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Animal Behavior - Biology 4200/5430
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Bowling Green State University, Fall 2009
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Historical Perspectives
"When, as by a miracle, the lovely butterfly
bursts from the chrysalis full-winged and perfect, ... it has,
for the most part, nothing to learn, because its little life flows
from its organization like melody from a music box" --
Douglas A. Spalding, 1873
Outline
- History of Behavior and Neuroscience
- Psychophysics
- Psychoanalysis
- Psychology and Behaviorism
- William James
- Ivan Pavlov
- Edward Thorndike
- John Watson
- B.F. Skinner
- Ethology
- Konrad Lorenz
- Niko Tinbergen
- Karl von Frisch
Reading Assignment
- Suggested reading: B.F. Skinner (1948): "Walden Two" (Reissue edition, 1976, Allyn & Bacon; ISBN: 002411510X): Skinner presents his vision of a behaviorist utopia, in which socially adaptive behaviors are maintained by rewards, or positive reinforcements. Here is a summary of the rules. The Twin Oaks Community is a comunity that was originally inspired by Walden Two but now has an ideologically diverse membership.
Film
- John Watson's Little Albert Experiment, 1920
- Konrad Lorenz' Goose Imprinting Work, 1935
- Encouraged viewing for the non-squeemish: The Stanley Kubrick film "A Clockwork Orange" (Warner Bros., 1971). Based on the 1962 Anthony Burgess novel of the same name it deals with attempts to turn a violent, amoral punk into a societal conformist through "behavioral engineering"
Additional Reading
Links of Interest
last modified: 9/1/09
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