International Institute for Applied Companion Animal Behavior

Glossary of Terms in Companion Animal Training and Behavior Consulting

(c) 2007 James O'Heare. Please cite any use of definitions in this Glossary as follows:

O'Heare, J. (2007). Glossary of terms in companion animal training and behavior consulting. Retrieved Month day, year from http://www.iiacab.com/glossary.html.

 

ABC. Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence (the three-term contingency). The three-term contingency describes the controlling variables for a behavior and the functional relationship between behavior and the environment, in terms of what occurs before the behavior (antecedents) and immediately after the behavior (consequences) that influences it.

Abnormal Behavior. It is common, particularly in medical and psychological model approaches to behavior, to differentiate between normal, in-context and abnormal, out-of-context behavior, especially with regards to aggressive behavior. The use of aggressive behaviors under conditions of extreme provocation (threat or pain) would generally be considered “normal” or “appropriate” aggression. However, normal and appropriate are matters of perspective. If a dog is fearful of hats and aggresses when faced with them, who is to say that this is abnormal and inappropriate? Even if a dog aggresses intensely when we try to step over him, who is to say whether this is inappropriate or not, and what difference would it really make anyway? The distinction between normal and abnormal, and between appropriate and inappropriate (out-of-context) behavior is not very useful. If a particular behavior in a particular context is extremely unusual, this might be the only context in which I might use the term abnormal but then I might as well use the word unusual and get down to business identifying the ABCs.

Abolishing Operations (AOs). Abolishing operations temporarily decrease the effectiveness of consequences. See Motivating Operations.

Affective Aggression. Aggression that involves extensive sympathetic nervous system arousal and is considered emotion-laden. This is a biological approach category for aggression. Its opposite is nonaffective aggression. See Nonaffective Aggression.

Affiliative Signals. Affiliative signals function to promote appetitive, welfare-promoting social encounters between individuals who are meeting for the first time, or to provide recognition and continued affiliation for those in established relationships. They usually serve an approach/contact function. Contrast with Agonistic Signals.

Aggression. For the purposes of this manual, aggression is defined as “attacks, attempted attacks or threats of attack by one individual directed at another individual.” Structurally, threat or attack behavior. In dogs, this usually refers to snarling, growling, lunging, snapping and biting. Functionally, aggression is threat or attack behavior that functions to achieve access to a stimulus, or escape from or avoidance of a stimulus. There are different approaches to defining aggression, and no single definition is agreed upon by all.

Aggressive Signals. Communication signals involving a threat of attack. A type of agonistic signal, the other type being appeasement signals. See Aggression and Agonistic Signals.

Agonistic Signals. Brown (1975, cited in Keddy, 2001, p. 257) defines agonistic behavior such that it “primarily includes acts of attack, escape, threat, defense, and appeasement.” Including both aggressive and appeasement behavior in the meaning of the term agonistic is appropriate for the following reasons: “(1) they are functionally related to intraspecific, competitive situations and, consequently, to the dispersion pattern of the species, (2) they are intricately related motivationally and physiologically, and (3) they tend to occur together in time and space” Brown (1975, p. 40, cited in Keddy, 2001). Contrast with Affiliative Signals.

Allelomimetic Behavior. “[B]ehaviour is contagious behaviour, i.e. behaviour which influences another to do the same. … Dogs clearly show allelomimetic behaviour when they bark because the neighbour's dog is barking, or when they run after playing children.” (http://www.apbc.org.uk/article8.htm)

Alternating Treatment Design. The alternating treatment design in the single subject experiment is characterized by rapidly alternating at least two distinct treatments (independent variables) and observing their effect on a single behavior (dependent variable) (Cooper et al., 1987). Rather than waiting for stability of the independent variable to be achieved, such as in the reversal design, the alternating treatment design alternates interventions right from the start.

Ambivalent Signal. Signal clusters that involve signals from different categories or a situation in which the dog vacillates back and forth between different categories of signals. For example, a dog may display signals associated with appeasement and also with aggression; they may display both simultaneously or swing back and forth between the two opposing categories. Ambivalent signal clusters represent a conflict in motivation, usually an approach / avoidance conflict.

Antecedent. Conditions present prior to the behavior in question. Antecedents that influence operant behavior are generally divided into three categories: setting events, motivating operations and discriminative stimuli.

Antecedent Control Procedure. Any procedure that manipulates antecedents in order to increase or decrease the likelihood of a target operant behavior. This involves changes to discriminative stimuli, motivating operations, setting events or response effort.

Anxiety. Emotional behavior associated with anticipated aversive stimulation. Usually involves signs of stress and distress. See Stress and Distress.

Appeasement Signals. Also called submissive signals or deference signals, these are signals used to communicate that an individual will not compete with the signal receiver; they defer to the other individual’s goals in situations of conflicted goals. A type of agonistic communication, along with aggressive signals. See Agonistic Signals.

Appetitive Stimulation. Stimulation that elicits approach behavior. Appetitive stimulation is pleasure eliciting and is the opposite of aversive stimulation. See Aversive Stimulus.

Applied Behavior Analysis. A branch of the science of behavior (itself a branch of psychology, the science of experience: behavior and mind) that applies basic principles of behavior to predicting and changing practical behavior problems, usually of a social nature.

Arousal. Activation of the nervous system generally. Stimulates action, or even inaction.

Artificial Selection. Human-dictated, goal-directed natural selection. Artificial selection is not unnatural selection; it is merely a subcategory of natural selection in which humans purposely dictate the goals and selective pressures. See Natural Selection.

