Abstract
Twenty 90-day-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were separated into five homogeneous groups of four rats each on the basis of running speed to escape electrical shock in a runway. Within each of these groups, two Ss were assigned randomly to a competition condition and two to a noncompetition condition. All Ss were run in pairs in a double-alley runway under shock-escape conditions. The first animal in the competition pair to reach the goal was allowed to enter the goal and escape the shock. Ss in the noncompetition pairs were yoked to the competition pairs, and their reinforcement was contingent upon the performance of their yoked partners. In all cases, the performance of the competition Ss exceeded that of the noncompetition Ss (p <.01), demonstrating the motivating effect of stimuli associated with the competitive situation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
BAYROFF, A. B. The experimental social behavior of animals: II. The effect of early isolation of white rats on their competition in swimming. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1940, 29, 293–306.
CARNATHAN, J., & CHURCH, R. M. The effect of competitive allocation of reinforcement to rats in the straight alley. The Journal of General Psychology, 1964, 71, 137–144.
CHURCH, R. M. Effects of a competitive situation on speed of response. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1961, 54, 162–166.
CHURCH, R. M. Effect of relative skill on the amount of competitive facilitation. Psychological Reports, 1962, 11, 603–614.
KANAK, N. J., & DAVENPORT, D. G. Between-subject competition: A rat race. Psychonomic Science, 1967, 7, 87–88.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sutker, L.W., Gubler, L. & Wallace, C.J. Effect of competition on escape from noxious stimulation. Psychon Sci 19, 149–150 (1970). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335521
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335521