged accompanied with the conviction that the parties' interestes are in full (strict) opposition. This assumption underiles distributive or competitive negotiations.

Focal values
Arbitrary values such as salient numbers, figures that are considered valid or typical.

Inefficient agreement
An alternative (package) that is accepted by the parties but which is dominated by some other alternative, that is there is an alternative that is better for at leastone party than the accepted agreement and not worse for any other party.

Internmediary
A person who intevenes between two or more parties.

Issue
A topic of discussion that is of particular interest in a negotiation. Each issue has a range of alternatives or options, one of which must ultimately be agreed upon by the negotiators in order to achieve a compromise.

Latent conflict
Conflict that exists but is not perceived.

Logrolling
A kind of trade-off between two or more decision makers: giving favours or making concessions on condition of receiving other favours. Logroling is NOT an integrative strategy but trading off interests where each party concedes on the low priority issues for the purpose to realize high priority issues.

Negotiation dance
The process of making offers and counter-offers by the parties.

Offer
A combination of options (a package) that is sent by one negotiator to the other. An offer may contain one option for each issue under considerations, or some issues may not be present in the offer. The latter case is typical for sequential negotiations.

Option
One of the alternative values that an issue can take. For example, the issue "Tolerable product failure rate" may have the options "3%", "5%" and "10%".

Package
A particular combination of options that has been selected across several or all the negotiated issues. An example of a package is given in the table below:

Price
 $3000
 
Payment
 Upon delivery
 
Failure rate
 5%
 

Power
The basis of a person's influence over another; the ability to influence someone else's decisions.

Power, coercive
The ability to influence the behaviour of, and decisions made by, another person by punishing this person or threatening with punishment.

Prenegotiation
Prenegotiation is the first phase of a negotiation. It refers to the initial period (prior to exchange of any offers) when one prepares for the negotiation. Some activities involved in this phase include problem definition, preference elicitation and evaluation of alternative packages.

Post-settlement
A "settlement" is the same as an agreement or compromise, and "post-settlement" refers to the period after the first compromise has been achieved.

Reservation level
The minimum (or maximum) level for an issue that a negotiator is willing to accept.

Sequential negotiations
Negotiation process in which only one issue is discussed at a time. After the parties agree on the discussed issue another issue is introduced and negotiated.

Trade-off
A trade-off is an exchange process in which a decision maker gives up partly on some issues so as to gain on other issues.

Utility function
A "utility function" is a subjective measurement that expresses the relative value (worth) of different packages (alternatives) by using a numerical scale. The numerical scale used is arbitrary, typically ranging either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 100. The minimum number expresses the least desirable and least preferred package. The highest number represents the most desirable and preferred package.

Utility function, concave
The utility value decreases marginally, i.e., additional gains bring smaller increases in the utility.

Winner's curse
A situation in which a negotiator makes an offer that is immediately accepted by the other parties; the immediate acceptance implies that the negotiator offered too much and perhaps could achieve a compromise that would be better for this negotiator.

ZOPA
Zone of possible agreements: it is the set of alternative packages (alternative decisions) which meet the reservation levels of the negotiators. Therefore, each of packages in the zone may be selected as an agreement.

Game Theory Glossary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_game_theory

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Glossary of game theory

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Game theory is the branch of mathematics in which games are studied: that is, models describing human behaviour. This is a glossary of some terms of the subject.

Contents [hide] 1 Definitions of a game 1.1 Notational conventions 1.2 Normal form game 1.3 Extensive form game 1.4 Cooperative game 1.5 Simple game 2 Glossary

[edit] Definitions of a game

[edit] Notational conventions

Real numbers 

.

The set of players 

N.

Strategy space 

, where

Player i's strategy space 

is the space of all possible ways in which player i can play the game.

A strategy for player i 

is an element of .

complements 

an element of , is a tuple of strategies for all players other than i.

Outcome space 

is in most textbooks identical to -

Payoffs 

, describing how much gain (money, pleasure, etc.) the players are allocated by the end of the game.

[edit] Normal form game

A game in normal form is a function:

Given the tuple of strategies chosen by the players, one is given an allocation of payments (given as real numbers).

