Applying Psychology to… Chipmunks?
Minneapolis College Psychology Instructor Troy Dvorak doesn’t just talk the psychology talk, he walks the psychology walk—with chipmunks.
“As silly as this might sound, I have spent years cultivating a unique relationship in my personal life,” Dvorak said. “I have trained wild chipmunks to not only eat from my hand, but come into my garage and ‘snuggle’ with me while they hoard.”
Gazing out a window at his suburban Prior Lake home, he noticed chipmunks congregating under the bird feeder. “I started to wonder if I could get close to them,” he said. “I sat on the ground several times a day when chipmunks were there. They cautiously got closer and closer until they started taking food out of my hand.”
Next was feeding them with one hand and trying to pet them with the other. “In a matter of days, chipmunks crawled onto my lap and let me pet them.” Soon he conditioned them to go into his garage, where he now holds them in his hands. He can even kiss them. “But, if there is a noise outside or a sudden movement, a red alert goes off in their brain and they take off. In a little while they come right back. That is how their little brains are wired.”
What does this have to do with Minneapolis College?
“In psychology, we teach the principles of classical conditioning and operant conditioning as foundational concepts in behaviorism/learning,” he said. “What I have done is a perfect application of both. It is also a kind, gentle, and fun example that I think puts a human and animal-loving touch on what we do.” Dvorak points to some similar famous “straight applications of classical and operant conditioning—Behaviorism 101.” He listed Pavlov and his dogs, John Watson and Little Albert, and B.F. Skinner, who taught pigeons to play ping pong.
Valuable life lessons
Students enjoy Dvorak’s approach. On Rate My Professors, one student wrote, “if you take his applying psych class, you will truly learn so many valuable life lessons through his very engaging lectures.” Another shared, “his lectures are so relevant and I love how he uses real world examples.”
For Dvorak, training chipmunks isn’t about behaviorism. “It is amazing what patience and kindness can do. These vulnerable little creatures trust me. I treasure that, and love them.”
Who is training whom?
Dvorak adopted his chipmunks—or did they adopt him? “My experience with chipmunks demonstrates not only classical and operant conditioning, but also whatever personality attributes you want to ascribe to me,” Dvorak said jokingly. “But you wonder, who is training whom? I sit for many hours in my garage with no guarantee any of my ’munks will show up.”
Dvorak was born in Minneapolis but grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada and earned a Master’s in Psychology in 1996 from Lakehead University. He moved back to Minnesota in 2003 and joined the Minneapolis College faculty in 2005. He currently teaches Applying Psychology, General Psychology and Lifespan Development.