Neelum Amjad
10/27/18
Summary
Reinforcement is encouraging behavior by using rewards to make it occur more frequently in the future. Positive reinforcement is the addition of a stimulus in order to increase behavior in the future while negative reinforcement is the removal of a stimulus in order to increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring again in the future. It’s important to understand that when using punishment, it results an immediate stop to the behavior and we cannot predict the outcome of it occurring again in the future. Behaviors tend to happen very quickly and it is important to reinforce the correct behavior. Consequently, if reinforcement is given too late, the subject is left to figure out what he or she did to be given a reward and that causes confusion. Reinforcers should be small so that it’s not tiresome for the subject but also big enough to elicit a response. Using jackpots or “unearned” reinforcers about ten times the normal reinforcer can be quite effective because it relieves feeling of oppression. One of the issues in training animals is rewarding the exact behavior that you want to increase because of how hard it is to pinpoint it. In order to resolve this issue, a conditioned reinforcer is used before or during reinforcement training. This makes it easier to distinguish exactly what is being rewarded and is most powerful when they are paired with more than one primary reinforcers. It’s important that reinforcement is consistent during the acquisition phase but it is later varied in order to maintain the behavior. The longer the variable is, the stronger is the maintenance of this behavior with exception to events that need feedback like puzzles and tests. Using fixed schedules could lead to extinction if the subject becomes exhausted with using up too much energy for a reward that might not be worth it to them.
Response
When discussing positive reinforcement and how powerful it is, the author mentions that in our culture, women use positive reinforcement more. Women are, in fact, more socialized to be observant towards others’ needs. This made me think of my cultural background and upbringing. Coming from a South Asian culture, my parents didn’t use reinforcement to discipline me because everyone is expected to do what they are “supposed to do.” Punishment is used often to “correct behaviors.” Now that I reflect back to a previous romantic relationship, I didn’t use reinforcement and was more inclined to be “straight up” in an unpleasant way. This caused a lot of distress and made the situation far worse. A lot of the times, I used passive aggression and he did the same which caused a toxic environment for both of us. I do think that the author makes a good point about how much positive reinforcement is overlooked but at the same time, it’s so simple and makes so much sense but we just fail to apply it in our lives.
Summary
Shaping is the gradual reinforcement of approximated behavior until the desired behavior is achieved. There are ten laws of shaping. The first one is raising the criteria in small increments no matter what the subject is actually capable of doing. It’s not about how fast the criteria is increasing, but it’s about how well the trainer is able to apply the shaping procedure effectively. Raising the criteria too fast that results in failure might break down the behavior, resulting is low or no progress at all. Patience is key. The second rule is that when one behavior is being shaped, it should be the only one at the give moment so that the subject doesn’t feel overwhelmed. Shaping for two criteria simultaneously should be avoided at all costs. The third rule is that a variable schedule of reinforcement should be used before raising the criteria. This has to be trained as it might be confusing to reinforce sometimes and not other times even though the correct behavior was done. The fourth rule is that when a new criteria is introduced to the subject, the old ones should be temporarily relaxed. The fifth rule is that shaping required preparation and it’s important for the trainer to react appropriately if the subject acquires faster than anticipated. The sixth rule is that in order to achieve consistency, the same trainer should be used through the whole process in order to control for variability. The seventh rule is that if one shaping technique doesn’t work, don’t give up, find another. The eighth rule is that an unwarranted interruption in a training session needs to be avoided. The ninth rule is that if behavior is deteriorating, it can be refreshed by reviewing what was previously taught. The tenth rule is to pay attention to the subject and end sessions on a high note.
Response
I found the second rule of shaping to be the most relevant to me. When I try to learn something new, I don’t focus on one aspect of the skill but choose to try to master all of them at once. I’m taking a tennis class and in the beginning, I was overwhelmed with the backhand, forehand, and serves. I wasn’t getting any better at each of those skills and then I realized that I needed to practice them separately. I first chose to master the forehand as it’s the easiest, then the backhand because in order to do it correctly, the forehand should be perfect. Lastly, I mastered my serve which is a little more complicated but it uses the skills of targeting like forehand and backhand.
