Term
| animal behavior is also called.... |
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Definition
ethnology
comparative psychology |
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Term
| anthropomorphism (definition) |
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Definition
| attributing human emotions and thoughts to non-human animals |
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Term
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Definition
interest in animals that is only limited to their usefulness to humans
ex. using animals to teach "lessons" about humans |
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Term
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Definition
| attributing conscious purpose to animal behavior |
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Term
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Definition
made observations about the natural world
many weren't true (didn't follow scientific method) |
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Term
| albert the great (1200-1280) |
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Definition
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Term
| emperor frederick II (1194-1250) |
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Definition
| had a passion for falconry and studied it firsthand |
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Term
| rene descartes (1596-1650) |
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Definition
philosopher, mathematician, scientist
believed in mechanistic understanding of nature
originator of "animals are atomata" theory |
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Term
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Definition
| theory that animals are machines, devoid of morals or reason |
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Term
| charles darwin (1809-1882) |
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Definition
theorized evolutionary continuity in behavior between species
published "the expression of the emotions in man and animals" (1872) |
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Term
| george romanes (1848-1894) |
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Definition
considered the father of comparative psychology
was explicitly anthromorphic - believed he could determine an animals mental state based on behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| came up with a theory that caused scientists to underestimate animal cognitive abilities afterwards |
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Term
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Definition
| in no case can we interpret any action as the outcome of the exercise of higher psychial faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of one which stands lower on the psychological scale |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
you can't know what an animal is thinking, so focus on external manifestations of behavior, especially modification by reinforcement -
punishment and reward |
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Term
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Definition
created an isolated environment where an animal can respond to stimuli
denied that there were learning differences between species (major error) |
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Term
| charles whitman (1847-1910) |
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Definition
| took an evolutionary approach to comparative psychology |
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Term
| ethology emerged from _____ and is _____ in nature |
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Definition
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Term
| ethology emphasized the evolution of behavior in what kind of environment? how did it accomplish this? |
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Definition
| natural environment ; field experiment |
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Term
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Definition
| discovered 'imprinting' behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| studied communication between and among honeybees |
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Term
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Definition
| executed field experiments namely on birds and insects |
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Term
| in the entire field of ethology, which scientists earned a nobel prize? in what category? |
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Definition
| lorenz, frisch, & tinbergen ; physiology/molecular biology |
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Term
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Definition
environment as the animal perceives it
provides context for animal's behavior
most important in the sensory system
(ex - sensory cues for ticks to find a meal) |
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Term
| sign stimulus / releaser (with example) |
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Definition
a stimulus that activates/releases an instinctive behavior
(ex - red dot on herring gull beaks) |
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Term
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Definition
a distinctive behavioral sequence that is indivisible and runs to completion
nearly the same in all members of a species |
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Term
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Definition
a psychological 'drive'
the motivation to perform behavior |
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Term
| displacement behavior (with example) |
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Definition
behavior shown in conflicted motivational state
an animal may perform an inappropriate behavior to the situation
(ex - begging in dogs) |
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Term
| redirected behavior (with example) |
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Definition
usually aggressive behavior from a conflicting motivational state
behavior directed at an inappropriate target, since actual target is too dangerous
(ex - dominant attacks subordinate, subordinate attacks another individual ; shitty boyfriend or bully behaviors) |
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Term
| tinbergen's four questions |
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Definition
- what are the stimuli that trigger the behavior
- how does the behavior develop
- how did the behavior evolve
- what is the adaptive value (if any) of the behavior in terms of fitness of the individual that performs it |
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Term
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Definition
behavioral development in the life of an individual
(ex - birdsong) |
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Term
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Definition
| evolution of behavior in the history of the species |
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Term
| types of stimuli that can trigger behaviors |
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Definition
internal - hormones, physiological condition
external - change in environment
(or a mix of the two) |
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Term
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Definition
| reproductive success, mainly |
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Term
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Definition
- what stimuli trigger behavior
- how does behavior develop
can be studied on multiple levels i.e. behavioral, neurological, molecular, etc |
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Term
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Definition
- how did the behavior evolve
- what is the adaptive value of the behavior, if any |
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Term
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Definition
a catalog of the species' basic behaviors
provides description of behavioral repertoire of a species |
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Term
| what determines a well-designed experiment? |
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Definition
| whether the results clearly decide between alternative hypotheses |
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Term
| categories of naming behaviors (with examples) |
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Definition
motor pattern level (running, climbing, pecking)
functional level (aggression, maternal care)
mental level (fearfulness) |
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Term
| what is a hypothesis and what criteria must it reach? |
