Ch. 3 Flashcards
Elicited behaviour
It’s a behaviour that is drawn out by a proceeding stimulus. (It is also known as a respondent behaviour or respondent.)
They are listed in the sense that they are automatically drawn out by a stimulus that proceeds them. In the sense mini elicited behaviours are those that we consider to be involuntary.
Reflex
A reflex is a relatively simple automatic response to a stimulus.
It can also be defined as the relationship between such a response and the stimulus that elicits it.
Many reflexes are closely tied to survival.
Startle response
A defensive reaction to a sudden, unexpected stimulus involves the automatic tightening of skeletal muscles, as well as various, hormonal and visceral (internal organ) changes.
Orienting response
In which we automatically position ourselves to facilitate attending to a stimulus.
Can involve a relatively major body movement, such as when we automatically turn in response to an unfamiliar noise behind us
Flexion response
In which we automatically jerk or hand, or foot away from a hot or sharp object that we have inadvertently contacted, and the aforementioned startle reaction, design to ready is for fight or flight if an unexpected stimulus should prove dangerous
Reflex arc
A neural structure underlining some reflexes that consists of a sensory neuron, an interneuron, and a motor neuron in that order.
Upon touching a flame receptors in the hand, stimulate sensory neurons that carry a danger message (in the form of a burst of nerve impulses) toward the spinal cord.
Within the spinal cord interneurons receive this message, and immediately pass it onto the motor neurons.
This motor neurons, then activate the muscles in the arm that pulled a hand away from the flame.
Simultaneously pain messages are also sent up the spinal cord to the brain. However, by the time they were received and you consciously feel the pain, your hand is already being withdrawn from the flame.
Thus, we do not withdraw our hand from the flame because of the pain we actually begin withdrawing our hand before feeling any pain.
Fixed action pattern
Is a fixed sequence of responses elicited by a specific stimulus.
Ex: ducks flying in a V-shaped formation, spiders building webs, squirrels burying nuts.
Cats compulsively scratching the ground cover up urine and feces and rubbing up against legs of visitors to mark them as belonging to the territory.
Dogs indicate their desire to play by wagging their tails, stretching out their front legs and lowering their head to the ground.
Fixed action patterns are adaptive responses that evolved to help animals cope with consistent aspects of their environment.
The difficulty with such inherited patterns is that a sudden large scale change in the environment, may render the pattern useless, or even harmful.
By comparison, an animal that can modify it’s behaviour patterns through learning can better adapt to a changing environment, which is why the ability to learn was such an important an evolutionary advancement.
Sign stimulus, or releaser
For many fixed action patterns, we are able to identify a specific stimulus that sets it in motion. The specific stimulus that elicits a fixed action pattern is called a sign stimulus or releaser.
Species specific behaviours
Fixed action patterns tend to be unique to certain species and are therefore sometimes called species specific behaviours.
They can also be called instincts but some researchers dislike this term because it implies the behaviour is more rigid and inflexible than is actually the case.
Habituation
Is a decrease in the strength of the elicited response following repeated presentations of the stimulus that, naturally without prior learning elicits that response.
Tends to be more stimulus specific, such that even small changes in the stimulus may result in the reappearance of the response.
The effects of habituation usually disappear when the stimulus is not presented for a period of time, meaning that the strength of the behaviour returns or recovers to its original level when the stimulus is next presented.
Ex: a sudden, unexpected tap on the shoulder will naturally elicit a startle response, whereas any additional taps might have no such affect.
Short term habituation —> in which the response quickly decreases as a result of repeated stimulation, and the ability to respond, then quickly recovers in the absence of stimulation.
Long-term habituation —> the response slowly decreases as a result of repeated stimulation, and the ability to respond, then slowly recovers in the absence of stimulation.
Repeated sessions of short term habituation spread out overtime can eventually lead to long-term habituation
Sensitization
Is an increase in the strength of an elicited response following repeated presentations of the stimulus that naturally elicits that response.
The effects of sensitization usually disappear when the stimulus is not presented for a period of time meaning that the strength of the behaviour returns or recovers to its original level when the stimulus is next presented.

Ex: soldiers under attack generally do not habituate the sound of artillery shells exploding nearby. Instead, their startle reaction grow stronger.
Coolidge effect
Is the enhanced sexual arousal displayed by the males of some species, when presented with different sexual partners, as opposed to the same sexual partner, to whom it has habituated.
Dishabituation
Habituated responses to a stimulus can reappear following the presentation of another, seemingly irrelevant novel stimulus.
Ex: sherry, Mike quickly habituate the sound of gunshots at a shooting range. If, however, a stranger approaches and stand nearby, she might I can be startled when the next shot is fired.
Likewise couples can sometimes rekindle their Romance by travelling to a new and different environment, or even by treating themselves to a night in a hotel, rather than staying at home.
Operant processing theory
Habituation and sensitization person to opposing tendencies: week or reactivity to a stimulus versus stronger reactivity.
Proposes that an emotional event elicits two competing processes.
(1) an a-process (or primary process) that is directly elicited by the event, and
(2) an b-process (or operant process) that is elicited by the a-process and serves to counteract the a-process.
Classical conditioning often plays a role in the elicitation of operant processes, especially those associated with drug use.
Proven extremely useful for enhancing or understanding of emotional behaviour.
Ex: presentation of shock, directly elicits, a tendency for the dogs, heart rate to increase, which is the a-process. This increase in heart rate intern elicits a compensatory reaction that tries to decrease the heart rate, this is the b-process. The purpose of this compensatory b-process is to counter the sudden increase in heart rate, thereby maintaining a state of internal balance. in other words, the b-process tries to prevent increase in heart rate from becoming too extreme, which could be damaging or even fatal.
The actual heart rate during the shock is thereby the net result of this tendency for heart rate to increase in the presence of shock (the a-process) minus the compensatory tendency for heart rate to decrease (the b-process).
Important characteristics of the a-process and b-process
- The a-process correlates closely with the presence of the emotional event.
— clearly evident when the emotional event can be quickly presented in quickly removed.
— EX: You become elated when you think you have won the lottery, and elation immediately disappears when you discovered that you have not. - The b-process is slow to increase and slow to decrease.
— the slow build up in this process account for why our emotional response to an event is often stronger at the outset.
— Ex: when he discovered, you haven’t won the lottery. You immediately feel depressed because the counterreaction to the elation that you have been feeling is all that remains.
— such as the other team letting the rope go in tug of war game. - With repeated presentations of the emotional event, the b-process increases in both strength and duration.
—Ex: if you repeatedly shock a dog, as it turns out the increase in heart rate during each shock becomes less and less extreme. Additionally, each time does shock is turned off, the dogs, heart rate, plummets further and further and takes increasingly longer to return to normal - The a and b process tend to be hedonically opposite from each other.
— hedonic refers to the extent to which something is experienced as pleasant versus unpleasant.
— if the a process is experienced as unpleasant, the b process will be experienced as pleasant. And vice versa.
—Ex: other research has suggested that some types of self injurious behaviour may be rewarded by the pleasant feelings that result from the compensatory elicitation of endorphins, which makes treatment of such behaviour is quite challenging.
