PSYC 2330 Lecture Notes - Ethology

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2330
• Professor: Francesco Leri

Document Summary

Behaviour refers to a set of responses of an organism usually in relation to environmental stimuli (goals) Some behaviours are more instinctual (genetically programed) and some are learned (adapted to the environment, flexible and open to modification) Usually behaviours are a combination of the two. They are impulses coming from within the organism. If you have the energy within you and are given a certain stimuli you will respond. You can use cues from the environment to interpret what you"re feeling. They exist because they have, or have had survival value. Instinctive behaviour differ in terms of degree of sensitivity changes in the environment. Appetitive: searching behaviours that are flexible, adapted to the environment and are subject to modification through learning (ex. The animal does these behaviours to achieve something) Consummatory: fixed patterns of responding to specific stimuli. These behaviours are rigid, insensitive to the environment, highly stereotyped (repetitive) and independent from learning (ex.