Abstract
Two experiments were performed in an attempt to replicate first and then to generalize a contrafreeloading effect, i.e., that animals would rather work and get rewards than get the rewards free. The first experiment failed to replicate the earlier experiments with hungry animals and food as reinforcement, as only 3 of the 25 rats exhibited a preference for barpressing. The remaining animals demonstrated a preference for the free food that increased over free choice days. The second experiment attempted to generalize these findings, using thirsty animals and water as the reward. The data were consistent with the food results; however, the preference for free water was even greater than that for free food. The results were viewed as suggesting that the speculations that animals prefer working to freeloading were premature.
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The research was supported in part by NSF Grant GB-12954 to Dr. Frank A. Logan.
These data were generated in two different laboratories, Dr. Logan’s lab at the University of New Mexico and the Psychological Lab at the State University of New York, College at Potsdam.
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Taylor, G.T. A limitation of the contrafreeloading phenomenon. Psychon Sci 29, 173–174 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342584
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342584