Example of Negative Reinforcement

Most people outside of clicker trainers (or operant conditioning trainers or phycologists) don’t bother making sure they use correct terminology as it relates to operant conditioning. Most people use Positive Reinforcement correctly (a treat is an example of positive reinforcement), but MOST people use Negative Reinforcement completely incorrectly (calling a physical correction negative reinforcement when it’s actually positive punishment). In fact – this term was incorrectly used on the show Big Bang theory just recently. I have to assume that someone realized the error (they do have drones to fact check these things right?) but decided that the vast majority of their audience would understand negative reinforcement as punishment.

The operant conditioning ‘grid’ trips people up because of the connotation of positive as good and negative as bad. That’s not how it’s used here. These are (+) positive and (-) negative, meaning to add something or take something away. Reinforcement is anything that makes a behavior more likely to happen, and punishment is anything that makes a behavior less likely to happen. So positive reinforcement is adding something (like a treat) that makes a behavior more likely to happen. So when someone says they negatively reinforced their dog for peeing inside – they are almost certainly using the term incorrectly – as the word reinforcement would mean that they did something to cause the behavior to be more likely to happen! If they hit their dog on the nose with a newspaper, that would be positive PUNISHMENT – something that was added (a smack on the nose) that makes the behavior LESS likely to happen (punishment) (not that I think that’s the best way to teach a dog not to pee inside!).

Ok ok. So either you know this already – or I’ve already lost you. So I’ll get to the point. Once you explain the grid as (+) or (-), reinforcement or punishment, mostly people can ‘get it’. Positive Reinforcement is a treat, Positive Punishment is a smack, Negative Punishment (taking something away that makes a behavior LESS likely to happen) is a time-out (taking away attention). But people have a hard time with Negative Reinforcement – taking something away that makes a behavior MORE likely to happen. One of the most common examples is the ‘ear pinch‘ to teach a hold in obedience. But if you’re not an obedience person, and certainly if you’re not a advanced trainer (like a typical pet owner), this isn’t going to make much sense. A better example that Karen Pryor uses in “Don’t Shoot the Dog” that more people can relate to is a bit and reigns to steer a horse. When you pull the reigns to the right or left, it is uncomfortable to the horse. They move in the direction you are pulling and presto – the discomfort is gone. So you are taking away something (the discomfort) that makes the behavior of turning more likely to happen in the future (it will take less and less pressure from you to make the horse turn).

Which leads me to my own example of negative reinforcement. Last week I came down with a wicked cold. I felt like crap for days, going through boxes and boxes of Kleenex. At some point – I went to bed super early and got something like 9 or 10 hours sleep. The next morning, I woke up feeling better (not well – but better). Better than I’d felt in days! And suddenly I realized that that was negative reinforcement in action. I got alot of sleep, and my discomfort was noticeably diminished. Meaning, next time I have a cold, I am highly likely to try sleeping it off. An increase in behavior (the behavior of going to bed early) due to the removal of something unpleasant (the cold).

Ok – so now you understand WHAT negative reinforcement really is – but it’s a tricky thing to use! As Karen Pryor points out: when you initially pull on the reigns to create the pressure, you are positively punishing going straight! And that’s the way I always think of negative reinforcement. When you use it in an artificial way (by creating the discomfort in the first place), you are using two things Positive Punishment to create the discomfort, and Negative Reinforcement when you remove it in response to some behavior. But most people don’t view it this way. Perhaps when you first did the ear pinch on your dog, they were sitting there patiently giving you their undivided attention. And you just punished that!

My realization of my cold experience made me realize that negative reinforcement can be VERY powerful. Ask me if I’d like a dozen cookies – or for my cold to go away. BUT I believe it is best used when the discomfort is something that has happened somewhat naturally. Let’s say I got this cold after Esteban kicked me out of the house in the middle of the night for stealing his covers (no that’s never happened!). I’d be alot less likely to attribute feeling better to a good night’s sleep. I would still be thinking that I wouldn’t have had the cold in the first place if hubby hadn’t kicked me out! I probably wouldn’t steal his covers (due to the positive punishment) – but I wouldn’t necessarily immediately try for a super early bedtime next time I had a cold. So, I think it’s important to understand what negative reinforcement is and recognize those times when your dog is already in some discomfort so you can use it effectively. If you turn a corner on your morning walk and come face to face with another dog which makes yours nervous, if they look at you (a fabulous response) rather than engaging with the dog; you could whip out a treat (positive reinforcement) – or you could move away from the new, scary dog (negative reinforcement). Depending on your dog, getting out of that situation might be more reinforcing than the treat (think a dozen cookies vs no cold).