A further generalization can be achieved by splitting the game into a composition of two functions:

the outcome function of the game (some authors call this function "the game form"), and:

the allocation of payoffs (or preferences) to players, for each outcome of the game.

[edit] Extensive form game

This is given by a tree, where at each vertex of the tree a different player has the choice of choosing an edge. The outcome set of an extensive form game is usually the set of tree leaves.

[edit] Cooperative game

A game in which players are allowed form coalitions (and to enforce coalitionary discipline). A cooperative game is given by stating a value for every coalition:

It is always assumed that the empty coalition gains nil. Solution concepts for cooperative games usually assume that the players are forming the grand coalition N, whose value ν(N) is then divided among the players to give an allocation.

[edit] Simple game

A Simple game is a simplified form of a cooperative game, where the possible gain is assumed to be either '0' or '1'. A simple game is couple (N, W), where W is the list of "winning" coalitions, capable of gaining the loot ('1'), and N is the set of players.

[edit] Glossary

Acceptable game 

is a game form such that for every possible preference profiles, the game has pure nash equilibria, all of which are pareto efficient.

Allocation of goods 

is a function . The allocation is a cardinal approach for determining the good (e.g. money) the players are granted under the different outcomes of the game.

Best reply 

the best reply to a given complement is a strategy that maximizes player i's payment. Formally, we want:
.

Coalition 

is any subset of the set of players: .

Condorcet winner 

Given a preference ν on the outcome space, an outcome a is a condorcet winner if all non-dummy players prefer a to all other outcomes.

Dictator

A player is a strong dictator if he can guarantee any outcome regardless of the other players. is a weak dictator if he can guarantee any outcome, but his strategies for doing so might depend on the complement strategy vector. Naturally, every strong dictator is a weak dictator. Formally:
m is a Strong dictator if:

m is a Weak dictator if:

Another way to put it is:
a weak dictator is α-effective for every possible outcome.
A strong dictator is β-effective for every possible outcome.
A game can have no more than one strong dictator. Some games have multiple weak dictators (in rock-paper-scissors both players are weak dictators but none is a strong dictator).
See Effectiveness. Antonym: dummy.

Dominated outcome 

Given a preference ν on the outcome space, we say that an outcome a is dominated by outcome b (hence, b is the dominant strategy) if it is preferred by all players. If, in addition, some player strictly prefers b over a, then we say that a is strictly dominated. Formally:
for domination, and
for strict domination.
An outcome a is (strictly) dominated if it is (strictly) dominated by some other outcome.
An outcome a is dominated for a coalition S if all players in S prefer some other outcome to a. See also Condorcet winner.

Dominated strategy 

we say that strategy is (strongly) dominated by strategy if for any complement strategies tuple , player i benefits by playing . Formally speaking:
and
.
A strategy σ is (strictly) dominated if it is (strictly) dominated by some other strategy.

Dummy 

A player i is a dummy if he has no effect on the outcome of the game. I.e. if the outcome of the game is insensitive to player i's strategy.

Antonyms: say, veto, dictator.

Effectiveness 

A coalition (or a single player) S is effective for a if it can force a to be the outcome of the game. S is α-effective if the members of S have strategies s.t. no matter what the complement of S does, the outcome will be a.

S is β-effective if for any strategies of the complement of S, the members of S can answer with strategies that ensure outcome a.

Finite game 

is a game with finitely many players, each of which has a finite set of strategies.

Grand coalition 

refers to the coalition containing all players. In cooperative games it is often assumed that the grand coalition forms and the purpose of the game is to find stable imputations.

Mixed strategy 

for player i is a probability distribution P on . It is understood that player i chooses a strategy randomly according to P.

Mixed Nash Equilibrium 

Same as Pure Nash Equilibrium, defined on the space of mixed strategies. Every finite game has Mixed Nash Equilibria.

Pareto efficiency 

An outcome a of game form π is (strongly) pareto efficient if it is undominated under all preference profiles.

Preference profile 

is a function . This is the ordinal approach at describing the outcome of the game. The preference describes how 'pleased' the players are with the possible outcomes of the game. See allocation of goods.

