Download Innate and Learned Behavior

Innate and Learned Behavior
YEAR 10 SCIENCE LIFE - PSYCHOLOGY
Behaviour

A behaviour is any
observable action made by
a living person

Examples include; walking,
crying, blinking, eating etc.

All of these activities can be
seen, this means they can be
observed.
Innate vs Learned Behaviour
•
Behavior can be regarded as being either
•
Innate: “inborn” behaviors, those that are genetically
predetermined, occur in all members of a species
•
Learned: behaviors that develop or change as a result of
experience
Innate
Behaviour
Include:
• Rhythmic – Feeding and
Migration
• Communication
• Reproductive
• Competitive
• Dominance Hierarchies
• Territoriality
Rhythmic Behaviors
•
Rhythmic behaviors are those that animals repeat at
regular intervals (eg: daily, seasonally, tidally, yearly etc)
Sleep – nocturnal (night)or diurnal(day)
• Hibernation
• Feeding
• Migration
• Spawning and other breeding
behaviors
•
Rhythmic Behaviors – Feeding
•
The ability of an organism to find food, and the way they go
about doing this is an example of Rhythmic Behavior
•
Can be Individual or Social (group)
Rhythmic Behaviors – Migration
•
The movement of large numbers of animals of one
species from one area to another, and the subsequent
return home.
•
Is generally seasonal
•
Migrate for resources – food, nesting areas
•
This movement can be many km
Communication
•
Communication via touch, posture, sound,
visual display or chemical signals are
examples of Innate behaviors
•
Communication occurs in response to a
Stimulus
Competition
•
Animals will complete for:
•
•
•
•
Food
Space for nesting and shelter
Mates
Water
Social Hierarchies
•
In group situations, animals will often fight to establish a
pecking order
•
Once an individual knows its order in the group, fighting is
reduced
•
Higher up in the pecking order = greater access to food, mating
partners
Territorial Behavior
•
Animals select a territory and defend against others
for a number of reasons
• Food
• Mates
• Nesting sites
• Space
Learnt
Behaviour
Include:
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
(Trial and error)
• Habituation
• Insight
• Imprinting
Classical Conditioning

Often referred to as Associative
Learning

First stimulus initiates an innate
response (food → salivation),
Second stimulus (bell) wouldn’t
usually initiate a response but
animal has learnt to associate
second stimulus with first

Reward follows the stimulus
Operant Conditioning
trial and error
•
Often referred to as “Trial and Error”
learning
•
Behavior is a conditioned response as
a result of a reward
•
Eg:
•
•
•
Stimulus – hunger
Action – pressing bar
Reward - food
Habituation
•
The ability to “get used to” a repeated stimulus,
such as noise
•
Eg: dogs may need habituation to thunderstorms or
fireworks if they are afraid
•
Video – habituation in the laboratory
Insight
•
Insight learning is in a sense the “highest
form” of learning observed.
•
It is the ability to problem solve or to perform a
correct or appropriate behaviour the first time
the animal is exposed to a situation.
•
Most highly developed in more intelligent
species
•
eg: humans, chimpanzees, and in some birds (eg
ravens, pigeons)
Insight learning: Chimpanzee Problem Solving
Imprinting
•
•
A newly hatched or newborn animal is able to recognize its
own parents from among other individuals of the same
species.
•
Helps to ensure that the young will not become separated
from their parents, and in determining behaviour later in life
(such as courtship and mating)
Imprinting occurs during a
sensitive period shortly after
hatching, corresponding to a
time when the young are
unlikely to encounter adults
other than their parents.
Examples
INNATE BEHAVIOUR
LEARNT BEHAVIOUR
o
sleeping
o
operant conditioning
o
reproductive behaviours
o
imprinting
o
daily eating
o
habituation
o
territoriality
o
ignore barking dog
o
ticklishness
o
playing sport or instrument