Superstition in Pigeons

“Superstition” in the Pigeon by B.F Skinner at Indiana University originally published in 1948 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168-172.

What are the origins of rituals and superstition? People from all around the world seem to share the belief that there are causal relationships between our behavior and certain outcomes, even when no such real relationship exists. In Skinners “Superstition” he proves that temporal contiguity of response and reinforcement might be enough to strengthen the likelihood of certain behavior. Skinner (1948) In this essay, I plan to argue that superstitious behavior exhibited by the pigeons was a result of temporally contiguous reinforcement and repetition because with enough repetition the pigeon formed a sensory impression which resulted in its own sense of cause and effect. Lastly, I will conclude with my reaction to this influential reading.
In the peer-reviewed article “Superstition” in the Pigeon by B.F Skinner at Indiana University, Skinner conducted a simple experiment using pigeons that had been “brought to a stable state of hunger by reducing it to 75% of it’s weight when well-fed” Skinner (1948) then placing them in an experimental cage and giving them opportunities to eat during fixed periods of time. A food hopper was then swung into place at timed five second intervals to serve as the reinforcement. The pigeon’s response was to eat from the hopper, their behavior when predicting the food was recorded as an example of how reinforcement follows the response. The two experiences occurring together repeatedly in a short amount of time caused contiguity as the pigeon’s began to associate the behavior with the reinforcement. Although there was no behavior required of the pigeon to get the food, the behavior that the pigeon was doing when they got the food/ reinforcement was repeated as the pigeons began to associate their random behavior with the reinforcement despite the fact that there was no real connection. The shorter the intervals of reinforcement the more obvious the conditioning process became.
Skinner compared this response-reinforcement pattern to superstitious behavior in humans because the pigeon’s ritualistic behavior seemed to support the belief that their behavior was somehow causing the food to appear. When they repeated the behavior and the food did appear this seemed to validate their belief. Some of the behavior paired with the food included grooming, flapping their wings, birds were conditioned to turn counterclockwise in their cage, thrust their heads, another developed a tossing response, others developed a pendulum motion of their heads and bodies, while another was conditioned to make incomplete pecking or brushing movements toward the floor. In many cases the bird’s behavior reappeared and seemed to demonstrate a sort of superstitious behavior, showing that the bird believed there was a causal relationship between its behavior and the presentation of the food even when no such real relationship existed. According to Skinner the superstitious behavior seen in the pigeons was a result of temporally contiguous reinforcement in operant conditioning. Skinner (1948) Data was then gathered through observation that tested the theory of temporal conditioning. The pigeon is in part conditioned by the passing of time. He says in the article that “reinforcement is contingent upon a response” Skinner (1948) Reinforcement follows a response because of a variety of reasons but, conditioning takes place because of the temporal relationship expressed between response and reinforcement.
This article was very interesting and it seemed to illustrate some very complex and interesting concepts in a brilliantly simple way. I selected this article because it was written by the famous and influential behaviorists: B.F Skinner who developed the theory of Operant Conditioning-the idea that the consequences of our actions aka. reinforcement shapes our behavior. This was something we learned a lot about in our class. I did have trouble at times understanding completely what certain outcomes of Skinners experiment really meant in a psychological sense. What causes pigeons to act superstitiously might also shed light on why people believe in superstitions? Superstitious beliefs are based on a false understanding of the causes of a desired reinforcement. Knocking on wood, fear of broken mirrors, throwing salt behind your shoulder, people act illogically because they misunderstand cause and effect and in many cases the superstitious behavior is passed down through generations. This behavior provokes a lot of questions related to the belief in the supernatural, religion, and luck. In many ways superstitious behavior in humans serves as a kind of negative reinforcement where through the removal of unpleasant stimuli in the form of anxiety increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring in the future causing the ritual to be born. The superstitious behavior exhibited by the pigeons was a result of temporally contiguous reinforcement and repetition because with enough repetition the pigeon formed a sensory impression which resulted in its own sense of cause and effect

Source: From the UHWO online collections & the “EBSCO” database:
'Superstition' in the pigeon, Skinner B.F, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, US: American Psychological Association Sept, 1992, Vol.121(3), p.273(3) [Peer Reviewed Journal]
Image from:vocativ.com