What is operant conditioning?
In this day and age, where the bigger the words one uses the more knowledgeable one is perceived to be, terms like Operant Conditioning tend to be bandied about without being fully understood.
Most people, if asked for a definition, will say something like “Oh yeah, Skinner and all that stuff.” And many people have the misconception that operant conditioning simply means training with food.
Not so, folks. The forced retrieve is an operant conditioning procedure. The fact is, most of the training we do, whether compulsion-based or motivational, is based on operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is a name tag for what happens when a dog (or any other being) learns that certain behavior affects what happens to it. In other words, under the operant conditioning system, the dog learns that by behaving a certain way or performing a certain exercise it can make something positive happen or avoid something negative.
For instance, an dog might learn that the behavior of lying down on command often results in being fed a tasty tidbit. He starts lying down in order to cause a tidbit to appear. Then, somewhere along the line, he discovers that sniffing the bushes and wandering off when he hears that same command results in an unpleasant yank on the collar. He then starts laying down on command because by performing that behavior, he can affect what happens to him and avoid something unpleasant.
We go to work because we have learned that it results in a paycheck. We avoid touching hot burners because we have learned that doing so is a painful experience! The dog learns that by barking at the creep with the big arm, he can cause that person to run away. The cat learns that if he meows, it can result in being fed or let inside. These are all the results of operant conditioning at work.
In operant conditioning, there are four things which affect the subject s behavior: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment. These terms are often misunderstood and misused.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
is decidedly the most cheerful of the four options. Positive reinforcement is what happens when a behavior causes a good consequence and is therefore more likely to be repeated. Some typical examples would be the dog who raids the garbage and finds a T-bone, the person who checks the mailbox and finds a card from an old friend, or the dog who barks and gets the opportunity to bite the agitator.
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
is what happens when a behavior causes something unpleasant to stop. The subject learns that by performing a certain behavior, it can make something nasty go away. Typical examples would be a person shutting a window to stop the cold wind from blowing in, the dog who grabs the dumbbell to make the pressure on its collar stop, or the horse who bucks off an annoying rider. All of these behaviors are likely to be repeated, because they succeeded in getting rid of something bad.
POSITIVE PUNISHMENT
sounds like a contradiction in terms, but is simply the scientific term for something bad happening to the subject when a behavior is performed. Examples would be the agitator who makes a careless move and gets bitten, the dog who jumps up and gets sprayed with vinegar water, or the driver speeding down the road who hits a telephone pole. These behaviors create bad results and are therefore less likely to be repeated.
NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT
involves taking away something good when a behavior is performed, i.e., the dog who takes a weak bite on the sleeve, resulting in the agitator escaping and ending the game, the drunk driver who loses his license, or the mountain lion who misjudges his leap and fails to catch dinner. The behaviors which result in the loss of good things are less likely to be repeated.These definitions can be somewhat difficult to remember, but the following pointers may be helpful:
Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, perpetuates a behavior and makes it more likely to happen again.
Punishment, whether positive or negative, decreases a behavior and makes it less likely to happen again.
Positive (+) does not mean good . The word refers to actively doing something or adding something to the situation.
Negative (-) does not mean bad . The word refers to removing something from the situation. Think of these two terms in the light of addition or subtraction, rather than good or bad.
This article written and copyrighted (1998) by Jessi Clark-White. All rights are reserved, and this article may not be duplicated in any manner without written permission from the author. Previously published in DogSports Magazine.