Summary
Making an establishment of a different cue to the same learned behavior is called a transfer of stimulus control. In order to do this successfully, one must pair a new stimulus with the old one and gradually “fade” it. A perfectly conditioned stimulus should meet four requirements. The first is the behavior must occur immediately after the conditioned stimulus is presented. The second is that the behavior does not occur when the conditioned stimulus is not presented. The third is that any other stimulus does not evoke the behavior to occur besides the conditioned stimulus. Lastly, no other behavior should occur in response to the conditioned stimulus. Fading occurs all the time in which it a larger stimulus is first used and then gradually, it becomes a smaller signal. The magnitude of the signal is relevant here, it must be big enough to elicit a response in the beginning. A discriminative stimulus becomes a reinforcer itself which is the bases of behavior chains. It’s not the sequence of the behaviors that matters most, but it is the time lapse between them, cues are used, and that a primary reinforcer occurs at the end of the chain. They should be trained in reverse order, starting with last behavior. Generalized stimulus control is when the subject learns to recognize events using cues.
Response
The example that the author used to describe how powerful a discriminative stimulus is when it’s paired with an aversive event that physical control is not even required made me understand the concept so much better. The fact that she used this stimulus of a strong vanilla scent to her advantage by pairing it when a growl and then sprayed her waste bins to keep the dog away from them is so clever. This technique would be so effective if it was implemented to train pets to stay away from parts of the house you don’t want them to be at.
Summary
There are eight methods of getting rid of a behavior. The first is “shooting the dog” or getting rid of the situation entirely. It always works. The second is using punishment. This has been discussed before and we know that it does not guarantee the behavior will not occur again. The third is negative reinforcement or removing a stimulus to increase a behavior. The fourth method is extinction or simply no longer reinforcing a behavior until it is gone. The fifth is training an incompatible behavior to replace the undesired behavior. Effective is the modification in own behavior. The sixth method is training a behavior to occur with a specific cue but never give the cue. The seventh method is using shaping to get rid of behavior. Lastly, the most effective method is removing the motivation behind the behavior.
Response
Nail biting is a behavior that I’ve always had a habit of doing. A lot of the times, when I tried to modify it to decrease the behavior, I trained myself to use the cue of the urge to bite my nails to do an incompatible behavior. The incompatible behavior was filing them down so I kept a nail file with me at all times. The hardest part of this technique was noticing that I was about to bite my nails before I did it. Sometimes, it would be too late and I would instantly stop. Also, once they started to grow, the length became a cue to not bite them so the behavior was maintained.
Summary & Response
Reinforcement is used in the real world from businesses to sports to animal training. It’s interesting to see that our culture in America uses positive reinforcement and its effectiveness has been seen in historical instances as the author has discussed in chapter 5. Clicker training has been around for a while now and it has become a common method of training. The retention of the behavior and the speed of learning it with this method of training is remarkable. Punishment is not involved in this method and it’s fun for both the trainer and trainee.
Evaluation
One of the main takeaway points is that the effectiveness of reinforcement training isn’t uniform for every situation. There are many ways to increase the effectiveness and techniques to resolve challenges that we might come across of. For example, if the subject is not responding at all and needs a “push”, a jackpot can be used. If the behavior is not occuring at all, it cannot be reinforced. In other words, reinforcement is simply used to increase a behavior, not to create a new one. Shaping is a method used to strengthen a behavior that occurs, but not often. It requires patience and a lot of attention to the subject and intricate details. Shaping is less stressful to the subject that is being trained because he or she is not being overwhelmed but it does require precise timing from the trainer and also, not everyone has the patience for it. Those who have mastered stimulus control understand that there is no use in aimlessly giving instructions that cannot be followed. Good communication is the underlying mechanism for stimulus control. Lastly, punishment might not be very effective but it can be if it’s immediately followed by the behavior and then reinforced with the more desirable behavior.