operant conditioning - i am a believer - Page 4

VKGSDs, good post. I was going to write something....but that about sums up what I was going to say.

One thing though, Yogie, and others that seem to be confused about the terms:
From http://www4.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/la/DrP2.htm

+ reinforcement
Definition: The giving of a pleasant event contingent on a behavior with the goal of increasing the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

Example: Dog sits (or does whatever else you might ask) and you give him/her food, play, and/or praise.

+ punishment
Definition: The giving of an aversive event contingent on a behavior with the goal of decreasing the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

Example: Dog sits up on the long down in the AKC obedience exercise and the owner becomes verbally and/or physically firm.

- reinforcement
Definition: The removal of an aversive event contingent on a behavior with the goal of increasing the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

Example: A technique for teaching the retrieve involves releasing an ear pinch or terminating a shock at the moment the dog clasps the dumbbell in its mouth.

- punishment
Definition: The removal of a pleasant event contingent on a behavior with the goal of decreasing the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

Example: Puppies learn bite inhibition during play when we recoil and cease playing for a moment or two when the dog is too rough. Also, consider the earliest stages of teaching a dog to heel. We may give constant praise and encouragement when the desired behavior occurs but we will withhold the praise when the behavior observed does not meet our criteria of "good heeling".

Steve, you're right, you don't have to use fancy terms to train dogs.  However to call something by the wrong name is wrong regardless of how fancy the term is.  A dumbbell is not a bitesleeve, right?  If you want to promote a technique or method (especially in a *training* forum), as it appears was the OP's intent, then make sure you call it like it is.

Molly - thanks for giving that article...  I have read it before and I understand the concept... I am not saying that I disagree with;
+ punishment
Definition: The giving of an aversive event contingent on a behavior with the goal of decreasing the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

I believe that it has its place in training..........  but again - @ Bee - it is black and white - not rocket science....... 

Yogie

 

 

@YogieBear Operant conditioning is NOT "mythology.  Its proven science and it was certainly used on you at some point, in some form, during your K-12 schooling, right here in the good ol' USA.  Its included in all basic child development curriculums for teachers and has been for many, many decades. 

Also to clarify further, I worked with professors whom were doing primate research, as an RA.  I attended a University that had a small teaching zoo on campus that also had agreements with outside primate rescues/sanctuaries and larger zoos.  Knowing both Operant and Classical Conditioning, shown by completing a particular course sequence, was a base requirement for being eligible to work with the primates in both the zoo animal handler program and/or as an RA for a professor conducting animal ethology research.  If you didn't take the courses, which all had applied hands-on course content, they were not going to let you get anywhere near the animals, period.  These animals were not "vivarium test animals", they were well cared for, captive animals in a zoo/sanctuary environment.  Almost all had injuries of some kind or were kept as exotic pets, preventing them from ever being returned to the wild.

I think VKGSDs, mollyandjack and Hired Dog have been very kind to try and clarify further to those of you whom were unaware of what Operant Conditioning actually is.  However some of the techniques I am seeing people post here as rebuttals are known as "Classical Conditioning". 

Sorry, but they do not use such words as Operant Conditioning or anything else over here In fact i have never used or heard such words spoken in 65 years training and working Dogs, But i guess Belgium is a little backwards in some ways. Some of you Guys like to elaborate and make dog training sound hard, It is the easiest thing in the world to train and socalize a dog, nothing fancy just plain common sense and that,s it. i have said my piece so go on making it sound hard and fancy, it may impress a few newcomers to the forum.
Steve1

I don't care either way if people like operant conditioning, think it's worth learning about (I think so), or what, but it is most certainly not new or fancy. B.F. Skinner coined the term in 1937.

And, thought it might be worth pointing out, Bart Bellon is from Belgium and has competed in (and won) in NVBK multiple times.

Steve, lol, this was posted in the TRAINING forum, presumably where people come to discuss training.  If you think it's silly or overcomplicated, that is fine, don't post.  It's really just labels for stuff people have already been doing for decades, not complicated really.

@MoMo - no where did I state it was  mythological-  you seem to take offense like it is your written word..........I stated I agreed with it....   Honestly do you get any dog training done - with all that "thinking".........

Steve1 - only Momo and Molly keep making it difficult.... I get the concept.....I cant put it in so complicated terms - but my dogs can complete a given task with repetition and reward....  Later when the task has been mastered - and a over zealous dogs jumps the gun on a given task then reward is taken away and correction is given...........

Note to MoMo - when teaching those to "dog train" you put it in simple terms and in short answers - people start to zone out when they have a dog on the field......and the dog lays down and goes to sleep.

Yogie

Deleted-never mind...