Pure Nash Equilibrium 

An element of the strategy space of a game is a pure nash equilibrium point if no player i can benefit by deviating from his strategy , given that the other players are playing in . Formally:
.
No equilibrium point is dominated.

Say 

A player i has a Say if he is not a Dummy, i.e. if there is some tuple of complement strategies s.t. π (σ_i) is not a constant function.

Antonym: Dummy.

Value 

A value of a game is a rationally expected outcome. There are more than a few definitions of value, describing different methods of obtaining a solution to the game.

Veto 

A veto denotes the ability (or right) of some player to prevent a specific alternative from being the outcome of the game. A player who has that ability is called a veto player.

Antonym: Dummy.

Weakly acceptable game 

is a game that has pure nash equilibria some of which are pareto efficient.

Zero sum game 

is a game in which the allocation is constant over different outcomes. Formally:

w.l.g. we can assume that constant to be zero. In a zero sum game, one player's gain is another player's loss. Most classical board games (e.g. chess, checkers) are zero sum.

[hide] v • d • e Topics in game theory Definitions Normal-form game · Extensive-form game · Cooperative game · Information set · Preference Equilibrium concepts Nash equilibrium · Subgame perfection · Bayesian-Nash · Perfect Bayesian · Trembling hand · Proper equilibrium · Epsilon-equilibrium · Correlated equilibrium · Sequential equilibrium · Quasi-perfect equilibrium · Evolutionarily stable strategy · Risk dominance · Pareto efficiency · Quantal response equilibrium · Self-confirming equilibrium Strategies Dominant strategies · Pure strategy · Mixed strategy · Tit for tat · Grim trigger · Collusion · Backward induction Classes of games Symmetric game · Perfect information · Dynamic game · Sequential game · Repeated game · Signaling game · Cheap talk · Zero-sum game · Mechanism design · Bargaining problem · Stochastic game · Large poisson game · Nontransitive game · Global games Games Prisoner's dilemma · Traveler's dilemma · Coordination game · Chicken · Centipede game · Volunteer's dilemma · Dollar auction · Battle of the sexes · Stag hunt · Matching pennies · Ultimatum game · Minority game · Rock-paper-scissors · Pirate game · Dictator game · Public goods game · Blotto games · War of attrition · El Farol Bar problem · Cake cutting · Cournot game · Deadlock · Diner's dilemma · Guess 2/3 of the average · Kuhn poker · Nash bargaining game · Screening game · Trust game · Princess and monster game Theorems Minimax theorem · Purification theorem · Folk theorem · Revelation principle · Arrow's impossibility theorem See also Tragedy of the commons · All-pay auction · List of games in game theory

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Improvisational Theatre and training for micro-social advantage

I'm interested in short form and long-form improv as training grounds to improve micro-social technique. The tie-in with Goffman and also the empirical seduction community is obvious. Also interested in applications of coordination games and experimental social science lab techniques to this.

"

Improvisational theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

An improvisation troupe at the University of Florida

Improvisational theatre (also known as improv or impro) is a form of theatre in which the improvisational actors/ improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot extemporaneously. Improvisational theatre performances tend to be comedic, although some forms, including Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, are not necessarily intended to be comedic.

Many improvisational actors/ improvisers also work as scripted actors, and "improv" techniques are often taught in standard acting classes. The basic skills of listening, clarity, confidence, and performing instinctively and spontaneously are considered important skills for actors to develop.

Contents [hide] 1 Improvisational comedy 2 Origins 3 Improvisational comedy on film and television 4 Improv as a tool for corporate entertainment and corporate training 5 Psychology of improvisational theatre 6 Improv process 7 Community 8 Improv luminaries 9 References 10 See also 11 Further reading 12 External links

[edit] Improvisational comedy

An improvisational comedy troupe performing a shortform game based on direction from the audience; in this case spoofing a hard rock band performing a song made up on the spot.

Modern improvisational comedy, as it is practiced in the West, falls generally into two categories: shortform and longform.