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Definition
| a conjecture about nature ; must be testable and falsifiable |
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Term
| basic principles of animal behavior |
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Definition
- behavior is a response to changes in internal and/or external environment of the animal
- not all stimuli on an animal will elicit a response
- behavioral responses are rarely 100% predictable |
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Term
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Definition
- elicit a response from the animal
- arouse an animal (prepare an animal to respond to a stimulus) |
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Term
| what is the difference between internal and external stimuli when conducting behavioral research? |
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Definition
- external behavior can often be observed directly
- internal behavior cannot be observed by a human but can be measured through lab techniques |
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Term
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Definition
| animal only perceives stimuli that it considers functionally significant and will only elicit a response to that stimuli |
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Term
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Definition
| an animal learns to stop responding to a stimulus that repeats frequently and has no particularly positive or negative consequence |
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Term
| types of behavioral variability |
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Definition
- between individuals
- within individuals |
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Term
| what causes variability between individuals? |
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Definition
genetic differences
experiences |
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Term
| what causes variability within individuals? |
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Definition
motivation
context
learning |
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Term
| phenotypic plasticity (with example) |
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Definition
when the phenotype is subject to change as a result of environmental effects
behavioral phenotypes are particularly subject to this
(ex - vegetarian vs carnivorous tadpoles) |
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Term
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Definition
| factors that regulate expression and silencing of genes; "environmental effects" |
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Term
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Definition
a species-specific behavior - all or most members of a species perform it
genetically hard-wired behavior
essentially an "instinct" |
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Term
| criteria used to distinguish innate behavior |
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Definition
- behavior is stereotypical for the species; nearly constant in all individuals
- behavior develops normally even in animals reared in isolation
- behavior develops despite a lack of practice; no learning phase |
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Term
| criticisms of innate behavior |
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Definition
- does stereotypy necessarily imply the behavior is innate?
- deprivation experiments are hard to design
- behaviors determined to be innate because of lack of practice could be linked to developing fetal experience |
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Term
| T/F: behaviors can be categorized as either innate or learned |
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Definition
| FALSE: behaviors fall along a continuum of innate vs learned |
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Term
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Definition
when a single locus controls multiple traits
usually occurs when a single locus influences behavior |
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Term
| knockout experiments (with example) |
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Definition
when a particular gene is eliminated to see its effects
(ex fosB gene in lab mice) |
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Term
| T/F: heritability is a characteristic of one population and therefore can't be compared between populations |
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Definition
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Term
| what kind of experiments can be used as estimates of heritability? |
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Definition
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Term
| selection differential equation |
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Definition
S = Ms-Mp
the selection differential is the difference between the mean of selected individuals and the mean of the parental generation |
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Term
| response to selection equation |
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Definition
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Term
| "narrow sense" heritability equations |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
(Vt) = (Ve) + (Vg) + (Vg,e)
total variance is the sum of environmental variance, genetic variance, and the variance due to the gene by environmental interaction |
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Term
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Definition
(Vg) = (Va) + (Vna)
gene variance is the sum of additive interference and non-additive interference |
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Term
| T/F: in a selection experiment with a gene component, you would expect Mo < Mp over time |
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Definition
| FALSE: you would expect Mo > Mp |
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Term
| what kind of behavior would a heritable trait show over time in a selection experiment and why? |
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Definition
logarithmic behavior due to inbreeding
R decreases over time, while the alleles that contribute to the trait reach closer and closer to 100% |
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Term
| T/F: heritability is expected to decrease over time with random selection |
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Definition
| FALSE: heritability is expected to decrease over time with CONTINUED selection |
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Term
| T/F: a substantial value for Vg,e may cause your heritability estimates to not be meaningful |
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Definition
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Term
| evolution requires what two things? |
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Definition
- genetic basis
- change in gene frequency over time |
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Term
| evidence for behavioral evolution (with examples) |
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Definition
- artificial selection as a model of natural selection
(ex - in domestication where humans have selected for certain behavioral traits)
- comparative studies of related species can be used to reconstruct a sequence of behavioral evolution
(ex - fly species presenting prey and silk, swiftlet's secretion for making nests) |
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Term
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Definition
| random changes in gene frequency due to the fact that populations are finite |
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Term
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Definition
if the mutation confers a fitness advantage, its frequency will tend to increase over time often reaching 100% frequency
the opposite is true if it confers a fitness disadvantage |
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Term
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Definition
| a trait that enhances fitness |
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Term
| forces that govern the fate of a new mutant allele |
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Definition
genetic drift
natural selection |
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Term
| types of natural selection |
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Definition
positive
purifying
stabilizing |
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Term
| types of positive natural selection |
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Definition
directional - favoring the advantageous mutant
balancing - maintains polymorphism |
