A rat prefers to spend one hour wheel running and 30 minutes grooming per day. A contingency is now imposed in which it must spend 30 minutes grooming to obtain 30 minutes of access to the wheel. As a result, it will
A) be able to reach its behavioral bliss point.
B) experience a reduction in incentive motivation.
C) experience a reduction in drive.
D) be unable to reach its behavioral bliss point.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The behavioral bliss point is an optimal state where an animal can engage in preferred proportions of different activities. Since the rat prefers one hour of wheel running but is only allowed 30 minutes after 30 minutes of grooming, it cannot achieve its preferred activity distribution, thus unable to reach its behavioral bliss point.

A Rat Prefers to Spend One Hour Wheel Running and 30