By Carmel Tse/Oct. 20, 2019
University of Maryland LDT 100 Project

In looking for an instructional designer job, I had thought of applying to be an ID at a famous cosmetic retailer group, the chain that profits by making people look beautiful. As a male whose only teaching experiences were newspapers and driver education, showing other people how to drive up lipstick and mascara sales remains imaginary until learning theories are applied. Remember, smearing the lip line or smudging the mascara may make a face look ugly, but failing to brake or missing a blind spot check may cause a crash. If you do all at the same time – that is putting makeup on while driving – you die.

Telling the bad joke “Don’t worry, the mortician’s job is to make you look pretty in the coffin” to novice drivers is using behaviorism to warn them of the worst about distracted driving. But if I were to teach a group of equally distracted cosmeticians to stop wearing drugstore makeup, what joke can I use? I have been told the harshest comment for a woman is the word “OLD”.

Positive or negative feedback

“Your Revlon Red looks OLD” or “you look OLD in that Max Factor Pan-Cake” are negative feedbacks. But if you say “our Sephora Classic Bright Red looks cute on you” or “that Smashbox Studio Skin foundation glows on your face” are positive compliments. Revlon Red and Classic Bright Red are basically the same hue, and Smashbox was founded by Max Factor’s great-grandsons.

I confess that I’m not totally foreign to beauty education as my mother taught makeup. I remember her saying the classes were about doing things repeatedly, like drawing the same right brow and taking it off numerous times until perfection. Applying academic theories, John Watson first used the term behaviorism and stressed the importance of repetition: "The more frequent a stimulus and response occur in association with each other, the stronger the habit will become."

Like cannabis, it can be a stimulant or depressant

Behaviorism is like cannabis, it can be a stimulant or depressant. The pros: Repetition makes perfect; and positive comments drive up sales. The cons: Like antibiotics, when overused, it loses its effectiveness; and in the cosmetic industry, negative comments drive away customers.

I never got the job but I never got to tell them the story. Halloween is upon us and my goal is to make myself look OLD and UGLY.

Bibliography

Lacy, Lisa. Smashbox, the makeup from Max Factor's great-grandsons, turns to VR to tell its story. The Drum. Sept. 1, 2016.

York, Robert B. Learning Theory: Behaviorism. Michigan State University. https://msu.edu/~yorkrobe/Webb/Final/lt_behaviorism.htm (accessed Oct. 15, 2019).