Test 1

Question 1

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection had three main principles. State 3 principles we discussed and explain them

Answer 1

Variation: members of a species differ in characteristics
Hereditary: parents will pass on distinctive characteristics to offspring allowing the “most fit” to survive
Differential reproduction: because of the distinctive characteristics some individual will have a greater chance of survival

Question 2

What is the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Answer 2

classical conditioning involves associating an involuntary response and stimulus, while operant conditioning is about assosiating a voluntary behaviour with a consequence

Question 3

What is the difference between positive punishment and negative reinforcement?

Answer 3

negative reinforcement encourages a behaviour by removing an unwanted or unplesant stimulus while positive punishment discourages a behaviour by introducing and unwanted or unpleasant stimulus

Question 4

From the definitions in lecture notes and discussion in class, state one main point that is common in all the definitions of a domestic animal

Answer 4

human control

Question 5

Which common domestic animal is generally considered to have been the first animal domesticated?

Answer 5

Dog 10000 bc

Question 6

What are the seven criteria for domestication

Answer 6

Value to humans (food, hunting, draft)
Diet (large herbivores offer substantial energy use plus safety advantages over carnivores
Growth (rapidly reach their desired size)
Breeding (must breed in captivity)
Calmness (little tendency to panic when startled)
Deposition (amenable and tractable)
Socialbility (a social structure and hierarchy favors domestication)

Question 7

What are the four principal characteristics that the domestic animal exhibits (effects of domestication)? Hint: there are four principals

Answer 7

1. It’s breeding is under human control
2. It provides a product or service useful to man
3. It is tame
4. It has been selected away from the wild type

Question 8

We discussed six changes that animals which have been domesticated have undergone. List the six changes.

Answer 8

Increased colour variability
Paedomorphosis
Brain reduction
Docility
Earlier maturation
Verarmung der merkwelt

Question 9

Which of the six changes has had a dramatic impact on health conditions currently being experienced by our companion animals?

Answer 9

Colour varability had the most dramatic impact on helath ocnditions currently being experienced by our companion animals. when we focus on colour variablility we are only focusing on teh phonotypes and often ignoring the genotypes which could mean there are health issues in the genes that we cannot see

Question 10

Define neoteny

Answer 10

The retention of juvenile features in the adult animal

Question 11

Define merkwelt

Answer 11

An animals world is partitioned into it’s what it perceives (knowledge)

Question 12

Define umwelt.

Answer 12

An animals world is partitioned into it’s what it experiences (environment)

Question 13

Define werkwelt

Answer 13

An animals world is partitioned into it’s what it does (action)

Question 14

Define feral.

Answer 14

Animals who went through the domestication process and now we have reverted back to the wild periods

Question 15

Define innate.

Answer 15

Genetically controlled behaviour. Does not have to be learned because it is genetically passed down

Question 16

Define learned behaviour

Answer 16

Behaviour that is changed as a result of experience

Question 17

Define pedomorphosis.

Answer 17

retention of juvinile charcters into the adult stage

Question 18

Define novelty.

Answer 18

The quality of being new, original, or unusual

Question 19

Compare and contrast redirected behaviour with displayed behaviour?

Answer 19

Displacement and behaviour and redirected behaviour are similar because they both occur out of frusteration when they aren’t able to do what they want to do. And different because during displacement behaviour a completely different behaviour than originally planned and redirection is when the act is carried out but on something other than the original target

Question 20

Give an example of ‘shaping’ a behaviour as a training tool.

Answer 20

When prompting a puppy to sit, it may initially sit crooked, but you should still reward that behaviour.

Question 21

Explain your understanding of extinction, what it is and how it happens; and the concept of an extinction burst.

Answer 21

When a learned response is no longer being practiced or reinforced it gradually becomes lost due to lack of reinforcement

Question 22

What is the concept of extinction burst?

Answer 22

The phenomenon of previously reinforced or learned behaviour temporarily increasing when the reinforcement for the behaviour is removed

Question 23

Identify two categories of associative learning.

Answer 23

Operate learning and classical learning

Question 24

Provide an example for positive punishment

Answer 24

If a dog jumps up and you knee them in the chest

Question 25

animal behaviour is centered around what?

Answer 25

the ability to move

Question 26

behaviour reacts as a reaction to what?

Answer 26

a stimulus

Question 27

Define motivation

Answer 27

the internal processes which control (arose and direct) behaviour

Question 28

define taxis

Answer 28

a automatic movement toward or away from a stimulus. this is a directed movement

Question 29

what are the three types of taxis

Answer 29

phototaxis - weather changes like migration
chemotasix - moving toward chemical signals
geotaxis - moving toward a location

Question 30

controls of motivation

Answer 30

negative feedback and feedforward
page 4

Question 31

what is appeditive behaviour

Answer 31

goal-seeking behaviour

Question 32

docility: sensory centers reduced in the order:

Answer 32

optic, acoustic, olfactory

Question 33

whats a good example of earlier maturation

Answer 33

young horses. they have the same length legs as adult horses

Question 34

how do we know an animal has learned something?

Answer 34

when behaviour changes, eitehr temporarily or permanently, we can assume that learning has taken place on some physical level

Question 35

overt behaviour

Answer 35

when you see someone actually doing the thing learned. example, a kid riding a bike, we can assume they have learned that skill because we are seeing it

Question 36

key components of definined learning

Answer 36

learning is inferred from performance
learning involves a change in the mental state of an organism
learning stems from experience
learing is relatively permanent
learning is a change in the potential to behave