Assess-A-Hand®. A fake arm and hand, devised by Sue Sternberg (http://www.suesternberg.com), for testing dogs for aggression. The Assess-A-Hand® is used to reach toward dogs, pet, collar-grab or otherwise handle a dog, or attempt to remove a toy, food or other valued object from the dog, in order to safely test whether the dog will respond aggressively or not. The tool is controversial because it may not evoke the same response as a real hand would. Dogs can certainly discriminate between the fake hand and a real hand. On the other hand (pun intended), the tool has been able to identify many instances of aggression in a safe manner. It seems to me that the Assess-A-Hand® is likely to produce a greater number of false negatives than false positives. In other words, it seems more likely to miss some aggression problems than to identify aggression problems where they do not exist.

Attending Skills. Skills that allow you to communicate effectively and efficiently with others. May include nonverbal cues, minimal encouragers, open and closed questioning, verbal tracking, paraphrasing, mirroring and summarizing.

Autoshaping. A respondent conditioning procedure that produces skeletal muscle responses, more typical of operant behavior. “For example, a key is turned on a few seconds before grain is presented to a pigeon. After several pairings of key light and grain, the bird begins to peck the key” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004, p. 420).

Aversive Stimulus (S^AVE). A stimulus that an organism acts to evade, escape from, or avoid. Aversive stimulation can result in some problematic secondary effects, such as aggression, countercontrol, social disruption and emotional escape/avoidance behavior. Aversive stimulation involves fear- or pain-eliciting stimuli and is the opposite of appetitive stimulation, which is pleasure eliciting. See Appetitive Stimulation.

Avoidance. Organisms can be expected to attempt to escape and/or avoid aversive stimuli. Avoidance refers to behaving so that the aversive is not experienced at all. Escape, on the other hand, refers to behaving to cease an existing aversive stimulation. After learning escape contingencies, animals will often learn to avoid the aversive stimulation. See Negative Reinforcement.

Backward Conditioning. A respondent conditioning procedure in which the conditioned stimulus is presented after the unconditioned stimulus.

Backyard Breeder. Breeder who is motivated by making money at the expense of the welfare of the dog and the development of the breed and species. The dogs are often neglected or mistreated, and care is not taken in avoiding genetic defects.

Baseline. The rate of a behavior prior to a behavior change procedure or some other “treatment” variable. The frequency, duration or magnitude of the behavior during and after intervention is compared with the baseline rate in order to objectively identify changes. The difference in rate (as well as level and trend) is used to determine whether the intervention was responsible for the change and whether the intervention can be considered successful.

Behavior. “The behavior of an organism is that portion of the organism’s interaction with its environment that is characterized by detectable displacements in space through time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least one aspect of the environment” (Johnston & Pennypacker, 1980, cited in Cooper et al., 1987, p. 17). Many sources include thinking as a form of verbal behavior. Behavior is a general term. Response, in contrast, is a particular instance of behavior. See Response.

Behavioral Economics. The efficiency of behavior in choice situations. Evolution has generally favored behavior that attains the greatest reinforcers for the least effort.

Behavior Change Program. Systematic and comprehensive plan for changing specific behaviors of an individual; the application of behavior change procedures in a complete plan. Usually includes both antecedent control procedures and manipulation of consequences or respondent associations.

Behaviorism. A branch of psychology (the scientific study of behavior and mind), behaviorism is the natural science of behavior. It has philosophical and theoretical foundations emphasizing observable and measurable behaviors, and in some cases avoiding cognitive constructs of inner experience or notions of mind. Behaviorism has two main branches: experimental analysis of behavior, which identifies basic principles of behavior, and applied behavior analysis, which applies basic principles of behavior to changing problem behaviors in real-life settings.

Behavior Maintenance. How long a behavior persists after the original contingencies are discontinued. Often refers to the stable performance of behavior after the acquisition stage. See Steady-State Responding.

Behavior System. “A species-specific set of responses related to a specific US [unconditioned stimulus]. That is, for each species there is a behavior system related to procurement of food, another related to obtaining water, still another for securing warmth, and so on” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004, p. 420). Each species performs a specific set of commonly styled behaviors in feeding, mating, fighting, playing etc. Each of these is thought of as a system because they are species-typical, functionally related behaviors with significant innate influences.

Behavior Systems Theory. “A type of theory that proposes that the behaviors that emerge in classical [respondent] and instrumental [operant] conditioning situations originate in systems of behaviors that have evolved to optimize interactions with the unconditional stimulus (or reinforcer) in the natural environment” (http://www.sinauer.com/bouton/glossary.html). See Behavior System.

Biological Approach. Attempts to understand and modify behavior by understanding and manipulating the anatomy and physiology of the individual. The biological approach does not deny phylogenetic (evolutionary) or ontogenetic (learning) change, but rather posits that learning takes place in the context of behavior, and that behavior can be understood and changed by understanding and changing this underlying anatomy and physiology.

Biological Context. The evolutionary and anatomic/physiologic status of an organism that constrains and sets the context in which learning occurs. See also Preparedness.

Bite Inhibition. A measure of the strength of a bite, or a measure of the frequency of bites. Bite inhibition is not an invisible force inside the dog that cannot be measured and is therefore abandoned. Biting is a behavior, and the force of a bite or the frequency of bites are measurable occurrences of the behavior.

