Kindergarten Drill Instructor?

How unpleasant does a "punishment" have to be in order to discourage a behavior?

That depends on the age and past experience of the animal, the temperament of the animal, and the nature of the behavior you wish to discourage.

A general rule is that the "NO" has to be at least as strong as the "GO," but if the unpleasant action is well-timed, and there is no previous pattern of bad behavior to break,  the correction does not have to be very serious, nor does it need to be administered for very long or very often.

Puppies and children, for example, can be steered with little more than a 95-5 mixture of verbal praise and slightly harsh words.  In fact it generally does not take too much to steer even a normal well-adjusted adult away from a neutral but unwanted behavior.  Tap an adult on the side of their nose with one finger, for example, and see how they recoil even after they have been warned that you are going to do it to prove your training point.  Ego deflation is a massive aversive with humans!

But what if a bad behavior is truly self-reinforcing, has gone on without consistent correction for a long time, and explodes a deeply ingrained genetic code as well?

How do you reduce bad behavior under those circumstances?

The U.S. military has found the cure.  Here is what they have been prescribing for a very long time:

1. A lot of physical exercise;
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2. The creation of a human pack dynamic by reducing personal identity (shaved heads and identical uniforms) and making everyone operate as a unit;
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3. Clear instruction about expected behaviors, and clear instruction on how to do those behaviors, and;
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4. Powerful aversives if those expected and taught behaviors are not performed.

When all four-parts of this program are put together, the result is the rapid transformation of undisciplined raw recruits into a well-oiled fighting force that is second to none in the world. 

People who once drifted in unhappy sloth and self-centered turmoil now have a life with a purpose.

Do Marine Corps Drill Instructors "click and treat" their young charges with bonbons, booze, and effusive verbal praise?  

Nope.  

The message of the Drill Instructor to a new recruit is the same as a dog trainer with an adult dog that is exhibiting bad self-reinforcing behaviors that have been tolerated for far too long:  You are no longer going to be treated like a child, we are going to give you basic instruction, and we are going to impose standards, consistency, clarity and consequences in your life.

Job One is exercise, and Job Two is basic instruction about daily activities to be reinforced with a rigid schedule.  And yes, there will be consequences for getting it wrong.

And, of course, it works like new money.  

There are, of course, different horses for different courses.  

If a parent tried to train a small child using the same training techniques employed on a green Marine recruit, the result would be a very unhappy childhood.


 



One size does NOT fit all.  Surprise!

You do not train a confused kindergartener the same way you train a 22-year old Marine Corps recruit with a sense of privilege, and you do not train a Marine Corps recruit with exploding hormones and oppositional defiance issues the same way you train a seven-year old who still wets his bed at night.

Is operant conditioning at work in both cases?  Of course.  But just as the recipe for a cookie is not the same as that for a cake even if the ingredients are basically the same, so too are the mixes of rewards, punishments, and cues different for people (and dogs) at different ages and with different life experiences, learning goals, and performance standards.

Is very serious "bomb proofing" of Marine Corps recruits done with aversive techniques?  Yep.  Think rubber bullets, live grenades, and mace, but also think a million push ups, a 1,000 squats, full- pack running for miles, and so many leg lifts that wayward recruits are sure they are going to drown in their own sweat. 

Of course no one in the Marine Corps or the Army is trying to cause unnecessary pain, but if a little aversion therapy is all it takes to make sure a life is saved and the unit works, then the Marines and the Army are more than fine with that.

In the military, you either see the light or you feel the heat.  The cost of failure is simply too high to settle for less.
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