FINAL EXAM Flashcards
which of the following statements about learning and behavior is incorrect
classical conditioning involves trial-and-error
both automatic responses and instinctive behaviors are both controlled by
genes
loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no new information is called
habituation
which of the following could be classified as habituation
1) you enter a room and hear a fan motor. after a period of time, you are no longer aware of the motor’s noise
2) one morning you awake to a beep beep beep from a garbage truck working on a new early morning schedule. the next week the garbage truck arrives at the same time, and makes the same noise, but does not wake you up
learning in which an associated stimulus may be used to elicit the same behavioral response as the original sign stimulus is called
classical conditioning
every morning at the same time, John went into the den to feed his new tropical fish. After a few weeks, he noticed that the fish swam to the top of the tank when he entered the room. this is an example of
classical conditioning
the type of learning that causes specially trained dogs to salivate when they hear bells is called
classical conditioning
a type of learning in which an animal, at a critical time of it’s life, forms a social attachment to another object is called
imprinting
a type of learning in which an animal receives a reward for making a particular response is called
motivation
which of the following statements or phrases is not associated with the law of effect
second-order classical conditioning
learning is best defined as
a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience
an unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that
elicits a response in the absence of training
when psychologists construct extinction curves, they are examining
how long an animal remembers a paired association once the pairing has stopped
phenotypic plasticity refers to the ability of an organism to adopt
alternative phenotypes depending on environmental and/or social conditions
david stephen’s model of learning and environmental stability predicts that learning will be favored when environmental predictability is
high within an individual ‘s lifetime but low between generations
instrumental conditioning involves
positive and/or negative reinforcement of a behavioral response
which of the following scientists revolutionized the field of instrumental learning by developing the free-operant procedure
B. F. Skinner
behavior that changes through practice or experience is called
learned behavior
learning in which an animal uses previous experience to respond to a new situation is called
insight
which group of animals has the most complex learned behavior
mammals
sensitization is the process by which
animals become more likely to exhibit a response to a stimulus over time
appetitive stimulus is to excitatory conditioning as ____ is to
averse stimulus; inhibitory conditioning
horizontal cultural transmission refers to a situation in which information is passed
between individuals of the same age class
which of the following statements best describes the relationship between genetic evolution and cultural evolution
phenotypic effects of cultural evolution can be witnessed within a lifetime or within a few generations while the phenotypic effects of genetic evolution occur less rapidly
copying refers to a form of social learning in which
an observer repeats the behavior exhibited by a model individual
which of the following statements does not apply to Caro and Hauser’s definition of teaching?
teaching provides immediate benefits for the teacher
cultural transmission can be partitioned into which of the following two major subcategories
social learning and teaching
social learning, tool use, and innovation in primates are
positively correlated with absolute executive brain volume
which of the following individuals is credited as being one of the first to consider that cultural transmission play an important role in animal life
george romanes
culture is best defined as
a system of information transfer that influences an individual’s phenotype
whitehead’s research on matrilineal species of whales led to which of the following postulations
mitochondrial DNA variation is somehow linked to cultural variation in a manner akin to linkage disequilibrium
which form of cultural transmission is operating when information is transferred across generations, but not via parent-offspring interactions
oblique cultural transmission
sexual imprinting occurs when
young animals learn what constitutes an appropriate mate from observing adults in their population
which of the following examples is inconsistent with direct benefits received by females via mate choice
females choose males with low levels of fluctuating asymmetry
intersexual selection is to intrasexual selection as
female mate choice is to male-male combat
a type of bird similar to a chickadee learns to peck through the cardboard tops of milk bottles left on doorsteps and drink the cream from the top. what term best applies to this behavior?