Blocking. A conditioned stimulus (CS) that has already been associated with an unconditioned stimulus (US) blocks a subsequent CS–US association. A conditioned stimulus (CS¹) is paired with a US until there is a strong association. After this, a second conditioned stimulus (CS²) is presented at the same time as CS1, and both are paired with the US. Finally, CS¹ and CS² are tested separately. If CS¹ elicits the conditioned response and CS² does not, CS² was blocked.

Bounce-Back. The ease and speed with which a dog will regain his composure after being startled. Composure can be operationalized by various measures of arousal and emotionality. Used frequently in temperament tests.

Breeds, Dog. “A breed is a group of individuals of a certain species which have a high percentage of common inherited characteristics, or in other words, they have many common genes.” (Abrantes, 1997)

Calming Signals. A class of signals, proposed by Turid Rugaas, that is said to serve to calm other dogs in conflict situations, often preemptively. There is as yet no complete and coherent model or definition for this notion, nor have any hypotheses generated based on it. Remarkably similar to displacement activities or cutoff signals. Probably best to be cautious of this term due to it’s vagueness and lack of empirical support and use the established concepts instead. See Displacement Activities and Cutoff Signals.

Capturing. Reinforcing a behavior when it occurs naturally, as opposed to prompting it. In free-shaping, the behavior is captured when it occurs.

Categorical Approach. The categorical approach to classifying problem behaviors seeks to identify distinct classes of disordered behavior. It assumes that (a) behavior can be divided into categories of healthy or disordered, and (b) within the disordered category, there exist discrete, distinct (nonoverlapping) classes or types of disorder, having a high degree of within-class homogeneity in both the signs of disorder and the underlying organization of the disorder. See Prototypal Approach for a contrasting system.

Cerebral Cortex. The outer part of the brain and the last to develop. It performs the most complex associative functions and is associated with higher order cognitive functions.

Chaining. A procedure in which an animal is trained to perform a chain of behaviors in sequence. Each behavior provides the discriminative stimulus for the next behavior, and only the terminal behavior results in delivery of a primary reinforcer.

Coercion. The “use of punishment and the threat of punishment to get others to act as we would like, and to our practice of rewarding people just by letting them escape from our punishments and threats” (Sidman, 2001, p. 1). See Aversive Stimulus.

Cognitive Approach. The cognitive psychological approach does not reject the biological underpinnings of behavior or the role that learning plays in behavior, but it also looks at other mental phenomena in explaining, predicting and controlling behavior. Not particularly helpful, and probably distracting, in applied behavior change situations.

Cognitive–Behavioral Approach. Related to the cognitive approach, the cognitive-behavioral approach proposes that thinking influences emotional responses—that there is a precipitating event, cognitive interpretation of it and resulting emotional response. How we think about an event helps determine how we respond emotionally to it. The cognitive–behavioral approach aims to change emotional responses by changing the cognitive interpretation component in this sequence.

Cognitive Bias. “A cognitive bias is any of a wide range of observer effects identified in cognitive science and social psychology including very basic statistical, social attribution, and memory errors that are common to all human beings” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Bias). Two common cognitive biases of interest to behavior consultants are: “Confirmation bias: the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions. Self-serving bias: the tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures. It may also manifest itself as a tendency for people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way beneficial to their interests” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Bias).

Communication Theory. In communication theory, a signaler (or source) encodes and transmits information called a signal to a receiver, who detects and decodes the signal into meaningful information (McFarland, 1999). Transfer of information takes place when the signaler’s behavior becomes more predictable to the receiver, but for this to be communication, the signal must be designed or intended to influence the behavior of the receiver (McFarland, 1999).

Competing Behavior Model. The competing behavior model emphasizes replacing problematic behaviors with more acceptable behaviors. This is consistent with the constructional approach. Usually involves diagramming the ABCs of a problem, including identification of replacement behaviors. See Constructional Approach.

Compound Stimuli. Two conditioned stimuli presented together in respondent conditioning, such that both come to elicit the same conditioned response.

Compulsive Disorder. I medical model classification designating behavior that is carried out to the extent of causing trauma or distress. Tail chasing or flunk sucking are common examples of compulsive behavior. Often referred to as obsessive-compulsive behavior. It might be assumed that if a dog performs a behavior compulsively that they must be obsessing, but it is not necessary to postulate obsessing to describe this behavior set.

Conditioned Aversive Stimulus (CS^AVE). An aversive stimulus that acquires its aversive effect through conditioning, as opposed to an unconditioned aversive stimulus, such as being shocked, struck or otherwise hurt, offended or traumatized. Often, owners and the aversive tools they use can become conditioned aversive stimuli. Cues that predict aversive stimulation may also become conditioned aversive stimuli. See also Aversive Stimulus.

Conditioned Emotional Response (CER). Form of conditioned response whereby emotional reactions such as fear, anger or joy are elicited by a conditioned stimulus in respondent conditioning. See Emotion.

Conditioned Inhibition. “In respondent conditioning, when a [conditioned stimulus] is presented repeatedly without the [unconditioned stimulus] (extinction, the conditioned stimulus is said to acquire increasing amounts of inhibition, in the sense that its presentation suppresses the response.” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004)

Conditioned Reinforcer. A previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned reinforcer and has acquired effectiveness to increase the frequency of an operant. Generally used in the context of positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement. See also Unconditioned Reinforcer.

Conditioned Response (CR). Response elicited by a conditioned stimulus. Often, but not always, similar to the unconditioned response. For example, a click comes to elicit a similar response to the food it has been associated with. There are instances, however, in which the CR is quite dissimilar to the unconditioned response.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS). A previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus and now elicits reflexive behavior.

