Companion Animal Behaviour: Behaviour Modification

Companion Animal Behaviour: Behaviour Modification - Part B: Operant Conditioning and Shaping Behaviour

Textbook Reading

• Chapter 3: Principles of Behavior Modification

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this material, you should be able to:

• Explain and distinguish between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.
• Explain why punishment is considered an indirect means of learning and why it is considered temporary.
• Describe how to apply successive approximation as a form of trial and error learning and explain how it relates to selective reinforcement.
• Explain how a behaviour can be shaped through chaining.
• Correctly identify a heterogeneous and homogeneous chain.
• Explain and distinguish between fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, and variable interval schedules of reinforcement.
• Explain why the schedule of reinforcement during the training phase often differs from that during the maintenance phase.
• Summarize what is meant by instinctive drift and explain why it is important to consider when the intent is to train a behaviour for the long term in an animal.

Operant Conditioning

• Definition: Operant conditioning is a process whereby a particular class of response is shown to be more frequent as a function of the consequences it produces.
• B.F. Skinner: Conducted animal behaviour research using the “Skinner Box” to study these principles.

Basics of B.F. Skinner’s Theory

• Respondents: Skinner referred to behaviours elicited by specific stimuli as respondents.
• Influence of Consequences: Behaviour is profoundly influenced by the consequences it produces.
• Manipulation: We can influence the rate of occurrence of behaviours by systematically manipulating these consequences.
• This approach works as long as orderly changes occur as we vary the consequences of behaviour.
• This includes the use of various schedules of reinforcement.

Instrumental Learning

• In operant learning, a response (R) is rewarded (food) in the presence of a discriminative stimulus (S) (e.g., a light).
  • Antecedent: Light (Discriminative Stimulus, S)
  • Behaviour: Bar pressing or key pecking (Response, R)
  • Consequence: Food Reward (Anything chosen as a reward)
• This demonstrates the relationship between an antecedent, a behaviour, and its consequence in influencing future behaviour.

Shaping Behaviour with Instrumental Learning

• Instrumental (operant) learning allows for connecting multiple responses (Rs) to teach animals more complex behaviours.
• Example: Teaching a dolphin to jump through a hoop above the water.
  • This involves a sequence, starting with simpler behaviours and building up:
    1. Touching a wand
    2. Touching a hoop
    3. Jumping through a hoop

Theory of Reinforcement: Effects of Consequence

Classification of Effects of Consequences

• Reinforcers: Always increase the frequency of behaviour.
• Punishers: Always decrease the frequency of behaviour.

Effects of Consequences: An Overview

Positive Reinforcement

• Definition: A reinforcer that produces an increase in the frequency of a desired behaviour by adding a desirable stimulus.
• Process: Stimulus (command 'sit') $\rightarrow$ Response (sitting position) $\rightarrow$ Reinforcement (food, petting, praise).
• Examples: Food for bar pressing; praise for high test scores to increase studying.
• Bridging Stimulus: Due to potential delays between response and reinforcement, a bridging stimulus (e.g., a clicker) can signal that reinforcement is coming.
  • This is an anticipatory effect, using a trace temporal paradigm.
  • Through repeated pairings (classical conditioning), the bridging stimulus acquires properties of the reinforcing treat and becomes a secondary reinforcer.

Negative Reinforcement

• Definition: A reinforcer that strengthens a behaviour that removes an aversive or undesirable stimulus, thereby increasing the probability of the response.
• Process: Stimulus (person and onset of fear) $\rightarrow$ Response (growl) $\rightarrow$ Reinforcement (termination of fear).
• Termination of pain or reduction of fear are examples of negative reinforcers.
• Animals learn tasks, such as growling, if these behaviours result in the fear-inducing stimulus going away. This leads to the repetition of the threatening behaviour.
• Examples: Withdrawal from a hot stovetop is reinforced by the cessation of discomfort; a rat's bar press is reinforced because it turns off an electric shock.

Negative Reinforcement vs. Positive Punishment

• This distinction is often a source of confusion.
• Punisher: Any consequence that decreases the frequency of the behaviour that produces it.
  • Example: Delivery of electric shock to decrease the frequency of a bar press.
• Punishment: The presentation of an aversive stimulus or removal of a pleasurable stimulus after an undesirable behaviour has occurred. It aims to stop or reduce the likelihood of the behaviour occurring in the future.
  • Positive Punishment: Presentation of an aversive stimulus (e.g., electric shock).
  • Negative Punishment (Omission): Removal of a pleasurable stimulus (e.g., removing social interaction).

Punishment

• Skinner believed punishers do not directly affect behaviour in the same way reinforcers do.
• Temporary Effects: The effects of punishment are often temporary.
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