Animal Behavior Exam 1

Animal Behavior

The study of animal behavior, historically shifting from human-like attributions to instinct-driven views.

Chain of Being

Aristotle's idea of a ranked order of living organisms from simple to complex, influencing early views on behavior.

Natural Selection

Darwin's concept explaining behavioral differences through differential survival and reproduction.

Ethology

A subdiscipline focused on the evolutionary basis of animal behavior, often conducted in natural settings.

Comparative Psychology

A subdiscipline focused on the mechanisms and development of behavior, often studied in controlled laboratory settings.

George Romanes

A student of Darwin who chronicled the evolution of the mind through a table of emotions. He is also considered a founder of Comparative Psychology

Jacques Loeb

Proposed that nonhuman animal behavior was instinctual and based on tropisms.

Tropism

A physiochemical response to a stimulus often involving movement.

Niko Tinbergen

Attempted to integrate ethology and comparative psychology.

Phylogeny

A focus on evolution and comparisons among closely related species.

Comparative Method (Ethology)

Observing a behavior across related species to study its evolution.

Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)

A motor response initiated by an environmental stimulus that continues to completion even if the stimulus is removed

Sign Stimulus

The environmental factor that triggers a FAP.

Social Releaser

A sign stimulus caused by a member of the species (conspecific)

Chain of Reactions

A sequence of behaviors composed of successive FAPs.

Morgan's Canon

Advocated for objective, simple explanations of animal behavior, avoiding anthropomorphism.

Operant Conditioning

Trial-and-error learning where animals learn to repeat rewarded behaviors.

Law of Effect

The principle that rewarded responses are more likely to be repeated.

Classical Conditioning

Pairing a neutral stimulus with a rewarding one to create a conditioned response.

Behaviorism

A school of psychology focused on observable events and quantifiable data.

Physiological Psychology

Examines the physiological basis of behavior, focusing on the nervous system.

Jean Pierre Flourens

Localized brain lesions (ablations) in animals to observe their effects on behavior

Behavioral Ecology

Examines the evolutionary and ecological basis of animal behaviors.

Sociobiology

Application of evolutionary theory to social behavior.

Inclusive Fitness

The sum of direct (own offspring) and indirect (impact on nondescendent kin) fitness.

Sociobiology (Definition)

Systematic study of the biological basis of all social behaviors.

Demography

The statistical study of populations, including size, density, and distribution.

Behavioral Genomics

Studies the influence of genes or gene suites on behavior.

Behavioral Biology

A modern version of classical ethology, integrating Tinbergen's four questions.

Applied Animal Behavior

Practical application of animal behavior knowledge to better understand animal needs.

Natural Selection

Differential survival and reproduction due to genetically based variation.

Table of Emotions

A table of emotions charting the evolution of the mind.

Shock Lobe

The idea that all behavior was just physiochemical reactions to stimuli (forced movements or tropisms)

Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS)

A strategy that, when adopted by most members of a population, cannot be invaded by any rare alternative strategy.

Neurothology

Neurological study of behavior

Behavioral Endocrinology

Study of hormonal basis of behavior

Neuroecology

Study of adaptive variation in cognition in the brain

Neurothology

The neurological study of behavior

Behavioral Endocrinology

The study of the hormonal basis of behavior

Neuroecology

The study of adaptive variation in cognition in the brain