Behavior Flashcards
Science of animal behavior.
Ethology
Revolutionized much of the study related to biology and ethology.
Introduced the theory of evolution and natural selection.
Believed animal behavior was mostly generated by instinct (a combination of innate responses characteristic of a species).
Laid the foundation for classical ethology (which asserts that much of what animals know is instinctive).
Charles Darwin
Characterizes all related organisms as descended from common ancestors.
A natural process of slow change and development that gradually leads to the development of new species of plants/animals over a very long period of time.
Evolution
A particular animal species’ instinct enables species to respond appropriately to a wide range of conditions (stimuli) in the natural world to ensure the appropriate responses lead to survival and less successful responses lead to death or less successful reproduction which leads to the extinction of the less successful behavior.
Natural Selection
Asserts that much of what animals know is instinctive.
(ex. Cats have an innate/instinctive ability to bury their urine/feces in a litter box)
Classical Ethology
Tinbergen’s 4 Questions
Function
Mechanism
Development
Evolutionary History
One of the founding fathers of modern ethology who dedicated much of his research to identifying various kinds of fixed action patterns.
Konrad Lorenz
Any object can elicit the same response by exhibiting the cues.
Fixed Action Patterns
Young animals follow their parents because of auditory/visual cues the parents present.
This rapid learning process enables the very young to recognize/bond with their caretaker(s) as well as identify them as individuals.
Imprinting
The theory that behavior is learned rather than genetically programmed.
Behavioralism
Originator of behavioralism and formulated stimulus-response theory.
John B. Watson
All complex forms of behavior (including emotions, thoughts, and habits) are complex muscular and glandular responses that can be observed and measured.
Stimulus-Response Theory
Challenged the notion of animal behavior being purely instinctual during his classical conditioning experiment of training laboratory animals to automatically salivate (an unconditioned response) at the sound of a bell (a conditioned stimulus).
Ivan Pavlov
The association of stimuli that happens at approximately the same time or in roughly the same area.
ex. Pavlov —> bell reliably signaled that food was on the way
Classical Conditioning
The association of an activity with punishment or reward.
Operant Conditioning
Person
Organisms are doing what they naturally do until they accidentally encounter a stimuli that creates conditioning which results in a change in behavior.
Rats learned to touch a bar of a reward —> push lever for food.
B.F. Skinner
Adding something.
Can be good (toy or treat)
Can be bad (loud noise)
Positive
Taking something away/removing something.
Can be taking away something aversive (like a shock)
Can be removing something an animal likes (such as attention from a person)
Negative
You want the learned to continue the behavior.
Encouragement.
Reinforcement
You want the behavior to go away, stop behavior.
Typically aversive (unpleasant/uncomfortable).
Punishment
You add something to increase behavior.
Add something pleasant to increase behavior.
ex. offer a treat when dogs sit on cue.
Positive Reinforcement
You take something away to increase behavior.
Remove something unpleasant to increase behavior.
ex. you take away your teenager’s chores for the day because they finish their homework.
Negative Reinforcement
You add something to decrease a behavior.
Add unpleasant response to decrease behavior.
ex. you use an air horn to stop a dog from barking.
Positive Punishment
You remove something to decrease a behavior.
Remove something pleasant to decrease behavior.
ex. turning your back on your dog when they jump on you (take away the attention)
Negative Punishment
Stimuli that have a biological basis —> need little to no prior conditioning (learning) to be effective.
Primary Reinforcers
Completely neural or weakly positive reinforcement —> things like games or you may remember a gold star you got on your homework.
Secondary Reinforcers
The study of the biological basis of social behavior
Complex social patterns arise, develop, and sometimes disappear based on their survival value.
Sociobiology
Stereotypical/predictable behaviors in same-species animals.
Patterns same among all members of the same species.
Fixed Action Patterns
Inherited/genetically coded responses to environmental stimuli enable members of a species to respond appropriately to a wide ranger of situations in the natural world.
Often characteristic patterns of feeding, mating, parenting, and displays of aggression. Permits animals to perform very complex behaviors without learning through trial and error.
Instincts
This rapid learning process enables the very young to recognize and bond with their caretaker(s) and identify them as individuals.
A process by which young animals follow their parents because of visual/auditory cues the parents present
Imprinting
When the hair stands up.
