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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Behavior |
Individually, an action carried out by muscles or glands under control of the nervous system in response to a stimulus |
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Ethology |
The scientific study of how animals behave, particularly in their natural environments |
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Proximate causation |
The mechanistic explanation of how a behavior occurs or is modified |
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Ultimate causation |
The evolutionary explanation of why a behavior occurs |
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Behavioral ecology |
The study of the evolution of and ecological basis for animal behavior |
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Fixed action pattern |
In animal behavior, a sequence of unlearned acts that is essentially unchangeable and, once initiated, usually carried to completion |
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Sign stimulus |
An external sensory cue that triggers a fixed action pattern by an animal |
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Kinesis |
A change in activity or turning rate in response to a stimulus |
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Taxis |
An oriented movement toward or away from a stimulus |
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Communication |
In animal behavior, a process involving transmission of, reception of, and response to signals |
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Pheromone |
In animals and fungi, a small molecule released into the environment that functions in communication between members of the same species |
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Innate behavior |
Animal behavior that is developmentally fixed and under strong genetic control |
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Habituation |
A simple type of learning that involves a loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no new information |
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Imprinting |
In animal behavior, the formation at a specific stage in life of a long-lasting behavioral response to a specific individual or object |
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Cognitive map |
A neural representation of the abstract spatial relationships between objects in an animal's surroundings |
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Associative learning |
The acquired ability to associate one environmental feature with another |
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Classical conditioning |
A type of associative learning in which an arbitrary stimulus becomes associated with a particular outcome |
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Operant conditioning |
A type of associative learning in which an animal learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior |
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Agonistic Behavior |
In animals, an often ritualized contest that determines which competitor gains access to a resource, such as food or mates |
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Sociobiology |
The study of social behavior based on evolutionary theory |
