An experiment on 3 dogs

Martin Seligman conducted an experiment at Pennsylvania University in the sixties.
Three dogs went through each experiment. The first dog was placed in a special cage and given electrical shocks through the floor. But it can stop them by pressing a panel with its nose. The second dog got shocks whenever the first dog got them. This means that it received exactly the same amount and duration of electrical shocks as the first dog, but it had no chance to affect them. The third dog got no shocks.

After a training period, the dogs were placed in in another electric cage separately. This time, the dog can escape by jumping over a low barrier into another part of the cage. Both the first and third dog quickly jumped over the barrier. However the second dog just remained there as it had learned that electrical shocks were not something it could control.

This story tell us the importance of giving encouragement and punishment at the correct time. It is important to practice what is being preached. For example, if the top management keep on advocating to the staffs that knowledge sharing is important but nothing has been done to give recognition or reward to those who adhered. Then they will revert back to their normal way of working gradually over time.