Influencing Human Behavior Like Training a Dog
Shaping is a learning procedure. In this learning procedure, initially, rewards are given for any behavior similar to the target behavior; then, the standard is gradually raised, and rewards are given only for behaviors that are increasingly similar to the target behavior; finally, rewards are given only when the target behavior actually occurs. Some teachers apply this instrumental behavior shaping method in daily teaching. For example, when training students to think about problems, initially, regardless of what answer the student gives, the teacher gives verbal praise for the behavior of raising their hand bravely; then, rewards are selectively given for increasingly better answers.
People like to repeat behaviors that bring benefits to themselves, and instrumental learning is the direct result of applying this principle. In instrumental learning, behavior becomes the “tool” for obtaining benefits, and “these benefits” are a form of positive reinforcement; here, reinforcement is defined as a stimulus that can increase the frequency of behavior occurrence. Through instrumental learning, we learn to continue implementing behaviors that bring rewards, and terminate behaviors that cannot be rewarded or bring trouble. Indeed, these simple principles have been widely and effectively applied in daily life.
Dogs Can Also Train the Owner
Researchers selected 7 students aged 12–15 from a class considered “hopeless” (or “unredeemable”), and trained them to practice behavior modification. The researchers taught the students many reinforcement methods that could be used to shape their own teacher’s behavior. These reinforcement methods include smiling, making eye contact, and maintaining a straight posture in their seats. The students also practiced ways to praise their teacher, for example, by telling the teacher, “I like learning in a class where the teacher is very good to the students.” Similarly, they also learned to impede some of the teacher’s negative behaviors through language, for example, the students would say, “It is hard for me to study well when you are angry with me” (Gray et al., 1974, p.44). Although these techniques were very difficult to learn, the students eventually mastered them, and these children finally possessed their own treasure trove of rewards, thereby no longer being controlled by the teacher.