Date of Award:

5-1971

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Carl D. Cheney

Committee

Carl D. Cheney

Committee

Glen Casto

Committee

David Stone

Abstract

Induced attack was studied under three conditions: (1) paired experimentally naive rats were exposed to intense electrical shock; (2) experimental subjects, previously trained to respond on a fixed ratio of six responses for liquid food reinforcement, were paired with target animals with the reinforcement contingency in effect; (3) experimental subjects were given a history of responding on a fixed ratio of six responses for positive reinforcement in the presence of shock, and finally this group was paired with experimentally naive targets when both the reinforcement and shock variables were present.

Pairing experimental animals without shock did not cause attack, nor was bar-pressing behavior appreciably disrupted. Only when electrical shock was imposed upon pairs did attack occur. Furthermore, attack behavior severely reduced operant responding and there appeared to be no recovery of response rates over several sessions.

Checksum

32e7a5be669bceeaf5945dae8ba50e7f

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS