Most of our decisions are based emotions. The problem with this is that our emotions cloud and distort critical thought. When in an aroused emotional state it’s often difficult to make good decisions.
In dog training I see this principal when people get angry. A common reaction to anger is to lash out with the intent to punish. There are several drawbacks to uncontrolled anger. One side effect of aggressive threatening and/or actually hurting another is, it’s likely to produce some behavior we don’t want. I’m not saying never use aversives to control your dog, but you do need to be careful how they’re used. The reckless use of aversive control can lead to avoidance problems. Sometimes these new problems are worse than the problem you initially wanted to correct. Improper use of aversive control tends to teach individuals how to avoid punishment. It’s quite common that an individual will become quite good at avoiding punishment in ways we didn’t anticipate. These unanticipated responses are the negative side effects of punishment.
Aversive control is further complicated by the amount of time that may pass between when a behavior is preformed and when the individual is punished. It’s not uncommon for an individual to perform many behaviors between the undesirable event and when it’s punished. When using aversive control have a plan, evaluate the consequences of your actions and act accordingly.
If we lose our temper and strike out at the wrong time we weaken the glue that holds our social system together. When social bonds are weakened the system is in a compromised state.
The problem with anger is that it’s self rewarding. The rewarding effects of anger feel good. This is true even when there are long term negative consequences that are in themselves aversive. In the short term, anger has an immediate emotional payoff.
There are other emotions that affect our ability to make good decisions bases on critical judgment. Love is often blind. Before falling in love is the time to critically evaluate the other individual and yourself. I often give this advice to people who have just got a new dog that is behaviorally unsound. Not only is a behaviorally unsound individual time consuming and stressful, but they can also be a huge liability. If accepting an unsound dog into one’s life, plan on exerting a considerable amount of effort just to manage behavior problems. I’m not saying to never take on the challenge of a troubled individual. However, it is important for those who do help to be aware of what they’re getting onto.
The next critical thought destroying emotion is desire. Desire leads many a person astray. Desire is also a driving engine of progress. It’s unreasonable to eliminate desire. Our desires need to be managed. We manage our desires with critical thought, the very thing that is corrupted by desire. In order to give critical thought a chance of triumphing over desire we must develop self generated mental prompts. An important skill in self governance is learning how to prompt our own behavior. These self generated prompts are the internal discriminative stimuli that control desire and also to some extent fear. Again I’m reminded of a friend who was recently talking about the internal prompts he uses when flying navy planes and riding his motorcycle.
Today is the time to contemplate how your own decisions are shaped by emotions and your ability to use critical thought.
Wishing all the very best in dog training and in life,
Andrew Ledford