Shortform improv consists of short scenes usually constructed from a predetermined game, structure, or idea and driven by an audience suggestion. Many shortform games were first created by Viola Spolin based on her training from Neva Boyd^[1]. The shortform improv comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? has familiarized American and British viewers with shortform.

Longform improv performers create shows in which scenes are often interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Longform shows may take the form of an existing type of theatre, for example a full-length play or Broadway-style musical such as Spontaneous Broadway . Longform improvisation is especially performed in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Perhaps the best-known, and considered the first, longform structure is the Harold, developed by ImprovOlympic cofounder Del Close, though this is a hotly debated topic among many schools of improv. Many such longform structures now exist.

[edit] Origins

Improvised performance is as old as performance itself. From the 1500s to the 1700s, Commedia dell'arte performers improvised in the streets of Italy^[2]and in the 1890s theatrical theorists and directors such as Konstantin Stanislavski and Jacques Copeau, founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilised improvisation in acting training and rehearsal.^[3]

While some people credit Dudley Riggs as the first vaudevillian to use audience suggestions to create improvised sketches, modern theatrical improvisation is generally accepted to have taken form in the classroom with the theatre games of Viola Spolin in the 1940s and Keith Johnstone in the 1950s. These rehearsal-room activities evolved quickly to an independent artform worthy of presentation before a paying audience.

Viola Spolin can probably be considered the American Grandmother of Improv. She influenced the first generation of Improv at The Compass Players in Chicago, which led to The Second City. Her son, Paul Sills, along with David Shepherd, started The Compass Players and Second City. They were among the first organized troupes in Chicago, Illinois and from their success, the modern Chicago improvisational comedy movement was spawned.

Much of the current "rules" of comedic improv were first formalized in Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s, initially among The Compass Players troupe. From most accounts Elaine May was central to this intellectual effort. Mike Nichols, Ted Flicker, and Del Close were her most frequent collaborators in this regard. When Second City opened its doors on December 16th, 1959, Viola Spolin began training new improvisers through a series of classes and exercises which became the cornerstone of modern improv training. By the mid 1960s, Viola's classes were handed over to her protégé, Jo Forsberg who further developed Viola's methods into a one-year course, which eventually became Players Workshop, the first official school of improvisation in the country. During this time Jo Forsberg trained many of the performers who went on to star on Second City stage.

Many of the original cast of Saturday Night Live came from The Second City and the franchise has produced such comedy stars as Mike Myers, Chris Farley and John Belushi.

Simultaneously, Keith Johnstone's group The Theatre Machine, which originated in London, was touring Europe. This work gave birth to Theatresports, at first secretly in Keith's workshops, and eventually in public when Keith moved to Canada. Toronto has been home to a rich improv tradition.

In 1984 Dick Chudnow (Kentucky Fried Theater) founded ComedySportz in Milwaukee, WI. Expansion began with the addition of ComedySportz-Madison (WI), in 1985. The first Comedy League of America National Tournament was held in 1988, with 10 teams participating. The league is now known as World Comedy League and boasts a roster of 19 international cities.

In San Francisco, The Committee theater was active during the 1960s.

Modern political improvisation's roots include Jerzy Grotowski's work in Poland during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Peter Brook's "happenings" in England during the late 1960s, Augusto Boal's "Forum Theatre" in South America in the early 1970s, and San Francisco's The Diggers' work in the 1960s. Some of this work led to pure improvisational performance styles, while others simply added to the theatrical vocabulary and were, on the whole, avant garde experiments.

Joan Littlewood, the English actress and director who was active from the 1930s to 1970s, made extensive use of improv in developing plays for performance. However she was successfully prosecuted twice for allowing her actors to improvise in performance. Until 1968, British law required scripts to be approved by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. The department also sent inspectors to some performances to check that the approved script was complied with exactly.

[edit] Improvisational comedy on film and television

Many silent filmmakers such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton used improvisation in the making of their films, developing their gags while filming and altering the plot to fit. The Marx Brothers were notorious for deviating from the script they were given, their ad libs often becoming part of the standard routine and making their way into their films.

