It’s About Skiing and Not the Skis

Behavior Theory

Whatever else it may be, skiing is something that we do. It is a behavior. Indeed, the essence of skiing, if there is one, may be that it is simply something that we do with boards on our feet. Some skiing is more effective, more efficient, more effortless, more elegant, more esthetic than other skiing. That’s what makes it so endlessly fascinating. Some of us do it naturally. Others have to learn how. For that, we sometimes hire ski instructors. Whatever else it may be, ski instructing or ski teaching is also something that we do. Indeed, the essence of ski teaching, if there is one, may be that it is simply something that we do to change skiing behavior. Some of it is more effective, more efficient, more effortless, more elegant, more esthetic than other ski teaching. That, too, makes it endlessly fascinating. Some of us do it naturally. Others have to learn how. For that, ski instructors hire clinicians. Since skiing and ski teaching are both things that we do, we might expect that the same principles apply to both. Those principles are in effect when we ski as well as when we teach skiing, but they are not well known. Some of the major ones will be examined here. Collectively, they constitute a theory of skiing and ski teaching.

There are a half dozen or so major principles of behavior that apply to skiing and ski teaching. They are based on an experimental analysis of behavior. Actually, there are many more than that but some of them are so obscure that only a behavior analyst could be interested in them. In addition, there are two major categories of behavior to which most of them apply and so, all told, there may be more than a dozen that help to explain skiing and ski teaching behavior. The major categories of behavior are respondent behavior and operant behavior. Respondent behaviors are those elicited by stimuli in the environment such as those studied by Ivan Pavlov. Everyone knows about Pavlov and his dog. His interest was piqued by salivation but much of what he discovered applies to emotions and especially fear as well as, perhaps, excitement. Skiers as well as ski instructors know a lot about fear and excitement, or elation, first hand. More will be said about emotions as we go along. Operant behaviors are those that have an effect on the environment. They “operate” on the environment and were studied extensively by B. F. Skinner. Among them are the edging, pressuring, and rotary movements that occur when we make a turn with our skis. They have an effect on the environment and, in turn, those effects affect what occurs next. More will also be said about them as we go along. For the most part, the major principles of behavior apply to operants, but there are some that also apply to respondents. Those principles are: positive and negative reinforcement, response differentiation or shaping, punishment, extinction, generalization, discrimination, and schedules of reinforcement. Whoops! That makes eight. I miscounted. Actually, when you consider that there are eight schedules of reinforcement, the number increases still more.