• DOI:10.1037/H0063451
• Corpus ID: 39483798

A field of applied animal psychology.

@article{Breland1951AFO,
  title={A field of applied animal psychology.},
  author={Keller Breland and Marian Breland},
  journal={The American psychologist},
  year={1951},
  volume={6 6},
  pages={
          202-4
        }
}

• K. Breland, M. Breland
• Published 1 June 1951
• Psychology
• The American psychologist

KCENT developments in behavior theory have made possible a new field of applied psychology. This new field has yet to be finally christened. It might be called the field of applied animal psychology or the field of behavioral engineering. We consider it an excellent example of how the findings of "pure" research can be put to practical use. The core of the field is the work of the neobehaviorists, which has so ordered the facts of behavior that many of their experimental data and those of earlier workers have become immediately applicable to the engineering of animal behavior. We have found most useful the systematic formulation presented by B. F. Skinner in The Behavior of Organisms. This body of theory has made it possible for us since the spring of 1947 to develop a flourishing and expanding business concerned with the mass production of conditioned operant behavior in animals. Applied animal psychology brings together the two formerly unrelated fields of professional animal training and modern behavioral science. The field is new in that it represents, we believe, the first application of systematic behavior theory to the control of animal behavior. We are now in a position to outstrip old-time professional animal trainers in speed and economy of training. In many instances we can use automatic training methods. We can apply to our training the data of comparative psychology, utilizing new tricks, new animals. We can turn out multiple units— 200 "Clever Hanses" instead of one. Furthermore, the systematic nature of the theory puts us in a position to advance to new and more elaborate behavior patterns, to predict results and forestall difficulties. So far, all our applications have been made for the purpose of advertising exhibits for General Mills, Inc. We developed first a series of trained chicken acts, which were used for county fair booth exhibits in the Midwest, for the purpose of advertising farm feeds. These acts were performed by a group of two-year-old hens which had been culled from a neighbor's flock and were destined for the stew pot. We used a hen-sized stage, some specially constructed props, and a solenoid-driven automatic feed hopper for dispensing reinforcements in the form of scratch grain. One hen played a S-note tune on a small piano, another performed a "tap dance" in costume and shoes, while a third "laid" wooden eggs from a nest box; the eggs rolled down a trough into a basket—the audience could call out any number of eggs desired, up to eight, and the hen would lay that number, non-stop. The basic operation in all these acts was reinforcement at the proper moment in the behavior sequence, by presenting the chicken with a small amount of scratch grain from the solenoid-operated hopper. During the training period, successive approximations to the desired behavior, and component parts of the final pattern, were reinforced. During performances, longer ratios or more elaborate completed patterns were reinforced to keep the behavior at a high level of strength. During the ensuing year, three sets of these acts were prepared and shipped all over the United States in the hands of men who had had only one or two days' training. The birds played thousands of performances without a single failure, except for an occasional sluggish performance due to ill health or overfeeding. The acts proved to be unprecedented crowd-stoppers at the fairs and feedstore "Openhouse" events where they played, showing to as rnany as 5,000 people in a day. The success of these acts led to the development of a trained pig show, "Priscilla the Fastidious Pig," whose routine included turning on the radio, eating breakfast at a table, picking up the dirty clothes and putting them in a hamper, running the vacuum cleaner around, picking out her favorite feed from those of her competitors, and taking part in a quiz program, answering "Yes" or "No" to questions put by the audience, by lighting up the appropriate signs. Priscilla was likewise shown at fairs and special feed-store events and conventions throughout the