Animal Behavior Mrs. Rightler

Methods of Study Comparative psychology Ethology Behavioral ecology Sociobiology

Instinct Basic set of behaviors present at birth May need a trigger Behavior improves or changes with experience

Maturation Behavior seen after a period of development has occurred Improvement or change not based on experience but on time Ex. Tadpole swimming techniques

Imprinting Konrad Lorenz Critical time period ONLY Young animal develops attachment to another animal or object Rapid learning

Learning

Habituation Animal trained to ignore stimuli Dog examples

Classical Conditioning Pavlov’s dog Animal learns to respond to particular stimuli Basic obedience training

Instrumental Conditioning Trial-and-error learning Skinner Box Behavior can be “shaped”

Latent Learning Exploratory learning No obvious reward Helps animal learn about its surroundings

Insight Learning Animal uses experiences and thinking to solve problems. Tool use Primates

Behavior is Controlled by: Nervous system Endocrine system –Organizational effects –Activational effects

Animal Communication Transfer of information from one animal to the other (both must be mutually adapted) Visual Auditory Tacticle Chemical