Excel-Erated Learning

by Reid, Pamela J.

• ISBN13: 9781888047073
• ISBN10: 1888047070
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-02-01
• Publisher: James & Kenneth Pub

Summary

This book is the secret for increasing the speed and efficiency of dog training. With the freedom of understanding "how your dog learns" comes the ability of making the process easy, efficient, and enjoyable for your dog. You'll be in a position to excel-erate your dog's learning! At long last we have someone who can explain all-important learning theory and make it intriguing and interesting. Agility enthusiast, obedience competitor and psychologist Dr. Pamela Reid introduces you to cutting-edge scientific techniques in dog training including, autoshaping retrieval (i.e., teaching your dog to train herself), and "errorless discrimination learning" for teaching retrieval and directed jumping. You'll love this book?it's so useful and utterly fascinating.

Author Biography

Pam J. Reid earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto

Table of Contents

Forward	p. 1
Introduction	p. 2
A Few Comments About The Book	p. 4
What is Learning?	p. 5
What is Learning Theory?	p. 6
Knowing Versus Doing	p. 6
Motivation	p. 7
The Four Stages of Learning	p. 9
A Bit of History	p. 12
Why Study Animals?	p. 12
The Story of Clever Hans	p. 13
The Principle of Parsimony	p. 14
The Science of Behaviorism	p. 15
The Lingo	p. 17
Psychological Jargon	p. 17
Classical Conditioning	p. 20
What Goes With What?	p. 20
Operant Conditioning	p. 25
Does What I Do Affect What Happens To Me?	p. 25
The Four Possibilities	p. 27
Positive Reinforcement	p. 27
Negative Reinforcement	p. 27
Positive Punishment	p. 28
Negative Punishment	p. 28
Classical or Operant Behavior?	p. 29
Single-Event Learning	p. 34
What's Important in my World?	p. 34
Sensitization	p. 36
Habituation or Sensitization?	p. 37
Adaptation	p. 38
Learned Irrelevance	p. 39
Factors that Affect Learning	p. 42
Deprivation Level	p. 42
The Reward	p. 44
Contrast Effects, Jackpots, and Reinforcer Sampling	p. 45
Novelty	p. 49
Timing	p. 49
Classical Conditioning	p. 49
Operant Conditioning	p. 51
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers	p. 52
Establishing a Conditioned Reinforcer	p. 55
Schedules of Reinforcement	p. 57
The Different Types of Schedules	p. 57
Ratio Schedules	p. 60
Interval Schedules	p. 62
Differential Reinforcement Schedules	p. 65
Duration Schedules	p. 67
Which Reinforcement Schedule Should You Use?	p. 69
What About Reinforcement Schedules in Classical Conditioning?	p. 72
Premack's Theory of Reinforcement	p. 73
Stimulus (Signal) Control	p. 77
Discrimination and Generalization	p. 78
A Package of Stimuli	p. 81
Which Stimuli will the Dog Learn About?	p. 82
Salience and Overshadowing	p. 83
Blocking	p. 85
The Reliability of the S[superscript D]	p. 87
Context Effects	p. 89
What About Teaching A Discrimination?	p. 90
Is There a More Efficient Way?	p. 92
Errorless Discrimination Learning	p. 94
Can Dogs Learn Scent Discrimination With an Errorless Procedure?	p. 95
Preparedness	p. 97
Discrimination or Reflexive Behavior?	p. 99
Learning Sets	p. 100
Experimental Neuroses	p. 101
Extinction	p. 103
Is Extinction Unlearning?	p. 103
The Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect	p. 105
Aversive Control of Behavior	p. 108
Negative Reinforcement	p. 108
Electronic Collars and Avoidance Responding	p. 113
Extinction of Avoidance Responding	p. 116
Species-Specific Defense Reactions	p. 117
Positive Punishment	p. 119
Considerations on the Use of Punishment	p. 119
How Strong Should a Punisher Be?	p. 119
How Important is the Immediacy of Punishment?	p. 120
What is the Right Punishment Schedule?	p. 122
Does it Matter What the Punisher is?	p. 122
Does Punishment Teach the Animal What is Should do?	p. 122
Is Punishment Subject to Stimulus Control?	p. 123
Punishment is Rewarding to the User	p. 124
Behavior that Persists Despite Punishment	p. 124
What's the Scoop on Using Punishment?	p. 126
Noncontingent Aversive Stimuli	p. 128
Negative Punishment	p. 130
The Application of Learning Principles to Changing Behavior (A.K.A. Behavior Modification Techniques)	p. 133
Teaching New Behaviors	p. 133
Shaping by Successive Approximations	p. 134
Prompting	p. 139
Chaining	p. 143
Autoshaping	p. 147
Modifying Existing Behaviors	p. 149
Conditioned Emotional Responses	p. 149
Counterconditioning and Desensitization	p. 150
Flooding/Response Prevention	p. 152
Taste Aversion Learning	p. 154
Some Common Behavior Problems	p. 157
Phobias	p. 157
Separation Anxiety	p. 160
Interdog Aggression	p. 161
Aggression Toward People	p. 162
Social Learning	p. 166
Social Facilitation	p. 166
Stimulus or Local Enhancement	p. 168
Imitation	p. 169
Conclusion	p. 170
References and Recommended Readings	p. 171
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