What Is Counterfreeloading?

The concept of counterfreeloading is one of those parallels between human and non-human behavior that explains very basic and instinctive thought processes. It is mainly applied to the psychology of work and motivation.

Also called counter-utilization or free counter-supply, it is about the behavior with which individuals show a tendency to prefer those foods that they have to obtain with effort compared to those that are “given away”.

In this article you have a review about this term, how it has been studied in animals and its application to human behavior. If you want another sample of how humans and other animals are not so different, here it is!

What is counterfreeloading?

The word counterfreeloading was coined by researcher Glen Jensen. In his 1963 comparative psychology study, he exposed 200 rats to a trade-off in which they could choose between freely accessible food and a dispenser that they could activate by pressing a lever.

Since they could eat whenever they wanted, the first hypothesis was that the rats weren’t going to bother pressing the lever to get the same food. But it was not like that: curiously, these small rodents preferred the food that they obtained with their actions.

When asked if this behavior was exclusive to rats, other researchers set out to study the phenomenon of counterfreeloading in other species, finding it in practically all types of vertebrates. Does this mean that animals prefer food that we earn through our own efforts?

Counterfreeloading and environmental enrichment

In conditions of captivity, as in the case of zoos, the phenomenon of counterfreeloading has been key in the attempts to preserve the mental health of their animals. Species such as great primates, elephants or parrots, far from enjoying a life where “everything is done to them”, strongly accuse the lack of occupation.

That is why counterfreeloading is one of the bases to provide them with the environmental enrichment that keeps them busy: since most species that live in the wild spend almost all their time looking for food, making them work for it in captivity preserves a certain part. of their natural behaviors.

However, it has also been proven that the level of difficulty plays an important role in counter freeloading . When the mental challenges presented to the animals were too complicated, they tended to take the available food instead of trying to solve them.

Causes of counter-use

The causes described to explain the phenomenon of counterfreeloading are not only limited to the need to do something to earn a living. Here are all the reasons researchers have found:

• Primacy of information: through the search for and obtaining food, the animal obtains relevant information about the functioning of its environment, as opposed to the uncertainty of not doing so.
• Natural behavior: the instinct to seek food and resources is strongly engraved in the genetics of any animal, as it is a key element for survival. Hopefully this will reproduce in captivity.
• Enrichment of the environment: As mentioned above, fighting boredom can be a great motivation directly associated with mental health.

Counterfreeloading in humans

The contraabastecimiento also exists in humans. You only have to look at the cases of people who continue working after winning the lottery, or after retiring.

The Contrafreeloading is proof that human motivation is not only based on getting rewards and avoiding punishments. In collective thinking, this concept translates into the satisfaction of obtaining something through effort and dedication. This idea also plays with the fact that the human is willing to go through the stress and problems of making a living, since difficulties add value to the reward.

But counterfreeloading doesn’t just apply to work psychology and motivation – have you ever enjoyed customizing a product? It would be much easier to pay money for something that fits our preferences and tastes, but many times more satisfaction is obtained by configuring it ourselves.