Conditioned Suppression. A conditioned stimulus is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Once it becomes a conditioned aversive stimulus (CS^AVE), its presentation will suppress ongoing operant behavior.

Constructional Approach. As opposed to the eliminative approach. In 1974, Israel Goldiamond proposed and outlined a basic strategic approach to changing behavior that provided a paradigm shift from the popular eliminative approaches practiced at the time. In the eliminative approach, behavior is commonly thought of as abnormal, pathological and excessive. The focus of “treatment” is on decreasing the excessive behavior (via extinction or punishment, for example). Goldiamond (1974; 2002) and Delprato (1981) agree that a view of behavior as pathological or abnormal fosters unnecessary acceptance of the eliminative behavioral methods of behavior change. In the constructional approach, rather than reducing the animal’s repertoire of behaviors, the trainer increases them. In the eliminative approach, the animal is shown what not to do, whereas in the constructional approach, the animal is shown what else to do. Contrast with Eliminative Approach.

Context for Conditioning. The ontogenetic and phylogenetic history and current anatomic and physiologic condition of the animal, as well as the environmental conditions present when a given learning process is occurring. The influence of history and environment on conditioning. Constraints and influences on conditioning.

Contingency. In respondent conditioning, contingency refers to a positive correlation between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, it refers to a relationship between an operant class and a consequence, in which the consequence occurs if, and only if, the operant occurs. Generally, it refers to the relationship between a behavior and its controlling environmental variables.

Contingency Statement. A concise statement of a particular behavior problem, identifying the behavior in question as well as its antecedents and maintaining consequences. It is constructed based on a functional assessment. See Functional Assessment.

Continuous Reinforcement (CRF). A schedule of reinforcement in which every response results in reinforcement.

Controlling Stimulus. A stimulus that changes the frequency or probability of an operant. An S^D (discriminative stimulus) makes the operant more likely and an S^∆ (extinction stimulus) makes it less likely. S^AVE (conditioned aversive stimulus) can increase or decrease the likelihood, depending on the particular contingency in operation.

Coprophagia. Eating of feces.

Countercommanding. In operant conditioning, an alternative or incompatible behavior that is cued in order to prevent an undesirable behavior. Not to be confused with counterconditioning. Not a commonly used term any longer.

Counterconditioning. A respondent conditioning process in which the animal’s previous conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus is changed or reversed with new conditioning. In most applied behavioral cases, counterconditioning is used to change a conditioned emotional response from fearful to joyful, or anxiety to relaxation. It is the principle underlying systematic desensitization. A term that has been used in place of counterconditioning is reciprocal inhibition. This term was presented to describe a situation in which a relaxed response was created in the presence of an anxiety-eliciting stimulus at a low level of intensity; the relaxation inhibits the anxiety response. See also Systematic Desensitization.

Countercontrol. Operant behavior that functions to oppose aversive stimulation. When an individual is coerced, they will behave in order to work around or against this contingency in order to maintain access to reinforcement. Often misinterpreted as “dominance.”

Cutoff Behavior / Cutoff Signals. Cutoff signals, first discussed by Chance (1962), appear to be an arousal-reducing conflict management strategy. In situations where a signaler seeks to avoid a fight, and either seeks social affiliation or to avoid a chase–attack if he flees, he may perform cutoff signals as a compromise strategy in conflict avoidance. Cutoff behavior serves to temporarily break off sensory stimulation with the receiver, and hence reduce arousal in the individual and their opponent (Chance, 1962).

Cycle of Reciprocal Countercontrol. Term coined by O’Heare (2007). Here is how the cycle of countercontrol works: The owner finds some particular dog behavior irritating. The owner’s behavior (usually punitive countercontrol, such as “correcting” the dog with leash pops, hitting or yelling) is negatively reinforced as a quick fix tactic, which then produces an irritation for the dog, who in turn resorts to countercontrol. This is also negatively reinforced in many cases, and the cycle of countercontrol continues. All the while, fallout from the lose–lose encounters is compounded to degrade the relationship and produce further problematic behaviors. See also Countercontrol.

Delay Conditioning. A respondent conditioning procedure in which the conditioned stimulus is presented prior to the unconditioned stimulus, usually by a few seconds.

Dependent Variable. In experimentation, the dependent variable is the variable that is measured. The experimenter controls for variables other than an independent variable. The independent variable is the only variable changed between subjects, or with a single subject through time. The dependent variable is measured in order to determine if the independent variable affected it.

Deprivation. An establishing operation procedure in which the reinforcer is withheld in order to temporarily increase its effectiveness. As an abolishing operation, a stimulus is withheld in order to temporarily decrease its effectiveness.

Diagnosis. A term used in the medical-model approach to behavior cases in which the “patient” is labeled with a “disorder.” This is as opposed to a behavioral approach, in which a functional assessment is carried out and a contingency statement is hypothesized. See Contingency Statement.

Differential Reinforcement. A procedure in which a target behavior is reinforced while another target behavior is extinguished. It can also refer to targeting a specific behavior for reinforcement in the presence of a particular discriminative stimulus, and targeting that same behavior for extinction in the presence of a different discriminative stimulus. See Positive Reinforcement and Operant Extinction.

Dimensional Approach. The dimensional approach to understanding behavior assumes that typical behavior is variable (presenting at various levels along several definable dimensions). In the dimensional system, various distinct dimensions or characteristics would be identified theoretically and empirically, as would psychological instruments to measure them. Each would have a scale from, say, 1 to 100 and tests for each characteristic. A person or dog would then be tested with reliable and valid tests, and their points would be graphically presented on the scales. The scales and tests would be arranged such that adaptive scores would be found close to the 50-point mark. The further a point lies from this mark, the greater the indication of a problem with that particular characteristic. In this way, the diagnosis (psychological profile) would identify the actual problem traits.

