week 2

Question 1

what is instinctive behaviour

Answer 1

• behaviour produced without learning - innate
• genetically predetermined
• neurologically casual
• stereotyped

It is an innate fixed response to an environmental stimulus

Question 2

deprivation experiment

Answer 2

compare behaviour of individuals with and without a given experience
Grohmann prevented young pigeons from moving wings
- flew as proficiently as normal birds when constraint removed
Conclusion: practice not necessary for normal development of flight

Question 3

example of unexpected necessary experience

Answer 3

some non-specific experiences are necessary for development of what might otherwise be thought to be ‘instincts’

examples: kittens deprived of light have abnormal depth perception and do not avoid a drop

Question 4

appetitive behaviours

Answer 4

seek, find approach

Question 5

Consummatory response

Answer 5

eating, drinking etc

Question 6

‘westermarck effect’

Answer 6

inbreeding depression
- inbred individuals have poor health and fertility
due to higher frequency of recessive, deleterious traits in homozygous form when close relatives breed.