Intsint, Learning and Motivation Flashcards
(148 cards)
When was the word instinct first used in psychology?
By Wilhelm Wundt in 1870s
Defined it as any repeated behaviour
How did William James (1890) describe instinct?
Inherited tendency to seek a particular goal
When did study of instinct start up again after behaviourist era?
When ethology became popular in the 1950s and allowed the focus of study of animals under natural conditions to come back
What is instinctive behaviour?
Behaviour produced without learning - innate
Genetically predetermined
Stereotyped - similar on all occasions, in all individuals
Deprivation study: Grohman
Prevented young pigeons from moving wings but they flew as proficiently as other birds when constraints were removed
So, it was concluded that practice is not necessary for normal development of flight
This is a deprivation experiment as we take away certain stimulus to see the effect that this has
Evidence proving some experience is necessary to develop things that might have been thought of ‘instincts’
kittens deprived of light have abnormal depth perception and then do not avoid a drop, they used visual cliff experiments and showed no fear at the drop, which shows depth perception possibly is not innate in cats
Hailman,1966 - problem with instinct definition
pecking accuracy in Laughing Gull chicks, parents coach the chicks to improve and their accuracy improves over time
This is an issue with instinct definition as the behaviour should be performed perfectly straight away but it was not
Appetitive behaviours
Seek, find, approach etc.
Consummatory response
Eating, drinking etc.
Hall et al. (2000)
found that rats who were deprived of water drank more water than rats who had not previously been deprived of water when they were deprived again
When does experience begin? - Grier et al.
exposed incubating eggs to sound or no sound, found that all chicks showed an interest in the sound but the chicks who heard the sound showed a preference for the sound
When does experience begin? - Schaal et al. (2000)
a study where women either ate or did not eat a diet which included anise during pregnancy, at a few hours old the babies were exposed to swabs their either smelled of anise or were blank and the babies behaviours were recorded
Shorter duration of negative facial expression if baby had already been exposed to anise compared to baby who had not been exposed to it
Babies also showed more mouthing activity if their mothers had ate anise compared to babies who’s mothers had not
When does experience begin? - Ronca et al.
took rat pups to space where they did not experience gravity and as they did not have the previous experience of gravity they did not initially have the righting response but once they were back on earth they developed this after around 1 week
Issues with instinct
Difficult to test – endless number of deprivation experiments
Behaviour produced without learning should be perfect the first time? Pecking accuracy
When does experience begin?
What did Freud argue about incest avoidance?
as children, siblings naturally lust after one another so societies need to create incest taboo to inhibit these feelings
What did Westermarck (1891) argue about incest avoidance?
argued the reverse of Freud – sexual disinterest/ aversion in other children one is raised with = sexual negative imprinting, which has a cascade effect on society
Inbreeding depression
inbred individuals have poor health and fertility due to higher frequency of recessive, deleterious traits in homozygous form when close relatives breed
What does the superb fairy wren do to avoid inbreeding?
They divorce their partners and leave the territory to avoid inbreeding with her son when the father dies and the son takes his mate and territory
How can we test sexual negative imprinting?
Evidence from Israeli Kibbutz, Spiro (1958) and Shepher (1983) – children raised together from birth to adolescence in peer groups of 6-8, they found that 2769 marriages in 211 Kibbutz, only 20 within-Kibbutz marriages, no marriages between individuals living in the same peer group for the first 6 years
What can we conclude about how attitudes to incest are determined?
determined by co-residence, non-conscious, attitudes not fixed, its strength varies with experience, not a sensitive period but perhaps a sensitive gradient
Human leukocyte antigen
Genes in major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) that help code for proteins that differentiate between self and non-self and play a significant role in disease and immune defence
What does MHC stand for?
Major histocompatibility complex
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
Group of genes that code for proteins found on the surface of cells that help immune system recognise foreign substances
Found in all higher vertebrates
In humans called human leukocyte antigen (HLA)
Is smell important for partner choice?
Animals and humans are said to use MHC and HLA to help choose their mate
MHC-heterozygosity means offspring will be more resistant to many forms of infectious disease
This can be detected through odours and females use this odour to pick a mate with MHC dissimilar to their own