Reinforcement systems

Webinar with Mary Hunter, February 26. at 7:30 pm CET.  Find your local time

Reinforcement Systems:

To communicate with our dogs using positive reinforcement, we need some reinforcers! However, reinforcement is a little more complicated than just giving your dog a treat after they do a desired behavior.

In this presentation, we will look at the science of reinforcement and reinforcement systems. A reinforcement system describes the trainer's behavior and the dog’s behavior during reinforcement, and it specifies how these behaviors are connected.

A faulty reinforcement system can lead to slow rates of progress and unwanted behaviors. Instead, you can maximize the effectiveness of your reinforcers by designing and teaching a reinforcement system as an interconnected chain of behaviors.

During the presentation, we’ll look at the four components of a reinforcement system and discuss how these elements can help improve our communication with our dogs. 

About Mary:

Mary Hunter earned an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in behavior analysis from the University of North Texas. Mary’s business, Behavior Explorer, offers educational courses and programs for individuals interested in the science of behavior. In addition, she teaches as an adjunct instructor in the behavior analysis department at the University of North Texas. In 2019, Mary and Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz published their first book, PORTL: The Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab.

Mary’s research interests include studying the process of shaping and finding better ways to teach people to train animals. Her master’s thesis, which examined the effects of a single reinforcer during shaping, was published in 2019 in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. She is a full member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and has presented her research at the organization’s annual convention.

You can find Mary online on her personal blog, Stale Cheerios (http://stalecheerios.com), and at Behavior Explorer (https://behaviorexplorer.com).

The webinar will be recorded so that you can access the recording if you are prevented from participating live. The link for the recording will be sent by email within a few days after the webinar.

(If you are a member of Hund i Fokus' member portal, access to the webinar is included in the membership. Log in information are in the portal-calendar.)

The webinar lasts for approx. one - two hours, including questions.

Information about the Members portal for the English speaking. Informasjon om Medlemsportalen for Skandinaver.