Psychology Commons^™

Mirror, Mirror In The Chamber: Effects Of Social Stimuli On Operant Behavior, Michael Steele Yencha

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The variables affecting social behavior are myriad, making the prediction and control of behavior occurring in social contexts relatively difficult. One can attempt to create a controlled social context in the laboratory by introducing a second organism into an operant chamber. To investigate effects of social stimuli on operant responding, key pecking responses of three pigeons were maintained on a variable-interval (VI) schedule of reinforcement in Experiment 1, and the key pecking responses of three additional pigeons were maintained on a three-component multiple schedule in Experiment 2. The components included a variable-ratio (VR) schedule, a fixed-interval (FI) schedule, and a …