Direct Observation. Part of a functional assessment, direct observation involves observing and measuring a particular behavior in order to establish its operant level (baseline), and to produce an accurate contingency statement. See Functional Assessment.

Discrimination. Refers to an organism responding differently to two or more different stimuli. The organism discriminates between the stimuli.

Discriminative Stimulus (S^D). An antecedent stimulus that indicates a specific contingency is in effect. Saying “sit” indicates to a dog that, if they sit now, some given schedule of reinforcement will be in effect. When the word “sit” is not given, this contingency is not in effect.

Disempowerment. A loss of empowerment. See Empowerment.

Displacement Activities. Otherwise normal, usually stereotypic behaviors for the species, except that they are performed out of context. May function in some cases as a cutoff behavior. See Cutoff Behavior / Cutoff Signals.

Distance-Decreasing Signals. Communication signals that function to decrease distance between an organism and another social being.

Distance-Increasing Signals. Communication signals that function to increase distance between an organism and another social being.

Distress. The state of an animal when insufficient biological reserves are present to satisfy the biological cost of the stress response and resources must be diverted away from other biological functions (Moberg, 2000).

Dominance (Social Dominance). An ethological construct describing features of a social relationship, which addresses the management of social conflict, including (but not limited to) the allocation of limited resources, through the exertion of control and influence. This takes place in a way that minimizes the risk of overt aggression by way of the use of conventionalized ritual display behaviors. This minimization of risk involves a cost–benefit evaluation of the benefits of seeking to win a particular social conflict versus the likely associated cost (O’Heare, 2004). The term “dominance” is misused and abused to the point that it is often harmful to invoke it because it promotes adversarial relationships between dog and owner. Also often used as a label for a dog using countercontrol behaviors as a result of aversive stimulation and coercion. See Coercion and Countercontrol.

Ecological Factors. Setting events are often referred to as ecological factors. They are aspects of the environment that contribute indirectly to the contingencies. See Setting Events and Antecedent.

Elicited. Respondents are elicited. They are caused by the presentation of a stimulus.

Eliminative Approach. In the eliminative approach, behavior is commonly thought of as abnormal, pathological and excessive. The focus of “treatment” is on decreasing the excessive behavior (via extinction or punishment, for example). Goldiamond (2002) and Delprato (1981) agree that a view of behavior as pathological or abnormal fosters unnecessary acceptance of the eliminative behavioral methods of behavior change. The alternative proposed by Goldiamond was a constructional approach. Rather than reducing the animal’s repertoire of behaviors, the trainer increases them. In the eliminative approach, the animal is shown what not to do, whereas, in the constructional approach, the animal is shown what to do. Contrast with Constructional Approach.

Emitted. Operant behavior is emitted. Its probability is controlled by its history of reinforcement in the presence of the discriminative stimulus. The discriminative stimulus does not cause the operant, though, but rather informs the animal of the contingencies in effect. The consequences make the behavior more or less likely.

Emotion. Skinner saw emotion as “a particular state of strength or weakness in one or more responses induced by any one of a class of operations” (Skinner, 1953, p. 166). Smith and Iwata (1997) characterize Skinner’s notion of shared traits for emotion such that they (a) are induced by some environmental condition, (b) are typically accompanied by reflex responses, and (c) alter the probability of a class of behaviors distinguished by a “common consequence.” Although Skinner saw emotion as primarily operant, he clearly recognized that it had respondent components: “The reflex responses which accompany many of these states of strength are not to be completely disregarded” (Skinner, 1953, p. 166). Skinner also recognized a relationship between emotion and motivation, suggesting they overlap, and referring to emotion as “emotional operations” (Skinner, 1953, pp. 164–165).

Empowerment. A state of confidence in one’s ability to operate on one’s environment effectively and to create reinforcing contingencies. While empowerment is conducive to psychological wellbeing, learned helplessness is its antithesis. See Learned Helplessness.

Environment. All stimuli and conditions that may affect the behavior of an organism, including some internal environments such as hormonal conditions, thinking and the experience of pain.

Escape Behavior. Behaviors that function to allow an organism to stop an aversive experience that has already commenced. See Negative Reinforcement.

Establishing Operations (EOs). Operations that temporarily increase the effectiveness of consequences. See Motivating Operations.

Evoke. Operants are evoked, as opposed to respondents, which are elicited.

Evolution (Biological). Change through time in the proportion of individual organisms differing genetically in one or more traits. See Natural Selection, the main mechanism by which biological evolution occurs.

Excitement Urination. When a dog that urinates upon becoming excited and active.

Experimental Analysis of Behavior. The branch of the science of behavior that applies scientific methods to identifying and elaborating basic principles of behavior. Commonly focuses on replicated single subject experimental designs.

Extinction: See Operant Extinction or Respondent Extinction.

Extinction Burst. A temporary increase in the frequency of a specific behavior being extinguished, immediately after an extinction procedure is instated. Contrast with Resurgence.

Extinction Stimulus (S^∆). Pronounced “S-Delta”, a stimulus that informs the organism of an extinction contingency being in place for a particular behavior, and results in a decline in that operant.

