Part 2 : Operant Conditioning
‘Monster’ the Shih Tzu anticipating some human interaction.
In dog training, the response can be altered, channeled, eliminated or improved with an appropriate stimulus. This is where ‘Operant Conditioning’ comes in the picture.
Operant Conditioning, was first theorized by B.F. Skinner, using his famous tool ‘Skinner’s box‘. Theory of ‘Operant Conditioning’ focuses on using different kinds of stimuli to obtain the desired response from the animal. This was the foundation of science based dog training. To know more about the theory of operant conditioning please visit: https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
The functioning of ‘Operant Conditioning’ is based on 2 fundamental types of stimuli – Reinforcement and Punishment. Each of these stimuli are further categorized depending on the nature of stimuli – Positive and Negative. So, Operant Conditioning mainly focuses on 4 different methods of manipulating the Stimulus during the training – Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment and Negative Punishment.
Positive and Negative, are not to be considered in terms of nature or characteristic of the stimulus but simply in it’s mathematical form where they’re addition/introduction or subtraction/removal of the stimulus. In simpler words, Positive means adding a stimulus and negative means removing the stimulus.
Reinforcement is an action of strengthening or encouraging the response towards the stimulus. In simpler words, reinforcements are used to increase the likelihood specific behavior occurring again.
Punishment, as a Psychological term, is an action that discourages a response by altering or manipulating the stimulus. Or simply put, they’re any change in the environment which causes the behavior to less likely repeat itself. Punishment is most likely but not necessarily, an aversive or harmful method of conditioning.
Examples
Positive (+ve) Reinforcement : Adding something to encourage or maintain a response. Every time a dog sits when asked, he/she is rewarded with a treat which he/she likes. Here, sitting is a response which is encouraged by adding a treat (stimulus) so that its more likely that the response is more likely to appear on the next attempt.
Negative (-ve) Reinforcement : Taking something away to encourage or maintain a response. Teaching the dog to sit when pressure is applied to the dog’s bottom. As soon as the dog sits, the pressure is removed. Here, sitting is a desired response and it is achieved through the dog trying to remove the pressure (stimulus) from his bottom. By performing the desired response, the dog is removing the stimulus. So ultimately the response is achieved by removing the stimulus.
Positive (+ve) Punishment : Introducing or adding a discomfort in order to discourage a response. Spraying water in dog’s face when he/she climbs into the bed. Here, climbing in the bed is an undesired behavior from a dog. By spraying water in the dog’s face (adding a stimulus), we’re introducing a discomfort whenever he climbs into the bed. So in order to avoid being sprayed in the face, dog’s behavior (response) is discouraged.
Negative (-ve) Punishment : Removing something in order to discourage a response. When the dog starts to jump on you, turning your back to the dog (taking away the attention). Here, dog jumping on you is an undesired behavior. By taking away (removing) the attention, we’re discouraging the dog’s tendency to jump. So in order to avoid the removal of attention (stimulus), dog learns to stop jumping.
These are the theories of Stimulus – Response (previous post) and Operant Conditioning which play a big role in the dog’s understanding of the world around them. ‘Classical Conditioning‘ is the third pillar of the basics of psychology which I’ll be talking about in the coming post.
You can never start to understand the dog’s behavior before you learn to get down on their level. – Beauty in the Beast
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