A tl;dr would make sense if this post were about a less sensitive subject. I feel the behaviorist techniques of operant conditioning are easy to misapply. They must be employed with altruistic compassion and respect for others’ values. In this post, I emphasized the human side of things by putting the story first and the behaviorist lens last.
I feel the behaviorist techniques of operant conditioning are easy to misapply.
A large part of Don’t Shoot the Dog explains the frequent mistakes in behaviorism. After reading it I realized that probably everyone who ever talked to me about behaviorism was making these mistakes.
Conditioning seems so simple: if you like something, reward; if you don’t like something, punish; duh. It’s a science you can learn in three seconds! Then in real life you wonder why it often fails and sometimes backfires. The science is always right; so you blame the people (and animals) for being irrational and not responding properly to the scientific techniques! Even worse, you can condition yourself to believe that your conditioning works when in fact it does not.
Could you please put the takeaways at the top of the article, as a tldr?
A tl;dr would make sense if this post were about a less sensitive subject. I feel the behaviorist techniques of operant conditioning are easy to misapply. They must be employed with altruistic compassion and respect for others’ values. In this post, I emphasized the human side of things by putting the story first and the behaviorist lens last.
A large part of Don’t Shoot the Dog explains the frequent mistakes in behaviorism. After reading it I realized that probably everyone who ever talked to me about behaviorism was making these mistakes.
Conditioning seems so simple: if you like something, reward; if you don’t like something, punish; duh. It’s a science you can learn in three seconds! Then in real life you wonder why it often fails and sometimes backfires. The science is always right; so you blame the people (and animals) for being irrational and not responding properly to the scientific techniques! Even worse, you can condition yourself to believe that your conditioning works when in fact it does not.
I second this. Solid post otherwise!