Improv comedy techniques have also been used in film, television and stand-up comedy, notably the mockumentary films of director Christopher Guest, the recent HBO television show Curb Your Enthusiasm created by Larry David, the UK Channel 4 and ABC television series Whose Line Is It Anyway, Nick Cannon's improv comedy show Wild 'N Out, and most recently, Thank God You're Here. In Canada, the long-running series Train 48 was improvised from scripts which contained a minimal outline of each scene.

[edit] Improv as a tool for corporate entertainment and corporate training

Major companies such as Second City begin using their improv skill to design new interesting corporate entertainment format and powerful corporate training tool [1]. It as been found that one the major element that generate dysfunctions in a team is the lack of trust, all the improv trust techniques that have been imagined by Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, Del Close, Keith Johnstone and Jonathan Fox are directly applicable to corporate training.

Participants to improv corporate workshops learn a new way of thinking, a new respect for others in any negotiation or transactional relationship, how to be “in the moment“, how to make positive choices that keep doors open, proactive listening as opposed to passive or even responsive listening, trusting one another to do the right thing and the benefits from watching the other guy’s back.

[edit] Psychology of improvisational theatre

In the field of the Psychology of Consciousness, Eberhard Scheiffele explored the altered state of consciousness experienced by actors and improvisers in his scholarly paper: Acting: an altered state of consciousness. According to G. WIlliam Farthing in "The Psychology of Consciousness"(see comparative study), actors (in performance, drama classes, or in psychodrama) routinely enter into an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Acting is seen as altering most of the 14 dimensions of changed subjective experience which characterize ASCs according to Farthing, namely: attention, perception, imagery and fantasy, inner speech, memory, higher-level thought processes, meaning or significance of experiences, time experience, emotional feeling and expression, level of arousal, self-control, suggestibility, body image, and sense of personal identity.

[edit] Improv process

Improvisational theatre allows an interactive relationship with the audience. Improv groups frequently solicit suggestions from the audience as a source of inspiration, a way of getting the audience involved, and as a means of proving that the performance is not scripted. That charge is sometimes aimed at the masters of the art, whose performances can seem so detailed that viewers may suspect the scenes were planned.

In order for an improvised scene to be successful, the improvisers involved must work together responsively to define the parameters and action of the scene, in a process of co-creation. With each spoken word or action in the scene, an improviser makes an offer, meaning that he or she defines some element of the reality of the scene. This might include giving another character a name, identifying a relationship, location, or using mime to define the physical environment. These activities are also known as endowment. It is the responsibility of the other improvisers to accept the offers that their fellow performers make; to not do so is known as blocking, negation, or denial, which usually prevents the scene from developing. Some performers may deliberately block (or otherwise break out of character) for comedic effect -- this is known as gagging -- but this generally prevents the scene from advancing and is frowned upon by many improvisers. Accepting an offer is usually accompanied by adding a new offer, often building on the earlier one; this is a process improvisers refer to as "Yes, And..." and is considered the cornerstone of improvisational technique. Every new piece of information added helps the improvisers to refine their characters and progress the action of the scene.

The unscripted nature of improv also implies no predetermined knowledge about the props that might be useful in a scene. Improv companies may have at their disposal some number of readily accessible props that can be called upon at a moment's notice, but many improvisers eschew props in favor of the infinite possibilities available through mime. In improv, this is more commonly known as 'space object work' or 'space work', not 'mime'. And the props and locations created by this technique, as 'space objects'. As with all improv offers, improvisers are encouraged to respect the validity and continuity of the imaginary environment defined by themselves and their fellow performers; this means, for example, taking care not to walk through the table or "miraculously" survive multiple bullet wounds from another improviser's gun.

In tune with the unscripted nature, several techniques have arisen with which help improvisers to avoid prescripted jokes to arise in their scenes. One such technique is known as "rolphing." This is the process which is sometimes referred to as "vomiting words," and consists of starting with a sound as opposed to a full word. Once the sound is projected, the improviser is forced to come up with a word related to the sound, often surprising even the speaker himself. This technique is not so often used in scene however, as it may break the reality of a scene. Instead, it is often used in preliminary work, setting up a scene, giving the improviser an unexpected and unpredictable scene.

