Intro To Ethology & Animalwelfare Flashcards
The science of animal and comparative behavior
Ethology
Courses on innate, species-typical behaviors seen in nature and on how these behaviors adapt animals to their environment
Ethology
Concerned with the relationship between genes and behavior
Behavior genetics
Focus principally on learned behaviors
Experimental / comparative psychology
Focuses on the evolution of adaptive behavior in relation to the environment
Behavior ecology
Studies the dynamics of behavior in populations of animals - behavioral differences between individuals of the same species
Behavioral ecology
Concentrate on individuals or small groups
Classical ethology
Explains the mechanisms of behavior in terms of structure and functions of the nervous system
Neurobiology
Concentrates on neural mechanisms that underlie species-typical behaviors
Neuroethology
An intricate behavior that allows bees to communicate the location of a food source to other bees in the hive
“Dance” of bees
Consists of a series of actions triggered by a key stimulus; the pattern will go to completion even if the stimulus is removed
Fixed action patterns in vertebrae
Any stimulus that elicits a FAP (fixed action pattern)
Sign stimulus
Strongly exaggerated sign stimulus, will trigger a response way stronger than normal
Super sign stimulus
Has centered on aggression, which when not expressed at the cause of aggressive drive, is directed at another animal or at an inanimate object
Redirected behavior
Self-grooming, touching, or scratching, which is displayed when an animal has a conflict between two drives, such as the desire to approach an object, while at the same time being fearful of that object
Displacement behavior
Indicator of anxiety
Self-directed behavior
Describe how certain innate behaviors evolved into signals so that they function in communication
Ritualization
Relate specific behaviors to specific genes or group-genes
Behavior genetics
A measure that compares the amount of phenotypic variability that is due strictly to the variations in genes with the total amount of phenotypic variability in the population
Heritability
The diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus
Habituation
Form of non-associative learning in which an innate response to a stimulus decreases after repeated or prolonged presentations that stimulus
Habituation
Repeated administration of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response
Sensitization
Enhancement d response to a whole class of stimuli in addition to the one that is repeated
Sensitization
A person or animal learns an association between two stimuli or events
Associative learning
A normal response to a stimulus becomes associated with a new stimulus, which then is also capable of eliciting the response
Classical conditioning
The sequence of events is contingent upon the behavior of the animal
Operant conditioning
Exploratory learning; an animal stores information about its environment that later can influence its behavior
Latent learning
The intuitive solution to a problem; most difficult type of learning to demonstrate conclusively in animals
Insight learning