You’ll also need to be familiar with the words “reinforcement” and “punishment”. However, in this instance they mean something is added (positive) or something is taken away (negative). Current society has our brains jumping straight to them meaning “good” and “bad”. Please don’t get hung up on the words “positive” and “negative”. There are four major concepts of Operant Conditioning: Animal trainers can utilize these concepts to train an animal to do behaviors, but more on that in a minute… What is Operant Conditioning?
Simply put: adding or taking something away from a situation either increases or decreases the behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior. Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior. I like the way the Very Well Mind website states it: Operant Conditioning was first described by behaviorist B.F. If you don’t have the time to read it, here’s a recap to get you up to speed for this post:Ĭommon training terms are derived from a learning method called Operant Conditioning. In case you missed it, last week we focused on Positive Reinforcement and Positive Punishment. This is a follow-up post to dive into more training terms we use as dog trainers. Negative Punishment: Let’s Learn Training TermsĪs I mentioned last week, February is Dog Training Education Month. For instance, if you squirt your dog with a hose every time he barks, and he starts barking MORE, you have actually reinforced the behavior, even though your intention was to punish.Negative Reinforcement vs. It's important to point out whether the behavior increased or decreased, because THAT is what determines if something is punishment or reinforcement. Negative Reinforcement - The gentle leader releasing its pressure when your dog walks nicely at your side, resulting in your dog walking by your side more (Removal of pressure for increase in walking by your side). Negative Punishment - Turning your back to your dog when he jumps on you, resulting in him no longer jumping (Removal of attention for a decrease in behavior) Is something being added or taken away? If something is added then its Positive, if something is taken away then it is Negative.Īnd for your initial question of looking for example. Is the behavior increasing or decreasing? Increasing = Reinforcement, Decrease = Punishment The easiest way to decipher between the two is to break it down like this: So they go hand in hand, and it really is all just about the way you are looking at and phrasing it. However, if you phrase it in such a way that the pressure is released when the dog is walking by your side, and therefore the behavior of walking next to you is increased, then it is negative reinforcement (Pressure released = negative, more walking by your side = reinforcement). If you are focused on the pulling behavior, and the pressure from the gentle leader STOPS the pulling, then it is positive punishment (Uncomfortable pressure = positive, pulling stops = punishment). For example, the use of a gentle leader is an example of both positive punishment AND negative reinforcement depending on what behavior you re focusing on.
Positive punishment and negative reinforcement go hand in hand, and it really just depends on the way you phrase it. This is, for some reason, one of the most confusing concepts in dog training, yet we use it all the time! I'm still on the prep list for the CPDT-KA exam, and this is by far the most common question that comes up. "But isn't adding pressure to the dog a form of positive punishment? Those two are always confusing, because I think when you take away something unpleasant, don't you first have to give it or apply it?"
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