What is Rat Lab?
1401 Rat Lab is a great way to see the basic principles of behavior unfold before your eyes! You will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a rat and teach them different skills. You will teach them how to press a lever, press a lever only when the light is on, pull a chain, press a lever with “weights” on it, and teach them a skill of your choice! If you have any questions please contact us and we’ll be happy to answer them!
Required Materials
The required workbook for rat lab is How I Learned to Relate to My Laboratory Rat Through Humanistic Behaviorism written by Dick Malott. Operant-conditioning rat lab has been associated with our introductory psychology course at Western Michigan University since 1964. Many students report that the rat lab is very exciting and that they find it the best feature of our course. It has been our impression however that this lab has an even more important effect. The experience of directly modifying the behavior of another organism is a primary factor in demonstrating to students the power and validity of the basic principles of behavior.
