How to Teach

WHY: You may or may not have to teach daily in your career, but you have or will have to teach somebody something. It may be a new employee you are assigned to train, or your kid learning to ride a bike. If you are going to have to teach, you should learn to do it well.

WHERE: Don’t Shoot the Dog! by Karen Pryor. Pryor is an animal trainer who has devoted her life to the concept of reinforcement and it’s implications in the real world. I learned of this book from Tim Ferriss’s Youtube Channel and it did not disappoint.

WHAT: Most of us have heard of the concept of positive reinforcement before. We’ve all probably heard that it is a more kinder way to teach than negative reinforcement. Instead of saying “bad Johnny” when Johnny does something bad, you ignore that behavior. Instead you say “good Johnny” whenever he does something good. It is obvious that this is not realistic, for example, when Johnny is trying to juggle knives. Clearly you want to stop the dangerous behavior. This is not going to be another article about why we should only use positive reinforcement because that is just a bad idea. Instead, one should look for a balance between the two, understand the implications of both, and then decide which method to use when.

Negative reinforcement definitely has it’s place. It is effective at curbing dangerous behavior, and that’s when it should be used. The problem with negative reinforcement is that it contains a punisher, an adverse consequence to the behavior. This is great, if delivered immediately after the action. Johnny puts his hand on a hot stove and the stove burns him, bam, he learns from this. Often times, we do not use it in this way. Take the example of a child doing poorly on his report card and his parents taking away his bicycle. The behavior that led to the poor report card occurred well before the punishment. This can lead the child to learn a different lesson than what the parents intend. He might learn that he should hide his report card instead of study more because the report card was the trigger for the punishment. The more time between the behavior and reinforcer, the greater the possibility of the subject misinterpreting the reinforcer. One can correct this by explaining the reasoning behind the reinforcer to the child. It is also important to note that constant negative reinforcement leads to higher levels of anxiety and self doubt later in life. Negative reinforcement is a powerful tool and should be used in moderation.

Positive reinforcement is definitely more challenging to implement but also has its place. If the person you’re trying to teach exhibits behavior that you want them to repeat, positively reinforce them immediately. For this to work, the reinforcer has to be something the person actually likes (duh?). Not only does this make the learner happier, but also acts as a reinforcer on the teacher as well; seeing someone else happy because of your efforts tends to make you happy as well, reinforcing your reinforcement. This is how great relationships form and can lead to more cooperation and better learning from the learner in lessons to come. This should be your “go-to” when teaching someone. It directly reinforces the behavior they should be doing, making learning easy. If you just tell people what they SHOULDN’T do, they may or may not know what they SHOULD do. If you tell them what to do, they’re far more likely to do the things they should do. This is fairly obvious, but should still be said.

In the end, one has to use both kinds of reinforcement to effectively shape behavior. That said, one must understand what each does to the learner and, most importantly, know what is being reinforced. You may think you are teaching your child to do better on their report card by punishing them, but you might be reinforcing their hiding grades or being dishonest with you. Keep asking the question: “What is being reinforced when I do this?” and let that guide the way you teach.

If you found this helpful, interesting, or impactful, give it a share or mention it to a friend. As always, keep living life to the fullest!