Fagen Flashcards
What is the key concept being investigated in Fagen (2014)?
Operant Conditioning – learning through the consequences of actions.
What is Operant Conditioning?
It’s learning through the consequences of behaviour, where good consequences make behaviours more likely to be repeated.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Adding something good, like chocolate or praise, to encourage a behaviour.
What is Negative Reinforcement?
The removal of something unpleasant (e.g., hunger) to encourage behavior, like eating to relieve hunger.
What does Operant Conditioning focus on?
It focuses on behaviour, not internal thoughts or feelings.
Who pioneered research on Operant Conditioning?
B.F. Skinner.
What is the traditional method of training elephants in captivity?
Using punishment through unpleasant stimuli (e.g., hitting with a bamboo stick).
What are natural vs. artificial reinforcers?
Natural reinforcers (e.g., food, shelter) occur naturally, while artificial reinforcers (e.g., money, praise) are created by people.
Why is Positive Reinforcement gaining popularity in elephant training?
It avoids punishment and uses reward-based methods, which are more ethical and effective.
What is Secondary Positive Reinforcement (SPR)?
Teaching animals to associate specific sounds (markers) with food as a reward for behavior.
How is SPR better than using food alone for reinforcement?
It can precisely tell the animal when it has performed the desired behavior, whereas food comes after a delay.
Why is diagnosing and treating illnesses in elephants important?
It is critical for their well-being, and methods like trunk washing help detect diseases like tuberculosis.
What was the aim of Fagen et al.’s (2014) study?
To see if elephants could be trained using Positive Reinforcement to voluntarily participate in a trunk wash.
What method was used in Fagen et al.’s study?
Controlled Observation, where elephant behaviors were watched in response to stimuli.
Who was included in the study sample?
5 female elephants (4 juveniles and 1 adult) from a stable in Nepal.
What were the main methods used in training elephants in the study?
Capture, Lure, and Shaping techniques.
What were the stages of the trunk wash procedure in training?
Individual behaviors were trained and then linked together using behavior chaining to form the complete trunk wash.
What were the results of the study?
4 juvenile elephants learned the trunk wash, but the adult elephant did not. Training success improved over time.
What were the conclusions from the study?
Juvenile, traditionally trained elephants can learn to participate in a trunk wash using SPR techniques without punishment.
What are the strengths of the study?
Good reliability, internal validity, ethical treatment of elephants, and good quantitative data.
What are the weaknesses of the study?
Small sample size, poor generalizability, practical challenges in training large animals, and ethical concerns.
What ethical concerns were raised in the study?
Ethical issues around using animals that may have been mistreated, despite the study’s focus on positive reinforcement.
