Operant conditioning, the manner in which learned behavior is acquired, is a form of semantics: a way to make the incomprhehensible understandable for the indiidual, by transferring the universal motivation of self-interest to anything that does not already contain it.
..the realignment of worldview that a parent of an autistic child can be forced to undergo in permitting the momentary yet awful distress caused by "redirection": it is necesary to break down the old order for a new one to rise in its place.
SOmething about our brains-- an evolutionary development that rooted so deep and long ago it is functional even in abnormal or simpler mammalian brains-- responds most naturally to learning by feedback, most successfully when action results in instantaneous reward.
Being taught in the way we were built to acquire knowledge feels right t us, and unsurprisingly gets the job done best. In the artificially constructed learning environment, a token economy mimics the way things already work: the perfectly thrown spear gets dinner. We are made to learn quickly how best to stalk, to aim... Our survival depends on it: assess decide do, see what works. Do again, because it works.
The stickers , lollipops, or play breaks that are most valuable to a child are to unwieldy to offer immediately upon achieving what have been decreed target behaviors, especially when these are inteded to be part of a chain of steps that will eventually merge into a single compund behavior: as soon as he gets the toy, the kid is going to shut down the lesson, no matter if it isn't finished yet. So, tokens are used. These can be collected and later exchanged for rewards the subject finds worthwile.
Behavior, good or bad, is derectly related to the consequences of the behavior. As a consequence of their behavior they are rewarded. Behavor, whether positive or negative, is simply the result of the consequences that attend a particular way of acting.
We believe there are unseen devils in the mind, and the way to exorcise them is by talking. If in the therapists office we identify and understand our problems, they will go away. This procedure is almost as doubtful as burning witches. Treating behavior is the way to change behavior.
Circular time: Past connections and associations will appear in the mind when we are in a situation which demands some action.
Skinner discorvered that the rate of the rat's bar pressing response was dependent not on what happened before, as with Pavlov's bell and the salivation reflex it triggered, but rather on what happened after the bar was pressed. The apperance of a pellet of feed caused the rat's future act-- pressing on the bar again, say , or not doing so, or doing it faster and faster, of for a longer or shorter duration between rewards. The rats behavior tus operated on the environment, and his future acts were always controlled by its effects.
Dopamine is not about pleasure, it's about the anticipation of pleasure. If you block the flow of the chemical, the behavior that previously excited it simply won't reoccur. We act in order to get the rush.
Traditional trainers are enforcers: the command, and then enforce the fulfillment of the command. If not , thenn the application of force commences: an unpleasant sound, a smack, a jerk on the trachea by way of a leash pop. The animal learns to perform a behavior in order to avoid unpleasantness.
The positive reinforcement trainer, on the other hand, starts with the outcome: here is the treat. Next, it's paired with, or conditioned to, what amounts to a symbol ( a click sound, a hand gesture).
And then- light and magic. We let the animal discover that it can cause the marker signal to happen by its own actions. The dolphin jumps- and makes the trainer blow the whistle. The dog sits- and makes the person click a clicker.
Access to a high probability behavior reinforces a low-probability behavior is known as the Premack Principle. His lab rats would drink water they didnt particulary need in order to get something they wanted even more--a run on an exercise wheel. When they were geniunely thirsty, however, they would run even when the didnt watn to in order to get teh water the craved.
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