Fading the Prompt. A procedure in which stimulus control is gradually transferred from one value of that stimulus to another. Often, we fade a physical prompt (e.g., lure) to a hand signal by gradually changing the appearance of the prompt toward looking more like the hand signal we want to use.

Fear. An emotional response, involving both operants and respondents, characterized by signs of sympathetic nervous system arousal, and stress, and escape or avoidance behaviors.

Fear-Biter. A term often applied to dogs that demonstrate ambivalent signal clusters between appeasement signals and aggressive signals. The dog is approach-avoidance conflicted motivationally between fearful and aggressive. They will act emotionally and fearful and if pushed will swing to aggressive signals and attack. See Ambivalent Signals.

Fight-or-Flight Response. An initial step in the general adaptation syndrome involving rapid activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Characterized by either flight from an aversive stimulus or attack of it. See General Adaptation Syndrome.

Fixed Action Pattern. A sequence of behaviors, which is relatively invariant and is considered relatively innate, activated by a specific environmental stimulus. Often called a modal action pattern or flexible action pattern to avoid implying that the response is fixed and unchangeable.

Fixed Duration (FD). This schedule of positive reinforcement makes the rule that reinforcement will be delivered after a behavior has been occurring for a specified fixed amount of time.

Fixed Interval (FI). This schedule of positive reinforcement makes the rule that reinforcement is provided immediately after a response after a specific interval of time has passed.

Fixed Ratio (FR). This schedule of positive reinforcement makes the rule that responses will be reinforced after a specific and fixed number of responses has been performed.

Flank-Sucking.

Flexible Action Pattern. See Fixed Action Pattern.

Flight Distance.

Flooding. In a flooding procedure, the animal is exposed to the full intensity of the conditioned stimulus (i.e. flooded with the conditioned stimulus) without the unconditioned stimulus. Exposure continues until the conditioned response is extinguished, and escape behavior declines.

Free-Shaping. A type of differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a terminal behavior. Successive approximations to the terminal behavior are captured; that is, the trainer does not prompt responses, but rather waits for the approximation and provides reinforcement when it occurs. Once the approximation is stable, it is put on operant extinction. The resurgence created by extinction provides variability in behavior from which to capture the next variant. Many people believe that “shaping” should not involve prompts at all, so that the term “free-shaping” is redundant or a false alternative. In the definitions I am familiar with, shaping refers to the differential reinforcement of successive approximations but does not specify how one achieves the behaviors themselves. So, even though most trainers avoid prompts while shaping, the definition does not seem to negate them, and therefore, a subcategory disallowing prompts seems justified.

Frustration. Emotional behavior resulting from being blocked from achieving one’s goals. Frustration can precipitate aggressive responses.

Functional Analysis. A part of a functional assessment in which the observer manipulates antecedents and/or consequences in order to test specific hypotheses regarding the controlling variables influencing a behavior. It is an experimental approach to evaluating behavioral contingencies.

Functional Assessment. Term used to describe a range of evaluation strategies and techniques, including the informant method, direct observation and functional analysis.

Functional Relationship. A relationship between behavior and the environmental stimuli that control it. See Contingency.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). A broad theory of stress response. The fight-or-flight response is now considered a part of the general adaptation syndrome of responses. GAS generally involves three phases: alarm phase (fight-or-flight response), adaptation phase, and exhaustion phase.

General Behavior Trait. Tendencies (as opposed to specific behaviors) strongly influenced by genes. Includes activity level, aggression, introversion and anxiety. More flexible than fixed action patterns (Chance, 2003, p. 17).

Generalization: Process whereby a behavior occurs in the presence of antecedent stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to the discriminative stimuli used in the original conditioning. It is problematic when aggressive behaviors generalize. It is ideal when the learning achieved through behavior change programs generalizes. See Stimulus Generalization.

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer. A conditioned reinforcer that has been associated with a variety of unconditioned reinforcers. Praise often achieves this standard.

Greeting Ritual. When dogs greet each other, even after very brief absences, they will reassess each other with a series of mutual probing displays and assessments. Greeting rituals also often include preemptive appeasement signals, which function to help reduce the chance of being treated in a hostile manner. Beaver (1999, pp. 147–149) describes three basic greeting ritual patterns: facial–lingual, inguinal and anogenital. Facial–lingual greetings between two dogs involve mutual sniffing and investigation of each other’s faces, particularly the mouth and breath. Inguinal greetings involve one individual sniffing and investigating the groin region of another individual. The anogenital greeting involves mutual sniffing and investigation of the other dog’s anal and/or genital region. Presumably, these greeting rituals help individuals to determine familiarity and perhaps make a mutual assessment of each other’s intent or competitive capabilities.

Habituation. Habituation occurs when a stimulus repeatedly elicits a response and the respondent decreases in magnitude as a result. Habituation can be longer term or shorter term, but is temporary in either case.

Heterosis: “Heterosis is increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a “better” individual by combining the virtues of its parents. This is commonly known as hybrid vigor or outbreeding enhancement. It is often the opposite process of inbreeding depression, which increases homozygosity. Heterosis is an example of heterozygous advantage. The term often causes controversy, particularly in terms of domestic animals, because it is sometimes believed that all crossbred plants or animals are better than their parents; this is untrue. Rather, when a hybrid is seen to be superior to its parents, this is known as hybrid vigor. It may also happen that a hybrid inherits such different traits from their parents that make them unfit for survival. This is known as outbreeding depression, typical examples of which are crosses between wild and hatchery fish that have incompatible adaptations” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosis).

