Aggressive motivation in the rat

Myer, James S.; White, Richard

doi:10.1016/0003-3472(65)90102-8

Cited by 65 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…Ropartz (1968), for instance, has found that previously highly aggressive male mice become totally unaggressive when their olfactory bulbs are removed. Myer & White (1965) found that rats that previously had readily killed mice were much less likely to do so when the same operation was performed on them. Barnett, Evans & Stoddart (1968) showed that male R. norvegicus housed with females were more prone to attack an introduced foreign male than were solitary males, but whether the smell of the female alone is sufficient to produce this effect has not yet been investigated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

Ewer

1971

Animal Behaviour Monographs

170

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

Ewer

1971

Animal Behaviour Monographs

170

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“…Rats that kill mice on a small number of selection tests continue to do so subsequently, even though nb conventional reltrfurcer--is-eentingeni UP9!1 thebehavior (Myer, 1964). The opportunity to kiH can serve as a r.einforcer in instrumental learning situations (Myer & White, 1965;Van Hemel, 1970), and kilIing latencies decrease with practice, suggesting that the behavior is reinforced by its own occurrence. The proposition that killing is self-strengthening is further supported by the observation that killing experience increases the resistance of the behavior to the suppressive effects of punishment (Myer, 1967).…”

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Satiation of mouse killing by rats in an operant situation

Hemel

Myer

1970

Psychon Sci

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Mouse-killing rats were allowed to pace their killing behavior by use of an operant response reinforced with mouse presentation. When tested after intervals of I, 2, and 4 days without exposure to mice, the rats averaged more than 30 responses and kills before reaching a satiation criterion of 15 min without a response. In a lO·h session, during which responding was continuously reinforced, four rats killed 32-57 mice early in the session, then emitted occasional bursts of responses during the remainder of the session, obtaining and kimng an average of 41 additional mice. These findings contradict a previous report that mouse killing by rats is easily satiated.

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“…However, recent experiments have shown that when aggressive motivation is aroused by intracranial stimulation (Roberts and Kiess, 1964) or by external aversive stimulation (Azrin, Hutchinson, and McLaughlin, 1965;Dreyer and Church, 1970), aggressive acts resulting from such arousal can be reinforcing. A number of studies suggest that, even in the absence of attack-inducing stimulation, some animals may perform responses that have been reinforced by natural stimuli that elicit aggressive acts (Myer and White, 1965;Tellegen, Horn, and Legrand, 1969). 'This article is based upon a dissertation submitted to The Johns Hopkins University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.…”

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“…Myer and White (1965) showed that the opportunity to attack and kill mice can be used to produce stimulus control over the behavior of mouse-killing rats in a T-maze. The present experiments explored the use of the opportunity to attack and kill mice as a reinforcer in an operant paradigm.…”

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AGGRESSION AS A REINFORCER: OPERANT BEHAVIOR IN THE MOUSE‐KILLING RAT¹

Hemel¹

1972

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Two experiments examined mouse killing as a reinforcer of key pressing by rats that killed mice. In Experiment I, mouse-killing rats performed the key-pressing response when each press was reinforced with presentation of a mouse. Offered a choice between a key that yielded presentation of mice and one that did not, the rats preferred the key that yielded mice. When the contingency was reversed, the rats preferred the other key and continued to kill mice. In Experiment II, mouse-killing rats that did not kill rat pups performed a key-pressing response reinforced with presentation of mice on a variableinterval schedule. In tests for responding reinforced on that schedule with presentation of normal mice, anesthetized mice, dead mice, or rat pups, these rats that killed mice but not rat pups exhibited a decline in response rate when rat pups were the reinforcer. Altering the condition of the mice did not significantly affect performance.A traditional view of aggression has been that it is a secondary result of defensive behavior patterns, rather than a goal in itself (Craig, 1921;Scott, 1966Scott, , 1968. Motivation to perform aggressive acts has been thought to depend upon previous reinforcement of aggressive behavior with such reinforcers as food, sex, or escape from pain (Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, Sears, Ford, Hovland, and Sollenberger, 1939;Feshbach, 1964). However, recent experiments have shown that when aggressive motivation is aroused by intracranial stimulation (Roberts and Kiess, 1964) or by external aversive stimulation (Azrin, Hutchinson, and McLaughlin, 1965;Dreyer and Church, 1970), aggressive acts resulting from such arousal can be reinforcing. A number of studies suggest that, even in the absence of attack-inducing stimulation, some animals may perform responses that have been reinforced by natural stimuli that elicit aggressive acts (Myer and White, 1965;Tellegen, Horn, and Legrand, 1969). 'This article is based upon a dissertation submitted to The Johns Hopkins University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The author is greatly indebted to Dr. James S. Myer, his dissertation adviser, for his encouragement and guidance during all phases of the planning, execution, and reporting of this research, which was supported in part by Grant GB8041 from the National Science Foundation. Reprints may be obtained from the author, Department of Psychology, University of Maine at Portland-Gorham, 96 Falmouth Street, Portland, Maine 04103.Some rats "spontaneously" and consistently attack and kill mice placed with them (Karli, 1956), and the killing is maintained in the absence of any conventional reinforcer, such as feeding on the bodies of the killed mice (Myer, 1964). Myer and White (1965) showed that the opportunity to attack and kill mice can be used to produce stimulus control over the behavior of mouse-killing rats in a T-maze. The present experiments explored the use of the opportunity to attack and kill mice as a reinforcer in an operant paradigm. The fir...

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Aggressive motivation in the rat

Cited by 65 publications

References 9 publications

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

Satiation of mouse killing by rats in an operant situation

AGGRESSION AS A REINFORCER: OPERANT BEHAVIOR IN THE MOUSE‐KILLING RAT¹

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Aggressive motivation in the rat

Cited by 65 publications

References 9 publications

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

The Biology and Behaviour of a Free-Living Population of Black Rats (Rattus rattus)

Satiation of mouse killing by rats in an operant situation

AGGRESSION AS A REINFORCER: OPERANT BEHAVIOR IN THE MOUSE‐KILLING RAT1

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AGGRESSION AS A REINFORCER: OPERANT BEHAVIOR IN THE MOUSE‐KILLING RAT¹