Princeton Review Psychology Gre - Chapter 8 (Ethology)

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Ethology

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- The study of animal behaviors, especially innate behaviors that occur in a natural habitat.

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Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch

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- All major figures in ethology who shared the Nobel Prize in 1973

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Konrad Lorenz

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- Founder of ETHOLOGY as a distinct research area. He also created well-known terminology and theory in the field.

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Imprinting

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- Lorenz found that in certain species (most often birds) the young attach to or imprint on the first moving object they see after birth.
- This attachment is most commonly displayed by a FOLLOWING RESPONSE, in which the young chicks will follow their first contact, whether it be an adult bird or an adult human.
- Is subject to a sensitive learning period, after which imprinting will not occur.

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Animal Aggression

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- Lorenz argued that certain kinds of aggression are necessary for the survival of species.
- Contrary to most psychologists, Lorenz argued that aggressive behavior is instinctual rather than learned and that even human intraspecies aggression can be explained through survival needs.

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Releasing Stimuli (aka. releasers or sign stimuli)

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- Konrad Lorenz and later continued by Tinbergen
- A releasing stimuli in one individual of a species elicits an automatic, instinctual chain of behaviors from another individual in the same species.
- Lorenz called the elicited chains of behavior FIXED ACTION PATTERNS.
- e.g. a mating dance

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Fixed action patterns (FAP)

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- As conceived by Lorenz, they are instinctual, complex chains of bheaviors triggered by releasing stimuli.
- Four characteristics: 1) Uniform patterns, 2) performed by most members of the species, 3) more complex than simple reflexes, 4) cannot be interrupted or stopped in the middle.

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Nikolas Tinbergen

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- One of teh founders of modern ethology
- Is best known for his use of models in naturalistic settings.
- His most famous experiments involved stickleback fish and herring gull chicks.

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Stickleback Fish

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- In the spring they develop red coloration on their belly, and they fight each other.
- Tinbergen hypotehsized that the red belly acted as the releasing stimulus for the attacks.
- To test this he built various models of stickleback fish, ranging from very crude (on which the only feature was a red belly) to very detailed (which lacked the red belly).
- The stickleback males attacked the red-bellied models rather than the detailed but non-red models.

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Herring Gull

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- Hungry chicks peck at the end of their parents' bills, which have a red spot on the tip. The parent then regurgitates food for the chick.
- Tinbergen hypothesized that the red spot is what signals the chick to peck.
- In testing this he found that chicks pecked more at a red-tipped model bill than at a plain model. Further, the greater the contrast between the bill and the red spot, the more vigorously the chicks would peck, even when the contrast was so strong as to be unnatural. This is the concept of SUPERNORMAL SIGN STIMULUS.

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Supernormal sign stimulus

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- artificual stimuli that exaggerate the naturally occurring sign stimulus or releaser.
- They are more effective than the natural releaser.

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Karl von Frisch

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- a major figure in the study of animal behavior.
- Most famous for the discovery that honeybees communicate through a dance that they perform.
- Also studied the senses of fish.

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Walter Cannon

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- Coined the term FIGHT OR FLIGHT.
Also coined the term and proposed the idea of HOMEOSTASIS, which is basically the regulation of the body to maintain equilibrium.

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Genes

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- The basic unity of heredity.
- Composed of DNA molecules and organized in chromosomes, which act as carriers for genes, and therefore for heredity.

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Gamete

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- A sperm or ovum.
- Is HAPLOID in humans, and so contains 23 single chromosomes (All other human cells are DIPLOID and contain 23 pairs of chromosomes).

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Zygote

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- The fertilized egg cell.
- Composed of two separate sets of 23 chromosomes from each parent.
- The genetic material of one parent neither mixes with nor contaminates the genetic material of the other.

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Genotype

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- The total of all genetic material that an offspring receives.
- Is an individual's complete genetic makeup, including both DOMINANT and RECESSIVE genes.

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Alleles

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- The possible dominant and recessive gene variations for each characteristic pair up into alleles.
- The two genes that make up the allele occupy the same place on the chromosome.
- A pair will be constructed as dominant-dominant, recessive-recessive, or dominant-recessive.