operant conditioning
sparrows are receptive to learning songs only during a sensitive period. what term best applies to this behavior
imprinting
one way to understand how early environment influences differing behaviors in similar species is through the “cross-fostering” experimental technique. suppose that the curly-whiskered mud rat differs from the bald mud rat in several ways, including being much more aggressive. How would you set up a cross-fostering experiment to determine if environment plays a role in the curly whiskered mud rat’s aggression
you would place newborn curly-whiskered mud rats with bald mud rat parents, place newborn bald mud rats with curly- whiskered mud rat parents, and let some mud rats of both species be raised by their own species. then compare the outcomes
which of the following statements about evolution of behavior is correct
A and B only
type C sex determination in reptiles is best characterized as
intermediate nest temperatures favoring mates; high and low temperatures favoring females
which of the following is not associated with spatial learning and foraging in honeybees
mushroom bodies of foragers are smaller than mushroom bodies of non-foragers
which of the following best depicts the initial chain of neuroendocrinological events that occur when an animal is exposed to a stressor
increased CRH production in the hypothalamus –> increased ACTH production in the anterior pituitary gland –> increased glucocorticoid production in the adrenal glands
neurons possess fibers called dendrites that perform which of the following functions
they receive electrochemical information from other cells in the nervous system
all else equal, R. A. Fisher’s sex ratio theory predicts that natural selection should favor a sex ratio of
one male: one female
copying refers to a form of social learning in which
an observer repeats the behavior exhibited by a model individual
which of the following statements about Type II males in plainfin midshipman fish is false
Type II males are larger than Type I nesting males
which of the following is not associated with sensory exploitation hypotheses of female mate choice
the long-term maintenance of female mate choice
which of the following statements regarding runaway sexual selection models is false
two genetically derived traits cannot co-evolve
which of the following statements does not apply to Hoglund and colleagues’ studies on mate-choice copying in black grouse
females copy the choices of other females only when the courting male has superior qualities
cross-fostering experiments are most useful for examining
how behavior is shaped by the environment an animal inhabits early in life
zahavis handicap hypothesis suggests that females
use traits that are honest indicators of male quality when choosing mates
aggressive behavior between sexual rivals
usually results in death or injury of one opponent
a “patch” is defined as a clump of resources that
none of the above
a territory
is a defended area from which animals of the same species are excluded
insects displaying female defense polygyny exhibit which of the following characteristics
all of the above
cooperative polyandry (CP) differs from resource defense polyandry (RDP) in which of the following ways
in CP many males defend a female’s territory, while in RDP females defend super territories that include the smaller territories of many males
when social pair bonding occurs, individuals establish
a pair bond with one partner but may mate with multiple partners during the breeding season
which of the following techniques has enhanced our understanding of how extra pair mating translate into extra pair fertilization
DNA fingerprinting
in systems where the potential for intense sperm competition exists, selection should not favor
decreased copulation duration
in polyandrous mating stems
females mate with more than one male during the breeding season
several males form pair bonds with several females simultaneously in which of the following mating systems
polygynandry
which statement below about mating behavior is incorrect
the mating relationship in most mammals is monogamous, to ensure the reproductive success of the pair
modern behavioral concepts relate the cost of a behavior to its benefit. under which relationship might a behavior be performed
B) cost is less than the benefit
C) cost is equal to the benefit
the evolution of mating systems is most likely affected by
B) care required by young
C) certainty of paternity
which of the following is least related to the others
altruism
which of the following statements regarding Margie Profet’s hypothesis on menstruation is false
menstruation should be least common in breeding systems where females engage in sexual activity with many partners
which statement does not follow from the polygyny threshold model
a female’s decision to occupy a certain territory depends on the number of females already present but not on territory quality
which of the following statements about breeding systems is true
the occurrence of extra pair copulations has led ethnologists to consider the difference between social and genetic monogamy
the four paths to the evolution and maintenance of cooperation in animals are
kin selection, group selection, reciprocity, and byproduct mutualism
which of the following examples is inconsistent with direct benefits received by females via mate choice
females choose males with low levels of fluctuating asymmetry
which of the following statements regarding runaway sexual selection models is false
two genetically derived traits cannot co-evolve
the coefficient of relatedness (r) calculates
the probability that any two individuals share genes that are identical by descent
jerram brown’s “offspring rule” provided a means by which to estimate
fitness benefits and costs of assisting kin
haplodiploid genetic systems base which of the following characteristics
A) females are diploid; males are haploid
D) sisters are related to one another by an average coefficient of relatedness of r = 0.75
the building blocks for emlen’s prediction of family dynamics are
kin selection theory, ecological constraints theory, and reproductive skew theory
if sex ratio is controlled by female workers in a social insect nest, then the sex ration should approach
3 female: 1 male
which of the following statements regarding Haig’s theory of in-utero parent- offspring conflict is true
hormones produced by the placenta manipulate the in-utero environment in ways that benefit the fetus at a cost to the mother
infanticide will be favored most strongly when a mother’s residual reproductive value is
high and resources are scarce
which of the following statements does not relate to sibling rivalry in egret chicks