History of Reinforcement. The contingencies that have been in operation through the lifetime of the animal and resulting changes in behavioral frequencies. May be isolated to a specific domain, such as the relationship between two animals.

Hyperactivity. A highly aroused state and resulting behavior such as unusually increased activity level and excessive behavior such as barking, jumping or running. Dogs calms down if a tranquilizer is administered, as opposed to hyperkinesis, which presents similar behavior but the dog calms down is a stimulant is administered instead.

Hyperkinesis. A highly aroused state and resulting behavior such as unusually increased activity level and excessive behavior such as barking, jumping or running. Dogs calms down if a stimulant is administered, as opposed to hyperactivity, which presents similar behavior but the dog calms down is a tranquilizer is administered instead.

Imprinting. “… term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior. It was first used to describe situations in which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus, which is therefore said to be "imprinted" onto the subject.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_%28psychology%29) A type of respondent conditioning that results in various behavior patterns, attachments and preferences with even very brief exposure during a narrow window of time in early youth.

Impulsive Behavior. Selecting a maladaptive low-valued but immediate payoff, rather than a delayed but far higher valued payoff in a choice situation.

Independent Variable. In experimentation, the independent variable is the variable that is manipulated. The experimenter maintains other variables stable and changes the independent variable among groups of individuals or through time in one individual. The dependent variable is measured in order to determine if the independent variable affected it.

Informant Method. One approach in functional assessments to gain information on the contingencies involved in the target behavior, involving questioning people about the behavior and events surrounding it.

Instinctive Drift. Species-typical behavior that becomes invasive during operant conditioning and may interfere with specific conditioning goals. May simply involve respondent conditioning interfering with operant conditioning.

Intermittent Schedule of Positive Reinforcement. Any schedule of reinforcement other than continuous reinforcement or extinction. The positive reinforcer is delivered sometimes, but not always.

Law of Effect. Responses that produce a satisfying effect are more likely to occur again in that situation. Conversely, responses that produce a discomforting effect are less likely to occur again in that situation. Similar to the principle of reinforcement and punishment.

Learned Helplessness. When an organism is exposed to uncontrollable and severe aversive stimulation, they will frequently abandon efforts to escape or avoid it and will not be able to learn escape or avoidance contingencies, even when they become readily available. Learning is inhibited and behavior tends to be suppressed. May be a basis for some instances of “depression” in humans.

Learning. “Learning is an enduring change in the mechanisms of behavior involving specific stimuli and/or responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses” (Domjan, 2003, p. 14). There are other definitions, essentially amounting to a change in behavior due to experience. Inclusion of the term “mechanisms of” helps explain latency between learning and behavior.

Limbic System. Includes the following structures in the brain: olfactory bulb, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus of the cerebral cortex, and several smaller structures. Associated with emotion.

Limited Hold. It adds the rule to a schedule of reinforcement that reinforcement is only available within the context of the schedule for a limited period of time. This rule is particularly helpful when you intend to train a behavior to occur quickly upon presentation of the discriminative stimulus.

Medical Model Approach. A theoretical and procedural orientation to applied behavior change that tends to explain and change behavior similarly to how medical professionals treat physical disease. Behavior is classified as normal or disordered and disordered behavior is classified into various classifications. This model refers to diagnosing and treating behavior problems and often but not always takes a biological approach to viewing and changing behavior. See Biological Approach and contrast with Applied Behavior Analysis, which addresses observable behaviors and how it relates adaptively to the environment.

Modal Action Pattern. See Fixed Action Pattern.

Motivating Operations (MOs). A type of antecedent. Briefly, MOs alter the effectiveness of reinforcers or punishers and the frequency of operant response classes maintained by those reinforcers and punishers (Laraway et al., 2003). Abolishing operations (AOs) temporarily decrease the effectiveness of consequences, whereas establishing operations (EOs) temporarily increase the effectiveness of consequences. The term MO encompasses all four quadrants in the contingency table, with EOs for both reinforcers and punishers, and AOs for both reinforcers and punishers. Usually, satiation and deprivation are used as MOs. For reinforcers, deprivation tends to be an EO, while satiation tends to be an AO.

Natural Selection. “The mechanism of evolution by which the environment acts on populations to enhance the adaptive ability and reproductive success of individuals possessing desirable [effective] genetic variants, increasing the chance that those beneficial [effective] traits will predominate in succeeding generations” (Horvitz, 2002, p. 303). Traits are variable within a population, and many traits are heritable. Individuals reproduce at differential rates and levels (some individuals reproduce more than others). Those traits (adaptive traits) that contribute to reproductive success tend to increase in frequency within the population because they are passed on more successfully to progeny. Traits that do not contribute to reproductive success tend to become less frequent in future generations. The environment selects for adaptive traits and selects against maladaptive traits. Natural selection is about changes in gene frequencies due to differentially successful reproduction. It is not intentional, directional or progressive; it simply describes the outcome of differential reproductive success and mechanisms by which that occurs.

Negative Punishment. A procedure in which a behavior results in the withdrawal of a stimulus and, as a result, future frequency of that behavior decreases. It is also a basic principle of behavior.

Negative Reinforcement. A procedure in which a behavior results in the withdrawal of a stimulus and, as a result, future frequency of that behavior increases.

Negative Reinforcer. Any stimulus that, when removed following a behavior, results in an increase in frequency of that behavior.

Nonaffective Aggression. Predatory behaviors that cause harm, or would have caused harm if not avoided or escaped. Unlike affective aggression, nonaffective aggression does not involve widespread activation of the sympathetic nervous system and is not considered emotional. Contrast with Affective Aggression.

