Home Study - Animal Behaviour Course
Gain a greater understanding of the behaviour of animals.
We assume all animal behaviour is an adaptation for survival, but this isn't always the case. Animals can behave self-destructively, out of habit, or out of boredom, or for other reasons: just as humans can.
To better understand the behaviour, we should also consider what motivates it. Generally animal behavior includes
Behavior may be movtivated by many factors. Genetics is of prime importance (ie. inherited characteristics). Genetic characteristics are also sometimes referred to as “inborn”, “innate” or “instinctive”. Most animals are genetically programmed to act in certain ways in certain situations.
Experience (ie. learned characteristics), may encompass terms including: “acquired”, “experiential” or “environmental”. Behaviours can be learned through the experience of interacting with the environment (which includes the people or other creatures in it), or it can be learned through personal, subjective experience (perceptions, thoughts and feelings). In the case of animals, these latter factors are usually difficult to identify.
Since genetic and environmental factors both influence behaviour, it is impossible to distinguish particular causes for a behaviour. Particularly in regard to animals, no behaviour can ever be characterised as totally instinctive or totally learned. Even though learned and genetic factors both play a role in all behaviour, the relative significance of each is variable.
Other topics covered by this course include animal perception and behavior, the environment and its affect on behavior, social behavior, instinct and learning and much more.
Student Comment: "I found the course to be well written and explained, any queries i had were answered quickly, and the staff to be very friendly and helpful. In all the course has been invaluable. I am a little sad it is near the end as I have enjoyed the whole course " S. Crosbie-Ross
COURSE STRUCTURE
There are eight lessons in this course:
- Introduction: Influences and motivation.
- What is behaviour
- Causes of behaviour (genetics, learning, external and internal influences)
- Reactive, active and cognitive behaviour
- Conditioning
- Genetics and Behaviour.
- Understanding biology
- Natural selection
- Genetic variation
- Development of behaviour
- Behavioural genetics
- Animal Perception and Behaviour
- How animals perceive things
- What stimulates them and how do those stimuli function
- Instinct
- Neural control
- Sensory processes, sight, sound, hearing etc.
- Behaviour and the Environment.
- Coordination
- Orientation
- Homeostasis
- Acclimatisation
- Circadian rhythms
- Biological clocks
- Reproductive cycles etc.
- Social Behaviour.
- Animal Societies
- Aggression
- Social constraints
- Social order
- Play
- Biological clocks
- Communication
- Instinct and Learning.
- Conditioning and learning
- Extinction and habituation
- Instrumental learning
- Reinforcement
- Operant behaviour
- Biological and cognitive aspects of learning
- Handling Animals.
- Psychological affects of different handling techniques
- Training animals (horses, cats, dogs etc).
- The student has a choice of which types of animals to focus on, though a variety will still be covered.
- Behavioural Problems.
- Abnormal behaviour (eg. Psychotic, neurotic)
- Domestication of animals
- Reducing human contact
- Reducing human dependence
This is an individual module course. The individual module courses are 100 hour long usually and can be taken on their own or as part of a larger program of study.
If you wish to take an individual module course as a stand alone course, you can elect to sit an optional exam at the end of it.
If you successfully pass the exam and all assignments, you will receive a Statement of Attainment. You can take examinations at a time and location to suit you. If you enrol, you will be sent further information on how to arrange examinations at the end of the course.
If you do not wish to take the exam, you will receive a Course Completion letter when you have passed all assignments.
There is an assignment at the end of each lesson. So for example, if an individual module course contains ten lessons, you will need to complete ten assignments. Assignments can be sent to us via email, post or fax.
Other qualifications, such as certificates, diplomas etc may require examinations to be taken as part of the overall assessment process.
You can find further information on the examinations process by clicking on the “Enrolment” link above.
You can find further information on other courses by clicking on the “Courses” link above.
COURSE AIMS
- Identify factors affecting animal behaviour.
- Describe the influence of genes on animal behaviour.
- Explain how animals perceive and how they respond to various stimuli.
- Explain the influence of environment factors, such as circadian rhythms, on biological clocks, reproductive cycles, orientation and other animal behaviours.
- Explain the social influences on animal aggression, play, sexual behaviour, communication and other behaviours.
- Describe different ways that animals learn (such as conditioning and habituation) and some effects of learning on behaviour.
- Discuss psychological implications of different handling techniques.
- Identify abnormal animal behaviour (eg. psychotic, neurotic behaviour) and ways to reduce dependence on humans.
Extract from Course Notes:
LEARNED BEHAVIOUR
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov was a pioneer in Classical Conditioning. His theory was based on his findings while experimenting with dogs. Pavlov observed the relationship between an unconditioned stimulus (eg. a dish of food) and an unconditioned response (eg. salivating at the mouth). He recognised that this was a natural, unlearned response. He proceeded to experiment with the possibilities of associating another stimulus (light) with the unconditioned stimulus (food), so that the dog would be conditioned to respond to the light by salivating.
Pavlov set up the dog in a soundproof laboratory, with a special device to measure the salivating response (attached to the salivary gland). A light was then turned on following delivery of meat powder by remote control. A high degree of salivation was measured. The procedure was repeated so that the dog was conditioned to associate the light with food. The repetition of this procedure is called reinforcement. It reinforces the association between light and food. When the experimenter turned on the light, without presenting food, the dog still salivated copiously. This form of learning is called "classical conditioning".
