Episode 199: Dr Claire St Peter - Part 3: Handler Consistency In A Training Loop

We are continuing our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter. Claire is a Professor of Psychology at West Virginia University. She is the Director of Graduate Training, and the Coordinator of the Behavior Analysis program area at the University - and she is also a horse person. We’re celebrating the publication of an article we wrote together for the Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior on Loopy Training. This was in response to a call for papers that the Journal put out last fall that asking for articles that explored the connections between the applied animal behavior community and the broader behavior analytic community. In part 2 we ended in the middle of a discussion on the consistency of handling. Whether we refer to handlers working with animals or teachers working with people, how much of an impact does the consistency of the handler matter? We continue this discussion by looking at microshaping, and a training exercise called “the line of trash” which is intended to encourage the trainer’s creativity.