Following is an essay that may have been written by a student (but not from this class!) that contains many errors. Find and correct what you think are FIVE errors. If you correct more than five errors, only the first five will be marked. Please circle and then number each error you find, and then write your correction and your reason for the correction in the space on the next page. (The errors will be underlined, bolded AND italicized!)
An example error correction is shown.
The essay was written in response to the following question:
Food aggression in dogs is when a dog protects its food, sometimes even attacking another dog or human who might get too close to the food bowl. This form of aggression is often the reason why a stray animal is determined to not be adoptable. Describe the functional utility of food aggression in dogs. Using principles of classical conditioning, explain how food aggression may be maintained even when the dog is in a loving, accepting home.
The student’s essay is reproduced below:
Food aggression can be a learned behaviour in dogs, meaning it is a behaviour that is commonly performed by members of a species that may interfere with that species’ ability to learn some other behaviour. Thousands of years ago, wild dog precursors to our modern, domesticated dog competed with other animals for food. By being aggressive, these dogs could ward off other animals and therefore consume more food. Due to artificial selection, what we call food aggression in the domestic dog got passed down from generation to generation of wild dogs. Even with natural selection, that is the purposeful breeding of dogs for certain characteristics, food aggression persists in some dogs.
This food aggression is maintained through operant conditioning. We have two reflex-like behaviours, both stimulated by food. One “reflex” consists of food making the dog want to eat the food. Another reflex, the species-typical behaviour, consists of the food making the dog want to protect the food. The food, in each case, is the unconditioned stimulus (UCR). The eating of the food and the protecting the food are both unconditioned responses (UCS). The reflexive behaviour can be diagrammed like this:
UCR (food) UCS (eat food)
(protect food)
When the owner, originally a conditioned stimulus, puts the food down for the dog, she can become a neutral stimulus by repeated paring with the food. Then the dog may attack the owner with the food aggressive attack becoming a conditioned response to the owner putting the food down. This can be diagrammed like this:
UCS (food) UCR (protect food)
CR (food aggression)
CS (owner put down food)
1. “Learned” is wrong in this context. The definition is for species-typical behaviour. So the sentence should read: Food aggression can be a species-typical behaviour in dogs, meaning...
2. "Artificial" is wrong in this context. The sentence is referring to natural selection, where there is no human interference with the breeding process, so it should read as: Due to artificial selection...
3. "Natural" is wrong in this context. This word has been mixed up with artificial selection, as humans have tried to breed dogs for specific traits, interfering with natural selection. As a result, the sentence should read: Even with artificial selection...
4. "Operant" is wrong in this context. The method used is most associated with the classical conditioning paradigm. Therefore, the sentence should read: This food aggression is maintained through classical conditioning.
5. "UCR" is wrong in this context. UCR is an abbreviation for an unconditioned response, not stimulus. As a result, the sentence should read: The food, in each case, is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
6. As you might have guessed, "UCS" is wrong in this context, due to the fact that UCS is an abbreviation for unconditioned stimulus, not response. Consequently, the sentence should read: The eating of the food and the protecting the food are both unconditioned responses (UCR).
7. "Conditioned" is wrong in this context. Originally, the owner is a neutral stimulus. Therefore, the sentence should read: When the owner, originally a neutral stimulus...
8. "Neutral" is wrong in this context. The owner becomes a conditioned stimulus. Therefore, the sentence should read: ...she can become a conditioned stimulus by repeated paring with the food.
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