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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1970 Mar;13(2):127–134. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1970.13-127

Superstitious key pecking after three peck-produced reinforcements1

Allen J Neuringer
PMCID: PMC1333754  PMID: 16811432

Abstract

The first three pecks on a response key by experimentally naive pigeons produced grain reinforcements. Thereafter, for approximately 50 experimental sessions and under a variety of schedule conditions, grain was presented independently of the subjects' behaviors. The pigeons continued to peck the response key “superstitiously” throughout the 50 sessions. The results suggest that superstitions are commonplace—not relatively infrequent or abnormal events—in the behavior of pigeons.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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