Because improvisers may be required to play a variety of roles without preparation, they need to be able to construct characters quickly with physicality, gestures, accents, voice changes, or other techniques as demanded by the situation. The improviser may be called upon to play a character of a different age or sex. Character motivations are an important part of successful improv scenes, and improvisers must therefore attempt to act according to the objectives that they believe their character seeks.

[edit] Community

Many theatre troupes are devoted to staging improvisational performances and growing the improv community through their training centres. One of the most widespread is the international organization Theatresports, which was founded by Keith Johnstone, an English director who wrote what many consider to be the seminal work on the relationship between status, story telling and improvisational acting, Impro. There are also many independent Improv groups around the world; a non-exhaustive but lengthy list is available here. In addition to for-profit theatre troupes, there are several college-based improv groups in the United States that are becoming popularized as a result of programs such as Whose Line is it Anyway?.

In Europe the special contribution to the theatre of the abstract, the surreal, the irrational and the subconscious have been part of the stage tradition for centuries. From the 1990s onwards a growing number of European Improv groups have been set up specifically to explore the possibilities offered by the use of the abstract in improvised performance, including dance, movement, sound, music, mask work, lighting, and so on. These groups are not especially interested in comedy, either as a technique or as an effect, but rather in expanding the improv genre so as to incorporate techniques and approaches that have long been a legitimate part of European theatre.

[edit] Improv luminaries

Some key figures in the development of improvisational theatre are Avery Schreiber, Viola Spolin and her son Paul Sills, founder of Chicago's famed Second City troupe and originator of Theater Games, and Del Close, founder of ImprovOlympic (along with Charna Halpern) and creator of a longform improv format known as The Harold. Other luminaries include Keith Johnstone, the British teacher and writer–author of Impro, who founded the Theatre Machine and whose teachings form the foundation of the popular shortform Theatresports format, Dick Chudnow, founder of ComedySportz which evolved its family-friendly show format from Johnstone's Theatersports, Stan Wells, creator of the "Clap-in" longform style and founder of The Empty Stage Theatre in Los Angeles, and Bill Johnson, creator/director of The Magic Meathands, who pioneered the concept of "Commun-edy Outreach" by tailoring performances to non-traditional audiences, such as the homeless and foster children.

In 1975 Jonathan Fox founded Playback Theatre, a form of improvised community theatre which is often not comedic and replays stories as shared by members of the audience.

The Groundlings is a popular and influential improv theatre and training center in Los Angeles, California. The Groundlings is often seen as the Los Angeles training ground for the "second generation" of improv luminaries and troupes. Stan Wells developed the "Clap-In" style of long-form improvisation here, later using this as the basis for his own theatre, The Empty Stage which in turn bred multiple troupes utilizing this style.

In the late 1990s, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Amy Poehler founded the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and later they founded one in Los Angeles. The two theatres host a large improv school.

David Shepherd, with Paul Sills, founded the The Compass Players in Chicago. Shepherd was intent on developing a true "people's Theatre", and hoped to bring political drama to the stockyards. The Compass went on to play in numerous forms and companies, in a number of cities including NY and Hyannis, after the founding of The Second City. A number of Compass members were also founding members of The Second City. In the 1970s, Shepherd began experimenting with group-created videos. He is the author of "That Movie In Your Head", about these efforts. See Coleman, Janet, The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre that Revolutionized American Comedy Chicago, University Of Chicago Press; Reprint edition (November 1, 1991)

[edit] References

1. ^ Viola Spolin (1999). Improvisation for the Theater Third Edition. ISBN 081014008X. 
2. ^ Claudon, David. A Thumbnail History of Commedia Dell' arte. 2003
3. ^ Twentieth Century Acting Training. ed. Alison Hodge. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Povinelli, Daniel J.. "On the possibilities of detecting intentions prior to understanding them". In B. Malle, D. Baldwin, & L. Moses (eds.), Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition. MIT Press 2001. http://www.cognitiveevolutiongroup.org/site100-01/1001369/docs/djp57_on_the_possibilities.pdf. 

