This is a most interesting and enlightening collection of 3 films from the 1940s that show various behaviorism and social psychology experiments on lab rats. The results are very revealing both about animal psychology and human psychology! You cant find this DVD anywhere else. Table Of Contents: (1) Competition and Dominance Hierarchies in Rats (1940) – This silent film from 1940 shows three rats competing over one piece of food and the hierarchies that develop between the rodents during the struggle – 13 Minutes (2) Motivation and Reward in Learning (1948) – In this series of psychological experiments on rats from 1948, behavior is influenced by reward and punishment as the rodents learn to press a lever to get food or perform a variety of other actions to avoid being shocked. This is an interesting study of learned behavior and cognitive ability even in the smallest creatures – 14 Minutes (3) Experimentally Produced Social Problems in Rats (1940s) – The results of this study are very intriguing. A lever is placed on one side of a box containing three rats. When one rat learns to press the lever for food, the other rats eat the food before the one doing the work can run and grab the food. Eventually, the rat pressing the lever learns to drop enough food for all of them. Amazing! Use this in the classroom as a study on capitalism! – 10 Minutes
Included Films:
Competition and Dominance Hierarchies in Rats
Competition and Dominance Hierarchies in Rats
Produced: 1940
Length: 13 Minutes
Three hungry rats, one piece of food – from this there can be only one dominate rat. A 1940s film aimed at college psychology majors, the film breaks apart dominance hierarchies. The rats, having previously lived in an economy of abundance, are put hungry into a room with only one piece of food. At first they all behave similarly until the hunger becmoes overwhelming. Then fighting errupts and the dominant rat, the best fighter, is the one whose hunger is sated the most. The film is a terrific look back at historical experiments in psychology and classic animal behavior.
Motivation and Reward in Learning
Motivation and Reward in Learning
Produced: 1948
Length: 14 Minutes
Rat lovers beware! Made in 1948 by Yale University, this clinical film uses different means of encouraging motivation such as electric shock and food dispensed when a lever is pushed. Obviously meant to demonstrate the effects for humans, the film discusses the meaning of motivation using examples – food when hungry, relief from pain when hurt . A reward is meaningless unless the rat has a desire for what they receive. A hungry rat is sated by his reward of food when a sated rat is not rewarded by the food – nor does he pursue the reward as actively as the hungry rat. An intriguing clinical look at motivation and reward the film uses many questionable experiments to prove its point.
Experimentally Produced Social Problems in Rats
Experimentally Produced Social Problems in Rats
Produced: 1940s
Length: 10 Minutes
Maximum profit with the least amount of work – this is not just a human idea but one that occurs even in rats. In this clinical study rats learn to press a lever in order to get food. Once the skill is mastered, three rats are all put in the same box with the food dish and the lever on opposite sides of the room. The rat who works the hardest is left hungry while the two parasitic rats are left sated. An interesting look at social problems among rats as well as their problem solving skills, the film provides parallels to human social problems and answers the question of how much work to get the maximum profit.
