Differential reinforcement
A training strategy in which one specific behaviour is reinforced while another is deliberately not reinforced.
Differential reinforcement is most often used to replace an unwanted behaviour with a wanted alternative. Reinforcing a horse for standing quietly at the gate while ignoring the same horse barging at the gate is differential reinforcement. Reinforcing a dog for sitting at the door while ignoring the dog jumping up is differential reinforcement. Reinforcing a parrot for stepping up calmly while ignoring lunging or biting is differential reinforcement.
The technique works because it gives the animal a clear path to reinforcement (the desired alternative behaviour) while extinguishing the path to reinforcement that the unwanted behaviour previously provided. Over time, the animal learns that the desired behaviour pays and the unwanted behaviour does not, and the balance of behaviour shifts accordingly.
Differential reinforcement is the welfare-positive alternative to punishment-based behaviour modification, and is the standard tool in modern applied animal behaviour work. It avoids the welfare costs of positive punishment while still producing reliable behaviour change. It is particularly useful for animals who have learned unwanted behaviours through inadvertent reinforcement (the dog who barks for attention, the horse who pushes through gates, the parrot who lunges to get a hand to retreat).
Several specific forms of differential reinforcement appear in the behavioural science literature: differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (the alternative behaviour cannot happen at the same time as the unwanted one, such as sitting while greeting rather than jumping up), differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour (any reasonable alternative is reinforced), and differential reinforcement of low rates (the unwanted behaviour is reinforced only when it occurs less frequently). The basic principle of reinforcing the wanted and not reinforcing the unwanted underlies all of these.
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