Animal Behavior

Responses Seen in lab Stimulus leads to change in direction Taxis Kinesis Stimulus leads to change in direction Stimulus leads to change in speed

Behaviors can be innate or learned Completely genetically controlled Automatic from birth Some genetic predisposition But behavior is learned and developed

Examples of innate behavior Instinct Fixed Action Pattern Imprinting

Instinct Inclination towards a behavior E.g. newly hatched turtles walk towards ocean Human babies exhibit many instinctual reflexes

Fixed Action Pattern Innate response to a particular stimulus E.g. male stickleback fish have a red underbelly. They will attack anything they see with a red underbelly and ignore a male fish with no red stripe

Imprinting Animal has innate ability to learn but only during a critical period E.g. ducks/geese imprint first thing they see as their mother E.g. birds learn bird song only during a brief period

Examples of learned behavior Habituation Associative learning Trial and error learning Observational learning Insight or critical thinking

Habituation Begin ignoring repetitive stimuli E.g. you don’t feel clothes after a while Allows you to focus on important stimuli

Learn to relate two stimuli Associative learning Learn to relate two stimuli E.g. Pavlov’s Dog

Trial and Error Learning Associate behavior with a stimulus E.g. operant conditioning Basis of punishment and reward systems

Observational Learning Pick up behaviors that you see Actually a fairly complex behavior

Coming up with new ideas Insight Coming up with new ideas Highest form of learning