Psych 320 Chpt 2

Genetic Contributions to Motivated Behavior

• Chapter focuses on the underlying genetic factors influencing motivated behavior.
• Learning Objectives include discussing genetic motives, early instinct theories' emphasis, classical ethology's explanation of behavior, and recent modification to Ethology.

Early Instinct Theories

• Instinct refers to a genetically programmed behavior triggered when circumstances are appropriate and requires no prior learning.
• Concept was popular in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
• Provided the foundation for ethology, the study of animal behavior.

Criticisms of Early Instinct Theories

• Subject to the nominal fallacy, where naming a behavior doesn't explain its underlying cause.
• A major issue was the difficulty in distinguishing between learned and instinctive behaviors.
• Definitions and types of instincts lacked standardization, leading to overlap and inconsistencies.

William James

• Instinct include our predisposition to act in specific ways such as modesty and/or fear.
• Instinct is described as an impulse.
• Instincts are comparable to reflexes:
• They are triggered by sensory input.
• They occur blindly initially, influence future behavior through memory.

William James : Principles

• Habit or learning can suppress an instinct.
• Some instincts are transitory tying into critical periods and imprinting.

William McDougall

• Teleology: instincts serve a purpose beyond a simple reaction.
• Instincts encompass 3 features:
• Cognitive (knowing the object(s) that can satisfy the instinct)
• Affective (how the object affectively feels)
• Conative (actions - striving toward or away from the object)
• Four ways an instinct can be activated or altered: external objects/thoughts, behavioral changes to express the instinct, expression of multiple instincts at once, specificity.
• Anthropomorphism, attributing human characteristics to animals, is problematic due to introducing bias.

James vs McDougall

• Agreement: Parental love, hunting, curiosity, constructiveness, sociability, and sympathy.
• Differences:
• James includes pugnacity, fear, acquisitiveness, play, shyness, secretiveness, cleanliness, modesty, jealousy, and rivalry.
• McDougall comprises food seeking, repulsion, escape, self assertion, submission, mating, and appeal.

Classical Ethology

• Ethology is a branch of biology focused on the evolution, development, and function of behavior.
• Based on Darwinian theory of evolution (survival).
• Key figures included Lorenz and Tinbergen, contributions were made in the 1930s.

Ethogram

• Comprehensive list of species-typical behaviors and definitions.
• These behavioral categories include Resting, Stretching, Sniffing, Chasing, Fighting, Submission, Digging, Eating, etc.

Ethological Terms

• Appetitive behavior: flexible, adaptive, searching, influenced by learning (ex: searching for food).
• Consummatory behavior: fixed patterns responding to specific stimuli; innate, stereotyped, and well-coordinated (ex: chewing/swallowing food).
• Action Specific Energy (ASE): each behavior has its unique energy source.
• Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM): inhibits behavior from occurring using environmental or social stimuli i.e. key/sign stimuli or social releasers.

Social Releasers

• Social Releasers serve a communicative function.

Key Stimuli

• Simple stimuli.
• Configurational stimuli are multiple simple key stimuli
• Supernormal key Stimuli release behavior more effectively than a normal stimulus.

Fixed Action Patterns

• Fixed Action Patterns (FAP's) are instinctive behaviors in response to key stimuli.
• Possess four key features:
• Stereotyped.
• Independent of immediate external control.
• Spontaneous.
• CNS controlled independent of experience.
• Independent of learning.

Intention Movements

• Low-intensity, incomplete responses indicate accumulating energy.
• Serve a communicative function via "ritualization", show motivational intent.

Motivational Conflict

• Occurs when 2+ stimuli happen simultaneously.
• Conflict behavior has 4 categories: successive ambivalent behavior, simultaneous ambivalent behavior, redirected behavior, ethological displacement.

Successive Ambivalent Behavior

• Alternation of incomplete responses representing 2 conflicting motivational states.
• Individual is unable to commit to a clear action.
• Illustrative of "fight or flight".

Simultaneous Ambivalent Behavior

• Both behavioral states are expressed simultaneously.
• Indicative of a mixed motivational sate that is neither of the conflicting states in the binary.

Redirected Behavior

• Appropriate behavioral responses occur, but directed toward an inappropriate object due to conflicting motives.
• This is similar to the Freudian concept of displacement.

