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Just How Smart Are Animals?

      All our lives we have been told our similarities to other mammals, we have been told how intelligent animals are in their own ways. We have been told the Chimpanzees can use American Sign Language to communicate with their keepers. But have you ever heard of a horse who could count?     In the 1800's there was a German horse named Hans who became a sensation when it was found that the horse could answer mathematical equations. Yes, that is correct. The horse could solve your typical mathematical equations. He could tell you the numerical date of the Friday coming up. His owner was a math teacher who trained Hans the same way he would teach his students to count and do simple arithmetic, but rather than answering verbally he trained Hans to use hoof to tap out the number on the ground.      Hans helped researchers study and understand animal intelligence as well as their cognition levels. This case also helped show us that the animals can hold numerical ability, and that anima
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Punishments- Are They Even Beneficial?

      When becoming a parent many parents hear that they must punish or reprimand their kids negative behaviors, but is punishment even beneficial to making a behavior extinct?      Punishments involve the weakening of behaviors through the removal of an appetitive stimulus. There is also types of punishments such as Negative Punishment and Positive Punishment. Negative punishment is when something pleasant and enjoyable is taken away as a consequence in order to decrease unwanted behavior. Examples of this is taking a way a child's favorite toy for hitting their sibling. While on the other hand, positive punishment is when you add consequences to unwanted behaviors. Examples of this are when a child neglects to do their chores, you can add more chores to their list before their able to go out. I feel that negative punishment is beneficial at all ages because there is always something a child at all ages wants, this can even be used in adults, taking away something from someone alw
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Reinforcement- What Is It?

      When we teach our dog a new trick, we want them to remember it don't we? But how do we ensure that this occurs?  The idea of reinforcement is to strengthen a desired behavior or action by an encouragement or reward. There are many techniques to ensure reinforcement, a theory that I believe to be the most beneficial in the act of reinforcement was the Response Deprivation Hypothesis.      This hypothesis simply states that a behavior can serve as a reinforcer when the access to the behavior is restricted and as well as when the frequency begins to fall below the desired level of occurrence. The baseline is considered when the animal is able to freely engage in the activity. When the animal is deprived of its basic need it begins to fall into a state of deprivation in regards to the task desired. For example, if a dog gets to roam freely in a field everyday for an hour, but then begins to be limited to fifteen minutes a day, the dog will begin to fall into a state of deprivatio
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