[edit] See also

• Ad lib
• Atellan Farce
• Busking
• Commedia dell'arte
• Improvisation
• List of improvisational theatre companies
• List of improvisational theater festivals
• Guerrilla improv

[edit] Further reading

• Coleman, Janet. 1991. The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre that Revolutionized American Comedy. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
• Johnstone, Keith. 1981. Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre Rev. ed. London: Methuen, 2007. ISBN 0713687010.
• Nachmanovitch, Stephen. 1990. Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art New York: Penguin-Tarcher. ISBN 0874776317.
• Spolin, Viola. 1967. Improvisation for the Theater. Third rev. ed. Evanston, Il.: Northwestern University Press, 1999. ISBN 081014008X.

[edit] External links

This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

• The Living Playbook: online collection of improvisational games, by Seattle troupe Unexpected Productions.
• How to Be a Better Improviser: an excellent primer on some of the basic precepts ("ground rules") of improv, by improviser and teacher Daniel Goldstein.
• How To Improvise Shakespeare A quick crash course on how to better improvise in the style of Shakespeare.
• Improvoker features stories, thoughts, and ideas about longform improvisational comedy by improvisers.
• YesAnd.com features improv news, resources and message boards.
• The Improv Resource Center has a very large and active message board and its own improv wiki.
• Learn Improv List of improv warm-ups, exercises, and handles.
• Tips for New Improv Troupes This page includes both improv and business advice for comedians who want to start an improv troupe.
• forum improvisation Platform for international improvisational theatre around the world, possibility to add own data. "

Ray William Johnson, most watched video of the day

Ray William Johnson youtube video, "Don't Call Me Fat!!", most watched youtube video today with 1 million views.

He seems to me to do it on skill more than coincidental filling of viewer demand.

What does our knowledge of social science tell us about the success of his video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2oLoBpFmho

How can his success be applied to my microsociological world?

Heidi Montag as a player in the macro-social space

Heidi Montag as a player in the macro-social space

Currently 4th most viewed video today (350,000 views)

representation maximizing traits:
-white
-heterosexual
-christian

weird traits but maybe optimizing for her subpopulation?
-cites Obama Deception, Alex Jones, as making her no longer republican or major party affiliated

traits that may attract attention and support for her outside people who identify as sharing her traits
-being a YOUNG woman
-being a NON-FAT
-being a BLONDE woman

How influenced is Heidi Montag by empirical social science?
Are any members of her competitor class using empirical social science in competition with her for audience?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SUU_R-ld3M

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Montag

Macrosocial Conflicts of August 25, 2009, Microsocial Implications

I think this is the big macrosocial conflict of 8/25/09

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-beck25-2009aug25,0,5784512.story

My blog readers, which are probably white guy social science geeks and fellow travelers, are for the most part out of this conflict.

I think it's a skirmish against people that identify with Glenn Beck and people that identify with Color of Change (with the rest of the US population serving as refs), and the skirmish is primarily about status for those two subnational units.

I think Beck reframed the conflict from faceless "Color of Change" against him to Van Jones vs. him, and in the process sought to increase stigma (or signal that he could) specifically of Van Jones as an individual -in response to "Color of Change" successfully increasing Beck's stigma.

I think work by Goffman (the book "Stigma") and that of coordination game theorists comes into play here, as does the work of macrosociologists/political scientists like Gelman.

I'd like to see real time commentary from people more expert than me.

To be futurepundit-esque, what can I learn in my own microsocial strategy?

If stigma against me is increasing, perhaps I should counterstigmatize an appropriate target. If my goal is to increase absolute value attention to me though, perhaps I should pick a target like Van Jones that I can get a dialectic going with, rather than a target I can destroy too easily.

EDIT: This seems to me like fairly expert stigma production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOgmwyfKuL8

I had a chance to watch about half of it. Seems to me like, targeted, strategic retaliation for what I assume is media produced by Color of Change and affiliates to stigmatize Beck (who himself may have made a play at stigmatizing Obama).

In these tactics and contests, I'd expect a combination of organizational intelligence and luck to determine how status hierarchies sort out (I think the competing traits here are narrowly above average in SES black men vs. below average in SES white men, with the determination being which should confer higher status: SES not accounting for race, or race not accounting for SES).