Did Skinner Miss the Point About Teaching? Yes.

[donnieo]

Here's a link to an article by John Staddon, from the Learning and Adaptive Behavior Group of Duke University, titled "Did Skinner Miss the Point about Teaching?". It is the first article I found (before finding out about NDT) that offers a criticism of Operant Conditioning. Unfortunately, Staddon does refer to "becoming the Alpha (fe)male" in order to relate to your dog as a social creature as opposed to simply a food source. However, what I like about this article is his emphasis on creating an exciting learning environment that encourages behavioral variation. I think it's in one of the Quantum Canine episodes that Kevin talks about how police dogs never do the same thing twice. Operant Conditioning sets our canine companions up for failure in that it's a training method that relies on consitency even though we live in a chaotic environment.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Hi, Donnie,

I'm not seeing a link to Staddon's article.

LCK

[Lee Charles Kelley]

http://psychweb.psych.duke.edu/depar...s/Teaching.htm

Interesting article. Thanks, Donnie. Of course Staddon mixes things up. It wasn't the shepherd's alpha status that made the sheepdog spend the entire night rounding up all those sheep; it was his herding instinct/prey drive.

LCK

[donnieo]

oops! thanks for posting this for me. not sending attachments is something i'm notorious for.