Ethological Principles In The Study Of Animal Behaviour

Ethological Principles In The Study Of Animal Behaviour Today, the study of animal behaviour is as far reaching as it was for our hominin ancestors who must have had some sense of understanding of animal behaviour while navigating through ancestral African environments. The effects of behavioural research on contemporary civilizations contributes to many aspects of human social and medical research, as well as impacts topics in conservation, habitat/resource sustainability, food production, and population dynamics. Over the last half century, animal behaviour has taken on several different forms. The aim of this of this essay is to explore the scientific study of modern animal behaviour known as ethology: Look at the historic approach to animal behaviour; review the central concepts of ethology, expanding upon Tinbergens (1963) four questions of causation, ontogeny, function, and evolution; illustrate the benefits of using ethological methodology in the study of behavioural phenomenon and discuss the potential impact of ethology on future behavioural research. I examine these questions in the light of comparative research on human and nonhuman primates. Animal Behaviour: A Brief Introduction The study of animal behaviour spans across many disciplines, each field asking specific questions and offering different levels of explanation. Behaviour can be described in terms of underlying hormonal/physiological mechanisms, developmental mechanisms, adaptive function, and in terms of evolutionary pathways of behaviour (McFarland, 1993). Before the advent of ethology, most behavioural disciplines attempted to answers only one or two of these questions at a time. For example, investigating how and when behaviours evolved confront behavioural scientists with a daunting task. Evolutionary biologists are equipped to answer these types of questions by using a phylogenetic approach. Phylogenetic trees allow scientist to investigate correlated evolutionary change and reconstruct ancestral states, making it possible to identify evolutionary relationships between homologous behaviours in closely related species (Nunn and Barton, 2001). This comparative method is useful if you are interested in understanding when a specific behaviour emerged in a species evolutionary history. Often, this line of inquiry leads researchers to generate addition questions: What environmental changes would have selected for this type of behaviour? Is this behaviour adaptive? How would this behaviour increase fitness and persists over time? Comparing similar behaviours between closely related species, occupying a similar niche, and evolutionary histories, provide a solid fr amework to begin generating testable hypotheses to these aforementioned questions. In the early 20th century, psychology comprised its own unique set of methods and experimental techniques that usually consisted of running controlled experiments in a laboratory setting while investigating behaviour (Bateson and Klopfer, 1989). Psychologists were concerned with designing experiments that tested proximate causations of behaviours. For example, a psychologist might investigate the developmental factors that affect the acquisition of learning and imprinting (Martin and Bateson, 2007). Investigating causal relationships to behaviour provide insight into whether behaviour is innate or if it is learned in the context of an individuals environment. On the other hand, behavioural neuroscience aimed to understand causal physiological mechanisms and corresponding neural controls that are modulated by environmental stimuli (Carlson, 2006). This field is concerned with identifying how an animals physiology interacts and is influenced by environment factors, and how this interaction elicits a behavioural response. In the mid 20th century, the behavioural sciences operated independently of one another, as if each disciplines research was a mutually exclusive approach. At that time the competing schools of thought failed to recognize the significant relationships between causation, development, function, evolution, or how each of the corresponding fields actually were complementary to each level of explanation. The scientific study of animal behaviour was in dire need of a complete synthesis that would incorporate proximate and ultimate classes of behaviour into a complementary, integrative framework. The Birth of Ethology The modern study of ethology filled this gap, and sought to piece together the fragmented behavioural scientific approaches. This new field aimed to explain all four classes of behavioural determinants, providing a full account of the phenomenon under study (Bateson and Klopfer, 1982). In the remaining section, I will define ethological principles, highlight the pitfalls of focusing on either proximate or ultimate levels of explanation, and present the case of modern ethology as the more systematic approach to the study of animal behaviour. Understanding the reason why a particular animal behaves in a certain way requires the right type of questions to be asked. In 1963, Niko Tinbergen, one of the founders of ethology, published the paper, On Aims and Methods of Ethology. In this paper he introduced four distinct and broad questions that he used in trying to answer the question, Why does an animal behave like that? (Shettleworth, 1998). In doing so, he laid the foundation for the study modern ethology. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour which attempts to answer four classes of questions: causation, ontogeny, function, and evolution. If a researcher wanted to know why baboons groom one another, it would be important to consider the immediate external stimuli which invoke a specific behaviour response in the animal, or otherwise stated you would want to look at proximate causations of behaviour. Researchers would want to develop questions that reveal causal answers: What external environmental stimuli and internal stimuli cause the animal to respond in a particular way? Answers to these questions often rely on the underlying psychological, physiological, and neurological mechanisms regulating an animals behaviour (Martin and Bateson, 2007). A possible causal explanation to why baboons groom would be that grooming functions as a as a mechanism to reduce stress (Crockford and et al., 2008). Moreover, Tinbergen (1963) was interested in investigating how changes in behaviour machinery are affected during development and coined the term ontology to describe this process. What was it about an individuals development that leads them to behave in a particular manor? Answers to these type of questions require scientists to look at whether a behaviour is learned or refined through development processes such as imprinting or possibly if it is generated by a genetic predisposition. In addition to the importance of providing proximate (causal and ontological) levels of explanation, two classes of questions investigate ultimate factors are equally important to investigate. Ultimate questions are interested in understanding how evolution has selected for and produced specific behavioural phenomena. One such questions looks at the adaptive/survival value a given behaviour would confer on an individual. For example, why do primates participate in intergroup aggression? These type of questions are considered functional investigations. As an example, evolutionary based cost-benefit theories would look at the functional/adaptive significance to intergroup aggression. One possible hypothesis to the question of why individuals exhibit intergroup