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Lesson 1
INTRODUCTION: INFLUENCES AND MOTIVATION
Aim
Identify factors affecting animal behaviour.
ETHOLOGY
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour. It encompasses an understanding of
both zoology and psychology. The desire to understand the animal world has made
ethology a rapidly growing field of study. Many Ethologists are typically interested in a
behavioural process rather than in a particular animal group and often study one type of
behaviour (e.g. aggression) in a number of unrelated animals.
The study of animal behaviour provides a foundation for animal training, or more
generally, animal care. It also provides very real insights and a foundation for
understanding human behaviour. If you wish, you may focus on a particular animal or
group of animals. Let your tutor know your preference.
Animals do share some behavioural characteristics with people but it can be dangerous to
assume too much similarity. Animal behaviour is far less affected by choices reached
through reasoning.
WHAT IS ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR?
Behaviour is any externally observable
activity of an animal. In general, it includes:
• Movement of parts of the body
• Stopping expected movement
• Secretions from the body
• Changes in body colour.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ANIMAL
BEHAVIOUR?
It is assumed that all animal behaviour is an
adaptation designed to support survival,
either directly or indirectly. However, this is
not always the case. Animals can behave
self-destructively, out of habit, or out of
boredom, just as humans can. To better
understand the behaviour, we should also
consider what motivates it.
WHAT MOTIVATES BEHAVIOUR?
Genetics is of prime importance (ie. inherited characteristics). Genetic characteristics are
also sometimes referred to as “inborn”, “innate” or “instinctive”. Most animals are
genetically programmed to act in certain ways in certain situations.
Experience (ie. learned characteristics). Experience may encompass terms including:
“acquired”, “experiential” or “environmental”. Behaviours can be learned through the
experience of interacting with the environment (which includes the people or other
creatures in it), or it can be learned through personal, subjective experience (perceptions,
thoughts and feelings). In the case of animals, these latter factors are usually difficult to
identify.
Since genetic and environmental factors both
influence behaviour, it is impossible to distinguish
particular causes for a displayed behaviour.
Particularly in regard to animals, no behaviour can
ever be characterised as totally instinctive or totally
learned. Even though learned and genetic factors
both play a role in all behaviours, the relative
significance of each is variable.
Some behaviours in animals can be relatively unlearned and therefore, almost impossible
to modify. In such cases, we can determine that genetics is the major influence. Other
behaviours are relatively easy to modify, thus mostly learned. In such cases, we can
determine that genetics has a minor influence.
KINDS OF BEHAVIOUR
Three general categories of behaviour are reactive behaviours, active behaviours, and
cognitive behaviours.
• Reactive Behaviour
Reactive behaviour includes stereotypic behaviour which is largely automatic. These are
the most primitive types of behaviours which have been fully established in the animal
well before it is born. Animal tropisms (automatic orientation responses) such as
balancing and positioning are reactive behaviours. Other tropisms include things such
as breathing, avoiding heat or opening the eyes.
• Active Behaviours
Active behaviours are developed from inherited potentials. The animal is born with a
tendency to act a certain way, but a degree of learning must occur for that behaviour to
develop. The process is a little like a computer which delivers pre-programmed
responses on demand; the way to act might be built into the animal’s genetic make-up,
but it requires a certain stimulus before the action happens. These behaviours in part
occur through parental training (eg. flying, walking, grooming). This is a more elaborate
type of behaviour than reactive behaviour. It is believed to occur only in more advanced
animals (ie. arthropods and vertebrates), though there is some evidence that lower order
animals can also learn behaviour.
• Cognitive Behaviours
Cognitive behaviours are the most advanced forms of behaviour. Genetics provides only
a very general influence, and the actual behaviour is more influenced by the
environment and experience. Cognitive behaviour is more or less “deliberate” activity.
The animal doesn’t just respond to stimuli; it can also “invent” its own actions.
Simple cognitive behaviours are encountered in many (but not all) arthropods, and all
vertebrates.
Exploration is a simple cognitive behaviour which allows an animal to familiarize itself
with new conditions in the environment. Objects are approached, inspected and then
moved away from. This action is generally repeated, but with reduced frequency. The
most complex environmental factors tend to stimulate the greatest exploratory activity. If
mammals are prevented from exploration for long periods, their behaviour can become
abnormal.
