Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Fixed Action Pattern, Indigo Bunting, Tabula Rasa

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Dr.Mike

Document Summary

Learning process by which experience produces a relatively enduring change in an organism"s behaviour or capabilities. Knowing how vs. doing ; experience provides us with knowledge, but in science, learning must be measured by actual changes in performance. Learning is a process of personal adaptation to the changing circumstances of our lives. Behaviourism focused on how organisms learn, examining how experience influences behaviour (tabula rasa blank tablet) Ethology focused on functions of behaviour; animal behaviour within an environment. Adaptive significance how behaviour influences an organism"s chances of survival and reproduction in natural environment. Fixed action pattern an unlearned response automatically triggered by a particular stimulus (i. e. herring gull beg for food) As ethological research grew, 2 things were learned: Some fixed action patterns could be modified by experience. What appeared to be instinctive behaviour actually involved learning. I. e. indigo bunting bird navigates by flying away from the north star.