1. Innate & Learned Behavior
Chapter 51
Innate & Learned Behavior

2. You Need to Know… How behaviors are the result of natural selection
How innate and learned behaviors increase survival and reproductive fitness
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3. Ethology
Behavior: action carried out by muscles under control of nervous system
Genetic & environmental triggers
Essential for survival & reproduction
Subject to natural selection
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4. Understanding Behavior
Proximate Cause
Ultimate Cause
How a behavior occurs
Why a behavior occurs in the context of natural selection
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5. Innate Behaviors Fixed action pattern
Sequence of innate behaviors that is unchangeable
Once initiated, carried to completion
Triggered by an external cue (sign stimulus)
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6. Innate Behaviors Directed Movements
Kinesis: simple change in activity in response to a stimulus
Taxis: automatic movement, oriented +/- from a stimulus
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7. Innate Behaviors Migration Regular, long-distance change in location
Triggered by environmental cues
Remain oriented by
Position of the sun
Circadian clock
Position of the North Star
Earth’s magnetic field
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8. Innate Behaviors Signal Communication
Behavior that causes a change in another animal’s behavior
Transmission and reception of signals
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9. Learned Behaviors Habituation
Loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no information
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10. Learned Behaviors Imprinting
Behavior that includes learning and innate components
Generally irreversible
Distinguished from other learning by a sensitive period
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11. Learned Behaviors
Associative learning: associate one feature of the environment with another
Classical Conditioning
Arbitrary stimulus associated with a particular outcome
Operant Conditioning
Associate behavior with reward or punishment
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12. Learned Behaviors Observational Learning
Behavior is learned by watching the actions of another organism
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13. Learned Behaviors Cognition
Process of knowing that may include awareness, reasoning, recollection, and judgment
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14. Learned Behaviors Problem Solving (Insight)
Process of devising a strategy to overcome an obstacle
Relies on cognition
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15. Learned Behaviors Social learning
Learning through the observation of others
Forms the roots of culture
Influences behavior of individuals in a population
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