Play is a more advanced type of cognitive behaviour which occurs to some degree in
most vertebrates; but more so in mammals. Play may involve more complex and diverse
activity than exploration. Play and exploration together help animals adapt to both their
physical and social environment. Lack of play in young animals can lead to social
problems later in life (ie. they make poor parents or don’t react well with other animals).
Another more complex cognitive behaviour seen in mammals is manipulative behaviour.
LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov was a pioneer in Classical Conditioning. His theory was based on his findings
while experimenting with dogs. Pavlov observed the relationship between an
unconditioned stimulus (eg. a dish of food) and an unconditioned response (eg. salivating
at the mouth). He recognised that this was a natural, unlearned response. He proceeded
to experiment with the possibilities of associating another stimulus (light) with the
unconditioned stimulus (food), so that the dog would be conditioned to respond to the light
by salivating.
Pavlov set up the dog in a soundproof laboratory, with a special device to measure the
salivating response (attached to the salivary gland). A light was then turned on following
delivery of meat powder by remote control. A high degree of salivation was measured. The
procedure was repeated so that the dog was conditioned to associate the light with food.
The repetition of this procedure is called reinforcement. It reinforces the association
between light and food. When the experimenter turned on the light, without presenting
food, the dog still salivated copiously. This form of learning is called "classical
conditioning".
The light is the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the salivation now a conditioned response
(CR). If the conditioned behaviour is not reinforced (i.e. if the conditioned stimulus is
presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus) then the conditioned response
slowly disappears. This is called extinction. Extinction is the elimination of a learned
behaviour.
Learned behaviour can be unlearned on condition that the reinforcement that maintains
the behaviour is totally removed. (If reinforcement is occasionally removed, the behaviour
it reinforces may strengthen in intensity).
Classical conditioning may differ in form according to the time lapse between the
presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (eg. food) and the controlled stimulus (eg.
light):
• With simultaneous conditioning, the light and the food are produced
simultaneously.
• With delayed conditioning, the light is turned on for a period before the food is
presented.
• With trace conditioning, the light is turned on for a while then turned off before the
presentation of food.
Different schools of psychology interpret Pavlov's research discoveries in different ways. It
was the traditional behaviourists that took Pavlov’s results into their fold, so to speak.
They used his research to validate their mechanistic view of human behaviour, perceiving
the learning process involved as an automatic process. They adopted Pavlov’s
assumption that the learning is based on the temporal closeness of the two stimuli. The
conditioned association between the unconditioned stimuli and conditioned stimuli would
not, in their view, have occurred unless the two stimuli were presented at more or less the
same time.
On the other hand, cognitive psychologists interpret Pavlov’s results in a different fashion.
They give more thought to what happens inside the organisms mind. No response would
occur in their view, unless the organism was capable of actively processing received
information.
According to these theorists, the organism observes that conditioned stimuli and the
unconditioned stimuli occur together, and stores this information in memory. When the
conditioned stimulus is presented, the organism remembers its previous simultaneous
occurrence with the unconditioned stimulus, and thus responds in expectation of the
uncontrolled stimulus. The difference between these two interpretations might seem small,
but their psychological implications are profoundly different.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning describes a form of learning involved in more complex learning.
The concept of operant conditioning was formulated by B.F. Skinner. Skinner
distinguished between operant and respondent behaviour. Respondent behaviour occurs
as a direct unconditioned response to a stimulus (eg. the reflex of the knee or salivating at
the smell of good food). Operant behaviour, on the other hand, involves the organism
actively performing (operating) in the environment without responding to a particular
stimulus. Such behaviour is influenced not so much by causes, as by results that are
produced.
Example: We wake up in the morning in a good mood for no obvious reason. Because the
mood is good, we smile at people in the street. The result of this friendliness might lead
people to be warm and friendly in return, or maybe even initiate conversations with you.
These consequences will then lead you to smile more often in order to encourage such
positive responses.
Note that it is the outcome of the behaviour that reinforces that particular behaviour.
The reinforcement may be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement promotes a
particular behaviour pattern because it provides a positive outcome. For example a dog
might learn that if it wags its tail and whimpers that its owner will give it a chocolate drop.
The dog enjoys this experience, and so the next time it feels like some chocolate it is likely
to repeat this behaviour.
