Behavioral Science Final Vocab

Animal Behavior

the way in which an animal responds to a stimulus

Stimulus

any change in the environment which is capable of producing a response

Response

a reaction to a stimulus

Ethology

the study of animals in their natural setting

Innate Behavior

any unlearned behavior that is genetically controlled

Classical Conditioning

a response to a stimulus that would not normally elicit a response

Operant Conditioning

behavior that is reinforced by some type of reward

Habituation

a form of learning in which an animal learns not to perform a certain behavior

Social Behavior

patterns of behavior that involve two or more of the same species

Aggression

any act or series of acts, postures, or vocalizations used by one individual to inflict injury on another

Spacing

the distance between two individuals

Courtship

sequence of behavioral patterns which precedes fertalization

Mateship Strategy

manner in which animals choose their mates

Monogamy

one male and one female restrict their mating to each other

Polygamy

one individual mates with two or more of the opposite sex

Polyandry

one female mates with two or more males; the female rears young herself

Polygyny

one male mates with two or more females; found exclusively in primates

Promiscuous Relationship

when sexes copulate, and then separate. Both usually copulate with additional individuals for a wide variation of the gene pool

Prezygotic Isolation

barriers that prevent organisms from different species from courting and mating

Postzygotic Isolation

barriers that prevent offspring created from two different species from developing and reproducing itself

Doomed Surplus

the excess amount of young that are born and that will die to predation, disease, weather, etc.

Altricial

less advances/ developed at birth; food, warmth, and protection from parents are necessary for survival

Precocial

young are born mobile and can feed/ take care of themselves

Imprinting

the rapid social attachment between a baby bird and its mother that occurs at a critical stage in the young bird’s life

Learning

the result of an animal’s experience changing its behavior

Latent Learning

learning by association, without rewards or reinforcement

Insight Learning

learning that occurs by using experiences from a prior, different situation

Communication

the action on the part of one organism that alters the behavior of another organism

Discrete Signals

signals that represent dichotomies (opposites) like yes/ no

Graded Signals

communicated signals that have varied meanings

Intraspecific Behavior

behavior between members of the same species

Interspecific Behavior

behavior between members of different species

Signal

any behavior that conveys information from one individual to another or others

Visual Signals

using sight as a means of communication

Auditory Signals

using sound as a means of communication

Chemical Communication

using chemicals as a means of communication

Pheromones

chemicals released that alter the behavior of others in the same species

Signal Specificity

a situation where, for each signal, there is only one response

Territory

a preserved place to live, where an animal feeds, sleeps, and raises its young

Territoriality

the phenomenon of an animal claiming a territory for itself; it is almost always a defended area

Dominance Hierarchies

social patterns of behavior in which one animal dominates the rest of the group

Altruistic

an action performed by an animal that increases the reproductive fitness or survival of another individual while decreasing the fitness or survival of the actor

Cooperative

an action performed by an animal that benefits themselves as well as other individuals the behavior is acting with/ on

Selfish

an action that increases the survival or reproductive fitness of the actor at the expense of the recipient

Spiteful

an action that imposes a fitness cost for both the actor and the recipient

Absolute Hierarchy

a stable, consistent social ranking where an individual’s status remains fixed regardless of setting or context

Relative Hierarchy

a social structure where an individual’s rank or dominance status is context-dependent, fluid, or determined by their relationship to specific group members

Mobbing

attack on a predator by a group of its prey

Synapse

the functional gap or junction between two neurons

Movement

the physical change in location from one location to another

Migration

regular movement between two habitats, in order to exploit two different resources

Dispersal

the random movement of animals

Young Animal Dispersal

movement of young away from the nesting site

Marine Dispersal

the random movement of larval animals by tides and currents

Hitchhiking

a form of dispersal where an animal hitches a ride on another animal or object

Irruption

dispersal of a particularly large number of animals outside their normal range

Catadromous Fish

fish that spawn in the sea and swims up rivers to feed and mature

Anadromous Fish

fish that live in the sea and swim up rivers to spawn

Leading Lines

natural boundaries within flyways such as seacoasts, deserts, and mountains

Loop Migration

migrations of seabirds that take advantage of prevailing winds

Echolocation

form of sensing sound that is used to determine the position of obstacles and prey

Stalking

to pursue game in a stealthy manner

Countershading

an animal being darker on top and lighter on bottom allows for it to not be detected from above or below

Lures

a sit and wait hunting strategy where predators use a light, smell, or fake-prey to entice a prey to come close within striking distance

Outline Disruption

bodies patterned with spots or stripes to break up the recognizable outline of the predator

Retaliation

prey using its own teeth, jaws, and claws to fight off predators

Extrasensory

refers to communication that human senses are unable to detect

Internal Fertilization

allows for developing young to be well protected and nourished

External Fertilization

allows for large amount of egg to be fertilized at once, increasing the chance of population survival

Dominance

phenomenon where members of an aggressively controlled group of individuals coexist within one territory