A behavioral psychologist tries to train a bird to climb a tree to get a reward of a piece of fruit. At first, the bird learns how to climb the tree with its legs and beak. After a while, it starts flapping its wings and hopping around before it starts to climb. Eventually, the bird flies up to the piece of fruit, even though that prevents it from getting the fruit. According to the Brelands' analysis of biological constraints, the bird is demonstrating ________.
A) response generalization
B) that it was reverting to behavior that was instinctual for it
C) the power of negative reinforcement
D) the Law of Effect

Question

A behavioral psychologist tries to train a bird to climb a tree to get a reward of a piece of fruit. At first, the bird learns how to climb the tree with its legs and beak. After a while, it starts flapping its wings and hopping around before it starts to climb. Eventually, the bird flies up to the piece of fruit, even though that prevents it from getting the fruit. According to the Brelands' analysis of biological constraints, the bird is demonstrating ________.
A) response generalization
B) that it was reverting to behavior that was instinctual for it 
C) the power of negative reinforcement
D) the Law of Effect

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Brelands' analysis of biological constraints suggests that animals are limited in their ability to learn behaviors that go against their natural instincts or behaviors. In this case, the bird's natural instinct to fly up to the fruit was stronger than its trained behavior to climb the tree to get the fruit, leading to a reversion to its instinctual behavior. This demonstrates a biological constraint on the bird's ability to learn the desired behavior. Therefore, the best choice is B - that it was reverting to behavior that was instinctual for it.

A Behavioral Psychologist Tries to Train a Bird to Climb