THE OPPORTUNITY FOR AGGRESSION AS AN OPERANT REINFORCER DURING AVERSIVE STIMULATION.
Squirrel monkeys were provided with a chain-pulling response which produced an inanimate object that could be attacked. In the absence of pain-shock, little or no chain-pulling occurred. When pain-shocks were delivered, chain-pulling responses increased. The chain-pulling response was successively reinforced, extinguished, reinforced, and again extinguished by presenting or withdrawing the opportunity to attack as the reinforcing event. Aggression appears to be a distinctive motivational state which is produced by aversive stimulation and which can be used to condition and maintain new behavior.
D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004597:Electroshock; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D009042:Motivation; D010146:Pain; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012106:Research; D012453:Saimiri; D012919:Social Behavior
AGGRESSION; ELECTROSHOCK; EXPERIMENTAL LAB STUDY; LEARNING; MONKEYS; MOTIVATION; PAIN; REINFORCEMENT (PSYCHOLOGY)