Ethology

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Ethology

• 1. Study of animal behavior
• 2. Field oriented
• 3. Endeavors not to disturb the animal so
  behavior observed is the animals natural
  behavior not a response to being observed

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Nonassociative Learning

• 1. Does not require animal to form association
  between 2 stimuli OR between stimulus response
• 2. Habituation

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Habituation

• 1. Decrease in response to stimulus that has no
  positive or negative consequences
• 2. Learning not to respond to stimulus
• 3. Deer humans

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Sensitization

• 1. Increase in response to stimulus
• 2. Opposite of habituation
• 3. Example- loud crash, drill instructors voice

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Associative Learning

• 1. Association between two stimuli or stimulus
  response that causes behavior to be conditioned
  or modified
• 2. Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
• 3. Operant Conditioning
• 4. Imprinting

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Classical Conditioning

• 1. Paired presentation of two stimuli causes
  animal to associate two
• 2. Dog salivates at sound of bell

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Operant Conditioning

• 1. Animal learns to associate behavior with
  reward or punishment
• 2. Bird monarch butterfly frog bee caged
  rat with food lever

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Imprinting

• 1. Process early in development where animal
  forms social attachments or preferences that will
  influence later behavior
• 2. Filial imprinting
• 3. Sexual imprinting

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Filial Imprinting

• 1. Social attachments between parents offspring
• 2. Geese imprint on first object they see after
  hatching

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Sexual Imprinting

• 1. Individual learns to direct its sexual
  behavior towards members of its own species
• 2. Some birds raised by parents of different
  species attempt to breed with members of their
  foster parents species

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Pheromones

• 1. Chemical messengers influence behavior, used
  for communication between individuals
• 2. Alarm pheromones- signal attack in bees, ants
• 3. Trail pheromones- used by ants to lead others
  to food source

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Sex Pheromones

• 1. Used to facilitate reproduction, usually by
  attracting mates
• 2. Insects, fish, mammals
• 3. Humans- egg produces chemical to attractant to
  sperm

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Maternal Pheromone

• Female crayfish carry eggs larvae on abdomen
• 2. Larvae produce maternal pheromone
• 3. Post-larval crayfish leave mother walk under
  her
• 4. When pheromone production ceases, female will
  eat her own post-larvae

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Cognition

• 1. Problem solving
• 2. Chimpanzees, ravens

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Sociobiology

• 1. Structure of societies genetically based E.
  O. Wilson, 1978
• 2. Biological evolution
• 3. Cultural evolution

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Biological Evolution

• 1. Behaviors passed on through genes
• 2. Humans share many behaviors with other
  primates
• 3. Scratching head when confused

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