Negative Reinforcements Shape Behaviours To Fight And Flight…

Carl Jung, another brilliant Psychologist said – “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls.” That’s some powerful words.

This is a quote from B.F Skinner “About Behaviourism”.

Punishment is easily confused with negative reinforce­ment, sometimes called “aversive control.” The same stimuli are used, and negative reinforcement might be defined as the punishment of not behaving, but punishment is designed to remove behavior from a repertoire, whereas negative reinforcement generates behavior.

My very existence at the moment is a huge Negative Reinforcement to many dog trainers out there – and to some dog owners. That isn’t something I need to put any effort into – it’s just reality. When my face shows up on camera – certain peoples cortisol and adrenaline levels increase – and they can’t help how they behave.

The result from this increase in hormones causes these people to “fight and/or flight”. And that only comes from something you deem negative in the environment – something you are scared of and trying to chase away – or run away from.

The dark side of Positive Reinforcement is what you are willing to do in defense of self – in the face of self salvation – your desire not to die or be harmed. Jungian psychology would call that ‘the shadow’. Think about that long and hard. Your fight or flight response – is your Positive Reinforcement.

A huge chunk of your Positive Reinforcement is your fight or fight response – you’re trying to remove Negative Reinforcements – or to remove yourself from a Negative Reinfocement. It’s no different for the dog.

If you’re scared of spiders – then spiders are a natural negative reinforcement to you – the spiders very existence is punishing you in a sense – removing your Positive Reinforcement – interrupting your state of calm. My very existence is punishing certain people.

I am a threat to them. The question has to be why. Why is my message such a threat to their existence? Or is it Skinner himself that is the very threat?

When you see a spider – your body is going to go into fight and/or flight – that’s reality. You either “fight” – kill the spider or throw it outdoors – that’s your Positive Reinforcement – you’re removing the negative reinforcement to get back to Positive – or a calm state.

Or you can “flight” – run away from it, jump on a chair and hope that it goes away. You are avoiding/escaping that Negative Reinforcement – removing yourself from the Negative Reinforcement. That’s also your Positive Reinforcement.

My very existence is a Negative Reinforcement to many people – trainers and owners alike. I can’t help that. But I do enjoy their fight and flight response. What is that fight response?

They look for anything negative – and they focus on anything negative. That’s all they can do. One of my videos can be 99% positive – but they ignore all that – and they bring anything negative to the forefront. And that one percent negative trumps everything.

I stand by everything I say. I mean what I say. You can twist it in any way you want to. Just because you can’t or won’t even attempt to understand it – is not my concern. Negative or positive attention – I’ll take it all.

And all I can say is thank you. I love when pure ignorance reacts to my videos.