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What Is Clicker Training For?

by Whitney Arana

Overview

What Is Clicker Training For?

Hailed for its accuracy, clicker training is a method of training based on the principles of operant conditioning that can be used to train virtually any type of animal. Clicker trainers use a device called a "clicker" to effectively mark desirable behavior, and then reward that behavior. In this way, they endeavor to reach a point where the animal deliberately performs a trained action with the intention of bringing about a specific, desirable outcome. In recent decades, based on a growing amount of evidence that positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment, clicker training has gained popularity.
Classical Conditioning

In the same way people may associate a certain smell, sound, person, or object with positive or negative emotions, any animal can be trained to associate a specific behavior with some consequence, whether it be positive or negative. The more clearly a particular action or experience is connected to a consequence, the stronger the association becomes. In classical conditioning, an animal is consistently reminded to avoid certain behaviors, or else. This results in reflexive or automatic behavior, meaning that the animal has a conditioned response to a trigger and that trigger always incites in the animal the same, mechanical reaction. While some aspects of classical conditioning are useful in clicker training, such as consistent reinforcement, the goal for clicker trainers is not to instill new instincts in animals. Instead, they look to create purposeful behavior. To put it simply, clicker-trained animals want to perform the actions they have been taught; these animals are conscious of their behavior and actively look forward to the fruits of their labor. This results in a desire to not only remember what they have been taught but also to continue learning new behaviors. These animals feel more proud, confident and enthusiastic because they not only are rewarded for good deeds but also know they have pleased their trainers.

The Principles of Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is the science of explaining and techniques for affecting how animals interact with and learn from their environments. It is a common misconception that "clicker training" is just a slang term for "operant conditioning." Actually, clicker training is more like an interpretation of operant conditioning in that it has taken the principles of operant conditioning and adjusted them to suit its needs. According to operant conditioning, learning occurs in three parts: the stimulus for a behavior, the behavior itself, and the consequence of the behavior. The third part is what determines whether the behavior will be repeated. Reinforcement is a consequence that serves to strengthen a behavior. Punishment is a consequence that suppresses a behavior. Operant conditioning includes four principles for reinforcement and punishment, sometimes called the "four quadrants of operant conditioning." These include positive reinforcement (adding something the animal wants to work for in order to strengthen a behavior, such as a treat), positive punishment (adding something the animal wants to avoid in order to suppress a behavior, such as a nose tap or electric shock), negative reinforcement (removing something the animal does not like in order to strengthen a behavior, such as pinching the animal's ear until it performs the correct action), and negative punishment (removing something the animal wants in order to suppress a behavior, such as refusing to give a dog attention after it jumps on you). While it is not listed as a "quadrant" of operant conditioning, a fifth principle exists: extinction. Extinction suppresses a behavior through a lack of reinforcement. If a behavior elicits no response whatsoever, the animal will eventually give up on it.
Clicker Training's Take on Operant Conditioning

The five principles of operant conditioning are all effective ways to change behavior. Clicker training, however, does not use all five principles to the same extent. Clicker trainers primarily rely on positive reinforcement to teach new behaviors and extinction to suppress bad behaviors. Some negative punishment may also be used but positive punishment and negative reinforcements are barely used, if at all. This technique, according to the clicker training philosophy, makes the most of operant conditioning's most effective principles while avoiding those that may have detrimental side effects.
Problems with Punishment

Negative reinforcement is immediately problematic because it demands that something unpleasant is introduced before the behavior ever happens. Positive and, to a lesser extent, negative punishments also have a downside. On a practical level, these techniques can be difficult to use well, which could make training confusing for the animal and frustrating for the trainer. In addition, all of these strategies for changing behavior risk instilling fear and, in turn, elicit aggressive behavior in animals. Replacing one unwanted behavior with another is not exactly fruitful. In the same vein, if an animal is scared, it is unlikely to be enthusiastic about learning new skills and clicker training's precision is partly due to animals' willingness to experiment.
The Clicker

A clicker is a small device that makes a sharp clicking sound when pushed. The clicker is valuable because it clearly marks the good behavior at the precise moment when it occurs. In the time it takes to give the animal its treat (positive reinforcement), the reason for which the animal receives that treat may become ambiguous. However, if the treat is associated with the clicking sound, the animal will always know exactly why it is being rewarded. Essentially, the clicker bridges the gap between the behavior and the reward. In addition to timing, the clicker has an advantage over words. To an animal, words are meaningless and therefore can be lost among peripheral conversations or noises. The click is a specific sound that is always directed at the animal. It always means the same thing; mood and tone do not affect it.
Maintaining Learned Behaviors

Once the behavior has been learned, clicking becomes unnecessary. The animal understands what it is doing and that it is doing a good thing. Praise or attention following the good behavior will then automatically be associated with that behavior, thus keeping it intact.