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Keller Bramwell Breland (March 26, 1915 - June 17, 1965) was an American psychologist. He and his wife Marian Kruse Breland played a major role in developing scientifically-validated and humane animal training methods and in promoting the widespread use of these methods.

Keller Breland
Born(1915-03-26)March 26, 1915
Poplarville, Mississippi
DiedJune 17, 1965(1965-06-17) (aged 50)
Hot Springs, Arkansas

Early life

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Professional life

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After Marian earned her bachelor's degree, Keller married her on August 1, 1941. Together, they had three children: Bradley (1946), Frances (1948), and Elizabeth (1952).

After his wife became the second graduate student to work under the renowned Skinner.[1], Keller came to work with Skinner as well.[2] While graduate students, they collaborated with Skinner on military research during World War II.[3] Their work on the Pigeon in a Pelican project involved training pigeons for use by the Navy, teaching the birds to guide bombs in a procedure the military ultimately never implemented.[2] [4]

Having foreseen the commercial applications of operant training, the Brelands left the University of Minnesota without completing their doctorates in order to found Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) on a farm in Minnesota.[5] Skinner tried to dissuade them from abandoning their graduate education for an untested commercial endeavor.[6] Classmate Paul Meehl bet US$10 they would fail. Meehl's 1961 check for $10 would later hang framed on Marian's office wall.[7]

First training animals commercially for farm feed advertisements for General Mills, the couple went on to train "more animals and different species of animals than any other animal trainers"[8] of their time, including animals of land (e.g., cats, cattle, chickens, dogs, goats, pigs, rabbits, raccoons, rats, sheep), air (e.g., ducks, parrots, ravens), and sea (e.g., dolphins and whales). At their busiest, they trained "more than 1,000 animals at a given time".[9] In training animals for recreational facilities such as Marineland of Florida, Parrot Jungle, Sea World, and Six Flags, they created the very first dolphin and bird shows, a form of program now considered traditional entertainment fare.[10][9] Most major theme parks' animal programs can be traced back to the Brelands' pioneering work.[2] The Brelands also established the first coin-operated animal shows.[9] The Buck Bunny commercial featured their trained rabbits for a Coast Federal Savings television ad that ran for twenty years and which still holds the record for longest running TV commercial advertisement.[11] They trained animals for many other venues including circuses, movies, museums, stores, and zoos.[12]

Unlike previous animal trainers who had historically concentrated on the use of punishment when teaching animals, the Brelands followed Skinner's emphasis on the use of positive reinforcement to train animals instead by focusing on how best to administer rewards.[13] Although other students of Skinner's later entered commercial animal training as well, the Brelands' techniques dominated the field because they found ways to simplify the training of complex behaviors.[10] The Brelands did not just train the animals. They also trained other animal trainers, establishing in 1947 "the first school and instruction manual for teaching animal trainers the applied technology of behavior analysis."[8] Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom and Walt Disney numbered among those who came to learn from them.[14]

Some of ABE's government research remains classified to this day. Known projects included the development of an avian ambush detection system.[11][1][15] In 1950, the Brelands relocated ABE to a farm near Hot Springs, Arkansas, and in 1955 opened the I.Q. Zoo in Hot Springs as both a training facility and a showcase of trained animals.[16] "Popular acts included chickens that walked tightropes, dispensed souvenirs and fortune cards, danced to music from jukeboxes, played baseball and ran the bases; rabbits that kissed their (plastic) girlfriends, rode fire trucks and sounded sirens, and rolled wheels of fortune; ducks that played pianos and drums; and raccoons that played basketball."[2]

The Brelands were also "the first to introduce the public to the applied technology of behavior analysis via numerous personal appearances at fairs, exhibitions, and theme parks across the country"[8] and they appeared on well known television shows such as The Today Show, The Tonight Show, Wild Kingdom, and You Asked For It. Publications including Colliers, Life, Popular Mechanics, Reader's Digest, Saturday Evening Post, Time, and even The Wall Street Journal featured them and their work. Although Keller was often the public face of ABE with some ads referring to "Keller Breland's I.Q. Zoo," the Brelands collaborated equally in ABE's endeavors.[5]

