Walk into any bookstore or library and it is easy to find self-help books that promise to transform your life. Karen Pryor demonstrates in Don’t Shoot the Dog! that the principles of behavioral training are applicable in all walks of life and illustrates the value of utilizing these techniques in daily life, as these principles can be used to train your pet, your parents or yourself with equal success. In this book she presents several concepts including reinforcers, shaping, stimulus control, untraining, and real world examples and uses of each. Using these guides to positive reinforcement, Ms. Pryor shows the reader how to change or improve any undesirable behavior. The key concept necessary to utilize all the elements of training is
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Untraining methods can be used for a wide range of behavior modification from stopping a dog barking at strangers to preventing arguments with a spouse. The first method is the most extreme: “shoot the animal.” While guaranteed to be effective, this is not the most efficient way to handle a problem behavior. Punishment is the second method and most popular, despite years of research indicating that this is also a very inefficient method of behavior modification. Method three is negative reinforcement, which involves removing an unpleasant stimulus when the desired behavior occurs. Negative reinforcement is in many cases the most effective method. Method four is extinction, or allowing the behavior to naturally end. Extinction is possibly the least efficient method of behavior modification, rivalling only the first method. Method five involves training an incompatible behavior, which is especially effective for athletes and weight loss. The sixth method involves putting the behavior on cue, and then never triggering the cue. This is very common in animal training. Method seven is called “shaping the absence” which involves reinforcing everything but the undesired behavior. An example of this would be drawing out a usually shy child or navigating a conversation with a difficult coworker by utilizing a version of the shaping technique. Method eight is essentially a fundamental element of the other methods; changing the motivation. Getting rid of especially difficult problems such as overcoming an addiction or working with an abused pet or child often will require a mixture of these methods as the behavioral patterns shift and
Untraining methods can be used for a wide range of behavior modification from stopping a dog barking at strangers to preventing arguments with a spouse. The first method is the most extreme: “shoot the animal.” While guaranteed to be effective, this is not the most efficient way to handle a problem behavior. Punishment is the second method and most popular, despite years of research indicating that this is also a very inefficient method of behavior modification. Method three is negative reinforcement, which involves removing an unpleasant stimulus when the desired behavior occurs. Negative reinforcement is in many cases the most effective method. Method four is extinction, or allowing the behavior to naturally end. Extinction is possibly the least efficient method of behavior modification, rivalling only the first method. Method five involves training an incompatible behavior, which is especially effective for athletes and weight loss. The sixth method involves putting the behavior on cue, and then never triggering the cue. This is very common in animal training. Method seven is called “shaping the absence” which involves reinforcing everything but the undesired behavior. An example of this would be drawing out a usually shy child or navigating a conversation with a difficult coworker by utilizing a version of the shaping technique. Method eight is essentially a fundamental element of the other methods; changing the motivation. Getting rid of especially difficult problems such as overcoming an addiction or working with an abused pet or child often will require a mixture of these methods as the behavioral patterns shift and