6-Psychology-Behavior

behavior

Animals perform standard actions {behavior} that depend on bodies, objects, and events.

causes

Personal and social states, such as shame, taboo, awe, mystery, and consensus, control behavior.

motor response

Motor response starts assembling early in visual analysis, using orientation cues and learned behaviors.

will

Motor cortex receives input before people act [Walter, 1953].

voluntary muscle control

Voluntary muscle control requires current-state consciousness.

aging

Manual abilities increase to maximum at age 26 and then slowly decline. Verbal ability increases after age 21, peaks at age 50, and then declines sharply after age 70.

children

Children often annoy or injure people without control or concern for situation. Children often escalate playful fighting into deliberate injury.

explanation

Human-action explanations must differ from physical-event explanations {Verstehen, explanation}. Action explanations use beliefs, intentions, desires, judgments, perceptions, decision theory, rationality, and agency.

affordance

Objects have the property {affordance}| that people can do something with them or near them in space or time.

agency in behavior

People can choose action, act upon the choice, know their minds through intuition and introspection, understand other minds through empathy, assume that other agents have similar mental states, and predict other-agents' behavior {agency, behavior}. Agents transmit information and/or force. Agent actions can depend on beliefs and desires.

anchoring

People presented with stimulus tend to use it as reference point for the next decision {anchoring}.

asymmetric paternalism

Public policy {asymmetric paternalism} should help people make rational decisions, by accounting for human emotions.

bystander intervention

If other people are around, people tend not to help people in distress {bystander intervention} [Darley and Latane, 1968].

candle problem

Given matchbook, some candles, cardboard box with thumbtacks inside, and vertical corkboard, attach candle to corkboard so it burns normally {candle problem}. Tacks break candle, so it does not hold. Corkboard does not stick to melted wax on candle bottom. Put candle in box and attach box with thumbtacks.

Cockpit Resource Management

Airplane pilots use strategies {Cockpit Resource Management}, for making decisions, that involve input from all crew members.

dictator game

Person with ten dollars gives some to another person {dictator game}. If dictator can see the person, he or she gives more.

drive

Direct biological motivators {drive}| are hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. All mammals have drives. Drive requires sensation, does not require perception, and does not require awareness. Drive is not emotion, because emotion requires cognition.

framing effect

Descriptions can set reference frame for making decisions {framing effect}. Framing depends on loss aversion.

Hawthorne effect

Increased experimenter attention to people affects experiment outcome {Hawthorne effect}.

loss aversion

People are more afraid of losing than gratified by winning {loss aversion} (Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky) [1974].

negativity bias

Bad is more important than good {negativity bias}.

personal equation

Response times have individual differences {personal equation}.

premium equity puzzle

Stocks outperform bonds significantly over the long term, but people still buy half bonds {premium equity puzzle}.

reaction time

Periods {reaction time}| (RT) are between stimulus onset and behavioral response. Reaction time increases if signals are more similar. Reaction time increases logarithmically as number of signals among which to discriminate or choose increases. Shorter reaction times have more errors.

reward and punishment

Money, praise, hugs, and smiles {reward} can cause work or approach. Rewards are positive reinforcers.

smaller punishment

Rewards can be punishment omissions, terminations, or reductions.

punishment

Fines, pain, fear, and jail {punishment, psychology} can cause avoidance or escape. Punishments are negative reinforcers.

smaller reward

Punishments can be reward omissions, terminations, or reductions.

emotion

Rewards and punishments cause emotions.