The light is the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the salivation now a conditioned response (CR). If the conditioned behaviour is not reinforced (i.e. if the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus) then the conditioned response slowly disappears. This is called extinction. Extinction is the elimination of a learned behaviour.
Learned behaviour can be unlearned on condition that the reinforcement that maintains the behaviour is totally removed. (If reinforcement is occasionally removed, the behaviour it reinforces may strengthen in intensity).
Classical conditioning may differ in form according to the time lapse between the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (eg. food) and the controlled stimulus (eg. light):
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With simultaneous conditioning, the light and the food are produced simultaneously.
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With delayed conditioning, the light is turned on for a period before the food is presented.
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With trace conditioning, the light is turned on for a while then turned off before the presentation of food.
Different schools of psychology interpret Pavlov's research discoveries in different ways. It was the traditional behaviourists that took Pavlov’s results into their fold, so to speak. They used his research to validate their mechanistic view of human behaviour, perceiving the learning process involved as an automatic process. They adopted Pavlov’s assumption that the learning is based on the temporal closeness of the two stimuli. The conditioned association between the unconditioned stimuli and conditioned stimuli would not, in their view, have occurred unless the two stimuli were presented at more or less the same time.
On the other hand, cognitive psychologists interpret Pavlov’s results in a different fashion. They give more thought to what happens inside the organisms mind. No response would occur in their view, unless the organism was capable of actively processing received information.
According to these theorists, the organism observes that conditioned stimuli and the unconditioned stimuli occur together, and stores this information in memory. When the conditioned stimulus is presented, the organism remembers its previous simultaneous occurrence with the unconditioned stimulus, and thus responds in expectation of the uncontrolled stimulus. The difference between these two interpretations might seem small, but their psychological implications are profoundly different.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning describes a form of learning involved in more complex learning.
The concept of operant conditioning was formulated by B.F. Skinner. Skinner distinguished between operant and respondent behaviour. Respondent behaviour occurs as a direct unconditioned response to a stimulus (eg. the reflex of the knee or salivating at the smell of good food). Operant behaviour, on the other hand, involves the organism actively performing (operating) in the environment without responding to a particular stimulus. Such behaviour is influenced not so much by causes, as by results that are produced.
Example: We wake up in the morning in a good mood for no obvious reason. Because the mood is good, we smile at people in the street. The result of this friendliness might lead people to be warm and friendly in return, or maybe even initiate conversations with you. These consequences will then lead you to smile more often in order to encourage such positive responses.
Note that it is the outcome of the behaviour that reinforces that particular behaviour.
The reinforcement may be positive or negative. Positive reinforcement promotes a particular behaviour pattern because it provides a positive outcome. For example a dog might learn that if it wags its tail and whimpers that its owner will give it a chocolate drop. The dog enjoys this experience, and so the next time it feels like some chocolate it is likely to repeat this behaviour.
Negative reinforcement is where the behaviour is reinforced because it removes or avoids a negative stimulus or condition. For example a dog is too hot in the garden so it goes and rests in its kennel. By doing so it removes the unpleasant stimulus (heat). The behaviour is reinforced so that the next time the dog is too hot it is likely that it will go and rest in its kennel.
Negative reinforcement should not be confused with ‘punishment’ which weakens behaviour because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of behaviour. For example, a dog gets beaten for chewing the furniture. This is punishment.
Skinner’s Experiments
A rat is placed in a box containing nothing other than a bar. The rat will explore its surroundings. It will eventually discover the bar, and play with it. In effect, the rat is voluntarily operating on its environment. After a while, the experimenter introduces a food pellet through a food chute to coincide with the times when the rat presses the bar. The rat will eat the pellet, and after that, the rate of pressing the bar increases dramatically. The pellets of food have reinforced the rat’s operant behaviour. This differs from classical conditioning because the rat is not simply passively waiting for a stimulus (eg. light) to happen before doing something.
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OUR TUTORS
Dr. Gareth Pearce BSc(Hons), BVSc, MA, MVetS, PhD, GradCertEd(HE), PGCertAqVetS, PGCertWLBio&Cons, DiplECPHM, MRCVS. Gareth has over 25 years of experience in teaching and research in agriculture, veterinary medicine, wildlife ecology and conservation in a variety of colleges and universities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the Universities of Melbourne and Bristol, having previously graduated in Agricultural Science and gained a PhD in Livestock Behaviour and Production. He also has post-graduate qualifications in Education, Wildlife Conservation Medicine, Aquatic Veterinary Studies and Wildlife Biology & Conservation.
Anna Sylvester B.Sc.Hons.(Human Biology), M.Sc.Equine
Anna graduated with a degree in Human Biology from Loughborough University and then went on to complete an MSc in Equine Science at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and has a high level of expertise in equine science. She has since spent time in managerial, research and lecturing positions. She also has practical equine experience, and still competes nationally whenever the opportunity arises.
Marius Erasmus B.Sc.Agric., B.Sc.(Wildlife), M.Sc.Agric.
Subsequent to completing a BSc (agric) degree in animal science, he completed an honours degree in wildlife management, and a masters degree in production animal physiology. Following the Masters degree, he has worked for 9 years in the UK, and South Africa; in wildlife management, dairy, beef and poultry farming.
