A NOTE ON THE BEHAVIOR OF THE WHITE RAT 



WALTER S. HUNTER 



From the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Chicago 



One figure 



In the brief note which follows, I wish to place on record an 

 observation made on some white rats relative to the question 

 of learning a problem by being " put through." The behavior 

 in question derives its chief interest from its relation to facts 

 and theories of animal behavior as presented by Thorndike 1 

 and by Cole. 2 For this reason it will be well to summarize the 

 results of those writers. 3 



Thorndike describes his tests as follows: "A cat has been 

 made to go into a box through the door, which is then closed. 

 She pulls a loop and comes out and gets fish. She is made to 

 go in by the door again, and again lets herself out. After this 

 has happened enough times, the cat will of her own accord go 

 into the box after eating the fish." 4 If, however, the animal 

 is dropped through a hole in the top of the box, the same number 

 of trials will not suffice to induce it to turn, after feeding, and 

 re-enter the box. ' The only difference between the first cat 

 and the second cat is that the first cat, in the course of the 

 experience, has the impulse to crawl through that door, while 

 the second has not the impulse to crawl through the door or to 

 drop through that hole. So, though you put the second cat on 

 the box beside the hole, she doesn't try to get into the box 

 through it. The impulse is the sine qua non of the association." 4 

 Three cats were made to enter the box. All turned and went in 

 of their own accord by the 37th trial. Three were dropped 

 through the hole in the top of the box. One was given 50 trials; 

 one, 60; and one, 75. All failed to go in of their own initiation. 



Cole repeated Thorndike's experiments on four raccoons. Two 

 series of experiments were given. In the first, (Thorndike did 

 not give a series corresponding to this one), the animal was 



1 Thorndike, E. L. Animal Intelligence. 1898. Psych. Rev. Mori. Supp., vol. 2. 



2 Cole, L. W. Concerning the Intelligence ,of Raccoons. 1907. Jour, of Comp. 

 Neur. and Psych., vol. 17. 



3 Other students of animal behavior have worked with this problem of " putting 

 through," but they have not used the particular method here under consideration. 



"Op. cit., p. 67. 



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