"Naughty or nice" - by the eyes of David Premack

 Christmas is closing fast 

As we are living the first of December while I'm writing this blog, Christmas is in the minds of many at this time of the year.

For small kids it is a time of great expectation - a tormenting time of waiting for the Christmas eve or day - depending on which geological culture they are part of. The awaiting is a time for them to wonder how nice they've been .. and eventually how their good behaviour would be rewarded by Santa (or elves etc.)

Twenty four days is a long time !

The actual question is; Does their behaviour affect in any way to the amount of gifts they'd be receiving? Probably not ...

Naughty or nice?

This saying or habit of ours, in order to keep the children kind at least for the time of those 24 days, raises an interesting question in my mind. As an animal behaviour professional it makes me wonder which behaviour management principles are in use to promote good behaviour in children. At least in principle this should work but the practice is probably a completely different matter.

Grandma's rule

Could this be a case of enforcing Grandma's rule? At first glance it looks very much like that. But ..What is then Grandma's rule?

David Premack (1925-2015, USA) studied various reinforcement methods around the turn of the 1960’s. He focused on the reinforcing effects of activities rather than traditional primary reinforcers, for example in his capuchin monkey studies; later he studied the same principles with children.

According to the principle, a stronger and more pleasant activity reinforces a weaker form of behaviour. An activity high in the preference hierarchy reinforces other behaviours perceived as less pleasant. However, the preference hierarchy can change according to different situations or periods, places, and other factors, and it can also be influenced by training or reinforcement techniques. Premack actually stated that eating itself as a physical act or even playing are stronger and more rewarding activities than the food or toy itself.

When simplified I believe it can be understood better; First do X and then you can get Y ! A nice behaviour earns points for special activities. 

Let's think of an example; A classical example is of course; If you eat your veggies with the food you'll get some ice cream after dinner. So the "naughty" behaviour means in this case; not eating veggies and hence losing a preferred privilege - like ice cream. A preferred activities are offered after the desirable behaviour has occurred or executed. Therefore a removal of high-probability behaviour decreases undesirable behaviour (response cost). In this case the removal of the dessert.

Santa's power

Twenty four days being nice is a long time for let's say 4-5 year old tiny tot, just with a possible promise of an unidentified reward of gifts at Christmas. It is a long chain of expected behaviours. Personally I don't think the power of Santa would be enough for such a long wait. On the other hand in some cultures, like in my family, a Christmas calendar with some tiny surprises each morning, may act as an reinforcement for kid while waiting for the Grande finale.

As in any chain behaviours a reinforcement should be given to all states of the behaviour in some extend. Premack's principle can also be used as an excellent reinforcer when training chained behaviours. One could almost say that the reinforcing power of Premack's principle is essential for chain behaviours. Premack's principle is an excellent tool and is essentially a basic skill for every animal trainer. Its effect is strongly rewarding, it is a form of secondary reinforcement, and above all, it also teaches us owners, caregivers and trainers to better understand what is a rewarding activity for the animals under our care. When something new to be learned is added in front of already learned pleasant behaviour, this subsequent activity itself acts as a reinforcer for the behaviour attached in front of the chain. However it is important to remember that at the end of the chain, the reinforcement should be the strongest of all – it rewards the entire chain of activities according to the condition of the preference hierarchy. If the strongest reinforcement would be given at some other point within the chain, the continuation of the chain could be threatened.

Premack to Christmas? 

In above mentioned way the Premack principle could be considered as the reinforcing power for kids to behave kindly during the waiting period for the Christmas. How ever the chain in the situation is very long - just too long. Just to think of the anticipation of the reward and the effect it might have for the production of endorphins like dopamine seems to be too long. Dopamine is a pleasure hormone and studies show that it is indeed a kind of reward that reinforces the anticipation of something rewarding.

