Research Summary #2

Reading 11: Knock Wood! (Hock, 2012)

Marianne Ziegler

PSY 211HW WN110

February 15, 2017

 This study was conducted by B. F. Skinner in 1948. Skinner felt that peoples

superstitious actions or behaviors are carried out because they believe that a connection exists

between their superstitious actions or rituals and a reinforcing consequence, even though in

actuality no real connection exists. This apparent connection exists because the persons

behavior was accidentally reinforced by something rewarding, known as noncontingent

reinforcement, or a reward that is not dependent on a specific behavior. You believe that there is

a casual relationship between the behavior and the reward, when no such relationship exists

(Hock, 2012). Skinner believed that behavior was the product of learning; that voluntary

behavior is what people and animals do to get something they want or to avoid something they

dont want. This is called operant behavior (Ciccarelli & White, 2015). The concept of

reinforcement was one of Skinners major contributions to this study of behavior and he defined

it as anything that when following a response, causes that response to be more likely to

happen again (Ciccarelli & White, 2015). Most argued that superstitious behaviors required

human behaviors such as thinking or reasoning. Skinner did this study to prove experimentally

that these behaviors were not unique to just humans, but also to other lowly creatures such as

pigeons or rats.

Skinner performed a laboratory observation for his study, which is a form of descriptive

research. To describe his method for this study, it is important to understand how he performed

his earlier studies on conditioning. He created what he called a conditioning chamber, later to be

known as the Skinner Box (Hock, 2012). He used an empty box with a dish for food inside. With

this he had full control of when the animal subject received food for reinforcement. In his early

work he used rats as his subjects and installed a lever into his boxes. Eventually the rats learned

that to get food they must push the lever (they learned this through trial and error). Later he
began using pigeons in his studies so the lever was replaced with a button that they could peck.

Now for the study on superstitious behavior these same boxes were used, however they were

rigged to drop food every 15 seconds no matter what the pigeon was doing. Meaning that it

didnt matter whether or not they hit the button, the food would still drop. He used eight pigeons

for this study. Each was placed in the box for a few minutes a day and just left there to do

whatever a pigeon does (Hock, 2012). While the pigeons were in the box the food

(reinforcement) was dropped every 15 seconds. This went on for several days before two

independent observers recorded the birds behavior in the box.

Skinner reported in six out of eight cases the resulting responses were so clearly

defined that two observers could agree perfectly in counting instances (Hock, 2012). An

example of this superstitious behavior was demonstrated by one of the birds turning

counterclockwise around the cage two or three times between feedings. Another bird repeatedly

hit his head into one of the top corners of the box. Two of them displayed a pendulum-like

hopping motions, one tossed its head back repeatedly, and the last made pecking motions

towards but not touching the floor. Of all of these behaviors, none of them had been observed in

the birds before the experiment. Even though their behaviors and actions had no true effect on

the delivery of food because it was automatically dropped every fifteen minutes, the birds still

performed these actions as if the dropping of the food depended on them, showing superstitious

behavior. Eventually Skinner extended the time between feedings to see if this would change

their behavior. With the head tossing bird and the hopping birds, the time was extended to one

minute instead of fifteen seconds. For a time, the birds actions became more intense to the point

it appeared they were almost dancing in the box. At this point Skinner began extinction, which
is the discontinuation of the reinforcement, in this case, he stopped the food dropping. The birds

superstitious behaviors gradually decreased until they ultimately stopped (Hock, 2012).

Through Skinners experiment that yielded superstitious pigeons, he reinforced his belief

that behaviors are learned and shape the world around us as opposed to being internal and relying

on emotion. He also demonstrated that there is barely a difference in the way humans learn

compared to how animals learn. Looking at human behaviors, addiction comes to mind. Whether

it be drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or even odd taboo behaviors, each individual has a different

reason the behavior started. Alcohol addiction could have started for a person to forget an

event in their life, and once they realize that they dont remember much of everything after

drinking copious amounts of alcohol, they will repeat the behavior more and more often until it

becomes a daily habit. Or a heroin user getting hooked on the euphoria of their high, in both

cases the behavior offered a reward that the individual wanted. A persons behavior and even

superstitions can be changed based on what they hope to achieve. My own personal and slightly

humorous example of superstitious behavior involves my husband. When we started dating in

2002, one of our normal activities on Sundays was watching the Detroit Lions games. That

season was of course a losing season for the Lions, winning only three games and losing sixteen,

but those three games that they won I happened to not be watching those days because I

happened to be at work. This situation reinforced with him (and his father) that my viewing of

the game, even for just a few minutes, makes them lose. This was strengthened further the

following season where I saw even less of their games and they won a few more, this time

winning five and losing eleven. Seventeen years later and I am still not allowed to watch a Lions

game! With that being said, superstitious behavior not only impacts the individual, but it can

most definitely change the actions of others around you as well.

 Understanding these behaviors can help me at home and even in my career down the line.

At home, I have an almost nine-year-old son, Dylan. I noticed early on (when he started

kindergarten actually) that other childrens behaviors made a large impact on him, and Ive

found that as he gets older, the influence has gotten stronger. Not all parents expect the same

behavior from their children as I expect from mine, so they do things I find inappropriate for a

child his age to know, do, or say. Our current struggle is reading. Dylan tells me that he hates

reading and that his friends mom doesnt make him do extra reading, so he doesnt think that he

should have to either. We have just started up a reward system where he earns points for

successfully taking reading tests on the books he reads. If this goes as planned, he will improve

his reading comprehension and hopefully learn to appreciate what reading has to offer. As the

rat of my experiment, I hope that reinforcing the behavior I want will yield the results that I

expect.
 Works Cited

Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology. Boston: Pearson.

Hock, R. R. (2012). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of

psychological research 7th Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.