Week #6 - Don't Shoot the Dog (Ch 5 - Due Thursday)

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For this homework please read don't shoot the dog. Make a mind map of what you just read. Next visit with your textbook and look up what it has to say about the material you just read. Add to your mind map. Please use different colors for the don't shoot the dog and the text parts of the mind map se we can see where that particular material comes from. If it comes from both you can indicate with some coding system of your choosing. You have a good deal of creative license on how you want to personalize your map.

When you are done:

1) Discuss what you read in the reader. Think about what you learned from the reader. What were the main points the author was trying to make? What were some examples she used? What was the most interesting part of the chapter - etc.?  Don't simply answer these questions; these are just some things to ask yourself before you start writing. I am pretty open to what you write about.

2) Discuss what you read in your text. How did the author of your text book go about addressing the related material? What did you find out about the topic that wasn't covered in the reader? What did you find interesting that was presented in the text? How difficult was it to find the related material in the text? Again don't specifically answer these questions, just use them as a way to think about the material. Feel free to experiment with your own style.

3) After you have had a chance to think about the material - what parts do you think you will remember and what parts do you think might fade from memory sooner.

4) Make a list of the terms and terminology you used in this post.

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Chapter 5 was the most practical because it consisted of real life applications of what we have learned thus far. I have to say that it did include the least amount of actual information, however. In this chapter Pryor discussed how reinforcement is applied in society, business, sports, and of course with animals. She gave personal examples for each of these categories. I would have to say my favorite was her discussion of reinforcement in the animal world. She explained how there are differences in the temperment between species. She said that polar bears, for example, are very patient and would wait for up to a half an hour to be reinforced for a certain behavior. Other animals, like the wolf, would try to guess and figure out what the trainer was expecting. The cutest example was of the elephant. She talked about how smart elephants actually are at picking up on things while being trained. They actually try and "communicate" with the trainer as well. Her elephant was using eye movement and her trunk to tell Karen which reinforcers she preferred.
For the business section she discussed how reinforcement instead of punishment, or any other neutral response, may actually improve the work of employees. She mentioned an example of workers being layed off. She emphasized the importance of explaining those that get to keep their jobs the reason WHY they get to keep their jobs. This will make them aware that they are performing to your standards and informs them of what you want. This will help them gain/keep pride in their work as well as providing you with a good, reliable work force.
I could also relate almost perfectly with what she was saying about sports. I remember my junior high track coach. There was no way to please that man. He was always yelling at us saying we weren't doing this right or we weren't trying hard enough. It sucked all the fun right out of the sport and made it feel like we would never get good enough. We didn't have the same excitement and confidence as the teams we would see at meets. According to Pryor it is important to reinforce players on a team. By pointing out what they are doing RIGHT they are more likely to improve and feel more comfortable at what they are doing. These days so many kids won't try out for sports becasue of the coaches or even peers on the team. In all of the areas she discussed there is evidence of punishment where there should be reinforcement. Finally she discussed the elements of behavior. I found this to be the most informative part of the whole chapter. She explains how behavior isn't just about what one is taught or conditioned to do, there are other aspects involved. These include the ideas involved in evolution and biology and the aspects of behavior that have yet to be defined. This is important that she recognizes that behaviorism alone isn't enough. This is useful to those who rely solely on this book for their information. It provides limitations for future projects. No single element can explain all behavior alone. They all have their specialized areas, but they also overlap when it comes to certain instances. I found this to be quite similar to the mind body dispute in the text. This argument has been around for such a long time now, but has never really been given an answer that all psychologists agree on. Anymore it can be said that it is not one or the other, but a mixture of the two. This follows well with what Pryor says in her writings. Our inborn tendencies and instincts affect our environment and vice versa. This is a good thing because it allows for variability and individual differences. It also can be the result or the cause of evolution.

