Ethology and Behavioral Research

Question 1

who were the “fathers of animal behavior” and when did they win the Nobel Peace Price

Answer 1

Konrad Lorenz
Karl von Frisch
Nicholas Tinbergen

won 1973 Nobel Laureates in medicine

Question 2

Tinbergen’s 4 questions:

Answer 2

1: How does it work
2: How did it develop
3: What is it for (function/survival value)
4: How did the behavior evolve

logically distinct, but NOT mutually exclusive

Question 3

What happened in 1992 for animal behavior?

Answer 3

Association for the study of animal behavior in the UK

Animal Behavior Society in the USA

Question 4

What committee did the

Association for the Study of Animal Behavior in the UK form?

Animal Behavior society form?

Answer 4

Ethical Committee

Animal Care Committee

–> joint guidelines for the use of animals in research

Question 5

When was the guide for the care and use of laboratory animals first released?

Answer 5

1996

Question 6

Steps in studying a behavior

Answer 6

• ask a question
• make preliminary observations and formulate hypothesis
• make predictions from hypothesis
• identify which behavioral variables need to be measured to test predictions
• choose suitable recording methods
• collect sufficient data
• use appropriate statistics

Question 7

describing behavior is?

Answer 7

empirical

• first hand descriptions
• rely on or derived from observation or experiment

Question 8

Event

Answer 8

behavior pattern of relatively short duration

salient feature is frequency of occurence

Question 9

State

Answer 9

behavior pattern of relatively long duration- i.e. prolonged activities
salient feature: duration

Question 10

ways to measure behavior

Answer 10

latency
frequency
duration

Question 11

latency

Answer 11

time from specific event to onset of first occurrence of behavior

measured in units of time

Question 12

frequency

Answer 12

number of occurrences of behavior per unit time

measured in reciprocal units of time

Question 13

duration

Answer 13

length of time for which a single occurrence of behavior pattern lasts

measured in units of time

Question 14

sampling methods

Answer 14

• ad libitum
• focal
• point or instantaneous
• all occurrences

Question 15

ad libitum

Answer 15

observe animal and make general notes about what it is doing

• starting point for planning better measurements (pilot studies)
• cannot make statements about whether or not the behavior is changing

Question 16

focal

Answer 16

observe animal for a fixed amount of time

• make continuous recordings within that time of all behaviors you are recording
• get sequence, frequency and duration of the behavior

Question 17

point or instantaneous

Answer 17

at predetermined moments in time, record what the animal is doing

divide observation session into short intervals

no frequency or rate information, less accurate than focal

Question 18

all occurrences

Answer 18

record all occurrences of one or small number of behaviors and ignore all others

-typically/most appropriately used with large groups of animals

Question 19

2 types of ethograms

Answer 19

complete ethogram (list all behaviors exhibited by a species)

practical ethogram (list all behaviors of interest) - what behaviorists do

Question 20

displacement activity

Answer 20

an appropriate behavior that occurs when animal is experiencing conflict between 2 opposing drives

Question 21

vacuum activity

Answer 21

instinctive behavior performed in absence of stimulus to which it would normally be directed

Question 22

redirected behavior

Answer 22

motivation to perform an activity towards an appropriate target

-interrupted or prevented from reaching that target, behavior gets directed towards a less appropriate target

Question 23

definition of Ethology

Answer 23

The scientific study of animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a natural environment