Test 1- Topic 2 (20th Century) Flashcards
What did Ernst Mayr do?
Decided that animal behavior causation can be grouped in to two sections: Proximate and Ultimate
Proximate
immediate mechanism that generates behavior
“How” and “what” questions
Ultimate
Evolutionary cause for the behavior
“why” questions
Tingbergens four questoins
Proximate: Ontogeny and Physiology
Ultimate: Fitness and Phylogeny
Ontogeny
Developmental reasons
Physiology
Mechanistic (how does this occur)
Fitness
What is the function of the behavior?
Phylogeny
How did the behavior evolve
Ethogram
Full inventory of an animals behaviors– come up with terms and descriptions for each movement
Who were the two prominent north american comparative psychologist?
Thorndike- Standardized methodology
Margret Floy Washburn- First textbook
Who were the five notable psychologists?
Watson, Skinner, Garcia, Pavlov, Domjan
Comparative Psychology
the study of different animals’
behavior patterns in order to determine the general principles that explain their actions.
Downfalls of comparative psy?
Only looked at individual models, all in laboratory, only looked at a few animals, REJECTED INSTINCT
Ethology
Study behavior of wild animals through observation and experimentation
Three nobel prize winners in ethology
Tinbergen, Lorenz, Frisch
Innate behaviors
Genetically predisposed behavior
What is a FAP?
Fixed Action Patterns are behaviors animals do that are unchanging and not learned
7 Descriptive Characteristics of Fixed Action Patterns?
1) Stereotyped
2) Same for all members of the species
3) Triggered by stimulus
4) Stimulus is
What is a releaser stimuli?
A stimulus that initiates the fixed action pattern