I feel like I will remember most of what I have read. It is hard to pick out anything specific because so much of what I read I have already heard of or read earlier. Instead of bringing in new ideas, this chapter just put some focus and purpose to what we already read in her previous chapters. I will definitely remember her examples of the different life areas. The way all animal species are different and have to respected as such. I will also remember that it is key, if we wish to use reinforcement, that we are constantly aware of what behaviors we are actually reinforcing. I am not sure what I will forget, but I am sure it will become evident as time goes on. I would like to think that as I am learning these ideas and witnessing them in my own life that they would become internalized and kept to memory.

Terms: Reinforcement, individual differences, punishment, instincts, mind-body problem, behaviorism

This chapter was a quick and easy read. I enjoyed the topic of reinforcement in the real world because again, it wasn’t all about the laboratory and experiments and such. Her examples were about everyday situations and people.

The reinforcement section in sports was very interesting to me. Pryor used the examples of ice skating and skiing which were her personal experiences. Growing up, I played soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball and ran track. I never got into music or piano like my mother wished. Pryor stressed the importance of positive reinforcement when training an athlete. To achieve an accomplishment you must shape their behavior using simple shaping steps. Once they achieve this accomplishment, reinforce that behavior with a reward of some sort. I liked that Pryor compared the old traditional ways of training for sports to the present ways. In previous years, punishment and favoritism were methods often used. Today, coaches are most successful using shaping followed by praise and positive reinforcement. At my high school, my coaches still often used punishment to shape our behavior. In volleyball especially, if we weren’t playing well we had to run ‘alpines.’ You never want to run alpines – I viewed this as a punishment.

The reinforcement in the business section didn’t really surprise me. It pretty much stated the obvious: the better you treat your employees, the harder they will work. Pryor stressed that instead of implementing programs that look to layoff workers, cost cut and speed up, employers should reinforce hardworking employees with rewards. She used the example of Delta Airlines who refused to lay off any employees during the recession. In return, the employees worked together to purchase the airline a new plane. Other rewards or positive reinforcement for employees could include cash bonuses, promotions, flexible working hours and self-management. I agree with Pryor. The company my dad works for laid of 33% of his building last year. He didn’t get laid off but the idea of being laid off and the stress that was in his workplace really took a toll on him. The company culture was really negative during this time and there were a lot of fights between management and intermediate employees. I think his company would have benefited more to lay off fewer employees and reward the hard workers. This would have kept his office in higher spirits and probably would have helped with productivity.

Again, the best way to train animals is positive reinforcement and shaping. One term that Pryor introduced in this section that I am unfamiliar with is ‘species temperament.’ She said it is how a specific species tends to tackle the challenges it faces in its environment. I also didn’t realize how smart some animals are. Animals all have internal states where they use social signals to try to communicate. The social signals can be anger, fear, a head nod, etc. The example Pryor used of Shanti the elephant was actually kind of scary. I guess it was neat at the same time. Shanti was extremely smart and could use signals to her trainer to tell them exactly what she wanted using the tip of her trunk and eye contact.

The most interesting part of this chapter was definitely the section on society. Pryor feels that in general, our society uses a lot more punishment and negative reinforcement than necessary. She thinks that switching to positive reinforcement is a good idea but doesn’t understand why it has taken so long – I would have to agree. Our society operates on a form of hierarchy to keep peace but instead, this often causes competition between groups and people. As a group we can change our ways, but it starts with the individual person.

Information in the text was fairly easy to find. A lot of the terms used in this section were review terms such as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, shaping, etc. The one term I wasn’t very familiar with was species temperament which I did not find in the textbook. I imagine I’ll try to find more information on this topic for this week’s web divergence.

Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, shaping, training, species temperament, reward

