An animal trainer operantly conditions a raccoon to take coins from audience members and place them in a "Donation Box for Raccoons Injured in a Recent Oil Spill." Before the raccoons place the coins in the box, they rub them with their paws. In the wild, raccoons typically rub the sand off food while washing it in water. Most likely, their coin rubbing behavior is an example of ____.

An animal trainer operantly conditions a raccoon to take coins from audience members and place them in a "Donation Box for Raccoons Injured in a Recent Oil Spill." Before the raccoons place the coins in the box, they rub them with their paws. In the wild, raccoons typically rub the sand off food while washing it in water. Most likely, their coin rubbing behavior is an example of instinctual drift.

Explanation:

Instinctual drift refers to how some trained animals tend to behave instinctively once again. That is to say, their behavior will be affected by their evolutionary contingencies, in opposition to the operant contingencies related to their training. These are unessential and rarely useful behaviors.