Ch. 2

Question 1

Instinct

Answer 1

Genetically motivated behaviors have often been called instincts
A genetically programmed bit of behavior that occurs when circumstances are appropriate; they require no learning

Question 2

Nominal fallacy

Answer 2

• simply labeling something an instinct does not explain the behavior
  Lists of “instincts” seemed arbitrary

Question 3

Human Ethnology - Intention movements (posturing)

Answer 3

Communicate motivational intent
Dogs may bare teeth; humans shift weight when leaving a conversation
Flirting and hair flipping may indicate sexual interest; staring may indicate intent to aggress

Question 4

Human Ethnology - Facial expressions (Ekman and colleagues)

Answer 4

Eyebrow flick universal

Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust are universally recognized

Question 5

Open (prepared) behaviors

Answer 5

Behaviors that are instinctive but relatively open to modification through learning

Question 6

Closed (Contraprepared) behaviors

Answer 6

Instincts not open to alteration by experience/learning
Contraprepared in that they are difficult (maybe impossible to learn because they are being “prepared against” the evolutionary history of the organism

Question 7

Unprepared behaviors

Answer 7

In between prepared and contraprepared—learned associations, but not made more difficult by going against an instinct

Question 8

Key (sign) stimuli

Answer 8

environmental cues that trigger an innate response

Question 9

Social Releasers

Answer 9

behaviors of species members that trigger an innate response in their species (e.g., posturing, plumage, or coloration)

Question 10

Fixed action pattern

Answer 10

the response that the key stimulus/social release elicits

Species-specific motor patterns that are rigid and “blind” (independent of learning)