1. This chapter of Pryor was about reinforcement in the real world. When we hear about reinforcement most of the time we think about animals being reinforced not really the ways she explained in the chapter. The chapter starts out explaining reinforcement in sports. Not just a win but actually reinforcing during practice and training in order to shape the way the players play. If they are shaped in practice they will have the basis and play that way. Pryor gives the example of skating and if taught right skating can be learned quickly and efficiently. The next section of the chapter was about reinforcement in businesses. I took Industrial psych two years ago and we discussed how bonuses and incentives can benefit the business and the employees. If the employees are happy they will work more efficiently and effectively. Pryor talked about flex time and incentives as reinforcement. She also mentioned reinforcing the top percentage of workers after laying off the bottom percent to let the top know they are doing a good job. They are more likely to work harder if they know they are appreciated. The next section was about reinforcement with animals. Not all animals are reinforced in order to do a trick. Some animals are reinforced for good behavior etc. She goes into talking a little about animal’s temperaments and how they can be reinforced for good behavior. This related to Breland and Breland in that animals temperament and instincts can be shaped. The last section was about reinforcement in society. When you think about reinforcement you don’t normally think about society as a whole. Pryor explains how reciprocal altruism and territoriality both come into play. People are reinforced without knowing it. Driving the speed limit can be a reinforcement for not getting in a crash or getting a speeding ticket. You aren’t necessarily rewarded but you aren’t punished. Pryor also mentions a token system. I have learned about the token system before and still am interested in how it can be used.

2. I looked in the text to learn more about the token system. I know the token system is used in elementary schools to reward kids. When they are quiet, do something for the teacher, or help another student they get a token and then can cash in the tokens for a prize of some sort. The text explains it as a generalized conditioned reinforcement. The text gives the example of a mental hospital using the system to get 40 women with schizophrenia to be more involved in activities and hygiene. One group received tokens no matter what they did and the other received tokens for certain behaviors. In order for the treatment group to understand they had to know what behaviors were expected and then rewarded. Those in the treatment group improved behaviors and hygiene.

3. I personally will remember how the token economy and the business incentives can improve behavior and performance. I think it’s interesting how the smallest thank you or good job can have such a big impact. If people would take the time to thank others or tell them they are doing a good job company moral and the relationship would benefit.

4. Reinforcement, shaping, incentives, temperament, instincts, signals, reciprocal altruism, territoriality, and taken system.

Chapter five focused on positive reinforcement and how it can be applied in real world settings. Karen Pryor began with how positive reinforcement is often used in sports. Many team sports continue to use deprivation, punishment, favoritism, and verbal and mental abuse when training their teams – football practice was a prime example of this. However, most individual sports today tend to lean more towards positive reinforcement when training their athletes. As Pryor said, many Olympic athletes use positive reinforcement both on themselves while training and on their students. It has been shown to have great success and keeps the athletes in a positive, uplifting mood rather than putting them down.

The second real world setting that Pryor discusses was business. Traditionally, most business used a method that involved getting as much from another while giving as little as possible back. More recently, Pryor noticed that many businesses are resorting to positive reinforcement as a way of improving efficiency within the company. For example, rewarding people for the completion of the job rather than putting in the time often concludes with the job being finished faster and with higher quality.

Animals, as we have seen throughout the book, are great examples of how positive reinforcement can be used to condition certain behaviors. Animals have been trained to do all sorts of task with the knowledge that they will be enforced with a treat or even just a click or whistle at the end of their performance. Pryor used examples such as teaching an elephant to fetch to show how positive reinforcement can work. If an animal is not reinforced when expected to, Pryor discussed how they showed species temperament by staying calm and often just repeating the behavior in hopes of receiving the reinforcement the second time.

The final note that Pryor touched upon was reinforcement and society. What caught my attention the most from this section was how reinforcement can form bonds between individuals. Reinforcement can intensify feelings, cement friendships, and give children courage. When it comes to animals and humans, reinforcement often creates a bond in which the animal respects the human and the human respects the animal. Every day we see the way positive reinforcements can create and strengthen bonds between living beings.

When it came to the book, much of what was discussed in Pryor’s chapter can be found throughout the text. The text makes note of everything Pryor discussed, especially positive reinforcement compared to punishment, and gives numerous examples as well. It uses both human-human interactions using positive reinforcement and animal-human examples as well. Though the book covers the information well, I did not feel it even compared to how detailed Pryor covered the information. Pryor had multiple examples for each subject she hit on and made it easy to see the astounding number of ways that reinforcement is used in the real world.

