Variables Affecting Preference of Rats for Free vs Earned Food

Five experiments, using rats as subjects, investigated the variables controlling the choice of reinforcer source in situations in which subjects could obtain reinforcers from a freely available source or by performing an operant. Under a wide variety of conditions, subjects almost always obtained their reinforcers from the freely available source. These results are interpreted to indicate that: (a) the conditions affecting choice of reinforcer source are not well understood, (b) increasing the reward value of the reinforcer does not necessarily increase the relative amount of earned reinforcer consumed and, (c) laboratory rats do not appear to be neophobic in all situations and hence, neophobia cannot be used to explain rats' choice behavior in all situations involving free and earned reinforcers. Several suggestions are made concerning the design of experiments investigating choice between free and earned reinforcers

Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Neophobia · Preference · Reinforcement · Statistics · Insect and Pesticide Research · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Psychology