Signal of anxiety, fear, auroral, excitement, conflict.
Piloerection
Critical socialization period of puppies.
4-14 weeks
Critical socialization period of kittens.
2-8 weeks
Behavior arising from an impulse to harm another being.
Aggression
Fight. Flight. Freeze. Fret.
Fear Responses
Pace, pant, can’t settle down, watch vigilantly.
Can also be associated with separation anxiety.
Fret
Animals that hold still can blend into the environment to avoid predators. Lifesaving (esp. in the wild).
Dogs during restraint (lack of movement is stiff and is a fear response).
Cats when they think that someone is looking for them.
Freeze
Attempting to get away from a perceived danger.
Usually this is running away long enough or far enough for the animal to find a hiding place.
Flight
All animals will when they’re afraid… But prefer to escape or freeze.
Dogs will snarl, show their teeth, lunge.
Cats will raise their hair to make themselves larger, hiss, swipe with a paw.
Fight
A behavior problem in dogs due to the strong, close bonds with their owners and the fact that they are a highly social species.
Bond so strong that dog feels anxiety when separated from owner.
May see excessive vocalization, destructive behavior, inappropriate elimination, anorexia, hyperactivity, or inactivity.
Some exhibit physical signs including panting, hypersalivation, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Separation Anxiety
Behavior problem that occurs when a dog is exposed to an uncomfortable/uncertain stimulus/conflict.
Dog has learned that aggression will allow it to avoid the conflict and uses aggression to lessen its fear of the stimulus.
Arises from inconsistent/unpredictable environment.
Conflict-Related Aggression
Behavior problem that occurs whenever an animal is in a situation it previewed as threatening and can’t escape.
Causes include loud noises, children, or even specific individuals.
Most common type of aggression seen in vet hospitals.
Fear-Induced Aggression
Behavior problem that comes from dogs’/cats’ instinct to hunt.
Animal wont give a warning, usually stalks prey until finally pouncing on it.
Predatory Aggression
Behavior problem that comes from a protective instinct.
Might bite if painful body part touched.
Pain-Induced Aggression
Behavior problem that comes from a testosterone-driven natural instinct that causes males to display aggression towards each other.
Nearly eliminated by castration.
Intermale Aggression
Behavioral problem where animals show aggressive tendencies related to territory.
Dogs —> towards humans who aren’t members of their household.
Cats —> toward other cats in their perceived territory.
Territorial Aggression
Behavioral problem that can occur in the post-partum period.
Normal maternal instinct developed to protect an animal’s young from danger.
Maternal Aggression
Behavior problem where animals urinate/defecate inside the home.
Can have many causes including medical conditions, sexual maturity, inconsistent training, infrequent walks, fear.
House-Soiling
Giving a command and immediately rewarding the desired response.
Cue-Response-Reward
Command-Response-Reward
A clicker is used to signal to the animal that it performed the right command/behavior and will receive a reward.
Clicker Training
Involves eliminating a problem behavior by completely removing the reinforcement for the behavior.
Extinction
Involves creating a relationship between an unpleasant stimulus and an object that an animal may be marking, chewing, or otherwise damaging.
Used to keep an animal away from a particular area or object.
Aversion Therapy
Involves the use of positive punishment (add to decrease) to diminish a problem behavior.
To discourage an animal from displaying a particular behavior.
Goal = for the pet to link a behavior with an unpleasant event and then avoid that circumstance.
Avoidance Therapy
Involves surrounding the animal with the stimulus causing the problem until the animal becomes acclimated to the stimulus and is no longer afraid of it.
Habituation
To elimitate an undesired behavior.
MUST: Occur every time the behavior occurs, be applied immediately, and be of appropriate intensity.
Punishment
Involves taking a stimulus link to a negative emotion and reconditioning the animal by linking the stimulus to a positive emotion.
Can replace an undesirable behavior with a desired one.
Sometimes used in conjunction with desensitization.
Counterconditioning
Involves diminishing a particular behavior by gradually exposing the animal to the stimulus that produces the inappropriate response.
Desensitization
Includes cue-response-reward, clicker training, extinction, aversion therapy, avoidance therapy, habituation, punishment, counterconditioning, and desensitization.
Can also include environmental modification, surgical approaches, and pharmaceutical therapy.
Behavior Modification Techniques