Considering all this; The “naughty or nice” idea (e.g., Santa’s list, or parents tracking their kids behaviour) is within behaviour–consequence framework, but to my opinion it isn’t exactly or exclusively the Premack principle. However, there are some overlapping elements; When you engage in the desired (= nice) behaviour, you get access to preferred activities. In other words a "nice" behaviour increases access to preferred activities (or rewards) and "naughty" behaviour reduces access to preferred activities (or rewards).

If you do a nice (an expected) behaviour (the low-probability behaviour), you can then do the fun (the preferred behaviour) activity (the high-probability action). Then it aligns with the Premack principle when implemented like this.

As a conclusion; it is rather hard to say what is the driving force in keeping kids behaving kind meanwhile they are expecting the Christmas. I believe it is partly due to Premack's principle but also positive reinforcement, which happens during the waiting time and at the Grande Finale has a significant role in it. In addition to that I bet there are also elements of negative reinforcement by the parents in appropriate moments while the Christmas is approaching.

Anyhow - for us animal behaviour professionals & hobbyists it is crucial that we are aware of different forces or stimuli's that are affecting our animals daily lives. Knowing this gives us multiple tools
in directing them into a better welfare and to a better everyday life with them.

Happy holidays and pleasant calm awaiting of Christmas times.

Sincerely

Kai    

P.s Here's a great gift to any animal lover who is interested in learning more about animal training - my book;

"Who is training whom?"

(Still only in Finnish - but a translation is on its way to English)

Consultations & book orders from my webpage;

www.meritime.net

Follow me in social media;

"Spend Merry Times with your animals."

                                                                       

Meritime Consulting

www.meritime.net

Meritime in social media;

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Meritime/345171735503394
https://www.instagram.com/elainkoulutusk_mattsson/
http://kaimattsson.blogspot.fi/
https://www.tiktok.com/@kaitzoo

How to learn learning?

 

What is learning?

 

This text is an excerpt from my book "Who's training Whom?", which I'm currently translating into English.

Learning happens all the time in our lives and in the lives of the animals under our care. When learning something new, an animal must also experience something which is previously unexperienced and thus create a history for itself from these experiences. 

Learning is based on memory. In practice, the brain's way of functioning changes and nerve cells react and transmit nerve impulses differently than before. Learning, therefore, not only changes behaviour but also, in the best cases, means the expansion of certain brain areas. In terms of behaviour, learning means some relatively permanent change in an animal's behaviour. Usually learning is beneficial, although an animal can also, of course, learn negative non-acceptable things.

Learning occurs passively, almost imperceptibly and unintentionally. Such learning is quite mechanical and usually does not require any great effort. Active learning on the other hand, sometimes requires quite significant effort; each of us certainly has our own very personal experiences of this, some with a foreign language, some with mathematics, etc. This kind of conscious learning is called cognitive learning.

Every training session with your animal is uniquely valuable.

Create a trustworthy
relationship with your
animals

Every training session, or rather, every interaction we have with our animal, is unique as it creates new history between you and your animal. We must focus on shaping our relationship to be trustworthy and respectful. Every behaviour is shaped by its consequences, so creating a history of our interactions is especially important. Creating something new is how we can influence those positive experiences and reinforcements that lay the groundwork for different behaviours. The next time you start interacting with your animal, remember that your attitude towards that moment is fundamentally up to you. Forget all your bad experiences with the animal for a moment, start fresh with a new attitude. When I say forget, I mean that our own behaviour should not form anticipatory emotional transfers or mindsets based on those experiences when starting a new encounter. The idea behind this is to create good opportunities for the animal to succeed.

In Finnish we have a saying; "Learning and age all", which roughly means that leaning happens while we age and gain wisdom - our learning builds up by our experience. This applies for animals as well. It is an old saying and it holds deep wisdom about learning of our own meta-skills. So, let's learn from the encounters that our shared history has already taught for us, but let's keep our minds open to new, pure interaction experiences.

 

Often, there is not just one right way to achieve goals; the destination can be reached through many different paths.

Development of one's own learning lifecycle.

