Pecks in Reverse

Scientists trying to understand human social relationships often experiment with the simpler relations of lower animals. A favorite study is the pecking order of poultry. In groups of chickens there is usually one dominant individual that bosses the others around and may peck them all, but not be pecked in return. Slightly lower than No. 1 is No. 2, which gets pecked by No. 1, but pecks all the rest. At the bottom of the social sequence is a bedraggled, disheartened creature that is pecked by all, but does not peck back.

Last week Psychologists Wendell I. Smith of Bucknell University and E. B. Hale of Pennsylvania State University told a Philadelphia meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association that pecking orders are not immutable. They can be changed by Smith and Hale.

Dividing twelve white Leghorn hens into three groups of four, Smith and Hale allowed the natural pecking orders to establish themselves. When each hen clearly understood its rank in society. Smith and Hale selected pairs of hens from each group. To the wings of the high-ranking hen of each pair, they attached wires from an electric-shock device. Then both were put in a pen with a single dish of grain.

Under such circumstances the high-ranking hen normally eats first, but either Smith or Hale was always lurking outside the pen, finger on the button. Whenever the No. 1 hen tried to eat or peck, it got an electric shock. It also got a shock when the low-ranking hen of the pair plucked up courage to peck it. After a short course of this treatment, the upper-class hens began to have serious doubts about their place in society.

Twelve treatments were enough. Smith and Hale reported that each group had its social order turned upside down. Its top hen became its bottom hen. In two out of three groups, the bottom hen rose to the top. In all groups, the upper middle-class hen--No. 2--clung most tenaciously to its position. The No. 25 needed twice as many shocks as the others to accept a new place in society.

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