Positive Reinforcement vs. Positive Punishment: Let’s Learn Training Terms
February is Dog Training Education Month! As the world of animal training evolves, you start to hear all sorts of terminology. Operant Conditioning is a learning method that many of these training terms derive from. This method was first described by behaviorist B.F. Skinner. I like the way the Very Well Mind website states it:
Operant conditioning, sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning, is a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior.
Simply put: adding or taking something away from a situation either increases or decreases the behavior. Animal trainers can utilize these concepts to train an animal to do behaviors, but more on that in a minute…
What is Operant Conditioning?
There are four major concepts of Operant Conditioning:
- Positive Reinforcement
- Positive Punishment
- Negative Reinforcement
- Negative Punishment
Please don’t get hung up on the words “positive” and “negative”. Current society has our brains jumping straight to them meaning “good” and “bad”. However, in this instance they mean something is added (positive) or something is taken away (negative).
Helpful Terms to Know Moving Forward
You’ll also need to be familiar with the words “reinforcement” and “punishment”. Reinforcement results in an increase in the behavior, punishment results in a decrease in the behavior. This should help:
- POSITIVE = ADDITION
- NEGATIVE = SUBTRACTION
- REINFORCEMENT = CONSEQUENCE INCREASES FREQUENCY
- PUNISHMENT = CONSEQUENCE DECREASES FREQUENCY.
One more term you’ll need to know before we move on to definitions is the word stimulus. A stimulus is defined as something external that influences an activity. You’ll catch on in a minute, don’t worry 😉
I don’t want you completely overwhelmed, so I’m breaking things up into two posts 😉 This post will go into the aspects of positive reinforcement and positive punishment, and how you may see them used in a training scenario.
Positive Reinforcement – Reward the Good Behavior
Let’s start with the one you’ve probably heard the most. In short: Positive Reinforcement occurs when the addition of a stimulus (usually seen as pleasant to the subject) increases the frequency of a behavior. The stimulus can be anything: food, praise, a favorite toy, etc.
How to Use Positive Reinforcement in Dog Training
Positive Reinforcement is the most popular (or well-known) type of training. You or your trainer may be using it without actually using the term itself. Any time you treat- or clicker-train, you are using positive reinforcement. Any time you praise your dog for doing something right, that is positive reinforcement. For example: You tell your dog to sit, they sit (behavior), you give them a treat (stimulus); the frequency that they will sit when you tell them increases because they want to get the treat every time (reinforcement).
Related: Let’s Learn Training Terms: Positive Reinforcement
Positive Punishment – Add Something to Decrease Behavior
Most people have seen this in practice, even though the term may not be heard very often. Using the same definitions from above you can derive what this one means. I’ll help you: Positive Punishment occurs when the addition of a stimulus (usually seen as unpleasant) decreases the occurrence of a behavior.
Again, this could be anything the subject perceives as unpleasant. Some examples are: taking away attention, loud noises, or a leash correction.
How to Use Positive Punishment in Dog Training
Let me be clear: We never intend to hurt, harm, or injure any of the dogs we train. But the word “punishment” can sound like we are trying to. With our company, we often pair positive punishment techniques with positive reinforcement to speed up the learning process. For example, we might use a loud noise to stop jumping, then verbally praise the dog when they greet us nicely at the door.
Related: Let’s Learn Training Terms: Positive Punishment
The More You Know
I hope this helps clear up some training terms you may be hearing these days. If you want to see more examples on positive reinforcement and punishment, please click on the links above to some of my previous posts.
Next week, we look at Negative Reinforcement and Negative Punishment. Here is a graph to help you remember things:
Remember: our trainers are trained with our Multi-method Training System. This allows us to find the best way your dog learns! We always have you and your dog’s best interest at heart, so they can become a valued member of the family!
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