Rat Race Research Paper
Noteworthy psychological experiments of the 20th century
Elizabeth E Galvan
Renton High School
Rat Race
B.F Skinner is widely known for his infamous animal experiments of rewards, reinforcement, and behavior. With his experiment, “Rat Race”, his purpose was to successfully learn how to teach organisms to behave in a desired manner. He planned to do so by isolating his rats and numerous other subjects in a box away from the outside world. He would gradually increase, decrease, or manipulate their reward so that over time, they would understand and carry out the behaviors they had been taught, without retaliation. In the end, his method proved successful. Not only that, but Skinner discovered that organisms actually learn better when …show more content…
Just how was it that Hitler was able to get so many people to do his dirty work for him, killing thousands of Jews on command? Why is it that we obey or disobey authority? This essentially was Stanley Milgram’s purpose for his experiment of obedience to authority.
He began with a simple ad in the paper offering an amount of money in exchange for participating in the experiment. The volunteers would arrive at a set address, get paid, then taken into a room, one at a time, with the supposed “experimenter” and another supposed participant, both of which were but mere actors.
The volunteers were told that the experiment was based off an interest in the effect of punishment on learning. The actor participant was strapped to an electric chair playing the role of learner while the volunteer administered shocks to them each time they made a mistake in a set of word pairs read to …show more content…
First, he had a group of un-addicted rats inhabit the space while both a supply of drugs and water were provided. Then, he placed a group of pre-addicted rats inside with both substances available once again. He discovered that in this ideal environment, the rodents chose not to consume the narcotics, even though they may have been addicted beforehand. With his work, Bruce Alexander demonstrated that drug addiction occurs most often in distressing situations, but, if we are content, addiction will cease to be a predicament.
Rats normally aren’t animals people defend and love, so I think it’s safe to say his experiment was moral and if any of Alexander’s rats suffered from the narcotics, it probably wasn’t worth putting against him. And in terms of significance, although this is certainly great news, I just don’t see how we could possibly achieve total happiness for everyone to be safe from addiction. Unlike “Rat Park”, we live in a perfectly imperfect world outside of our control.
The False Memory
Elizabeth E Galvan
Renton High School
Rat Race
B.F Skinner is widely known for his infamous animal experiments of rewards, reinforcement, and behavior. With his experiment, “Rat Race”, his purpose was to successfully learn how to teach organisms to behave in a desired manner. He planned to do so by isolating his rats and numerous other subjects in a box away from the outside world. He would gradually increase, decrease, or manipulate their reward so that over time, they would understand and carry out the behaviors they had been taught, without retaliation. In the end, his method proved successful. Not only that, but Skinner discovered that organisms actually learn better when …show more content…
Just how was it that Hitler was able to get so many people to do his dirty work for him, killing thousands of Jews on command? Why is it that we obey or disobey authority? This essentially was Stanley Milgram’s purpose for his experiment of obedience to authority.
He began with a simple ad in the paper offering an amount of money in exchange for participating in the experiment. The volunteers would arrive at a set address, get paid, then taken into a room, one at a time, with the supposed “experimenter” and another supposed participant, both of which were but mere actors.
The volunteers were told that the experiment was based off an interest in the effect of punishment on learning. The actor participant was strapped to an electric chair playing the role of learner while the volunteer administered shocks to them each time they made a mistake in a set of word pairs read to …show more content…
First, he had a group of un-addicted rats inhabit the space while both a supply of drugs and water were provided. Then, he placed a group of pre-addicted rats inside with both substances available once again. He discovered that in this ideal environment, the rodents chose not to consume the narcotics, even though they may have been addicted beforehand. With his work, Bruce Alexander demonstrated that drug addiction occurs most often in distressing situations, but, if we are content, addiction will cease to be a predicament.
Rats normally aren’t animals people defend and love, so I think it’s safe to say his experiment was moral and if any of Alexander’s rats suffered from the narcotics, it probably wasn’t worth putting against him. And in terms of significance, although this is certainly great news, I just don’t see how we could possibly achieve total happiness for everyone to be safe from addiction. Unlike “Rat Park”, we live in a perfectly imperfect world outside of our control.
The False Memory