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Pam J. Reid earned her Ph. D. in Psychology from the University of Toronto, where she specialized in animal learning, behaviour, and cognition. She is a certified applied animal behaviourist and operates a Toronto-based private practice for problem pets. She ceompetes in agility, obedience, and flyball. She lives with Shaahin (the Saluki), Ciaran (the Border Collie), Eejit (the Border Collie/Border Terrier mix), and Carmen (the cat).

Forward

Introduction

A Few Comments About The Book
What is Learning?
What is Learning Theory?
Knowing Versus Doing
Motivation
The Four Stages of Learning

A Bit of History

Why Study Animals?
The Story of Clever Hans
The Principle of Parsimony
The Science of Behaviorism

The Lingo

Psychological Jargon

Classical Conditioning

What Goes With What?

Operant Conditioning

Does What I Do Affect What Happens To Me?
The Four Possibilities

Positive Reinfocement
Negative Reinforcement
Positive Punishment
Negative Punishment

Classical or Operant Behavior?

Single Event Learning

What's Important in my World?
Sensitization
Habituation or Sensitization?
Adaptation
Learned Irrelevance

Factors that Effect Learning

Deprivation Level
The Reward

Contrast Effects, Jackpots, and Reinforcer Sampling

Novelty
Timing

Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
Establishing a Conditioned Reinforcer

Schedules of Reinforcement

The Different Types of Schedules
Ratio Schedules
Interval Schedules
Different Reinforcement Schedules
Duration Schedules
Which Reinforcement Schedule Should You Use?
What About Reinforcement Schedulesin Classical Conditioning?

Premack's Theory of Reinforcement

Stimulus (Signal) Control

Discrimination and Generalization
A Package of Stimuli
Which Stimuli will the Dog Learn About?
Salience and Overshadowing
Blocking
The Reliability of SD
Context Effects
What About Teaching A Discrimination?

Is There a More Efficient Way?
Errorless Discrimination Learning
Can Dogs Learn Scent Discrimination With an Errorless Procedure?

Preparedness
Discrimination or Reflexive Behavior?
Learning Sets
Experimental Neuroses

Extinction

Is Extinction Unlearning?
The Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect

Aversive Control of Behavior

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

Electronic Collars and Avoidance Responding
Extinction of Avoidance Responding
Species-Specific Defense Reactions

POSITIVE PUNISHMENT
Considerations on the Use of Punishment

How Strong Should a Punisher Be?
How Important is the Immediacy of Punishment?
What is the Right Punishment Schedule?
Does it Matter What the Punisher is?
Does Punishment Teach the Animal What it Should do?
Is Punishment Subject to Stimulus Control?
Punishment is Rewarding to the User
Behavior that Persists Despite Punishment
What's the Scoop on Using Punishment?

NONCONTINGENT AVERSIVE STIMULI

Negative Punishment

The Application of Learning Principles to Changing Behavior (A.K.A. Behavior Modification Techniques)

Teaching New Behaviors

Shaping by Successive Approximations
Prompting
Chaining
Autoshaping

Modifying Existing Behaviors

Conditioned Emotional Responses
Counterconditioning and Desensitization
Flooding/Response Prevention
Taste Aversion Learning

Some Common Behavior Problems

Phobias
Separation Anxiety
Interdog Aggression
Aggression Toward People

Social Learning

Social Facilitation
Stimulus or Local Enhancement
Imitation

Conclusion

References and Recommended Readings