Psychology2016

Learning 203

Raccoons commonly dunk their food

in and out of water before eating. This

“washing” behavior is controlled by

instinct and difficult to change even using

operant techniques.

instinctive drift

tendency for an animal’s behavior

to revert to genetically controlled

patterns.

influence of learning. Apparently, even though the animals were at first able to learn the

tricks, as the coins became more and more associated with food, the animals began to

drift back into the instinctual patterns of behavior that they used with real food. Raccoons

rub their food between their paws and dip it in and out of water. Pigs root and throw their

food around before eating it. The Brelands called this tendency to revert to genetically con-

trolled patterns instinctive drift.

In their 1961 paper describing these and other examples of instinctive drift, the Brelands

(both trained by Skinner himself) determined that, contrary to Skinner’s original ideas:

1. The animal does NOT come to the laboratory a tabula rasa, or “blank slate,” and can-
   not be taught just any behavior.


2. Differences between species of animals matter in determining what behavior can or
   cannot be conditioned.


3. Not all responses are equally able to be conditioned to any stimulus.
   As became quickly obvious in their studies with these animals, each animal comes into
   the world (and the laboratory) with certain genetically determined instinctive patterns of behav-
   ior already in place. These instincts differ from species to species, with the result that there are
   some responses that simply cannot be trained into an animal regardless of conditioning.

Questions for Further Discussion

1. What other kinds of limitations do animals have in learning?


2. What kinds of behavior might people do that would be resistant to conditioning?


3. How can these research findings about animal behavior be generalized to human behavior?

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION Operant conditioning principles such as reinforcement and
the process of shaping have been used for many years to change undesirable behavior
and create desirable responses in animals and humans—particularly in schoolchildren.
The term behavior modification refers to the application of operant conditioning (and
sometimes classical conditioning) to bring about such changes. The video How to Make
Healthier Choices describes a sample behavior modification plan for someone who
wants to watch less television and exercise more.

CC

Watch the Video How to Make Healthier Choices.

behavior modification

the use of learning techniques to

modify or change undesirable behavior

and increase desirable behavior.