Overall, I feel that the section relating to reinforcement and social bonds is what will stick with me the most. I feel that most of the material in the chapter will be easy to remember and interesting but it was the information regarding how reinforcement can amplify relationships and create respect among individuals that will last the longest. Since the information was so generalized, I do not feel there is much that I will be able to forget from the chapter. It was very real-world applicable which will make the information very easy to remember and relate to.

Terminology: reinforcement, punishment, behavior, conditioning, reward, species temperament, positive reinforcement.

1) I thought that this chapter was a really enjoyable read and possibly my favorite so far! Pryor talked about training zoo animals briefly including an elephant and a stubborn polar bear. I thought that it was very neat that the elephant actually tried to train her at one point. This is the part were she actually discussed species temperment and she referred to her training with the wolf and the hyeena.
She also talked a lot about positive reinforcement in the world of exercise and bussiness. I was not surprised that she talked about reinforcement in bussiness in the real world chapter of this book. I think that after working in environments that are based on rienforcement and ones that are based on punishment I agree that reinforcement is the best way to have productive employees. I did think it was interesting how one company used punishment to the bottom 10% of employees to reinforce the top 20%.

2) The text discusses all of the things that she talks about in the chapter throughout the book such as positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. These are mostly review from previous chapters but I couldn't find much on species temperment. I do think that it could possible be an interesting side note for Brealand and Brealand to look at in contrast to thier study on instinct.

3) I think that I will remember species temperment the most bcause that was something newer and more interesting to me but I really did like the real world examples.

4) Species Temperment, Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, instinct, punishment

1) Chapter five had a lot to do refreshing of concepts explored in previous chapters. Pryor reiterated the importance of positive attitude while trying to shape behavior as well as consistency. The chapter was broken up into an introduction with four subtopics. The four subtopics were conditioning and sports, conditioning and business, conditioning in animals, and conditioning in society. The most interesting part of the chapter, at least for me was the first section on conditioning and sports. I think it is interesting how Pryor referred to the methods coaches use in modern times. She essentially stated that the methods coaches are using are out of date. The coaches use methods of deprivation and punishment to keep the athletes working hard when it is well known that more positive results come from positive reinforcement.

2) This book is fairly informal in general, but this chapter is by far less formal than any other chapter. Terminology is much more loosely used in this chapter but that is acceptable given my perceived purpose of the chapter. It seemed to me that very little, if any at all of the information in the chapter was "new material." This leads me to believe that chapter five is something of an overview of chapters one through four. Pryor covered thing such as attitude during shaping, mentioned briefly the importance of consistency (in terms of the behavior that's rewarded, not the reward for the behavior), and various other short topics such as the effects of deprivation and punishment on individuals. The fact that the reader tends to be so general in relating to terms makes it mildly more difficult for me to understand technical jargon in the text.

3) The most memorable section of the reading for me personally is the section relating to sports and conditioning. The reason it is memorable for me is because I was an athlete during late middle school and early high school. I remember very well the deprivation methods that coaches used to "motivate" their players. While they are not always the most fond memories for me they are life lessons that I wont soon forget. The problem areas for me lie in the text regarding business and conditioning. I have never been a fan of the business field. I just can't seem to make myself interested.

4) Terms:
Shaping, Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Behavior, Punishment, Reward

1) The title of this chapter is "Reinforcement in the Real World." It was divided into 4 real world sections. The first is Sports. Pryor discusses how traditional punishment is used in sports; verbal and mental abuse, deprivation, favoritism, and punishment. In the world of business, a popular reinforcement are bonuses. These come in different forms; cash, flextime hours, programs, and sensitivity training (which was popular in the 60's). Sensitivity Training is a form of training that claims to make people more aware of their own prejudices, and more sensitive to others. It involves the use of psychological techniques with groups that claim are often identical to brainwashing tactics. The next is the animal world. This mostly involves the species temperament. This can be either a strength or weakness. Pryor gave the example of when she would stand on one side of a fence with a whistle (as the reinforcer) and tossing in food; the animals were free to move on the other side. The polar bears turned out to be extremely persistent and dogged. One bear accidentally got reinforced while sitting still, and used that as a response to get reinforced. The polar bear had it's eyes glued to the trainer and it could sit still for 1/2 an hr or more, hoping for reinforcement. And last but not least, society. Reinforcement can include being altruistic. However, we believe we will be reinforced for having negative judgment, being territorial, and criticizing rather than encouraging ourselves and others.