Stanford Prison Study

People playing prisoners and guards enacted their roles with little thought of their own attitudes or values {Stanford Prison Study}.

stereotyping

Society's implicit effects typically build stereotypes and prejudices {stereotyping}.

synergy in behavior

Brain timing signals link muscle reflexes {synergy, behavior}|. Breathing, posing, walking, running, swimming, throwing, striking, and jumping connect muscle reflexes. Walking control includes goal or route selection, visual path and obstacle feedback, and feet and body feedback.

ultimatum game

Person with ten dollars proposes to another person how much to transfer, and other person can accept or refuse {ultimatum game}. If accepted, both players keep their share. If rejected, both keep nothing.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Handedness

handedness in behavior

People are 90% right-handed and 10% left-handed {handedness, behavior}. Few people are ambidextrous.

animals

Mammals have paw preferences but 50% for left or right.

age

Handedness begins at 24 months.

brain

Until age three or four, brain hemispheres have little specialization.

In right-handers, left cerebral hemisphere has sense and motor connections to both body sides, and right hemisphere connects to only one side. In left-handers, cerebral lateralization is less. Adult human skulls are asymmetric.

brain: language

Left-handers typically have left-brain language region, but 30% have language regions on both brain sides. 95% of right-handers have left-brain language region.

brain: evolution

Human cerebral dominance probably started 300,000 years ago, when human skulls first appear asymmetric.

left side

In right-handers, left side has fewer skills, poorer timing and coordination, more variability, and more frequent and slower corrections.

hand usage

Right-hander typically supports and orients object in left hand, without using visual feedback, and performs fine movements with right fingers, using visual feedback {hand usage}. Most people use right hand for gesticulation.

causes

People inherit handedness. Handedness also results from social pressures or early experience, especially with objects designed for right-handers. Brain damage before or after birth can shift cerebral dominance or prevent hemispheric specialization. Subnormal and epileptic people have more left-handedness.

causes: twin

Perhaps, left-handedness is because there was a twin in utero. Twenty percent of twins are left-handed.

intelligence

Performance by right-handers and left-handers is equal on all tasks. No special ability or disability distinguishes left-handers.

Subnormal people have more left-handedness.

disease: dyslexia

Dyslexics often are neither strongly right-handed nor left-handed.

disease: epilepsy

Epileptic people have more left-handedness.

disease: synesthesia

Synesthesia is more with left-handedness [Stein and Meredith, 1993] [Stein et al., 2001].

disease: early death

Perhaps, left-handers die nine years earlier.

ambidexterity

People can use right and left hands equally well {ambidexterity}|. Ambidextrous people typically have less skill on their better side than left-handers or right-handers on their better side.

left-hander

Left-handed people {left-hander} are 4% to 36% of people in different races and cultures.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Motivation

motivation in behavior

Need, intention, goal, energy, or force {motivation, behavior}| can cause behavior.

cause

Stimulus or perception arouses organism, and then aroused organism performs the behavior.

cause: intention

Behavior uses intentions and goals. Intention happens after deliberation and is desire or purpose to perform behavior [Järvilehto, 2000].

types

Motivations can be innate or acquired. Innate motivations include drives, such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. Acquired motivations include achievement, failure fear, power need, and affiliation need.

Motivations include self-preservation, fear of death, and finding meaning for life. Motivations include physical contact, genital stimulation, approval, praise, autonomy, domination, competency, skill, and learning.

People can like to receive assistance from others. People can need to reduce uncertainty and anxiety, by setting rules. Frustrations and threats can cause wishes for harm or actual harm to others. People conform to standards and do what other same-age-and-sex persons do. Telling the truth and being kind receive praise. Fine-arts students like self-discovery.

factors

Deprivation, stimulation, previous learning, and past successes and rewards increase motivated behavior.

satisfaction

People can satisfy needs directly, perform intermediate behaviors toward satisfying needs, substitute other behaviors to indirectly satisfy needs, or delay or stop satisfying needs.

comparison: beliefs

Beliefs are dispositions to act.

adjunctive behavior

Intermittent rewards induce excessive behavior {adjunctive behavior}.

local-stimulus theory

Perhaps, imbalanced physiological states motivate behavior {local-stimulus theory of drive}. However, this theory has limited applicability.

