Mass confusion usually follows anytime I am permitted to make up the questions to test the mettle of our class on their knowledge of operant conditioning.
I will admit, I'm seriously obnoxious. I come up with statements that intentionally force our students to think critically, using the method that my brother and I made up to analyze and figure out in which of the four quadrants the answer lies.
Here's my most annoying example to date:
A very cute dog walks up to his owner and paws her in the leg. The owner smiles and tells her dog to sit, a treat hidden in her palm. When the dog puts his butt on the floor, the owner smiles wider and gives the dog the treat. The dog never sits again.
WHAT?! usually follows this statement.
Surely I screwed that up, saying that a dog that is given a treat for sitting would never sit again. That isn't possible; it's not even probable!
Don't worry; I'm just being a jerk. I'll admit it.
I also threw in a lot of meaningless babble, such as "very cute dog," the pawing of the owner's leg, the smiling, the fact that the dog was given a treat, etc.
Well, how do you figure out where this falls on the grid? Let's analyze and check it out!
(*Note that nowhere do I say "desired" or "undesired" behavior; I simply note that a behavior is performed. Whether or not we like it has little to do with the science.)
Forgetting anything about our preconceptions about what dogs like or should do in accordance to blahblahblah, let's take the sciency way!
(A very cute dog walks up to his owner and paws her in the leg. The owner smiles and tells her dog to sit, a treat hidden in her palm. When the dog puts his butt on the floor, the owner smiles wider and gives the dog the treat. The dog never sits again.)
(A very cute dog walks up to his owner and paws her in the leg. The owner smiles and tells her dog to sit, a treat hidden in her palm. When the dog puts his butt on the floor, the owner smiles wider and gives the dog the treat. The dog never sits again.)
1.) Identify the behavior.
In this case, the behavior is sitting.
2.) Identify the consequence.
The dog is given a treat.
3.) What happened to the behavior as a result of the consequence?
The behavior decreased.
So, something was applied that made a behavior decrease. So, if you go back up and check out the section of the grid where behaviors are decreased and then check out in which of those two something is applied, you should come up with Positive Punishment or P+.
If you're anything like the people who take my class, you're probably all but ready to jump through the computer and argue with me that a treat cannot be a form of positive punishment.
(Funny note: That's uncritical anthropomorphism you're using; because you believe that giving a dog a treat is positive, therefore the dog must think that getting a treat is positive. This is not so, and this kind of thought process will bite you in the butt... If a dog doesn't get there first!)
So, with that note:
Can you critically and scientifically analyze these statements and tell me which of the four quadrants they fall under?
1.) A dog barks while running agility. His handler takes him off the field and plays fetch. The dog learns not to bark on the agility field.
2.) A dog barks while running agility. The owner takes him off the field and puts him in a crate. The dog learns to bark on the agility field.
3.) A dog steps out of heel position and is collar corrected. The dog learns not to step out of heel position.
4.) The leg bands on a front pull harness loosen when a dog chooses to walk closer to his handler.
