In using operant conditioning principles to train animals to perform tricks, Keller and Marian Breland found that:
A) reinforcement is the sole determinant of an animal's behavior.
B) it is impossible to train cats to perform tricks.
C) punishment is more effective than reinforcement in shaping animal behavior.
D) an animal's inborn or instinctive behavior patterns could interfere with the operant conditioning of new behaviors.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Keller and Marian Breland found that an animal's inborn or instinctive behavior patterns could interfere with the operant conditioning of new behaviors. They termed this tendency instinctive drift, and it demonstrated that operant conditioning is not as simple as reinforcement and punishment - it must take an animal's natural tendencies into account. They also found that animals can be trained to perform complex behaviors, but that the training must take into account the animal's natural behaviors and motivations. Choice A is not entirely true, as other factors can also influence an animal's behavior; choice B is not true as cats can be trained using operant conditioning; and choice C is not true as punishment is generally not as effective as reinforcement in shaping behavior.

In Using Operant Conditioning Principles to Train Animals to Perform