Animal behaviour

Question 1

Humans are more complex

Answer 1

-Humans can problem solving and use language, reason and logic

Question 2

anthropomorphism

Answer 2

-Animals’ behaviour is referenced to in terms of human emotions and motivation

Question 3

Problem solving

Answer 3

• Copy someone modelling solving the same problem

- Extinction of reinforcers produces variable behavior and stimulus generalization based on learning history

Question 4

Pigeons problem solve

Answer 4

• Naïve pigeons were shaped using reinforcement to learn to push a box onto a green dot. Then, they were shaped to peck a banana.
• Finally, they were given a box and the banana was out of reach. The pigeons used their learning history to push the box under the banana and climb up to peck it.
• Extinction of reinforcers produced variable behaviour and generalisation of banana pecking and pushing the box on the green spot. Pushing the box under the banana became the discriminate stimuli for climbing and pecking.

Question 5

Guilty dogs

Answer 5

• Dog owners described a guilty do as cowering, covering ears and putting their tail back. Studies of dogs suggest they can show primary emptions life fear and happiness but there is not much evidence for secondary emotions life guilt and jealousy.
• A study of owners of guilty dogs, found that if the owner told them off regardless of whether they had done something wrong they would show guilty behaviours. This suggests that they display guilty behaviours are negatively reinforced as it stops the scolding which is scary for the dog as they don’t know what they don’t know what they’ve done.
• Another study found dogs preferred petting over voice praise, tone of voice is likely to be a conditioned reinforcer.

Question 6

Human vs animal language

Answer 6

-Animal language is more reflexive (occurs in the presence of a stimuli) and does not require response. Whereas human language is operant, mand, tact, echoic, inverbal, functional and verbal

Question 7

Chimps sign language

Answer 7

• Washoe the chimp was taught simple signs from the age of one then two-word sentences. By the time she was four she had a vocab of 130 ASL signs e.g. more fruit.
• She was good at using words but poor gramma (order of signs) as this had minor impact on the contingencies and reinforcers for what she was signing.

Question 8

Alex the parrot

Answer 8

-o African grey parrot was taught two-way communicating and concept learning through reinforcement and generalisation e.g. counting shapes, colours etc. the parrot could also ask for things it wanted and apologise etc.