Ethological Displacement

• Two equally strong motives conflict and inhibit each other, resulting in anomalous behavioral responses.
• These behavioral responses are not generally associated with the conflicting motives.
• These responses are also FAPs and bring comfort.

Reaction Chain

• A sequence where each step relies on a key stimulus to trigger a FAP, leading to the next stimulus, chaining FAP.
• For example, the courting behaviors of butterflies where each action of the female serves as a stimulus for the male and vis versa.

Imprinting

• Is a socialization process where a young organism forms attachment to its parents.
• It transpires during a sensitive period, e.g., 13-16 hours after ducklings hatch.
• One way in which learning and instinct intermix.
• Not reward based.
• Reversibility depends on whether the bird is nidifugous (leaves nest shortly after hatching) or nidicolous (stays in nest for a while); color > shape; maternal calls > species-typical visual stimuli.

Criticism of Classical Approach

• The distinction between learning and instinct remains unclear.
• Nature vs. nurture debate complicates parsing the two apart.
• The "energy" concept spilling over to other behaviors is problematic.
• Behavior is not fixed and may generalize and/or adapt.

Systems Approaches

• Sensory systems focus on specific type of stimuli EX: Rods for dark/light and cones for fine detail.
• Feedback behavioral systems influenced by development EX: deafened song sparrows vs song sparrows raised with canaries.

Systems Approaches: Mayr

• Programs are genetically determined series of behaviors.
• Open Programs: Can be modified by experience.
• Closed Programs: Cannot be modified, also known as “Instinct”.

System Approaches: Seligman and Hager (1970s)

• Learning is biologically constrained.
• Prepared Behaviors: Instinctive or easy/quick learned behaviors.
• Unprepared Behaviors: Learned by associations.
• Contraprepared Behaviors: Difficult or almost impossible to learn.

Systems Approaches: Baerends

• Emphasized negative feedback.
• A system corrects ongoing behavior or interrupts behavior if the conditions change.

Human Ethology

• Human behavior patterns appear to have innate components.
• Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1972, 1989).
• Many facial expressions are universally recognized.

Human Ethology

• Childhood behaviors have a biological basis (Kagan, Reznick, and Snidman, 1988).
• Shyness - stems from low thresholds for arousability.
• Chronic environmental stress can shape genetics and/or predisposition.

Additional Innate Behaviors

• Neoteny - retention of juvenile traits into adulthood.
• Induces helpful behavior from others.
• Ritualized behavior
• Flirting eye contact, hair flip and baby talk.
• Anger (stamping feet, slapping surfaces)

Additional Innate Behaviors

• Eye contact: Staring often signifies rudeness or threat, and/or to communicate feelings (attraction), or indicates competence.

Additional Innate Behaviors

• Speech may be genetically determined.
• Production - Children imitate sounds (Marler, 1970) -Sensitive periods correlate with localization of voice function
• Serves Representation of experiences & Phonetic social releaser system.

Sex

• Thought to be innate due to courtship behavior patterns.
• Social releasers trigger FAP.
• Sex and aggression are inversely related.
• Aggression violence may be a way to gain access to women.

Aggression

• Classified two ways:
• Interspecific includes members of different species.
• Intraspecific is within the same species.

Interspecific Aggressive Behavior

• Predatory attacks are for food and lack emotionality.
• Results in equilibrium between predator/prey.
• Mobbing behavior includes groups of prey attacking predators.
• Critical reactions motivated by fear when escape is not possibile.

Intraspecific Aggressive Behaviors

• Advantageous in 3 ways: Spreading out increases chances of survival, survival of the fittest betters the species, and the young are protected. -Ritualized tournaments not full-on combat use of appeasement gestures.

Modern Ethological Approaches

• Behavioral Ecology - how behaviors are adaptive in context.
• Includes Predator-prey relationships, competition for resources, group membership, sexual behavior, parental care, & more.
• Cognitive Ethology examines how animals take and process information.
• One approach is processing with & the without consciousness.

Modern Ethological Approaches

• Evolutionary Psychology studies the human mind as a collection of evolved mechanisms and how mechanisms activate behavior.
• Looks at how people resolve problems concerned with survival/reproduction and behavior.
• Argues that current behaviors evolved from surviving in historical context.
• NOT INSTINCT.