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Chapter 41 Unit Questions
1. Explain how behavior is affected by proximate and ultimate causes.

Behavior can be affected proximate causes and ultimate causes. Proximate causes
include an organism’s immediate stimuli that can influence an organism’s behavior.
Ultimate causes include evolutionary processes that influence an animal’s behavior
over many generations.
2. What kinds of genetic factors affect or determine behavior?

Modifications of genes or gene expression influence behavior; alterations in just one
gene can affect animal behavior.
3. How is a fixed action behavior triggered? Provide an example.

Fixed action behaviors are triggered by stimuli known as releasers. An example of a
fixed action behavior includes the red dots of adult gulls. When gull chicks peck at this
red dot, the parent is stimulated to regurgitate food.
4. How does innate behavior differ from learned behavior?

Innate behavior and learned behavior differ in that innate behavior comes from birth
and cannot be learned from experience.
5. What is imprinting? Under what circumstances might imprinting not happen?

Imprinting is a “rapid form of learning in which an animal learns, during a brief critical
period, to make a particular response, which is maintained for life, to some object or
other organism.” If certain sensory conditions or time restraints are unmet, then
imprinting may not occur.
6. Compare and contrast operant behavior and classical conditioning.

Operant behavior uses consequences—namely positive and negative reinforcement—to
teach new behaviors, whereas classical conditioning uses stimuli to teach a new
behavior.
7. How does natural selection shape an individual’s behavior?

Animals use environmental cues to make choices that will allow them and their
offspring, over evolutionary time, to have a good fitness outcome; this is natural
selection.
8. What are some reasons that individuals live in a group? Describe problems associated with
group living.

Individuals may choose to live in a group for protection from predators and easier
foraging ability; problems associated with group living may include more competition
for mates and food. The risk of disease transmission can also increase.
9. How do biological rhythms affect behavior? What controls biological rhythms.

Circadian rhythms control behavior, as animals are very responsive to light-dark
cycles. Biological rhythms are controlled by genes; even without light patterns,
animals are thought to have a biological clock that allows them to follow circadian
rhythms.
10. Explain the cost/benefit analysis of behavior. What kinds of behavior are determined by this?

Animals use the cost-benefit approach when they have a limited amount of time and
energy, and must make choices that will most benefit them in the long run.
Accumulation of resources and territorial behavior are both examples of this concept.
11. What is the role of culture in adaptation? What about sexual selection?

Culture sets precedent, which allows adaptations to occur according to social norms
and customs. Sexual selection allows organisms to breed specific traits rather than
undesirable ones.
12. What are the advantages of altruistic behavior? How is altruism measured by inclusive fitness?

An animal that exhibits altruistic behavior helps other animals aside from itself. This
behavior may be advantageous because it allows for kin selection, which increases an
animal’s inclusive fitness. Altruism is measured by inclusive fitness as altruism benefits
those other than the performer, and inclusive fitness is the sum of these benefits.