Reinforcement Spectrum

If we look at the use of negative and positive reinforcement as a spectrum we are all on this spectrum, whether we know it or not.
Some are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, so they only use positive reinforcement or only negative reinforcement.

My personal view is that we can be anywhere along this line as long as we aren’t extreme, as long as we don’t make people who are moving along in their horsemanship journey feel guilty.

Many extremists do make me feel uncomfortable. No-one knows our horse better than we do, what suits one may not suit another. We must tailor how we train to individual horses.

Positive reinforcement is not the choice of many because they lack understanding at this moment in time. So please be understanding of where other people are on the reinforcement spectrum and don’t be an extremist or a pedant.

If we only use one aspect of operant conditioning we may do so due to not understanding how to use all four quadrants correctly.

We do need to be mindful of the emotions involved with negative versus positive reinforcement and learn to read our horses reactions as we train.

Lets us embrace our fellow horse trainers (we are all training every time we interact with the horse). It is up to us to watch what we are reinforcing – if you get unwanted behaviours look at what reinforced the behaviour.

If you need to go to the extreme end of the spectrum using negative reinforcement then ask yourself why? What has fallen apart? How can I retrain this without being extreme?

If we go too far to the positive end our horses may get over aroused and that is not good either.

Moderation in everything is good.

We must look at the whole horse and our husbandry as well, set them up for success.

Just as Iife is never just black or white using the principles of learning theory is not either.

Often when we are young we look at life as idealists and become fixed on things being good or bad. As we mature we mellow in our understanding and reactions and become more rounded and accepting of other peoples points of view.

Please let us be mature in our acceptance of everyone on their path of learning. Whether we totally agree with them or not others often have valuable experiences to share.

Punishment is another spectrum that I may explore on another day.