Negative reinforcement is where the behaviour is reinforced because it removes or avoids
a negative stimulus or condition. For example a dog is too hot in the garden so it goes
and rests in its kennel. By doing so it removes the unpleasant stimulus (heat). The
behaviour is reinforced so that the next time the dog is too hot it is likely that it will go and
rest in its kennel.
Negative reinforcement should not be confused with ‘punishment’ which weakens
behaviour because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of
behaviour. For example, a dog gets beaten for chewing the furniture. This is punishment.
Skinner’s Experiments
A rat is placed in a box containing nothing other than a bar. The rat will explore its
surroundings. It will eventually discover the bar, and play with it. In effect, the rat is
voluntarily operating on its environment. After a while, the experimenter introduces a food
pellet through a food chute to coincide with the times when the rat presses the bar. The rat
will eat the pellet, and after that, the rate of pressing the bar increases dramatically. The
pellets of food have reinforced the rat’s operant behaviour. This differs from classical
conditioning because the rat is not simply passively waiting for a stimulus (eg. light) to
happen before doing something.
OTHER INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIOUR
Behaviour is also affected by an animal’s biological/physiological condition. When an
animal is sick, it may act differently. When its physiological systems or internal chemistry is
abnormal, its behaviour may also become abnormal. There are associations that occur
between the physiology and the psychology of an animal. For example:
•
•
Chemical processes, such as the response to different types of foods, can affect
the psychological state. (Example: Animals may think differently when they are
starved.)
When animals become stressed, blood vessels may contract and the heart rate
may increase.
In studying animal behaviour, we focus on two broad areas of concern:
1. The way the body’s physiology responds to external stimuli.
2. The way the body’s internal environment can affect the animal’s behaviour.
External stimuli that can affect behaviour include:
• Stimuli to sensory organs
• Dysfunction of sensory organs.
Internal influences on behaviour can include:
• Different foods (including nutritional deficiencies or disorders)
• Secretions of Glands
• Metabolic Products
• Blood and Lymph constituents
•
•
•
Chemicals manufactured in the body and brain
Dysfunction of body systems (pain may or may not be a symptom)
Neuro Emotional Blockages.
Physiological Responses to Psychological Stimuli
Physiological characteristics can be seen to change when an animal’s state of mind is
stimulated in some way. Here are some examples:
• An animal is feeling tired, lays down and observes surrounding activity, then
becomes more alert / awake.
• If the animal lies down in a dark, quiet place, they may be more likely to sleep.
• An animal sees something that is disturbing (eg. a predator) and their heart rate
increases.
TERMINOLOGY
Research and attempt to understand the following terminology in relation to animal
behaviour:
Ethology: This means the study of character or the essential nature of an organism.
Animal ethology is an interdisciplinary study combining zoology and psychology,
concerned with observing animals in a natural environment and developing theoretical
characterisations with regard to both genetic and environmental influences.
Fitness: Fitness is the extent to which an animal is capable of succeeding in an
endeavour.
• Individual (Darwinian) fitness relates to evolution. An animal may be very successful as
an individual, but if it cannot reproduce (ie. is sterile) it might be considered to lack
fitness.
• Inclusive fitness is the combination of different strategies used to ensure genetic
success of not just the individual, but close genetic relatives (eg. an individual ant might
not reproduce, but those in its nest might reproduce as a result of its actions).
Game Theory: This is a branch of mathematics that deals with formal analysis of the
decision making process. It considers actions, and the various ways in which another
animal might react to those actions.
Sexual Selection: Processes by which male–female differences derive from preferential
selection of individuals that display those characteristics.
Altruism: This is selfless behaviour; it involves an animal putting the welfare of others
before its own welfare. Sometimes this behaviour may actually jeopardize the interests of
the altruistic animal, but in other instances, this might not be the case.
If, after investigating on your own, you need assistance with any of these terms, ask your
tutor.
SELF ASSESSMENT
Perform the self assessment test titled ' test 1.1’.
If you answer incorrectly, review the notes and try the test again
SET TASK
Observe an animal in the zoo, in the wild, or a domestic animal. Try to observe what you
consider to be an example of operant conditioning. Make notes.
ASSIGNMENT
Download and do the assignment called ‘Lesson 1 Assignment’.