Drive and secondary reinforcement: Further extensions of Zimmerman’s work

The effects of drive intensity in Sr test and the imposition or withholding of Sr training upon bar pressing were studied in a Zimmerman paradigm. The Ss tested under high drive, with or without Sr training, made significantly more bar presses than satiated Ss. No support was found for an exploratory-manipulatory interpretation of Zimmerman’s results, but the validity of the assumption that intense homeostatic drives interfere with exploratory-manipulatory motivation was questioned. The fact that Ss without Sr training performed as well in test as trained Ss confirmed a previous finding and led to a rejection of Zimmerman’s Sr interpretation of his results.