Neoteny. “…retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny)

Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF). Originating with Dr. Victoria Voith, the Nothing In Life Is Free program involves requiring dogs to perform specific behaviors in return for everyday activities and resources. For example, the dog is required to sit before being let outside or being allowed to eat. This program is commonly interpreted as a boot-camp-style regimen, and, because of that, may promote adversarial relationships between people and their dogs. The most beneficial aspect of this program is the principle that one should take advantage of everyday opportunities to train the animal because more training gets done that way, the training generalizes well, and learning takes place all the time. See Premack Principle.

Ontogenetic. As opposed to phylogenetic change (which involves evolutionary adaptation), ontogenetic change involves changes within the lifetime of the organism.

Operant. Behavior that operates on the environment to produce consequences. Goal-directed behavior.

Operant Aggression. Operants that serve to attack or threaten to attack others, as opposed to a reflex-like pain-elicited attack. Some sources consider that operant aggression results from negative reinforcement only, but goal-directed aggressive behavior could be positively reinforced, as well. Contrast with Respondent Aggression.

Operant Class. A class of operants that may differ topographically but serve to produce the same consequence.

Operant Conditioning. A change (increase or decrease) in the frequency of an operant as a function of its consequences.

Operant Extinction. Withholding or preventing reinforcement for a behavior (procedure), and the resulting decline in the frequency or magnitude of that behavior (effect).

Operant Level. The rate of an operant prior to specific conditioning procedures.

Orienting Response. A reflex in which an organism orients their attention to a change in their environment.

Overshadowing. In respondent conditioning, if two neutral or conditioned stimuli are used simultaneously in conditioning an association with an unconditioned stimulus and only one becomes conditioned while the other does not, we would say that the successfully conditioned stimulus overshadowed the unsuccessful stimulus. Which stimulus overshadows the other is probably determined by prior exposure to the stimuli, salience and perhaps preparedness.

Pack. Boitani, Francisci, Ciucci, and Andreoli, (1995) define a pack as a social unit that hunts, rears young and protects a communal territory as a stable group. Dogs, unlike wolves, are not strictly speaking, pack animals. Free-ranging dogs may, in some situations form small, loose associations and it might be more accurate to say that dogs tends to “group” in certain circumstances rather than “pack.” For a review of the literature on the topic, see Dominance Theory and Dogs by James O’Heare.

Paedomorphosis. “In developmental biology, pedomorphosis (also spelled paedomorphosis) or juvenification is a phenotypic and/or genotypic change in which the adults of a species retain traits previously seen only in juveniles. Peramorphosis is change in the reverse direction. Pedomorphosis is common in many animal species domesticated by humans, including dogs, chickens, pigs and cattle. It is believed to be a side-effect of the selective pressure of human-directed breeding for juvenile behavioral characteristics such as docility.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paedomorphosis)

Pain-Elicited Aggression. See Respondent Aggression.

Phobia. An extreme fear.

Phylogenetic. As opposed to ontogenetic change (which involves changes within the lifetime of the organism), phylogenetic change involves changes that are genetically based and have evolved over time.

Pica. Tendency to eat nonfood items. Some dogs will eat rocks for example if they are allowed access to them.

Piloerection. Raised fur. Usually on the dorsal neck and often continuing down the spine. Indication of arousal.

Positive Punishment. A procedure in which a behavior results in the presentation of a stimulus and, as a result, future frequency of that behavior decreases. It is also a basic principle of behavior.

Positive Reinforcement. A procedure in which a behavior results in the presentation of a stimulus and, as a result, future frequency of that behavior increases. It is also a basic principle of behavior.

Positive Reinforcer. Any stimulus that, when presented following a behavior, results in an increase in frequency of that behavior.

Potentiation. “[A]n increase, over repeated presentations, in the respondent behavior elicited by a stimulus (especially, an aversive stimulus)” (Catania, 1998, p. 402). This is what people commonly, but mistakenly, think of as sensitization. See Sensitization.

Premack Principle. A behavior with higher frequency or probability can act as reinforcement for a less frequent or less probable behavior. In practice, we can use everyday opportunities to train dogs. Not only treats and toys can act as reinforcers, so too can other behaviors, such as running or playing.

Preparedness. “Some relations between stimuli, and between stimuli and responses, are more likely because of phylogenetic history. This phenomenon has been called preparedness. For example, a bird that relies on sight for food selection would be expected to associate the appearance of a food item with illness, but rats that select food on the basis of taste quickly make a flavor-illness association” (Pierce & Cheney, 2004, p. 438).

Principle of Behavior. A description of a relationship between behavior and its controlling variables (Cooper et al., 1987).

Prototypal Approach. In classifying behaviors, a conceptual entity depicting an idealized combination of characteristics that more or less regularly occur together in a less than perfect manner at the scale of actual observation. The prototypal approach does not necessarily assume distinct categories and, in that regard, provides a far lower level of validity than a categorical approach. See also Categorical Approach for a contrasting system.

Punisher. A stimulus that, when presented or removed following a behavior, decreases the future frequency of that behavior.

Punishment. The decrease in frequency of a behavior that is followed by a stimulus (a punisher).

Puppy Mill. Breeding business that is motivated more by making money at the expense of the welfare of the dog or the development of the breed or species. The dogs are often neglected or otherwise mistreated, and care is not taken in avoiding genetic defects. Similar to a backyard breeder except usually on a larger scale.

Rate of Response. See Operant Level.

Ratio Schedules