In Because We Let Them: Part 1, on top of filling some space until I talk about my own training next week, I managed to tie a lesson I learned during one of the doggie training classes at the Austin Humane Shelter into a brief discussion of behaviorism and the 4 primary approaches taken to alter behavior. I also realized that this was going to be too long and I’d need more than my original 2 parts. Which screws up my scheduling but ah well, this is going to be a 4 update week.
In any case, the 4 major approaches to behavior modification I presented were (with some definition): positive reinforcement (providing reward), negative reinforcement (removing constant punishment), positive punishment (providing punishment) and negative punishment (removing a reward).
For each, I gave some dog and human related examples of each and I’d point folks to that article for details. … Keep Reading