2) The text discussed many of the same terms as in Pryor’s chapter. The text emphasizes material on the difference between positive reinforcement and punishment. The examples included not only human interaction, but animal interaction as well. One example is a study that shows drinking reinforces running when rats are motivated to drink. On the other hand, running reinforces drinking when running is the preferred activity. The Premack principle is another way to identify a positive reinforcer. This principle states that a high frequency behavior will function as reinforcement for a lower frequency behavior. The text also talks about the contingency of reinforcement. This defines the relationship between the events that set the occasion for the behavior, the operant class, and the consequences that follow this behavior. An example is if you are in a dark room, when you flip on the light switch, the light usually comes on. This behavior doesn't guarantee that the room will light up; the bulb may be burned out or the switch may be broken. The probability is high that the light will come on, but it is not certain.

3) I really enjoyed reading about the contingency of reinforcement in the text. The example was easy to understand and made sense. I really enjoyed Pryor's chapter. It broadened my perspective of reinforcement. Pryor has been talking a lot about animals, so it refreshed my memory of how we use reinforcement in the real world. However I did not enjoy the section on society. It just didn't have enough information on the actual 'reinforcement' used in society. It focused a lot on the punishment/negative outcomes, if that makes sense.

4) Reinforcement, punishment, contingency of reinforcement, premack principle, species temperament

1. Chapter five of the reader dealt mostly with applying reinforcement to everyday life. More specifically, the author describes how shaping and positive reinforcement have taken over dated and "traditional" approaches in sports, business, animals, and society. She details how Olympic trainers have abandoned punishment, abuse, and deprivation in their methods and have since adopted reinforcement techniques, like shaping small behaviors that lead into proper form rather than simply modeling proper form then expecting students to mimic said posture. In business, general business practice has shifted from each side for itself to more psycho-social approaches intended to enlighten management. When lay-offs must be made, you should identify the bottom 10% and top 20%. The poorest performers must be laid off, however, it is important to inform the top percentage that they are still around because of their superior performance. This will reinforce the operant behavior of working hard as well as motivate intermediate performers to work harder. One advantage of reinforcement in the animal world is that you can reinforce any behavior they emit. Pryor talks about species temperament emerging while using shaping techniques, which is how different species interact with and respond to their environment. Interestingly, species temperament can vary from individual to individual within species. In society, however, reinforcement does have it's limits. The chapter gives an example of three rings; in one ring, you have behaviorists who know everything about learning and the acquisition of behavior, in the other ring you have ethologists who provide everything we know about the biological evolution of behavior, then there is the third ring consists of behaviors we don't yet understand. All rings overlap to create a complex interaction of internal and external responses, learned and unlearned.

2. In Behavior Analysis and Learning I focused on chapter five in relevance to the reader. This dealt mostly with schedules of reinforcement (and of course, Skinner), stating that patterns of response develop as a result of an organism interacting with a schedule of reinforcement. Once this pattern is established, it is known as a steady-state performance. The schedules of reinforcement include continuous reinforcement, where behavior is reinforced every time it is emitted. Ratio schedule of reinforcement provide reinforcement after specific number of responses is emitted, and interval schedules of reinforcement occur when a response is made after a certain amount of time has passed. This extends into fixed-ratio and fixed-interval, which delivers reinforcement after a fixed number of responses is made and after a fixed amount of time has passed, respectively. There is also variable-ratio and variable-interval schedules, where the number of times the behavior is emitted and the amount of time between reinforcement changes after each reward is presented.

3. What usually sticks in my memory is what I happen to find most interesting. In chapter five of the reader, Pryor states that even characteristics that are considered to be innate can also be shaped. She provided an example of dolphins in which she shaped creativity. This was done by reinforcing anything the animals did that was novel and had not yet been reinforced. This lead to the organisms "inventing" behaviors, one dolphin consistently creating more entertaining behaviors than the other, proving that even in animals, creativity can vary from individual to individual. This did, however, lead to the dolphins into some problematic, if not annoying behaviors.