aggression is that the more aggressive primate groups will achieve increased access to reproductive females and increased access to resources (Manson and Wrangham, 1991). Natural selection imposes differential reproductive succes ses, understanding these functional relationships provide answers to adaptive questions. The last behavioural problem Tinbergen identified was that of evolutionary history. He explains, The fact that behaviour is in many respects species-specific, and yet often similar in related species,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[leads to] the natural conclusion, namely, that behaviour should be studied comparatively just as structures, with the ultimate aim of elucidating behaviour evolutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(Tinbergen, 1963: 427). Here Tinbergen advocates a phylogenetic approach to analyzing behaviour. Ethology aims to show how natural selection shaped the evolution of behaviour over time while uncovering possible evolutionary pathways (Tinbergen, 1963 and Barret, et al., 2002). For instance, if researchers were interested understanding why humans breathe the way they do, they would be interested in knowing how we evolved lungs? Farmer (1997) provides an evolutionary account to this question: Human lungs are believed to have evolved from ancestral fish gas bladders. This level of explanation provid es clues into when a behaviour may have first arisen and when it diverged between ancestral species. Ethology attempts to reconcile these four levels of explanation into a comprehensive framework for understanding. One such study illuminates the dangers researchers face when they incorporate only one level of explanation. Power (1975) conducted a study in which he tested whether mountain bluebirds lack altruistic behaviour. He attempted to show this by removing one mate of a pair caring for nestlings to test the claim; if altruism existed, a new mate would instinctually care for the nestlings. The study showed that new mates did not care for the nestlings, therefore the hypotheses, mountain bluebirds are altruistic, was rejected (Power, 1975). This study was criticized because it failed to account for the fact birds do not usually accept young unless hormonally prepared for them (Emlen, 1976). This process usually entails both mating partners being present during the events leading up to hatching and the presence of nestlings (Emlen, 1976). This physiological knowledge into hormonal cues in mountain bluebirds generated an alternative hypothesis; the new mate did not provide care to the nestlings because it lacked the proper hormonal activation. Therefore, it was concluded that the original hypotheses posed by Power was erroneous and failed to properly demonstrate if mountain bluebirds were altruistic. This example illustrates how tenuous behavioural studies can appear when they fail to incorporate ethological principles into their research design. Applied Ethological Principles Furthering Insight into Human Behaviour The more we learn from studying animal behaviour, the more we reveal about ourselves. Because humans are social primates, more ethological attention has focused on the study nonhuman primates as the best model to explain the social behaviour of humans. One such example into the potential benefits of ethological inquiry is articulated by the investigation into the effects of empathy, as one possible emotional mechanism that has evolved to help maintain and reinforce social bonds. Empathy is a complex emotion which has been proposed to exist in humans and nonhuman primates. Many ethologists have focused on chimpanzee and bonobo social systems, our closest extant ancestors, to better understand potential regulating factors involved in social bonding that could have helped promote and sustain the evolution of cooperation altruism. De Waal (2008) suggests humans as well as nonhuman primates both possess capacity to empathize with others, as a regulating mechanism of directed altruism. Directed altruism is defined as helping or comforting behaviour directed at an individual in need of pain, or distress (De Waal, 2008). Mounting evidence supports the view; similar cognitive capacities exist in human and nonhuman primates that could facilitate empathetic impulses and be linked to our similar evolutionary histories. Several studies have shown infants have an innate capacity to be influenced by the welfare of others. Infant nonhuman and human primates are known to respond to the distress of others with distress (Preston and de Waal, 2002). Furthermore, Preston and de Waal consider the hormonal release during suckling in maternal care as a positive promoter that rewards the giver with feel good hormones (ie. Oxtocin) to engage in directed altruism (Panksepp, 1998). This hormonal release could play a proximate role in promoting the perceiver to internalize the emotional state of another individual. Building on the neuroanatomy of empathy research, the central nervous system and the Perception Action Mechanism (PAM) have also been considered as a hard-wired link that controls emotional state matching and motor mimicry in humans and nonhuman primates (Preston and de Waal (2002). Chimpanzee studies reveal an increase in brain temperatures in the right hemisphere when chimpanzees are shown videos of severe aggression compared to neutral or positive videos (Parr and Hopkins, 2000). Negative videos directed a specific physiological reaction in the brain in response to the negative stimuli. These studies identify a potential link between the areas of the brain that are activated when individuals observe and witness emotional states of others (Preston and de Waal 2002). Meaning, the cognitive capacities for the emotional complex of empathy may not be strictly limited to humans, but may also function similarly with closely related nonhuman primates. The suggestion that nonhuman primate may also posses the capacity for empathy has not come without contention. Many scientists believe humans are the only species cognitively advanced enough to possess the innate capacity to internalize the emotions of others (eg., Schino, 2007). If Preston and de Waals claim is true, then empathetic hard-wiring has an ancient evolutionary lineage that evolved long before modern humans. Theoretically, innate empathetic capacities would help maintain and shape cooperation, reconciliation, and altruism between human and nonhuman primates. The origins of such a complex behaviour may have originated due to stronger selection on maintaining increased group size within ancestral primates. Therefore, it should be no surprises if we discover humans due in fact share the capacity to empathize with other social primates. This study promotes a possible link between the evolution of the complex sociality and empathetic emotional capacities in primates. Investigations like this exemplify the potential ethological methodologies pose when looking into proximate and ultimate roots to complex human and animal behaviour. Discussion An ethological approach to animal behaviour derived from early behavioural sciences. Today, modern ethnology places emphasis on different biological aspects to account for the contexts in which animal behaviour occurs using physiological and evolutionary perspectives. Most behavioural phenomena are not satisfactorily explained at the proximate or ultimate levels. Therefore, to understand the behavioural process fully, ethology appropriately focuses on answering Tinbergens four questions to correctly identify the reciprocal relationship between causal and evolutionary explanations of behaviour.

