Define Instinctive Drift, and Explain Its Implications for Operant Conditioning

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The Answer is The answer should include the following information: Instinctive drift refers to the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that may interfere with a conditioned response. The concept originated with B.F. Skinner's students Keller Breland and Marian Breland. The Brelands noted that animals engaged in these nonreinforced, instinctive behaviors such that chicken chased balls much like they would if they were chasing an insect. Raccoons instinctively dip their food in water and rub it between their paws or put the food on the ground and turn it over with their paws. The Brelands found that this biological predisposition to perform these instinctual behaviors could interfere with learned behaviors they were trying to condition that would result in reinforcement.

Define Instinctive Drift, and Explain Its Implications for Operant Conditioning

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