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Dominant v. recessive

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- Dominant genes always beat out recessive genes.
- A recessive gene is not manifested unless it is paired with another recessive gene.

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Phenotype

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- The external characteristics of an individual.
- Is partially determined by heredity or genotype, but can also be influenced by the environment.

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Genetic Drift

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- When particular genotypes are slected out or eliminated from a population over time.
- Explained by natural selection.

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Fitness

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- the ability to reproduce and pass on genes.

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Inclusive fitness

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- the concept that animals will be invested in the survival of not only their own genes but also the genes of their kin (KIN SELECTION). This explains why parents protet their young and why individual animals may put themselves at risk by sounding alarm calls to warn their siblings of a predator.

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Instinctual or innate behaviors

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- Present in all normal members of a species.
- Stereotypic in form throughout the members of a species, even when performed for the first time.
- Independent of learning or experience.
- Some experiments show that there is an interaction between instinct and learning. (e.g. rodents reared in isolation still perform instinctual nest-building but their performance is less efficient and less successful than other rodents).

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Altruism

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- Behavior that solely benefits another
- While actions of inclusive fitness are somewhat altruistic, an individual is still aiding in the continuation of its genes.
- Truly altruistic behaviors (toward non-kin) have somewhat baffled ethologists, because they are incompatible with the idea that individuals do what has the greatest survival value for them.
- Most likely altruistic behaviors are similar to a gropu mentality. Individuals will help others if the benefit outweighs the cost or if they expect to be repaid somehow.

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Biological clocks

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- Internal rhythms that keep an animal in sync with the environment.

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Circadian rhythms

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- Endogenous (produced or trowing from within) rhythms that revolve around a 24-hour time period.
- Other types of INTERNAL CLOCKS include the circannual, lunar, or tidal.

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Displacement activities (irrelevant behaviors)

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- refer to behaviors that seem out of place, and illogical, and have no particular survival function.

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Estrus

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- the period in which a female of the species is sexually receptive.

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Inbreeding

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- Breeding within the same family
- Evolutioanry controls prevent this.

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Mimicry

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- refers to an evolved form of deception
- Some harmless species of snakes, for example, mimic the coloration and patterning of poisonous snakes and escape predation as a result.

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Instinctual drift

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- occurs when an animal replaces a trained or forced response with a natural or instinctive response

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Pheromones

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- Chemicals that act as messengers between animals.
- Are thought to be the most primitive form of communication between animals.
- Can transmit states such as fear or sexual receptiveness.

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Reproductive isolating mechanisms

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- serve to prevent interbreeding between two different (but closely related and possibly genetically compatible species.

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Behavior isolation

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- when courtship or display behavior of a particular species allows an individual to identify a mate within its own species - only a member of that species will respond to that particular type of courting

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Geographic isolation

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- when different species breed in different areas to prevent confusion or genetic mixing

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Mechanical isolation

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- when different species have incompatible genital structures

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Isolation by season

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- when potentially compatible species mate during different seasons.

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Sensitive or critical periods in learning

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- times when a developing animal is particularly vulnerable to the effects or learning (or to the lack of such learning)
- E.g. certain bird species have a critical period for learning the song of their species. If reared in isolation during this period they cannot learn the song later.
- This also applies to imprinting. Some animals will attempt to mate with the first type of animal they see, no matter what their later experiences.

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Sexual dimorphism

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- refers to the structural differences between the sexes
- has arisen through both natural and sexual selections

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Sexual selection

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- Is a form of natural selection
- However, it is not the fittest that necessarily win out but rather those with the greatest chance of being chosen as a mate (usually the best fighters, the best courters, and the most attractive individuals).

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Selective breeding

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- contrived breeding
- mates are intentionally paired to increase the chances of producing offspring with particular traits

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Sexual selection

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- Is a form of natural selection
- However, it is not the fittest that necessarily win out but rather those with the greatest chance of being chosen as a mate (usually the best fighters, the best courters, and the most attractive individuals).

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Selective breeding

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- contrived breeding
- mates are intentionally paired to increase the chances of producing offspring with particular traits