The Brelands stirred controversy[17] among behaviorists with their 1961 article, "The misbehavior of organisms"[18] — the title of which involved a play on words referring to Skinner's classic 1938 work The Behavior of Organisms. Keller and Marian outlined training difficulties in which instinctual or instinctive drift might occur as tendencies biologically inherent in a species intrude into behaviors a trainer is attempting to teach an animal.[19] The article is recognized as a milestone in the history of psychology.[20][21]

Death

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On June 16, 1965, Keller died of a heart attack.[2] In their 1966 textbook, Marian described him as the “dreamer” and herself as the “engineer”.[22] She continued their work, writing, researching, and training animals until her death in 2001.

References

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  1. ^ a b Gillaspy, J. A., & E. M. Bihm (2002). Obituary: Marian Breland Bailey (1920–2001). American Psychologist, 57, pp. 292–293.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gillaspy, J. A., & E. M. Bihm (2007-07-16). Keller Bramwell Breland (1915-1965). The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  3. ^ A brief history. University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  4. ^ Langley, A., & T. Wiebers (2007). Marian Breland Bailey (1920-2001). Paper presented at the annual Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference. Henderson State University. Arkadelphia, Arkansas. In press: Proceedings Journal of the Arkansas Undergraduate Research Conference.
  5. ^ a b Bihm, E. M., & J. A. Gillaspy (2006). Marian Breland Bailey (1920-2001). The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved on March 10, 2007.
  6. ^ Gillaspy, Arthur Jr. (November 5, 1994). Interview with Marian and Robert Bailey. (Cassette recording). Conway, Arkansas.
  7. ^ Bailey, R. E., & J. A. Gillaspy (2005). Operant psychology goes to the fair: Marian and Keller Breland in the popular press, 1947–1966. (PDF) The Behavior Analyst, 28, 143–159. Retrieved on March 1, 2007.
  8. ^ a b c Wiebers, T. (2004). Dr. Marian Breland Bailey: A Psi Chi Tribute. Eye on Psi Chi 9 (1), 24-25. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  9. ^ a b c Yin, S. (August 2000). Advanced Chicken Training Camp. Cambridge Center of Behavioral Studies. Retrieved on September 18 2007.
  10. ^ a b Bailey, R. (2002). Click for Joy! clickertraining.com. Foreword and Introduction. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  11. ^ a b Cook-Hasley & Wiebers (1999). Marian Breland Bailey: A Pioneer in the History of Applied Animal Psychology. Henderson State University. Retrieved on September 19 2007.
  12. ^ Chapter six learning. polipsy.vip.sina.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  13. ^ Fishkoff, S. (1999-11-04). Pecking order: Whatever happened to the chickens who worked the tic-tac-toe game on Cannery Row? Montery County Weekly. Retrieved on March 9 2007.
  14. ^ Clark, C. (2001). Marian Breland (Mouse) Bailey, Ph.D. 1920 - 2001. The Centre for Applied Canine Behaviour. Retrieved on February 20, 2007.
  15. ^ Bailey, R. E. (2003). A gentle woman for all seasons. Division 25 Recorder, 36 (1), 1, pp. 4-5.
  16. ^ (1955-02-28). I.Q. Zoo. TIME. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  17. ^ History of Applied Behavioral Psychology Lab: Misbehavior of organisms controversy. University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  18. ^ Green, C.D. Classics in the History of Psychology: The Misbehavior of Organisms. York University. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  19. ^ Lavin, M. J. Brelands and instinctual drift. St. Bonaventure University. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  20. ^ Brewer, C. L. Psychology in an historical context: A timeline. Worth Publishers. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  21. ^ Miele, F. (2004-06-22). The revival of human nature [not equal to] the denial of human nurture: toward a consilient science of human behavior. Skeptic, 11 (2). Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  22. ^ Breland, K., & Breland, M. (1966). Animal behavior. New York: The Macmillan Company.
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