ABSTRACT
As we stated in chapter 1, the evolutionary history, ontogenetic history, and current physiological status of an organism is the context for conditioning. Edward Morris (1992) has described the way we use the term context:
Reinforcing events, responses, and stimuli may vary from species to species. A hungry dog can be reinforced with meat for jumping a hurdle, and a pigeon will fly to a particular location to get grain. These are obvious species differences, but there are more subtle effects of the biological context. The rate of acquisition and level of behavior once established may be influenced by an organism’s physiology, as determined by species history. Moreover, within a species, reinforcers, stimuli, and responses can be specific to particular situations.
