Feedback (Psychology)

Don-t Shoot the Dog- - The New Art of Teaching and Training

1 stars (Don't Believe the Hype! The Ineffective Art of Teaching and Training) - I love the title of this book. The contents, however, perpetuate the mythology of behavioral science as an actual science that always and inevitably works to change, shape, or modify behavior. It's not, and it doesn't. In fact, in my opinion it has become more like a belief system--based on a tautology*--where despite mounting evidence of its overall ineffectiveness, particularly when it comes to solving behavioral problems in dogs (which is my own area of expertise, and where it only works about 15% of the time), its adherents continue to tout it as highly successful. They also wrongly claim that ALL dog training takes place through some form of operant conditioning, whether the trainer is aware of it or not. (Most dog training is actually closer to respondent than to operant conditioning, but that's another topic**.) Still, Pryor makes a convincing argument for applying the ideas of B. F. Skinner to everything from dolphin training to the little problems of everyday life, even though the preponderance of Skinner's ideas have been proven invalid. Even Skinner's student Keller Breland, who invented clicker training and later became Pryor's mentor, sadly discovered that, "There are definite weaknesses in the philosophy underlying these techniques." ("Behavior Problems in Organisms," American Psychologist, 1961.) I have to admit, though, even I was suckered in by Pryor's fervent belief in conditioning when I first read this book. She has that effect on people. And, energized by her passion, I began using her ideas in my dog training practice in New York City. I quickly found out, though, that conditioning techniques are mostly ineffective, and that, believe it or not, using food rewards can actually cause a negative learning experience for the dog, because it isn't intrinsic to learning most of the behaviors a dog needs to learn.*** However, I wouldn't want to discourage...
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