Guthrie and Horton's attempt to demonstrate that cats could solve Thorndike's puzzle box problem via contiguity illustrated instead that
A) the researcher's presence in the room pitted a powerful social reinforcer against the food, thereby preventing cats from solving the problem due to outcome competition.
B) confinement is actually an innate trigger for escape behaviors (e.g., digging, clawing, pawing, head and body butting) that enabled the animal to escape without learning anything about the puzzle.
C) cats make poor research subjects because it is difficult to find foods they value as rewards.
D) the researchers had accidentally and unknowingly elicited an innate response that coincidentally solved the puzzle box problem.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Guthrie and Horton's work showed that the cats' escape from the puzzle box was not due to learning via contiguity but rather an innate response that coincidentally solved the problem, indicating the complexity of distinguishing between learned and innate behaviors in animal learning experiments.

Guthrie and Horton's Attempt to Demonstrate That Cats Could Solve