The Study of Animal Behavior

What did Darwin study on his exhibition?

-huge variety of fossil and living creatures

Natural Selection

-the process that awards survival and reproductive success to individuals and groups best adjusted to their environment - ensures that appropriate responses lead to survival

On the Origin of Species

Darwin's book published in 1859 -introduced theory of evolution - devoted an entire chapter to animal behavior

Classical Ethology

The approach asserting that much of what animals know is instinctive, or innate -behavior sequences are genetically programmed -innate patterns emerge throughout the entire animal kingdom

Stimulus-Response Theory

States that all complex forms of behavior (including emotions, thoughts, and habits) are complex muscular and glandular responses that can be observed and measured. -In other words, behavior cannot exist without a stimulus of some sort, at least from this perspective.

Classical Conditioning

a type of conditioned learning -uses the association of stimuli that occur at approximately the same time or in roughly the same area -based on Pavlov's experiments

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning that works on the principle of associating a certain activity ( called the OPERANT), with punishment or reward

Unconditioned Stimulus

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response. -for example, the sight of food is an unconditioned stimulus that naturally triggers salivation in dogs

Conditioned Stimulus

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response -for example: Pavlov associated the ringing of a bell, a conditioned stimulus, with food, an unconditioned stimulus, to trigger salivation, unconditioned response, in dogs.

Extreme supporters of classical ethology suggest that all new behavior patterns observed in animals simply result from...

maturation

Darwin proposed that a particular animal species' instincts enable that species to...

respond appropriately to a wide range of conditions in the natural world. Those behaviors usually involve complex responses to particular stimuli

In reality, certain animal behavior patterns, no matter how fixed or inflexible, may have been

shaped in part by learning and environmental influences

Ethology

study of animal behavior

Operant

the activity that is followed by punishment or reward in operant conditioning

What is essential for individual species to adapt to their environment?

the forces of natural selection and instinctive behavior

Behaviorism

the school of animal psychology which holds that behavior is LEARNED rather than genetically programmed -dominant in the first half of the 20th century

Sociobiology

the study of the biological basis of social behavior

Function

the survival value of certain behaviors

Instinct

unlearned responses characteristic of a species

In reality, evolution and instincts place limits on

what certain species can learn

Unconditioned Response

an involuntary response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus -simple reflex behavior -for example, dogs salivating at the sight of food is an unconditioned response

Most contemporary ethologists agree that...

animal behavior development involves a broad range of processes. Animals adopt some behaviors instinctually, while other behaviors require an extensive learning period.

Sociobiologists theorize that complex social patterns...

arise, develop, and sometimes disappear based on their survival value

Example of classical ethology

birds don't learn to fly, they just delay flight until they are strong enough to support themselves in the air

Behaviorists believed that animal behavior originated almost entirely through

conditioning! -They believed animals were born as essentially blank slates and their behavior is developed through chance and their experiences

Natural selection serves to

develop and refine the complex behavior patterns of animal species

Nature-Nurture Controversy

disagreement among theorists about whether learning or instinct has more influence on animal behavior

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

Charles Darwin

-British scientist that revolutionized field of biology

B.F. Skinner

-Expert on operant conditioning -Taught rats how to press on a bar for food -Rats were rewarded with food when they faced the correct end of the cage, then when they stood next to the bar, etc until they only received food when they touched the bar

John B. Watson

-Founder of Behaviorism -formulated stimulus-response theory

Charles Darwin traveled aboard the...as an...

-HMS Beagle -unpaid naturalist

Evolution

Theory that characterizes all related organisms as descended from common ancestors