February 23, 2015 - 22:52
I felt like I was watching the dog whisper while reading this particular chapter.
"In the hands of unskilled but aspiring lay trainers like me, using strong negative reinforcers and punishments is foolish as well as unnecessary, in no small part because we get it wrong and do more harm than good..." (212 of When Species Meet )
This quote reminded me of how powerful language is when building relationships or trying to reinforce something. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - How we can learn to fulfill our potential, written by Carol Dweck in 2006, is written in the style of a self-help book (similar to Chapter 8 of When Species Meet. Mindset is based on social psychology research that shows our ability to perform is significantly effected by our perception of how ability works, by our "mindset". The research showed that people who believe that ability is learnable rather than fixed, have been shown to perform better. The research talked about how positive reinforcers like "you're so smart in this or that" can do more harm that good (opposite of what Haraway is trying to say about humans and animals). This is so because the person hearing that praise will develop low confidence when they fail or have disappointment in that "area."