Question

List two specific examples of innate behavior and one example for each of the four learned behaviors. Explain why you believe these behaviors are innate or learned and why you have classified each of the learned behaviors as you have.

Answer 1

Innate behaviors are those you develop on your own, which do not need to be taught or learned. You are in essence born with the propensity to display the behavior. Whether or not you continue to display it could, in some cases, still depend on whether or how the behavior is reinforced. Laughter, play and eating are examples.

1) Habituation - A turtle draws its head back into its shell when its shell is touched. After being touched repeatedly, the turtle realizes it’s not in danger and no longer hides.
2) Sensitization - if the boy who sits beside you in class pokes you one day, it might not bother you, but if he keeps doing it, over and over again, it becomes more annoying, and you become sensitized to that action, and it might start bothering you more and more until one day you can't stand it anymore and ask to change seats, or hit him to make him stop... which is a significant escalation from the first time it happened where you noticed but it didn't really bother you.
3) Imprinting - Young ducklings following their mother.
4) The Conditioned Response - a child may cry as a result of these injections. In some instances, a child might come to associate a doctor's white jacket with this painful experience. Eventually, the child might begin to cry whenever they see anyone where a white jacket. This crying behavior is a conditioned response.