On Reward and Punishment

“Reward and punishment is the lowest form of education” - Chuang Tzu
In our society, we place a lot of emphasis on rewards and punishment, especially, especially punishment.  We incarcerate the highest percentage of our population of any other nation. More than 1 in 37 Americans are currently incarcerated. In animal training, despite over 30 years of building scientific evidence that the technology of operant conditioning (in which the animal/person chooses a behavior that leads to a desirable consequence), this method is still a hard sell, as the idea that people/animals need to be controlled/dominated remains engrained.
The problem with the concept of reward and punishment is that it is determined by an outside force (God,  a parent, a dog owner, a police officer) that judges the behavior and then administers the reward/punishment.
In contrast choice and consequences empowers the individual person/animal to engage in a behavior, see what the consequences are, and then decide if the behavior is worth repeating.
We’ve been training our puppy lately to sit calmly on a mat during mealtime. We do not drag him to the mat, force him into a down, and yell at him if he gets up. We also do not start out with a pile of treats on the mat to lure him there and then every time he gets up, lure him back with more treats. Instead, we set up a situation where it is easy for him to choose to get on the mat, when when he chooses to do so, he gets a treat. He has quickly learned that the consequence of going to his mat is that there is a chance he will get a treat. He consistently chooses to go there.
I am personally drawn to Buddhism because it is about individual choices and the consequences of these choices. I can choose to let things bother me(or not). I can choose to do things I regret (or not).  My happiness is a direct result of my thoughts and actions, not by some outside force. This is what works for me. This is why I am a strong believer in positive training instead of punishment.
I choose to write this blog, not because of the possible reward of a “following.” Indeed, according to the latest statistics, I get about 1 reader a week who is not my wife or me. I write it because I enjoy the act of writing it and because I hope that I am able to offer perhaps a new way of looking at some of the things I think we all deal with.