- Sep 10, 2025
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Negative Reinforcement: Encouraging a certain behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus that was applied before the behavior was performed.
Example: You put your car key into the ignition and turn your car on. The car beeps repeatedly until you put your seatbelt on. Once your seatbelt is on the beeping stops.
Positive Punishment: Suppressing a behavior by adding an adversive stimulus or outcome after the behavior was displayed.
Example: You ignore the beep and drive away. You get pulled over by a cop, the officer writes you a ticket for not wearing the seatbelt. You put your seatbelt on, but it's too late. You must pay the fine.
Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, sometimes it's not so black and white. Let's look at a situation you might be able to relate too.
The reactive dog scenario:
You're walking your reactive dog. He sees a dog off in the distance and starts to hackle up and pull on his leash. You get tense and pull the leash towards you, holding it tightly. Before you know it, your dog is exploding. Lunging, growling, barking, redirecting, it's a whole Hollywood production.
You scream No! No! No! and yank, pull, and pop on the prong collar. You take your dog in one direction and the other dog goes the other direction. The whole episode ends in a few seconds. Your dog relaxes and goes back to normal.
But, this keeps happening and the intensity of the blow ups are increasing, your hollering louder and cranking on the prong collar harder. It's not working. The cycle is becoming habitual. Now you start frying your dog with an e-collar. That's not working either. Nothing is working and the dog's reactivity is getting worse.
What's really happening?
Let's simplify the cycle and view it from the dogs perspective:
The dog becomes aroused due to the presence of another dog aka the trigger > pressure is applied > the other dog goes away and/or your dog is removed from the situation > the pressure is released.
So, think about this. Did you punish the dogs reaction OR did you negatively reinforce the removal of the trigger?
In the dog's mind, the pressure is part of the cycle that leads to the removal of the trigger. This is why 99% of the dog owning public fails to correct their dogs reactivity, moreover they are the reason why the behavior intensifies overtime.
Remember, punishment suppresses behavior. Reinforcement strengthens it.
It's easy to read definitions of concepts and believe we have an understanding of them. It's a whole different kettle of fish when concepts are applied in real life.
Outcome always trumps intentions.
Example: You put your car key into the ignition and turn your car on. The car beeps repeatedly until you put your seatbelt on. Once your seatbelt is on the beeping stops.
Positive Punishment: Suppressing a behavior by adding an adversive stimulus or outcome after the behavior was displayed.
Example: You ignore the beep and drive away. You get pulled over by a cop, the officer writes you a ticket for not wearing the seatbelt. You put your seatbelt on, but it's too late. You must pay the fine.
Seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Well, sometimes it's not so black and white. Let's look at a situation you might be able to relate too.
The reactive dog scenario:
You're walking your reactive dog. He sees a dog off in the distance and starts to hackle up and pull on his leash. You get tense and pull the leash towards you, holding it tightly. Before you know it, your dog is exploding. Lunging, growling, barking, redirecting, it's a whole Hollywood production.
You scream No! No! No! and yank, pull, and pop on the prong collar. You take your dog in one direction and the other dog goes the other direction. The whole episode ends in a few seconds. Your dog relaxes and goes back to normal.
But, this keeps happening and the intensity of the blow ups are increasing, your hollering louder and cranking on the prong collar harder. It's not working. The cycle is becoming habitual. Now you start frying your dog with an e-collar. That's not working either. Nothing is working and the dog's reactivity is getting worse.
What's really happening?
Let's simplify the cycle and view it from the dogs perspective:
The dog becomes aroused due to the presence of another dog aka the trigger > pressure is applied > the other dog goes away and/or your dog is removed from the situation > the pressure is released.
So, think about this. Did you punish the dogs reaction OR did you negatively reinforce the removal of the trigger?
In the dog's mind, the pressure is part of the cycle that leads to the removal of the trigger. This is why 99% of the dog owning public fails to correct their dogs reactivity, moreover they are the reason why the behavior intensifies overtime.
Remember, punishment suppresses behavior. Reinforcement strengthens it.
It's easy to read definitions of concepts and believe we have an understanding of them. It's a whole different kettle of fish when concepts are applied in real life.
Outcome always trumps intentions.
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