Reciprocal social contingencies in Herrnstein’s (1964) response shaping demonstration with pigeons

Abstract

The shaping of behavior through the differential reinforcement of successive approximations usually involves an agent - the shaper or teacher - and a recipient of the shaper’s skills - the subject or student/pupil. Rather than the usual human teacher, in a 1964 demonstration, Herrnstein reported the shaping of a pigeon’s responses when another pigeon functioned as the teacher. The teacher delivered reinforcers to the student, a conspecific, when it stood on a platform located in one corner of its chamber. Only such behavior on the part of the student allowed key pecks of the teacher to be reinforced with food. The present demonstration replicated Herrnstein’s result, but by using a more systematic training process of both teacher and student than was reported by Herrnstein. When a naive student was substituted for the now-trained student pigeon, the teacher failed to engage in behavior necessary to train the target response. The results point to steps necessary for both teacher and student for shaping to occur. They also underline the reciprocal, social nature of the shaping process. Whether the resulting behavioral process and outcome represents the process of shaping when the teacher is a human is discussed, along with the question of whether nonhuman organisms can shape the behavior of a conspecific.