first-hatched chicks are competitively inferior to second-hatched chicks
the conspecific-threshold model of kin recognition posits that the evolutionarily stable acceptance threshold is a function of
A) the fitness consequences of making kin recognition errors (accepting non-kin or rejecting kin)
B) the relative frequency at which individuals interact with different classes of conspecifics
which of the following does not have a coefficient of relatedness of 0.5
an uncle to his nephew
which scientist devised a rule that predicts when natural selection should favor altruism
william hamilton
animals that help other animals of the same species are expected to
be genetically related to other animals
the presence of altruistic behavior is most likely due to kin selection, a theory maintaining that
genes enhance survival of copies of themselves by directing organisms to assist others who share those genes
in belding’s ground squirrels, it is mostly the females that behave altruistically by sounding alarm calls. what is the likely reason for this distinction
females settle in the area in which they were born, so the calling females are warning kin
the central concept of sociobiology is that
most aspects of our social behavior have an evolutionary basis
which scientist suggested that human social behavior may have a genetic basis
E. O. wilson
which scientist developed the concept of inclusive fitness
william hamilton
according to hamilton’s rule
natural selection favors altruistic acts when the resulting benefit to the beneficiary, correct for relatedness, exceeds the cost to the altruist
female spotted sandpipers aggressively court males and, after mating, leave the clutch of young for the male to incubate. this sequence may be repeated several times with different males until no available males remain, forcing the female to incubate her last clutch. which of the following terms best describes this behavior
polyandry
what is generally true of two sibling species
they shared a common ancestor recently in evolutionary time
altruism is
actions of an animal that immediately benefit others rather than itself
altruistic behaviors between closely related animals are selected for because they
increase the frequency of the altruistic individual’s genes in the next generation
in bees an ants, which of the following is true with respect to the probable fraction of shared genes
a female is more closely related to her sisters than to her mother
organisms may behave altruistically to non-relative if they
may receive similar cooperation in the future
a mating system in which one organism of one sex mates with only one member of the opposite sex is called
monogamy
true or false. inclusive fitness theory predicts that animals can recognize close relatives
true
the most plausible explanation for an individual helping to feed other offspring of its parents is
kin selection
for a game to be a prisoner’s dilemma, where S = sucker’s payoff, R = reward for mutual cooperation, P = punishment for mutual defection, and T = temptation to cheat, the payoffs must be ordered as
T > R > P > S
which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the tit-for-tat rule
players using the tit-for-tat strategy remember three moves back
studies conducted by Naomi pierce and her colleagues on the relationship between the imperial blue butterfly and the ant demonstrated
all of the above
byproduct mutualism (BM), differs from reciprocity (REC) in which of the following ways
in BM, but not REC, there is no temptation to cheat, nor do individuals have to keep track of their partners behavior
which of the following statements about group selection is FALSE
between-group selection favors cooperation in kin groups but favors selfish phenotypes in non-kin groups
what is the “dilemma” in the prisoner’s dilemma game
it pays each individual to cheat every time, but mutual defection is more costly than mutual cooperation
which of the following statements does NOT apply to the communal web building systems of spiders
sociality evolved just once in these spiders
when coalitions exist for long periods of time, they are referred to as
alliances
phylogenetic analyses allow us to examine whether cooperative behavior
can be explained by common ancestry rather than independent
which of the following factor(s) does not generate new variation in a population
heritability
the three foundations of ethology are
endocrinology, developmental biology, and natural selection
which of the following statement(s) are not true
learning and natural selection operate independently
conceptual approaches to ethology involve
combining ideas from different subdisciplines in a novel way to generate new sets of predictions about animal behavior
which of the following best characterizes eusocial naked mole rats
overlapping generations, high relatedness, and reproductive division of labor
alleles are defined as
alternative forms or variants of the same gene
natural selection is best described as a process by which
the frequency of traits that confer reproductive and/or survival success and are passed on from one generation to the next increases over evolutionary time
heritability analysis measures the proportion of variance in a trait attributable to
that portion of genetic variance accessible to natural selection
which of the following is required for a behavioral trait
an individual reproductive success depends in part on how the behavior is performed
a female cat in heat urinates more often and in many places. male cats congregate near the urine deposits and fight with each other. which of the following would be an ultimate cause of the male cats’ response to the female’s urinating behavior
male cats respond to the odor because it is a means of locating females in heat
individual learning and cultural transmission differ in which of the following ways
individual learning does not permit the transmission of information across generations, while cultural transmission does
this is the term used to describe behavior that involves the loss of a response due to a stimulus that has little or no value to an organism
habituation
genetic recombination
exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes during cell division
xenophobia is defined as the
fear of unknown individuals from outside one’s group
which of the following best describes the empirical approach to ethology
observe animal behavior in a natural setting to uncover interesting trends and use controls or manipulations to determine causality
which of the following is not required for natural selection to operate
all alleles in the population must be dominant alleles
which of these could be an answer to a survival value? females are choosy because
they must invest heavily in the offspring they produce
