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Naturalistic Observations

Naturalistic Observations

If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...

Fundamental Attribution Error

Fundamental Attribution Error

According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is called the fundamental attribution...

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are...

Stereotype Content Model

Stereotype Content Model

The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence categorization, a person will feel...

Social Loafing

Another way in which a group presence can affect performance is social loafing—the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group. Thus, group performance declines on easy tasks (Karau & Williams, 1993). Essentially individual group members loaf and let other group members pick up the slack. Because each individual’s efforts cannot be evaluated, individuals become less...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

Published on: June 3, 2013

Discriminability and the contrafreeloading phenomenon.

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology

|January 1, 1975

Summary

Animals sometimes work for rewards even when free options exist. This study suggests that the "contrafreeloading phenomenon" in rats is explained by how easily they can distinguish between working for a reward and obtaining it freely.

Area of Science:

Animal behavior
Learning principles
Operant conditioning

Background:

The contrafreeloading phenomenon describes animals working for rewards despite free access to the same reward.
Previous research has not fully explained the underlying mechanisms of contrafreeloading.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if basic learning principles, specifically discriminability, can explain the contrafreeloading phenomenon in rats.
To determine the role of stimulus conditions in maintaining behavior in the presence of free rewards.

Main Methods:

Two experiments were conducted using rats as subjects.
Manipulated the discriminability between conditions of earned reinforcement and free access to rewards.
Measured the rats' continued responding for earned rewards.

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Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues

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Published on: June 3, 2013

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Main Results:

Contrafreeloading data are explainable by discriminability and response decrement.
Increased discriminability between working and freeloading conditions led to continued responding.
Rats continued to work for rewards when the distinction between conditions was clear.

Conclusions:

Discriminability is a key factor in the contrafreeloading phenomenon.
The ability to differentiate between effortful and effortless reward acquisition influences animal behavior.
Basic learning principles adequately account for contrafreeloading behavior.