4. Positive reinforcement, shaping, emit, fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval, punishment, modeling, motivation, operant behavior, species temperament, schedules of reinforcement, steady-state performance, continuous reinforcement.

The reader discussed reinforcement in everyday life, as well as how it has changed over time. There is less punishment in today’s teachings. The reader clarifies the idea of shaping. Pryor discusses how good shaping procedures help to reinforce a behavior. Her idea that retaining workers when people are being laid off and telling them it is because of their good work is an easy way to reinforce. I enjoyed this idea. This positive reinforcement was free, and it also seems like it would be a very strong reinforcer. She also converses that positive reinforcement of shaping will help lead to more of a positive and willing outcome. She told the story of her ice skating, and how her teacher had good shaping skills, and when she learned her first few moves, she was able to advance way quicker, and it was so rewarding. The idea of chaining also came to mind when reading this chapter. Pryor talked about how when skating, she learned all of steps a skater needed to know were broken down. She goes on to say that her next move stemmed from her first lesson, and then her third move was chained from her second. She explained how this made it so enjoyable to skate, because of the chaining, and how it made it easier to learn. Then text gave me a decent definition of chaining. It explained that chaining is two or more simple schedules presented sequentially. Only the final (terminal) link is positively reinforced. Another idea presented in the text was successive approximation. This happens when you reinforce behaviors that are similar to the desired ones, until a behavior is shaped to the desired behavior. The reader also discussed different behaviors. Some are learned, and some are unlearned. Pryor described the learned behaviors as behaviors that have been reinforced, and the unlearned once as instinct. This is why some animals are harder to train in some aspects, while something like teaching a polar bear to sit still for a given amount of time is easy due to their natural instinct of sitting and waiting for fish so they can be better hunters. Pryor also discussed that there are many internal and external responses given when behaviors are being reinforced and shaped, and sometimes it may be difficult to make sure you are not reinforcing an unwanted behavior by accident.
The terms that will stick with me the longest are the ones about shaping and chaining. They really intrigue me. Those ideas do not come to me instinctively, but if I think about them before I do a behavior, I believe that I can train an animal quite well. It would take awhile to be proficient, but nonetheless, I find these enjoyable. The term I am most likely to forget are learned and unlearned responses, and external and internal responses. I understand them, and think they are important, I just do not think they are as interesting as the first terms I mentioned.
Terminology: Punishment, shaping, reinforce, behavior, positive reinforcement, chaining, schedules, terminal link, successive, approximation, learned and unlearned behaviors, external and internal responses

When I started reading this chapter, I didn’t expect very much new information. The chapter is named “Reinforcement in the Real World”, which, in reality is what much of the book is about. We’ve discussed in class how Pryor’s book is much easier to read because it has real word examples and is easier to relate to than the text with history and rat examples. In the end, however, I was surprised by the new information that was presented. It was great to learn why Pryor decided to write the book, as well as more examples that applied to humans rather than animals.
I had never before considered sports and the forms of conditioning and learning that are used in them. It was great to know that positive reinforcement is starting to be used more and more in individual sports. It was also interesting to read Pryor’s take on why reinforcement should be used more in societal settings and examples of how what we practice now is wrong. One of my favorite examples in this section was when Pryor explained how our relations with other countries is all wrong when we go about offering support in hopes of benefits for ourselves.
Pryor’s section in this chapter that focused on animals made me smile. Through much of this book, and this section, Pryor uses anthropomorphism. In this section she talked about learning of animals temperaments and that by using reinforcement, animals are given a chance to act out their ‘feelings’. I find it interesting that Pryor uses anthropomorphism so often when this is something psychologists and scientists are told not to do. She often tries to relate her work to the work of many psychologists, but it is interesting that she often breaks the 'rule' of not using anthropomorphism. While this is likely to be expected, as she works with animals everyday, I find it interesting.
Lastly, I was surprised by how much information I was able to find about this chapter in the text. I wasn’t expecting to find very much information, as the chapter was named “Reinforcement in the Real World”, something not described very often in the text. I was able to find a lot of information though. The text discussed ways to use social learning and conditioning. Specifically, general social reinforcers like approval, affection, and praise. Also, how reinforcers can be used most easily by parents, teachers, and spouses in areas like schools and homes as well as in areas like prisons and hospitals.

