Question

1. Describe one of the theories presented (such as the law of effect, conditioned reflexes, reinforcement, associated reflexes) to use in an experiment that you will design.

2. How does your chosen theory show roots in mechanism?

3. Take on the role of a behaviorist and pretend that you want to train a behavior into a dog or rabbit, such as laying down when they hear a buzzer, or coming to you when you wear a red shirt. Describe the desired behavior. Design an experiment in which you use this theory to train the behavior into your subject. Try to think more creatively than simply rewarding the animal for engaging in the behavior.

Answer 1

1. Theory of conditioned reflexes: Whenever we think about behaviourism we think of Vladimir Bekhterev. Him and Pavlov were both contemporaries, but Pavlov's theories were picked up and studied by behaviourists and this is how the theory of associated reflexes came up. Unlike other branches of psychology behaviourism does not look at thoughts and emotions because those things are internal and cannot be observed. Instead, behaviourism focuses on behaviour as a response to stimuli. This theory states that behaviour is nothing but an automatic response to a stimulus that differs from that initially causing the response, but that has become associated with it by repetition, in a process known as classical conditioning. In simpler words, the presentation of the stimulus, continuously brings about the desired change or behaviour in an organism.

3. There are four ways to bring about a desired change in the animal: Positive reinforcement (a very commonly used method), Negative reinforcement, Positive punishment and Negative punishment.

Basic obedience training tasks for dogs, include walking on a leash, attention, housebreaking, nonaggression, and socialization with humans or other pets. Dogs are also trained for many other activities, such as dog sports, service dogs, and working dog tasks.

Various animal trainers use various methods. Methods like shaping, which is a process by which successive approximations are rewarded until the desirable response is attained.

Positive reinforcement for dogs can include primary reinforcers like food or social reinforcers like using vocals such as "good boy" or tactile (stroking) ones.

Positive punishment, if used at all, can be physical, such as pulling on a leash or spanking. It may also be vocal, such as saying "bad dog".

Bridges to positive reinforcement, include vocal cues, whistling, and dog whistles, as well as clickers used in clicker training, a method popularized by Karen Pryor.

Negative reinforcement may also be used. Punishment is also a tool which includes withholding of food or physical discipline.