In my last post I gave five basic definitions:
Operant Conditioning, Positive punishment, Negative punishment, Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Today I will go more in depth on the subject of
reinforcement and introduce the concept of
classical conditioning.
First things first.
Reinforcement is using something to increase the likeliness that a behavior will be repeated. The sub-categories of both reinforcement and punishment are
positive and
negative. At first the positives and negatives of behavior can be confusing. Think of it this way:
positive indicates that you add something to get the desired result (i.e. a treat or aversive). Negative indicates that you remove something to get the desired result (i.e. attention or aversive). Once you begin thinking of it this way it is less confusing. Here is an example of
Negative Reinforcement: You want to teach your dog to sit. You put the dog on leash tell him to "come" and yank or pull on the leash until the dog steps toward you. When the dog steps toward you the
aversive stimulus (pressure on the leash) ceases and after repetition the dog realizes that when he comes on command he will avoid the
aversive stimulus. When the dog completes the desired behavior the
aversive is removed. I personally do not think that giving a command and pulling on a leash is the most effective way to teach a dog to come. Also, when used incorrectly
negative reinforcement can be abusive and lead to a fearful dog (i.e. you pull up hard on a training collar to get a dog to sit). You can't expect a dog to immediately know whether a jerk on the leash means to sit or lay down.
Negative Reinforcement doesn't always involve "pain". An example of "non-painful"
negative reinforcement: You want to teach a puppy to sit. You say "sit" while putting pressure on the dog lower back with your hand. You are not forcing the puppy to sit, just waiting for him to do it himself. When the puppy sits you remove the pressure therefore reinforcing sitting on command.
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| Dembre--12 weeks (sitting was just reinforced with praise and food) |
Now we are on to
Positive Reinforcement!
Positive reinforcement is probably the most popular and effective way to reinforce a behavior. Most of you have probably heard this term. A common of
positive reinforcement is using food rewards, physical rewards (petting) and/or you voice to
reinforce a behavior. When first teaching a puppy to sit you often
lure him into a sitting position by hold the food over his nose. The treat is an
appetitive stimulus (something the dog wants). Once the dog sits he is rewarded with the treat and the behavior, sitting on command, is
reinforced. Your voice can be used as either an
aversive or appetitive stimulus. As an
aversive stimulus you use a gruff and threatening voice. When used as an
appetitive stimulus you use a high pitched and excited voice. Dogs love to hear the voice of their master when it is happy and excited. Dogs, by nature, are pack animals and when you have a bond with a dog they tend to seek your approval and affection.
Positive Reinforcement is a great way to reward your dog for good behavior. It also tends to create a link between voice command, obedience, and reward fairly quickly. Good dog trainers use
positive reinforcement often and effectively. TIMING IS THE KEY! When your dog does the desired behavior you need to reward him for the behavior IMMEDIATELY... not half a minute after he has done what you want. Dogs are "in the moment" animals and will not associate a treat a minute after he has done a command with the command. It is crucial that you reward the dog right away in order to make a link in his mind between the cue, the completion, and the reward.
Lastly, I would like to introduce a new concept. This concept is
classical conditioning!
Classical conditioning: Form of associative learning in which a subject learns the relationship between two stimuli. In other words associating one thing with another thing and then associating them with each other. A great example is Ivan Pavlov's famous experiment with dogs! Pavlov was originally trying to do some experiment that involved feeding dogs meat, but eventually when the dogs heard the foot steps of the people who fed them they would drool and it messed up the experiment. Pavlov could of given up, but he had another idea. Every time that the dogs were fed he would ring a bell. Eventually he just rang the bell and didn't immediately give the dogs food. The dogs began to drool. They had associated the sound of the the bell with being fed. When they heard a bell it made them instantly think of food. At least from my understanding!
More soon,
~Elijah & Dembre
~Elijah & Hobart II
