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Operant conditioning and biological predisposition - instinctual drift.

a. Operant conditioning is strongly influenced by biological predispositions, allowing for more effective learning.
b. Biological predispositions can interfere with operant conditioning, making it harder to learn certain behaviors.
c. Instinctual drift refers to the tendency of animals to revert to their natural instincts, overriding operant conditioning.
d. Operant conditioning and biological predispositions have no relationship; they operate independently.

User Monir
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Final answer:

Operant conditioning involves learning through consequences, but biological predispositions can interfere with this learning process, leading to instinctual drift where innate behaviors overrule learned ones.

Step-by-step explanation:

Operant conditioning is a type of associative learning where an animal associates a voluntary behavior with its consequences. This differs from classical conditioning, where an animal associates a non-voluntary behavior (or reflex) with a stimulus. When considering the relationship between operant conditioning and biological predispositions, the most accurate statement is that biological predispositions can occasionally interfere with operant conditioning. This interference is known as instinctual drift, a phenomenon where an animal's innate behaviors can overshadow the learned behaviors from operant conditioning. This happens because some behaviors are hardwired and have a strong genetic basis, which can make it difficult for operant conditioning to override these instinctual responses.

For example, operant conditioning may train a raccoon to pick up coins and put them into a container for a reward. However, due to instinctual drift, the raccoon might revert to its natural 'dipping' behavior, where it rubs or dips objects in water, which conflicts with the conditioned coin-depositing behavior.

User Tenor
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