BEHL 2012 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Ethogram, Ontogeny, Latent Learning
BEHL 2012 Week 2b Workshop
Behaviour is WHAT an animal does
Interaction with environment
Eating, drinking, walking
Tinbergen's (1963) four whys or determinants of behaviour
1.Function (survival/ adaptive value): what is it for?
a. How does behaviour contribute to survival and reproductive success and what are
consequences of performing it? (population)
2.Causation (control): how does it work?
a. What are the mechanisms which enable the behaviour to be performed? Physiology,
learning, morphology, ecology. (individual)
2.Ontogeny (development): how does it develop?
a. How the behaviour pattern develops in the individual and how the environment may
modify it. (individual)
2.Phylogeny (evolution): how did it evolve?
a. Evolutionary history of behaviour in a population or lineage. Genetics, culture
(populations)
Burghardt (1997) added 5. what is private experience of animal presenting the behaviour?
Example: Chest-beating by gorillas
1.Its function
a. Alarm, display, distance communication
2.Its causation
a. Arm & hand flexibility, inflatable chest sacs
2.Its ontogeny
a. Begins as feeble chest slapping, full range of expression only in silverback males
2.Its evolution
a. Relating to drumming in chimpanzees & humans?
2.What is the 'actor's' private experience?
a. Probably confidence building
Describing behaviour: the ethogram
A descriptive catalogue of the behaviours that occur within the species
Purely descriptive:
oNo implication of whether they are purely innate or if learning is involved
Catalogue headings are not fixed:
oDifferent categories are used by different authors/ researchers (ideal to have
standardised ethogram that everyone used)
Innate behaviours
Fixed action patterns (FAPs):
oStrongly biologically determined; 2 different types (degrees):
Rituals: stereotyped (same for throughout species)
Shaped by natural selection
Strongly controlled by genetic mechanisms
Display: exaggerated ritualized signal
More stereotyped
More complex
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
May include autonomic responses (hair stands, blood flow, etc)
Facial gestures are FAPs
Facial communication
oMore elaborate and diverse in more complex species
Learning: modification of behaviour as a result of experience
oTypes of learning
Associative learning
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Habituative learning
Latent learning- without obvious reward
Insight learning- without teaching to do things
Imprinting- early learning limited to a short critical period; irreversible
Intelligence
Observational learning
Signals
oSignal: behaviour or structure which alters behaviour of others - effective because of
receiver's response
oCue: feature of the world, animate or inanimate that can be used as a guide to
future action
oRitualization: changes cues into signal
Signals- costs and handicaps
Handicap: signal whose cost is greater than required by sheer efficacy (effectiveness):
oSignal may be costly to produce (eg. Huge size)
oSignals may have costly consequences such as vulnerability (eg, conspicuous
colouration)
Types of signals
Index: signal where intensity of signal is related to quality of signal which cant be faked
Minimal-cost signal: signal whose reliability does not depend on its cost- ie. Not a handicap
and can be made by most members of population
Icon: a signal whose form is similar to its meaning (eg. Pointing)
Symbol: a signal whose form is unrelated to its meaning (eg. Language)
Why are primates so intelligent
1.Primates need to be intelligent to solve ecological problems
a. Fruit trees are patchy and seasonal
b. Need complex mental maps for where and when their fruits bloom
c. Many foods need considerable skill to process: nuts, roots, larvae, seeds, nettles
2.Primates need to be intelligent to solve social challenges
a. Detailed knowledge of kinship
b. Understanding of nature of rank relationships
c. Participation in coalitions
d. Understanding of third party relationships
e. Deception
f. Manipulation of other group members for strategic purposes
Studying behaviour
beware of inaccurate nature of perception and different modes of perception (observer
bias)
The observer interacts with the subject
oIs the subject behaving naturally or with one eye on the observer
Habituation (losing fear of humans): may benefit study animals and disadvantage their
neighbours
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Tinbergen"s (1963) four whys or determinants of behaviour. 1. function (survival/ adaptive value): what is it for: how does behaviour contribute to survival and reproductive success and what are consequences of performing it? (population) 2. ontogeny (development): how does it develop: how the behaviour pattern develops in the individual and how the environment may modify it. (individual) 2. phylogeny (evolution): how did it evolve: evolutionary history of behaviour in a population or lineage. 2. its causation: arm & hand flexibility, inflatable chest sacs. 2. its ontogeny: begins as feeble chest slapping, full range of expression only in silverback males. 2. what is the "actor"s" private experience: probably confidence building. A descriptive catalogue of the behaviours that occur within the species. Purely descriptive: no implication of whether they are purely innate or if learning is involved. Catalogue headings are not fixed: different categories are used by different authors/ researchers (ideal to have standardised ethogram that everyone used) May include autonomic responses (hair stands, blood flow, etc)
