A NOTE ON THE RELATIVE VALUE OF PUNISHMENT 

 AND REWARD AS MOTIVES 



MILDRED A. HOGE AND RUTH J. STOCKING 



From the Psychological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University 

 Two figures 



In his book on the dancing mouse, Yerkes ' says, ' The 

 desire for food is unsatisfactory as a motive in animal behavior 

 work, first, because a condition of utter hunger is unfavorable 

 for the performance of complex acts; second, because it is 

 impossible to control the strength of the motive, and finally, 

 because it is an inhumane method of experimentation. In 

 general, the method of punishment is more satisfactory than 

 the method of reward, because it can be controlled to a greater 

 extent." Since a large number of experiments in animal behavior 

 have been made with the use of either punishment alone or with 

 food alone as a motive, it seemed desirable to compare under 

 uniform experimental conditions the relative efficiency of the 

 two methods of training. 



The tests described below were made on albino and .black- 

 and-white rats. All the rats were given the same problem, 

 namely, to discriminate between two lights of different inten- 

 sity. Some of the animals were punished for incorrect choices, 

 and others rewarded for correct choices. The punishment was a 

 light electric shock; the reward, milk-soaked bread. The rap- 

 idity of learning in the two cases was taken as an indication of 

 the value of the method. It seemed desirable to test with still 

 other animals the value of a combination of the two methods — 

 punishment and reward. 



The apparatus consisted of a discrimination-box (see Fig. i), 

 similar to the well-known box of Yerkes. The rat to be tested 

 was placed in A, and the door I, leading into compartment B, 

 was opened by the experimenter. After the animal had entered 

 B, the door I was closed. The only way in which the animal 

 could return to A was by passing through the compartments 

 W or W, thence through the corresponding doors V or V 

 and into the alleys which open into A at O and O'. The door 

 between the alley and compartment A was opened for the 

 animal the moment it sought to enter A. The floors of W and 

 W were wired to form a punishment grill, the two poles of 

 'R. M. Yerkes. The Dancing Mouse. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1908. 



