Citation

Lester D. Psychol. Rec. 1967; 17(1): 55-62.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1967, Kenyon College)

DOI

10.1007/BF03393689

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Studies relating sex differences in the exploration of rats to the degree of deprivation are reviewed. It is concluded that females explore more when satiated than when deprived whereas males explore more when deprived than when satiated. A theory of exploration is described in which the fear aroused by novel stimuli is related to the probability of approach by the animal to these stimuli by a U-shaped function. This theory is used to account for the sex differences in exploration.

© Association of Behavior Analysis International 1967