52: Distant Antecedents: Navigating the Role They Play in Behavior with Chris Jenkins, Natural Encounters, Inc.

This episode we are joined once again by Chris Jenkins of Natural Encounters, Inc. in order to dive deeper into Antecedents, specially looking at Distant Antecedents and navigating the role they play in behavior.  This episode is a continuation of Episode 6 where Chris broke down the fundamentals of Antecedents. The episode starts with defining the difference between immediate and distant antecedents and then shifts to the slippery slope that is labeling behavior using distant antecedents as the reason. Chris educates about how behavior is influenced by a myriad of environmental conditions and gives advice on how to take away the subjectivity of a distant antecedent and instead listen to what the animal and their behavior is telling us.   Stay tuned in for Chris's interesting "Training Tale" about a double mouth open with a tapir! Additionally check out "The TEC Talk Podcast: Presented by Natural Encounters, Inc.", a like-minded podcast hosted by Chris and Ari Bailey! For questions or suggestions about the podcast email abc@theabma.org and to reach Chris you can find his contact information on the Natural Encounters, Inc. website.  Let's talk some training and banter about behavior!

3:10 Introduction to Chris Jenkins 

7:10 Immediate vs Distant Antecedents 

13:20 Antecedents affecting motivation and how our view of them can affect behavior 

15:50 Not letting our “arrogance” create roadblocks or excuses for behavior 

21:30 Using antecedents to inform decisions while not labeling 

26:25 Past consequences become future antecedents 

33:00 Using behavioral observations vs our subjective thoughts 

37:15 Recognizing that behavior is influenced by more than one condition 

41:10 Advice for encouraging others to not place “blame” on distant antecedents 

48:55 Critical role us as the human trainers play in behavior 

51:50 “Training Tales”