It is therefore good sometimes to stop and reflect on and review one's own behaviour in a behaviour management or animal care situation. The matter can be examined from many different perspectives, either the entire interior from a distance or in more detail up close.

When seeking distance, it should be done broadly enough, so we can find our illogical ways of interacting with animals. Our influence on the behaviour of the animals under our care is the most significant. We may find explanations for the behaviours or patterns of our animal companions. Some may have been created by the environment or its influences, some we may have unintentionally reinforced ourselves without realizing what we have done.

From the results of the final conclusions of behaviour management or care situations, we can consider whether we have opportunities to modify the environment, or to what extent by changing our behaviour or our ways of operating with the animal we can achieve a desired change in behaviour of the animal being trained.

In short, we are talking about our meta-skills. Meta-skills refer to the analysis of our self-directed learning process, the regulation of our learning, and the development of its life cycle. How do we learn to learn, to think and to objectively observe our own learning and the development of our skills? Where do we seek perspective for the development of our training skills and how do we analyse it ourselves? They are thus skills that help us develop ourselves and enable us to learn to be increasingly better trainers.

Meta-skills refer to the analysis of our own self-directed learning process or working process, the regulation of our learning, and the development of its life cycle, how we learn to learn.

 Good mastery of meta-skills leads to skilful metacognitive activity. Metacognitive activity is the implementation of these learned skills and strategies as trainers in learning, thinking, and problem-solving situations.

How can we in practice develop ourselves and our skills in practice?

Surely many options immediately come to mind. Lectures, literature and the internet are all excellent sources of information, it is worthwhile to acquire valuable knowledge from them to support practical work. It is always constructive if you find a channel to discuss challenges, successes and even failures related to training techniques with your colleagues. Often it is different challenges and the failures which elevates us to achieve goals that boost our creativity, forcing us to seek innovative ways to reach our objectives. Often, there is not just one correct way to achieve goals; the destination can be reached through many different paths.

My animal training related
book was published in 2023, 
in Finnish - now it's under translation
into English.

An excellent way to develop one's expertise is to use external individuals for assistance. Consulting an experienced trainer to evaluate one's own techniques is an excellent way to get constructive feedback on one's training principles and practices. On the other hand, I am also very grateful to all those students or so-called "laypersons" who, out of curiosity, have asked for more detailed explanations of the principles of my animal care or training techniques. In these situations, we are inevitably forced to explain to another person the reasons and foundations of our actions. At the same time, we articulate them out loud to ourselves, which can lead to excellent insights; we just need to be open enough to new ideas for developing our operations. Utilizing modern technology also offers many opportunities, for example, for developing our body language communication. Video recording a training session is, on the one hand, quite merciless and revealing but at the same time so very corrective and developmental.

The purpose of all this is to achieve a way of operation where our communication with the animal is clear, consistent and effective. We ourselves need feelings of success. Similarly, our "behaviour" as a trainer or animal caretaker develops through positive successes. Animal success strengthens our self-image as trainers and develop our body language for calmer, more confident animal handling, care and training. At this point, I also want to remind you of the importance of our breathing technique, which will give strong message of firm existence; it significantly affects our entire body's communication. Good experiences of success also increase our motivation in animal training and encourage us to seek more successes. We also dare to better respond to new challenging goals that arise in the future, even those that might seem overwhelming to us without these experiences.

In my consulting situations I have so many times enjoyed the discussions with my clients of our/their nonverbal expressions to their animal companions.

Being with animals and managing their behaviour is such a challenge but on its best is so very rewarding to us as well as to animals under our care.

If you think you need advise with you animal companions - contact me and I'd be delighted to be of assistance.

P.S.

... if you are a managing business or in such position at work or of a company; you can just change the wording in this text from trainer to director.. and this all is valid for you too.

Sincerely

Kai Mattsson

"Spend Merry Times with your animals."

                                                                       

Meritime Consulting

www.meritime.net

Meritime in social media;

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Meritime/345171735503394

https://www.instagram.com/elainkoulutusk_mattsson/

Tiktok; @Kaitzoo