Unit Test 1 Flashcards
occur close in time to behavior
proximate causes
occur further back in time (5 sec-5000 years)
Ultimate causes
what are the two mechanisms for dealing with change?
Natural selection, learning
What are the two big ideas of natural selection approach?
- All species descended from a common ancestor.
- Natural selection.
What is the definition of natural selection
Small, random, inheritable differences among individuals that result in different chances of reproduction.
Three features/principles of natural selection
- Variation (genetic)
- Selection (environmental)
- Retention (genetic)
What are the three types of behaviors that came from natural selection?
reflexes, Modal action Patterns (MAP), General behavior traits (GBT)
Two processes involved in natural selection
- Anagenesis
- Speciation (the principle of divergence)
Examples of Natural Selection
Climate change
Changes in terrain
Predators
Pollution
Bacteria
Viruses
insecticides
Herbicides
Inherited behavioral relations from LEAST to MOST stereotyped
-Learning
-GBT
-MAP
-Reflexes
Inherited behavioral relations from MOST to LEAST
stereotyped
-Reflexes
-MAP
-GBT
-Learning
What is behavior?
anything an individual does that can be observed and measured or potentially observed.
What is a Stimulus/Stimuli?
any energy change that affects sensory receptors, and behavior
What is an environment?
all stimuli that affect behavior at any given moment.
Three implications of environment/stimuli
- The environment (exteroceptive stimuli) is both outside and inside (interoceptive stimuli) the body
- The environment is always changing
- The environment can never be the same for any two individuals.
Determinism
All behavior is caused
Behavior is lawful and orderly
Definition of Learning
Relatively permanent changes in environment-behavior relations due to certain types of experiences (environmental interactions)
Definition of Natural Science
Deals with physical Phenomena and understanding how thing in the physical world operate.
The Law of Parsimony
Parsimonious descriptions and explanations makes the fewest assumptions.
Errors
reducing errors
Topography
A change in form or shape of a response
Intensity
Changes in magnitude of responding
Speed
a change in speed
Latency
The time from when a stimulus is presented and when a response occurs.
Rate of responding
Number of responses per unit of time
Cumulative recorder
Device that records rate of responding cumulatively
Proficiency
How accurate and fluent behavior is
All measures of learning must
be reliable and valid
Reliable
Must yield the same observation if recorded by different individuals
Valid
Must measure what is intended to be measured
“evolved modifiability” and “fixed plasticity” refer to
refer to the fact that we inherit the capacity to learn.
Correlational studies
A measure of the relationship between two or more variables.
What is the difference between proximate and ultimate causation
proximate happens right before behavior. Ultimate causes occur further back in time from the behavior.
What does the phrase “If there is no change, no need to change” mean?
It means that if nothing in our environment changes then there is no need to change to accommodate it.
a phrase regarding the environment
“It’s the environment stupid”!
releaser
Any stimulus that reliably elicits a modal action pattern.
The first two assumptions of the approach in Natural Science Approach above is that all natural phenomena (including behavior) are ____ and _____ precede their ____
Caused, Causes, Effects
Responses can be measuredd as a change in the form the response takes, called ___, or the time that passes between when a stimulus occurs and the response occurs, called ___.
Topography, Latency
In experimentation, changes in the ____ variable are measured as a function of systematic changes in the ___ variable.
Dependent, Independent
