Cialdini raamat
basis of that sound. Remember how, consequently, it was possible to fool a mother
turkey with a stuffed polecat as long as the replica played the recorded cheep-cheep
of a baby turkey. The simulated chick sound was enough to start the mother
turkey's maternal tape whirring.
The lesson of the turkey and the polecat illustrates uncomfortably well the re-
lationship between the average viewer and the laugh-track-playing television exec-
utive. We have become so accustomed to taking the humorous reactions of others
as evidence of what deserves laughter that we too can be made to respond to the
sound, and not the substance, of the real thing. Much as a cheep-cheep noise re-
moved from the reality of a chick can stimulate a female turkey to mother, so can
a recorded ha-ha removed from the reality of a genuine audience stimulate us to
laugh. The television executives are exploiting our preference for shortcuts, our
annaabi.ee 