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Term
| purifying natural selection |
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Definition
selection against deleterious mutations
by far the most common form of natural selection |
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Term
| stabilizing natural selection |
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Definition
selection against extreme values
explains stereotyped nature of species |
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Term
| T/F: selection is conservative at a phenotypic level |
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Definition
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Term
| s.j. gould and r.c. lewontin |
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Definition
published "the spandrels of san marco & the panglossian paradigm"
challenged the common misconception of "adaptive storytelling" |
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Term
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Definition
| the belief that we are living and evolving to the "best of all possible worlds" or to the best possible versions of ourselves |
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Term
| to avoid problems identified by gould and lewontin..... |
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Definition
- test adaptive storytelling
- consider alternative hypotheses
- consider that a trait could be an "exaptation"/pre-adaptation
- recognize that adaptation often involves a trade-off: the loss of ability to survive in other environments
- remember that originally adaptive behaviors could become maladaptive due to living in a human-altered world |
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Term
| tinbergen's four questions |
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Definition
- mechanisms
- development
- adaptive significance (if any)
- evolution |
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Term
| the central nervous system consists of.... |
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Definition
| the brain and central nerve cord |
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Term
| where is the central nerve cord located in vertebrates? in arthropods? |
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Definition
vertibrates - dorsal
arthropods - ventral |
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Term
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Definition
basic unit of nervous system
a nerve cell |
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Term
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Definition
| branching structures that receive input from sensory cells or other neurons |
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Term
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Definition
| transmit the electrical signal from the cell body to other cells |
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Term
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Definition
| the electrical difference inside and outside of the cell necessary to transmit signals from one cell to the next |
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Term
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Definition
| when an action potential causes the membrane to depolarize, causing a temporary change in membrane permeability |
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Term
| what is depolarization and which way does it move? |
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Definition
when the electrical difference on each side of a membrane switches places;
it moves away from the cell body, down the axon |
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Term
| which organisms have a myelin sheath with nodes of ranvier? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| gaps between an axon and another neuron or an effector cell |
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Term
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Definition
| chemical messengers of the nervous system that carry information across synapses |
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Term
| how can the chemicals that serve as neurotransmitters be used? |
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Definition
- broken down enzymatically in the synapse
- taken up by the pre-synaptic cecll |
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Term
| reflex loop (with example) |
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Definition
the simplest way to generate behavior - when sensory neurons synapse into the spinal cord instead of the brain for a quicker reaction
(ex - knee-jerk test at the doctor's office) |
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Term
| T/F: CNS structure is related to behavior |
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Definition
| TRUE: the complexity of the CNS is related to the complexity of behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| concentration of elements in the nervous system in an anterior "head", particularly those involved in sensation and coordination of movement |
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Term
| which groups of organisms have developed a highly sophisticated CNS? |
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Definition
mollusks (particularly the cephalopods - squid and octopus)
arthropods (insects)
vertebrates |
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Term
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Definition
chemical messengers between tissues that have 'long distance' effects on the body
often regulate long-term changes
relatively small molecules |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| receptor molecule/receptor protein |
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Definition
tissue responsive to a hormone and expresses the receptor
when bound to the hormone, triggers a response |
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Term
| T/F: the receptor is located on the cell surface |
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Definition
| FALSE: receptors can be on the cell surface or in the nucleus, depending on the hormone |
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Term
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Definition
peptide hormone
produced by pituitary
target: gonads
behavioral effect: indirect;
via estrogen/testosterone production |
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Term
| follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) |
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Definition
peptide hormone
produced by pituitary
target: gonads
behavioral effect: indirect;
via estrogen/testosterone production |
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Term
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Definition
steroid
produced by gonads, primarily ovaries
target: brain, tissues, reproductive organs
behavioral effects: female reproductive receptibility; secondary female sex characteristics |
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Term
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Definition
steroid
produced by gonads, primarily testes
target: brain, tissues, reproductive organs
behavioral effects: male sexual behavior- aggression, dominance; secondary male sex characteristics |
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Term
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Definition
steroid
produced by gonads - ovaries, placenta
targets: brain, mammary glands
behavioral effects: reproduction (post-fertilization); parental behavior |
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Term
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Definition
peptide
produced by hypothalamus; released by pituitary
target: brain, uterus, mammary glands
behavioral effects: birth, start of lactation, parental care, bonding |
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Term
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Definition
peptide
produced by pituitary
target: brain, mammary glands
behavioral effects: milk production; parental behavior |
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Term
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Definition
amine
produced by adrenal gland
target: brain, vascular & respiratory tissues
behavioral effects: "fight or flight"; alertness, increased heart rate, peripheral vascular contraction |
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Term
| effects of hormones on behavioral development (with examples) |
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Definition
- expression of behavior even after hormonal stimulus is removed
(ex - spaying/neutering)
- environmental estrogens introduced by human products may disrupt behavior
(ex fat-head minnow parental behavior) |
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