Tinbergen's Proximate Explanations Flashcards
When was Tinbergen’s seminal paper published and what was it called?
Tinbergen published his seminal paper in 1963 called ‘on aims and methods of ethology’
What question was Tinbergen trying to answer with his seminal paper?
Why do animals behave as they do?
What does Tinbergen argue is the answers to ‘why animals behave as they do?’?
Causation
Ontogeny
Adaptive value
Phylogeny
Sometimes Tinbergen’s 4 ‘questions’ can be separated into proximate and ultimate explanations. Which of Tinbergen’s questions fit under each explanation group?
Proximate explanations
Ontogeny
Causation
Ultimate explanations
Adaptive value
Phylogeny
What are proximate explanations?
Proximate explanations are explanations for behaviour within an individual animals lifetime
Proximate explanations are explanations for more direct causes of behaviour
What are ultimate explanations?
Ultimate explanations are explanations for behaviour over evolutionary time
Ultimate explanations are explanations that can explain either the cause or effect of a behaviour
What is causation?
Causation looks at what causes the behaviour right now instead of another behaviour in terms of:
- mechanisms
- direct, immediate influences/explanations
The reasons for the causation in behaviour can be due to either external or internal stimuli for the animal
What are some examples of external reasons for a causation behaviour?
Seasonal factors Presence of stimuli Signals Social factors Predator presence
What are some examples of internal reasons for a causation behaviour?
Hormones
Brain and neurones
Disease
Sensory perceptions
Motivation
Tinbergen said motivation should be ignored since it’s subjective and we’d never know an animals thoughts
However, science has evolved since then to allow a better insight to the animals mindset
What are sign stimuli an example of?
External causation
What are sign stimuli?
Sign stimuli = a natural stimuli that triggers untrained, innate responses
Give an example of sign stimuli with sticklebacks
An example of sign stimuli can be seen during the breeding season of stickleback fish
During the breeding season male sticklebacks will develop red bellies
If a male stickleback see something with a red belly during the breeding season the male stickleback will almost always attack it
Researchers have noted that artificial stimuli can elicit even stronger responses than the natural/normal stimuli. What are these artificial stimuli known as?
Supernormal stimuli
Give an example of a supernormal stimuli in Herring gulls
Herring gull chicks instinctively peck at the red dot on the adults beak
However, if you put something with more contrast between colours in front of the Herring gull chicks the chicks will peck that instead of the adults beak
This suggests that in the future that adult Herring gulls with a beak with a higher contrast for their red dots would elicit a stronger pecking behaviour from chicks
This would improve those adult birds chicks survival rates as they’d get more food
Give an example of sign and supernormal stimuli in nature with birds
The chicks open mouth is a sign stimulus for adult birds to regurgitate food into the chicks mouth to feed them
Parasitic bird chicks have bigger mouths that act as a supernormal stimuli due to parasitic bird mouths being bigger, wider and having more contrast between colours in their mouths
The supernormal stimuli presented by the parasitic chick means that the adult bird will feed the parasitic chick more than its own chicks
Parasitic bird chicks also have a supernormal begging call