Canine Operant Conditioning and Behaviorism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the relevant and scholarly literature concerning operant conditioning, in general, and the extent to which it works with dogs, in particular. The paper presents the "nature versus nurture" debate and explores whether canine behaviour is determined by genetics or environmental influences.

From the Paper:

"The debate over nature versus nurture as it applies to learning dates back over a hundred years. Certainly, during much of the 20th century, the distinction between learned and inherited behavior appeared much clearer than it does today. The concept that any type of behavior was either learned or merely developed without learning seemed a rationale and straightforward belief. Research based on these expectations caused some scientists to conclude that rat-killing behavior among cats, for example, is a learned behavior rather than an instinctive one, that human fears are all acquired, or that intelligence is completely the result of experience. Learning theorists were arguing at this point that most behavior is learned and that biological factors are of little or no importance."

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