Operant conditioning is one of the most effective ways of shaping desired behavior in people and animals. This is done by rewarding desired behavior and punishing poor behavior. Animals can be strongly influenced when rewarded with food or other biological necessities. Exploiting this trait is often used in dog training. This video by Positive Training demonstrates the power of operant conditioning when teaching a dog to fetch.
My husband is the dog whisper and he is good at training dogs. He trained all 4 of the dogs that we have had ( 2 have passed away). I remember potty training my son and giving him an M&M each time he would go to the bathroom on his potty. It is something that in social work we do often. It is not with food, but with clients when they see change it makes a big difference in their lives.
"The pleasure principle does not abandon the intention of ultimately obtaining pleasure, but it nevertheless demands and carries into effect the postponement of satisfaction, the abandonment of a number of possibilities of gaining satisfaction and the temporary toleration of unpleasure as a step on the long indirect road to pleasure" Sigmund Freud
"The consequences of an act affect the probability of it's occurring again" BF Skinner
My husband is the dog whisper and he is good at training dogs. He trained all 4 of the dogs that we have had ( 2 have passed away). I remember potty training my son and giving him an M&M each time he would go to the bathroom on his potty. It is something that in social work we do often. It is not with food, but with clients when they see change it makes a big difference in their lives.
ReplyDelete