Training Techniques and Operant/Respondent Procedures
Building behavior
Training is a sequence, not a single event. Acquisition establishes a response; fluency makes it reliable; generalization transfers it across contexts; maintenance keeps it. Shaping reinforces successive approximations toward a target. Chaining links discrete behaviors, and you can teach forward or backward. Fading gradually removes prompts so the animal responds to the cue alone. Luring uses food to guide a movement; targeting teaches contact with an object and is a versatile building block.
Schedules of reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement speeds acquisition but is fragile. Intermittent schedules resist extinction. Fixed ratio (reinforce after a set number of responses), variable ratio (after an average number, most resistant), fixed interval (first response after a set time), and variable interval (first response after an average time). Ratio schedules depend on response count; interval schedules depend on time.
Respondent procedures
Systematic desensitization pairs a weak version of a feared stimulus with something pleasant, advancing only when the animal stays relaxed. Counterconditioning changes the emotional response to a cue. Habituation reduces response through repeated neutral exposure. Flooding immerses the animal at full intensity and carries welfare risk.
Traps
Candidates confuse negative reinforcement with punishment, or mislabel a variable schedule as fixed. Watch for "shaping" described as rewarding only the final behavior. Also remember that clicker training is a marker signal, not a primary reinforcer; the click must be paired with food.
Worked example
A dog is fearful of nail trimmers. Start with the trimmers on the floor at a distance, feed treats, and advance only while the dog stays relaxed. That is systematic desensitization combined with counterconditioning, not flooding.