Chapter 1 - Natural Selection

Question 1

What is natural selection?

Answer 1

Features (genetic or otherwise) that contribute to survival - selected by the environment

“survivability depends on the ability to cope with change”

Question 2

What is a reflex?

Answer 2

Relationship between specific event and a simple response to said event.

Question 3

What is sensitization?

Answer 3

Strong response evoked by a strong, (usually stressful) stimulus.

Question 4

What is habituation?

Answer 4

Becoming accustomed to a stimulus that once used to provoke a response

(i.e., becoming desensitized)

Question 5

What is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 5

Awakening of a habituated response

Question 6

What is an FAP (fixed action patterns)/instinct?

(stereotypical)

Answer 6

An involuntary, predictable series of actions, reliably elicited by specific events (known as ‘releasers’, or a cue/key stimulus)

Question 7

What are releasers - FAP’s?

Answer 7

Event/stimulus that elicits a fixed action pattern/instinct

Question 8

What is a general behaviour trait?

How are they similar to FAP’s?

Answer 8

Personality traits; heavily influenced by genetics

(biological, not stereotypical)

Hoarding, aggression, etc.

Question 9

What are some limits of natural selection?

Answer 9

Slow; evolved change that may have been useful in the past may become hinderance in the future

(ex: oppossums playing dead infront of oncoming cars)

Question 10

What is learning, as defined by psychology?

(not stereotypical)

Answer 10

Change in behaviour due to past experience

Last line of defense for survival.