[GuyX]

‘Ello ‘Ello every1!! How r we doing on this fine Sunday morn?

Ok. Let’s get to it, shall we? So I didn’t know until recently that people view the electric shock ESP experiment Venkman conducts @ the beginning of the movie in different ways.

But the idea is that what Venkman is doing is part of his research. “Negative Reenforcement on ESP abilities”. He’s not just screwing with him to get into the girls pants. He’s really doing what he says he’s doing. Right?

You’ll notice that the more negative shocks the student is given the more accurate he becomes with his ESP. So Venkman was actually performing the experiment correctly! Negative reenforcement(the shocks) is the key.

Other people read the scene as Venkman is just trying to get laid(which he most definitely is) & so he’s trying to make the girl look good & the student look bad. As in he’s just screwing with the guy nonchalantly.

But he’s actually doing what he says he’s doing. He’s negatively reenforcing the guys ESP & the last 1 he gets, the wavy lines, is almost bang on, where as before he was behind a card.

What does every1 think? Has this been discussed previously? Was Venkman just messing with the guy or doing real science research….while also trying to pick up chicks?

[mrmichaelt]

I think he was just trying to b.s. a paper to publish for that year and decided to use it to have fun messing with male students and flirting with the female ones. The joke is his thesis was actually right but he missed it because he was so busy with playing his game.

[GuyX]

I think he was just trying to b.s. a paper to publish for that year and decided to use it to have fun messing with male students and flirting with the female ones. The joke is his thesis was actually right but he missed it because he was so busy with playing his game.

Wouldn’t you love to read a paper published by Peter Venkman? Oh god. Maybe if Haslab ever does a Venkman pack like they did for Spengler one of the goodies they include could be a paper published by the great and distinguished Dr Peter Venkman. Kind of like the journal they included with the Spengler pack.

I’d also love to know what Venkman wrote his PHD thesis on, whatever it is I’m betting Ray & Egon did the majority of it.

[Bison256]

I think he was just trying to b.s. a paper to publish for that year and decided to use it to have fun messing with male students and flirting with the female ones. The joke is his thesis was actually right but he missed it because he was so busy with playing his game.

Wouldn’t you love to read a paper published by Peter Venkman? Oh god. Maybe if Haslab ever does a Venkman pack like they did for Spengler one of the goodies they include could be a paper published by the great and distinguished Dr Peter Venkman. Kind of like the journal they included with the Spengler pack.

I’d also love to know what Venkman wrote his PHD thesis on, whatever it is I’m betting Ray & Egon did the majority of it.

Didn't idw's last ghostbusters comic, year one, go into this a little?

[Hairy Biker]

I believe its based on a real experiment but it was testing a person's willingness to shock another person.

Basically are the sadistic enough to cause another human pain/ harm.

I always viewed it as Venkman wanting to torture the guy.and impress the girl.

[GuyX]

I believe its based on a real experiment but it was testing a person's willingness to shock another person.

Basically are the sadistic enough to cause another human pain/ harm.

I always viewed it as Venkman wanting to torture the guy.and impress the girl.

Yeah I think a lot of people view it that way. But when you actually think about what he says, and the result of what happens, like mrmmichaelt alluded to, it’s like he’s unknowingly discovering his hypothesis is true.

In other words, his desire to get laid resulted in actual science & it’s unlikely Venkman was even cognizant of it. Which makes the scene even funnier in my opinion.

[mrmichaelt]

Didn't idw's last ghostbusters comic, year one, go into this a little?

Yes, in the IDW canon, revealed in Year One, Peter co-authored several papers with Egon and Ray. Rebecca Morales noted she was unable to find any that he published on his own. Peter informed her he published more than one on his own about the "effectiveness of the behavioral vs. humanistic approach when dealing with the average skell in the five boroughs" through the Mason-Wolf Journal of Tentative Psychology.

[Dr.D]

Venkman's experiment is based on the Stanley Milgram's experiment which was testing people's willingness to submit to authority figures. People were asked to field questions to a participant and when the subject answered incorrectly those asking the questions were told by an authority figure to administer a to a series of electric shocks, increasing in power the more questions were missed. The experiment found that when the person administering the shocks could not actually see the subject, they were more willing to increase the voltage to fatal amounts.

Venkman probably just through "hey I'll bet shocking someone would be fun and what IF?"

[CitizenBuster]

I always took the scene as Venkman really was performing an actual experiment. He tells the the guy they volunteered for it. So I'm assuming they both came in for it on there own. And 5 bucks .However Venkman doesn't shock the woman for obvious reasons. But as someone else stated, after enough shocks, the man got one right. So in essence, Venkmans experiment was a success. Enough negativereinforcement, one might be able to force out dormant ESP abilities. But why waste a chance to score a date?

[GuyX]

I always took the scene as Venkman really was performing an actual experiment. He tells the the guy they volunteered for it. So I'm assuming they both came in for it on there own. And 5 bucks .However Venkman doesn't shock the woman for obvious reasons. But as someone else stated, after enough shocks, the man got one right. So in essence, Venkmans experiment was a success. Enough negativereinforcement, one might be able to force out dormant ESP abilities. But why waste a chance to score a date?

What’s really interesting is…

This ties into Ghostbusters 2. “Negative reinforcement” and “mood slime” are related. And dig this. Egon is studying if human emotions affect the physical environment “it’s a theory Ray & I had”.

Makes one wonder if Venkman heard them talking about that & this is where “the effect! I’ll tell you what the effect is! It’s pissing me off!l” “well then maybe my theory is correct”(of course this is head canon. Obviously they wouldn’t have thought of this before the 2nd movie).

Was it really *his* theory? Somehow I doubt Venkman ever had much of a theory about anything. Unless it’s how to undo a woman’s bra in less than 10 seconds.

[groovygoth666]

Wouldn’t you love to read a paper published by Peter Venkman? Oh god. Maybe if Haslab ever does a Venkman pack like they did for Spengler one of the goodies they include could be a paper published by the great and distinguished Dr Peter Venkman. Kind of like the journal they included with the Spengler pack.

I dunno, I hear Venkmans theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, his methods are sloppy and his conclusions are highly questionable