Trial and Error

We all make mistakes. The big question, cliché as it may be, is whether or not we learn from them. Do we do the same thing over and over again, even though it doesn’t work out for us? Or do we make different choices and modify our behavior in order to get a better outcome? Surely we can all change, right? Learning from the consequences of one’s actions enables every creature to adapt to life.

Failure to learn is a death sentence in the game of survival. Nature designed us to do what works, and to stop doing things that don’t work. This kind of operant learning—learning by the consequences of our actions—is a fundamental tool of adaptation.

If it’s so fundamental, why the heck can’t our eighty-pound black lab get the hang of it and stop jumping all over the cable guy? Heaven knows we have punished him enough for doing it, yelling and jerking in admonishment as he leaps with abandon at every visiting victim that enters our home. We have rewarded him with cookies for sitting ad nauseam, yet he continues to pounce all over the company—though he now periodically sits down and looks to us to deliver a snack in between jumps. How many mistakes does a dog have to make to learn a lesson?

There are two main reasons to consider when answering this question. The first is this: he is not making a mistake—jumping totally works for him. He is getting exactly what he was after—attention—so your reaction to his jumping is actually rewarding him, thus reinforcing the behavior. We rarely look at our dog’s behavior this logically. We scold, or try to distract and bribe. We try to change his motivation rather than try to understand that motivation more fully. If we unrealistically expect our human and doggie counterparts to just “be good,” rather than to exert their own free will and behave according to their best interests, we may be missing some pretty critical pieces of the puzzle. If we walk away feeling completely disappointed in them, we may have misunderstood their behavior.

The second reason is more complicated, and has to do with unconscious behavior versus conscious behavior. The truth is that actions are not always as deliberate as they might seem. In fact, some decisions are not really decisions at all.

Sometimes we act very deliberately to accomplish a goal. Other times, we have no earthly idea why we behave as we do; we find ourselves repeating behaviors we would prefer to stop. But there are powerful natural forces underlying all of our actions, and we are not always in control of them despite our ability to reason and solve problems. Having a realistic grasp of a person or an animal’s ability to change is critical to the success of that relationship. Some habits run very, very deep.