ANIMAL BEHAVIOR DUSTIN RUBENSTEIN
COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE 2026
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY
PRINCIPLES
◉ Behavior.
Answer: what an animal does and how it does it
◉ Instinct (Innate) Behavior.
Answer: behaviors that are inherited
◉ Kinesis.
Answer: random movement of animal in relation to stimulus; the
stimulus causes an alteration in rate or direction of activity or
movement.
◉ Fixed-action Patterns.
Answer: sequence of unlearned acts that are unchangeable and
usually continue until they are completed
◉ Signal.
Answer: stimulus that causes change in behavior
, ◉ Learned Behaviors.
Answer: Behaviors that are modified based on specific experiences
example: nest building
◉ Habituation.
Answer: loss of responsiveness to stimuli with little or no meaning;
animal can ignore meaningless stimuli
◉ Associative Learning.
Answer: ability to connect one stimulus with another
◉ Classical Conditioning.
Answer: arbitrary stimulus associated with particular outcome
example: training a dog
◉ Operant Conditioning.
Answer: when faced with two choices, an organism can learn to
choose the option with the best reward.
example: students who study to improve their grades
◉ Cognition.
COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE 2026
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY
PRINCIPLES
◉ Behavior.
Answer: what an animal does and how it does it
◉ Instinct (Innate) Behavior.
Answer: behaviors that are inherited
◉ Kinesis.
Answer: random movement of animal in relation to stimulus; the
stimulus causes an alteration in rate or direction of activity or
movement.
◉ Fixed-action Patterns.
Answer: sequence of unlearned acts that are unchangeable and
usually continue until they are completed
◉ Signal.
Answer: stimulus that causes change in behavior
, ◉ Learned Behaviors.
Answer: Behaviors that are modified based on specific experiences
example: nest building
◉ Habituation.
Answer: loss of responsiveness to stimuli with little or no meaning;
animal can ignore meaningless stimuli
◉ Associative Learning.
Answer: ability to connect one stimulus with another
◉ Classical Conditioning.
Answer: arbitrary stimulus associated with particular outcome
example: training a dog
◉ Operant Conditioning.
Answer: when faced with two choices, an organism can learn to
choose the option with the best reward.
example: students who study to improve their grades
◉ Cognition.
