Rats' Preference for Earned in Comparison with Free Food
- 27 February 1970
- journal article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 167 (3922) , 1273-1274
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.167.3922.1273
Abstract
Rats were trained to eat free food from a dish, then trained to press a lever for similar food. The free food was then presented while subjects were pressing on several reinforcement schedules. Subjects continued to press for reinforcement when one or two presses were required for reinforcement, and ate little free food. When ten presses were required for reinforcement, rats preferred free food and pressed little or not at all. It was concluded that, when work demands are not too high, rats prefer earned food to free food.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Preference for bar pressing over "freeloading" as a function of number of rewarded presses.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1963