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TO WAIT OR TO RESPOND?
Author(s) -
Zeiler Michael D.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1993.59-433
Subject(s) - pecking order , foraging , stochastic game , maximization , psychology , constant (computer programming) , computer science , social psychology , microeconomics , ecology , biology , economics , programming language
Emitting a certain response and waiting for a specified time without making that response had the same consequence. In Experiment 1, food‐deprived pigeons were as likely to wait as to respond only if waiting provided food at a much higher frequency than did pecking. In Experiment 2, the consequence for humans was a brief light flash and tone. People were not biased for responding over waiting. Instead, their choices suggested crude payoff maximization. In Experiment 3, pigeons again obtained food, but they were not food deprived and could eat freely at each opportunity. Their behavior was more like that of the humans of Experiment 2 than that of food‐deprived pigeons given small quantities of food at each feeding opportunity. The three experiments together showed that biases for responding over waiting were neither inherent characteristics of species nor inevitable outcomes of particular schedules. Choice between active search and waiting depended on ecological‐motivational factors even when species and schedules were held constant.