When we exhibit these emotions, society showers us with positive reinforcement;
we learn this even before we get out of diapers. When, as children, we hug our rotten
little puke of a sister and give her a kiss, all the aunts and uncles smile and twit and cry,
“Isn’t he the sweetest little thing?” Such coveted treats as chocolate-covered graham
crackers often follow. But if we deliberately slam the rotten little puke of a sister’s
fingers in the door, sanctions follow – angry remonstrance from parents, aunts and
uncles; instead of a chocolate-covered graham cracker, a spanking.