Behavior Modification Research Paper

Last summer my little brother found a stray cat in the backyard one day and he wanted to keep it. When began feeding it and keeping it a bowl of water on the front porch for the cat. We then took the cat to the vet and got him fixed and made sure everything was okay. The vet told us that thee were no problems and that we could keep the cat. My dad then said that we needed to train the cat because he did not want a cat that was useless. My brother then named him Oreo because he said he looked like a mushed up oreo to him. The cat then started following my brother around everywhere and trying to teach him tricks to show all his friends. He began to come up with techniques to help the cat solve behavioral problems like using the bathroom in the house. The people who train cats and dogs for a living have adopted theories from the world of behavioral science and turned that knowledge into real-life practical skills for training these animals. Behavior modification and training are both based on classical and operant conditioning techniques. Operant conditioning techniques can further

In contrast, punishment reduces the frequency of an operant behavior by presenting an unpleasant stimulus. A positive punisher, like other consequences, must follow a behavior immediately or be clearly connected to the behavior to be effective. Shouting "No!" and swatting at the animal when it does not complete the task you teach it is an example of the kind of punishment that presents an aversive stimulus following a response. They will then understand that the task that they do not complete is bad and will not be tolerated. If you find the action wrong later you should not punish when he is doing something else because it will confuse the animal. Thus, a positive punishment is only effective following the immediate action you wish to