60: Primary/Unconditioned & Secondary/Conditioned Reinforcers with Tricia Dees, Second Vice President of The ABMA

This episode Tricia Dees, the second vice president of the ABMA, continues on with the discussion from Episode 59 and goes deeper into primary/unconditioned and secondary/conditioned reinforcers.  Tricia gives some common examples of primary/unconditioned and secondary/conditioned reinforcers but also talks about how individual preference plays a role in determining what is actually a reinforcer for each individual.  The discussion then turns to why and how we can condition a reinforcer and the importance of watching the animal’s behavior to ensure that a conditioned reinforcer maintains its effectiveness. Stay tuned in for Tricia’s “Training Tale” about how she used learning from a presentation at an ABMA conference about zebra training with an otter. You can also learn more information about the 2025 ABMA annual conference by visiting www.abma.org For questions or suggestions about the podcast email ⁠[e-mail]⁠ and to contact Tricia email [e-mail] Let's talk some training and banter about behavior! 

4:05 Introduction to Tricia Dees 

6:10 Definition of a Primary/Unconditioned Reinforcer 

8:50 Definition of a Secondary/Conditioned Reinforcer 

11:50 Are primary and secondary reinforcers the same for every individual in a species? 

19:25 Why would we condition a reinforcer? 

22:00 Example of how to condition a reinforcer and how to tell if it is an effective reinforcer

30:45 How to tell if a conditioned reinforcer has lost its effectiveness as a reinforcer 

36:30 “Training Tales”