Chapter five was titled reinforcement in the real world. The chapter started discussing reinforcement in the sports world. The old way of reinforcement involved punishment, deprivation and favoritism. Prior gave personal examples of going to sport classes that she experienced in order to help relate how the old ways are set up to fail. The new wave of techniques involve positive reinforcement and shaping. Shaping makes the most sense to me because it emphasizes the good that an athlete is doing step by step. Just like learning in life athletes learn how to preform correctly through small trial and error. Shaping encourages the smallest techniques which make the biggest differences between winning and losing.
Next real world example was in the business world. The traditional way of reinforcement was aversive meaning that the attitude was that everyone is involved in “the game”. In order to win the game you must take/get as much as possible and give as little as possible in return. Social Psychology started in the 1960s is sensitivity training. In the modern era, companies have learned to adapt to individual needs of its workers. Companies that require a clean environment offer rewards for not smoking and or quitting. Other companies offer flexible time schedules, Self-managed teams and rewards for getting the job done not time put in. In my experience I have only worked in jobs that have used the old way or reinforcement. From my experience the only results these companies get is employee dissatisfaction.
The old way of reinforcing in the animal world was by force. A desperate change needed to be made in order to be able to control animals. Another old believe would be that animals do not posses any thoughts or feelings. As we have learned before animals do not learn by force alone and that it takes the proper teaching methods to get animals to do what we want them to do. In the modern age we have learned that the best way to train animals is positive reinforcement. Other discoveries such as animals have feelings and thoughts and each species of animal has to be trained in ways specific to that species. I believe that Prior referred to this as species temperament.
The last part of the chapter discussed the issue of reinforcement in society as a whole. Prior views society as stuck in the old ways of thinking when it comes to reinforcement. She also hopes that her book could be the start of a revolution in thinking about conditioning. Repeated in the text was the concept that everyone can use conditioning properly anywhere. Prior also associated other sub factors of psych to bring a better understanding of reinforcement (behaviorists= learning/acquisition of behavior, ethologists= biological evolution of behavior).
When referring the information to the text, terms were now easy to find as a result of looking the same terms up. I feel the terms will not be forgotten too quickly as a result of repetition.

Chapter 5 of Don't Shoot the Dog focused on how reinforcement can be used in the real world, and Pryor gave many examples of animals and humans. The example that I found the most interesting is of Delta airlines. When in a recession, they didn't lay off any workers, they actually gave them a raise. As a thank you, the workers bought the airline a new plane. This shows just how big of an impact positive reinforcement can have. Another example Pryor gives is of a business that lays off the lowest performing 10% of workers, and praises the top 20%. Pryor explains that this practice gives the top 20% positive reinforcement of knowing that they are doing a good job, and to keep it up. She also says that this gives the middle people something to work for while still giving the positive reinforcement of keeping their jobs. I really like this example because it shows that positive reinforcement can be used in the work place, and it promotes a higher quality of work. Of course business main goal is to make a profit and by using positive reinforcement they can make more of a profit.


The text says that it has been argued that reinforcement can actually decrease creativity. Pryor says that reinforcing the right behaviors can lead to increased creativity. By reinforcing new behaviors the trainee will soon try to find new ways to be reinforced, hence increasing creativity. I think that at least in some areas of business this is already in place. People who are innovative, and come up with a better way of doing the job are rewarded for it. The text talks about a study that was done where children that were reinforced for creativity carried over the creativity to a different task, even when there was no reward.

I think that Pryor's main point is that sometimes psychological concepts can seem like they can not be easily applied to real life, but reinforcement is a simple way to improve many aspects of life.

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