The Four Functions of Management Essay -- essays research papers

The Four Functions of Management There are four functions of management that need to be successfully applied if a business is to survive and thrive in the fast paced economy of today. They are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Every business, large or small, public or private will benefit from a well-structured, coordinated, directed, and monitored business plan. Planning is the process of defining a structured sequence of specific tasks that need to be accomplished to achieve a goal. Good planning is key to their success of all projects. Some projects involve the installation of whole production lines and others may involve only modifications to an existing line. However the size or scope of the project, there must be a well thought out plan in place to guarantee a successful outcome. When planning a project it is important to first imagine the completed project. The project manager must ask him/herself, what will the successful project look like? What are the customer’s requirements? When these questions are answered the project manager can move forward with an action plan. One method a project manager will use to begin developing the action plan is to break the project down into manageable segments. Each segment will have numerable tasks and we will call them â€Å"milestones†. When building the list of project milestones it is helpful to begin by imagining the completed project and working backwards, consider all the steps it took to get there. Now that the project manager has a list of milestones and has broken them down into manageable segments, he or she will organize the necessary resources into a project team. This organizational aspect is vital to the success of the project. The team will be comprised of individuals qualified to deliver those milestones. A project manager charged with modifying an aseptic filling line will select team members from engineering, manufacturing, process validation, quality assurance, and safety. The project manager is now the project team leader. The team will meet and agree on a timeline for meeting the project milestones. The team leader will establish the frequency of subsequent meetings, assign responsibilities, and state member expectations through the development of a team charter. The entire team will participate in developing the charter. The charter will describe their com... ...t has 4 fields they are the action item, date assigned, individuals responsible, and date when they expect to deliver. During each team meeting the team members are required to report the progress made on their action items and comment on their anticipated completion. It may be possible for the team leader to adapt and modify the timeline based on unexpected challenges or changes that can often occur. After each team meeting the scribe will produce a formal-minutes document and E-mail it to all members. This is helpful in that all members will know through their â€Å"next steps† what is expected of them and their role on the team. The team has completed their goals when all milestones in the plan have been achieved. As technology changes, businesses have to change with it to remain competitive. Businesses must be willing to apply the four functions of management in new ways. In the example above the team concept is used to empower and motivate its members by giving them ownership in the project, however a team needs a good plan to follow. Today’s manager is often a team leader that delegates, motivates, controls, and targets resources towards the successful completion of the project.

