Behavior - Key terms



CONDITIONING:

Learning by association with particular stimuli. There are two varieties of conditioning: classical conditioning, which involves pairing a stimulus that elicits a specific response with one that does not until the second stimulus elicits a response like the first, and operant conditioning, which involves administering or withholding reinforcements (i.e., rewards) based on the performance of a targeted response.

ETHOLOGY:

The study of animal behavior, including its mechanisms and evolution.

FAPs:

Fixed-action patterns of behavior, or strong responses on the part of an animal to particular stimuli.

IMPRINTING:

The learning of a behavior at a critical period early in life, such that the behavior becomes permanent.

INNATE:

A term to describe behaviors that are present and complete within the individual and which require no experience to learn them. For example, fish have an innate ability to swim, whereas humans must learn how to walk.

NATURAL SELECTION:

The process whereby some organisms thrive and others perish, depending on their degree of adap tation to a particular environment.

REFLEX:

An inborn, automatic response to a stimulus by a part of an organism's body.

STIMULUS:

Any phenomenon (for example, an environmental change) that directly influences the activity or growth of a living organism.

TERRITORIALITY:

The behavior by which an animal lays claim to and defends an area against others of its species and occasionally against members of other species as well.

TROPISM:

A response to a stimulus that acts in a particular direction, thus encouraging growth either toward or away from that stimulus.

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