The Art & Science of Dog Training--4 Components of Behavioral Science (07)

Reinforcement and Punishment: Four components of Behavioral Science.

I’m going to do something scandalous here and start well past the beginning and then eventually work my way to where I should’ve started and then on towards the end. I’m not going to use a lot of scientific terms because they make my eyes glaze over and unlike most dog people I actually get really excited about this stuff. In truth, before I talk about Behavioral Science as it was sorted out in the mid-1900’s—I should talk about Pavlov and his drooling dogs. But no, let’s plow right into the middle and see what happens.

I owe this approach to one of my most favorite professors in college. Dr. Gene Franks taught Economics at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. I was an economics major (because it seemed like something my parents could live with—and it grabbed my interest at the time). But I’d never been particularly good with math. That seemed to be the case with a number of us econ majors. Gene would come to a point in his lectures where he had to disclose some important mathematical thingammy. He would look at us and say, “I’m not going to explain this formula to you right now. I want you to memorize it and learn where to use it. After a while, it’ll make sense.”

And you know, he was right! Of course, I don’t remember a thing of what he taught me now, but I do remember understanding it before graduating. And, best of all, at the end of the day, Gene taught me that math wasn’t really all that scary.

I hope to do as much for dog training and you.

When I’m looking at teaching a dog something, there are four rather distinct approaches. There are two types of reinforcement and two types of punishment. I will take each one in turn

i) Positive Reinforcement—behavior makes good things happen

What is positive reinforcement? Let me geek-out for just a moment and break the term down. Let’s start with the second half: reinforcement. Reinforcement is ANYTHING that increases the likelihood of a given behavior happening again. It’s not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, it’s simply anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior happening again.

As I discussed earlier under Emotional Management-- Building an Atmosphere of Trust--Removal of force-based training tools and techniques: The reason punishers and reinforcers are labeled “positive” is because something is being “added to” the dog in order to influence a certain behavior.

So in the case of Positive Reinforcement, the dog receives something in return for a certain behavior and the something the dog receives is likely to increase the chances of the dog performing that behavior in the future.

This applies to all behaviors whether appropriate or inappropriate. Why does the dog knock over the trash can in the kitchen? Because rifling through the garbage is SO REINFORCING!!! Why is Trooper quiet in the living room when I’m on the computer? Because sleeping on the couch is SO REINFORCING. Why does Scipio the Pug stand and bark at Becky’s feet? Because it’s so reinforcing when, in an effort to shut him up, she picks him up.

Why does Scipio’s mother, Becky, always pick him up when he stands and barks at her feet? Because it’s so reinforcing when he shuts up!

Oh, wait a minute, put that last example on hold. We’ll talk about Becky and Scipio in particular when we get into Negative Reinforcement.

The bottom line is that a reinforcer is any outcome that increases the likelihood of a given behavior happening again. A Positive Reinforcer is an outcome that is gained, is “added to” to the dog (or person).

If this is beginning to get a little complex, don’t worry, we’ll come back to it time and again and after awhile, you’ll pick it up and get pretty good at finding positive reinforcers in your dog’s life. (And in your own, too!)

A good rule of thumb is that anything a dog desires—whether it’s food, play, or a simple behavior such as sleeping on the couch—can be used as a positive reinforcer to train the dog to behave more appropriately.

Another thing to be aware of is that in general, training, as a component of any good relationship, is a two-way street. In the example of Becky and Scipio, they are both using reinforcement to train the other…in fact, at the moment, Scipio is a better trainer than Becky.

Copyright © 2010 ~ Peg Dawson Harrington ~ All Rights Reserved

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