English reflection Essay

As I am approaching graduation after five long years of college, it is hard to believe that English 200 was my first English class of my college career. I have concluded that during my four writings that there have been three areas that I needed and have improved on during this semester. Over the course of these few months, it has become apparent that my writing skills have improved in the areas of finding the appropriate target audience, finding new language to use in persuasive essays, and finally the way to format a works cited page. The appropriate target audience had been a continual problem throughout the semester. One way that has helped me solidify the target audience has been to find out who I want to hear the message I am trying to get across. The first challenge picking a target audience came during the second writing. During this writing I had prepared a response to the NCAA about college athletes going pro. Ultimately at first I was confused with who had the ability to make these changes and the authority to go along with it. I would have to say that during all four of my writings this semester it continually came back to finding out who had the major authority within the organization or group of people I was trying to approach. After gaining some insight into who the appropriate target audience was during the second writing, it greatly affected the way that I approached the third and fourth persuasive writing assignments. I put a great deal of emphasis on who was going to be able to make a difference in the topic that I was trying to discuss. In my third writing especially I was able to come up with a target audience by first assessing what type of people I wanted to reach out to and how I was going to make that happen. My third writing was about an alternative way to dieting in the form of fasting. I found that the target audience was people that were searching for a diet in the first place and how I was going to be able to provide them with an alternative position on the topic. The second change that has been a drastic development has been the use of persuasive language. Until this semester I have always struggled with grammar and how to make the target audience stay engaged in the writing. This language that has helped to get my point across has become stronger as the semester has gone on. This is an important aspect because it is what drives your essay to really hit your audience. Beginning with the first two  writing assignments it was evident that we were going to be easing our way into the types of persuasive essays in the semester. I found that it was easier to start with an argument essay where I was able to express some of this persuasive language in a much more natural writing environment. As we approached the next three writings, it challenged me more and more to find new ways to keep the language in an engaging way for the audience. I learned an enormous amount about persuasive language and thought that the way of easing into it throughout the semester has provided me with the tools to become a better writer in everyday life for other classes and a future career. The final improved aspect of writing had to have been the works cited page. I was unaware how important this aspect was to the paper and how to properly construct this page. I feel more confident now on the format and what information needs to be provided in this area. After getting the first writing assignment back I realized that I had no idea how to properly format the works cited page, let alone how to cite those sources in the actual writing. I had a lot of errors, for example I was unaware that I was able to use the last name of the author at the end of the cited sentence to properly give credit to the author. There were only minor improvements on the next writing which made me realize that this was an area that I was going to have to really work on. On writing three and four I decided to put more thought into the works cited page as a whole. This was also the same time as to when we started highlighting in our sources where we found our information and whether or not we paraphrased it or took it straight from the articles. This helped make me realize which type of citations to use and when the appropriate time to use them was. I believe that the toughest part about making the works cited page is the format. While there is not a huge difference between MLA and APA, it can become confusing when two different teachers prefer different methods. Knowing the differences and correctly applying the changes was one of the aspects that I improved on greatly this semester. Over the course of the semester the works cited, persuasive language, and the target audiences have been the areas of writing needing the most improvement. I feel more confident now in picking the language and target audience, along with being able to construct a proper works cited page for these writings. As each paper came along I provided with more opportunities to learn the proper ways in which to approach these three  aspects and how to put more emphasis on them.

The Medical Condition Known As Down Syndrome - 970 Words

The sole focus of this research paper is to address the medical condition known as Down syndrome. Hwang (2013) states in his research that Down syndrome is a chromosomal translation and is responsible for various other conditions of the organs. The paper will give a general insight of the condition considering is one of the most common in the United Sates. The paper explains this by breaking it down in the following aspects: age group and family history. It also provides a description of Down syndrome, statistics and variants of the condition, how is diagnosed as well as attempts to treat it and find the cause among others. It also explains how is manifested in patients and other effects that condition causes. All this is supported utilizing various articles from medical sources and the National Down Syndrome Society (ndss). Down syndrome: Diagnosis and Treatment Down syndrome is commonly known by the public as a disease that causes physical and mental disabilities in people. 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