thematic organization packet

Knowledge structures {thematic organization packet} categorize human goal types and how they are met. Goals can be possession, aggression, love, and hunger satisfaction.

vicarious satisfaction

People's motives can relate to other people or objects {vicarious satisfaction}|, for example, people living for their children.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Motivation-Goal

goal

Differences from current situation {goal, behavior} can motivate behavior. For example, people have goal to find patterns and structures that indicate what to do next.

plan

Behaviors are relative to plans to reach predetermined goals. Failures change methods used to reach goal.

subgoals

Goal involves simpler goals, such as holding object, movements, and placing object.

value

Different goals have different values, so goals can conflict. Attachments change goal values. Fears change situation and goal [Järvilehto, 2000].

approach goal

Goals {approach goal} can be desirable, such as mastery, discovery, prestige, achievement, and adventure [Järvilehto, 2000].

avoidance goal

Goals {avoidance goal} can be undesirable, such as fear, pain, threat, injury, and death [Järvilehto, 2000].

6-Psychology-Behavior-Motivation-Reinforcement

reinforcement

Rewards {reinforcement}| can affect practice amount, not learning itself.

positive reinforcement

Rewards can be food or pleasure {positive reinforcement}.

negative reinforcement

Rewards can be punishment reductions {negative reinforcement}.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Theories

behavior theories

Behavior has theories {behavior theories}. Mind has many non-conscious specialized sensory-motor systems, such as eye movements, posture changes, pointing, reaching, grasping, and walking. Perhaps, propositions referring to person's mental states or processes are logically equivalent to propositions referring to person's overt behavior. Perhaps, behaviors with same onset, duration, and decay times use same regulatory processes.

balance theory

If actions do not correspond with opinions, people change one or the other {balance theory}.

behavior genetics

Genes that specify nervous system structures and functions {behavior genetics} affect individual and group behaviors, as well as behavior-related psychological characteristics, such as intelligence, temperament, learning, and perception. Genes partially determine differences in behavior [Scheller and Axel, 1984].

behaviorism

Response reinforcement determines behavior response to physical stimulus {behaviorism}|. Behavior control and prediction are possible by determining stimuli and reinforcements. Mind and mental representations are not real or relevant. Thoughts, feelings, and intentions do not determine what people do. People do not consciously act but only react to stimuli.

control theory

For behaviors, mind generates control signals to time muscle contractions {control theory}. Control signals trigger linked reflexes in synergy. Breathing, posing, walking, running, swimming, throwing, striking, and jumping are linked muscle reflexes.

ergonomics

People can have efficiency at work {ergonomics}| {human engineering}. Control knobs and switches can move in natural or expected direction {control-display compatibility}. Controls can be next to displays. Controls can have adjustable height and distance. Workspace layout can match operation sequence. Machine design can allow easy maintenance.

inferiority

Behavior tends to relieve inferiority feelings {inferiority}|. Seeking success and asserting oneself are reactions to inferiority feelings and are part of will to power.

least effort

People expect that animals expend minimal energy {least effort} to survive, but instead they keep moving and processing information.

schema in behavior

People organize simple responses into repeatable behaviors {schema, behavior}. New adaptations, stimuli, objects, or situations go into existing schema or build new schema {assimilation, schema}. New stimuli, objects, or situations cause behavioral changes {accommodation, behavior} [Järvilehto, 2000].

spiritualism in behavior

Preliterate societies have possession {possession, behavior} by spirits and mediums for spirits {spiritualism, behavior}. Spirit possession cults can attract women and other deprived people. In European and American society starting about 1850, spiritualism was non-religious, and young, vulnerable, beautiful, and naive women practiced it.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds

behavior types

Behaviors {behavior types} include feeding, eating specialized foods, aggressing, fighting, fleeing, performing courtship rituals, mating, caring for young, sleeping, hibernating, sheltering, teaching, communicating, expressing individuality, expressing territoriality, using tools, communicating with signals, using symbols, using language, and having consciousness.

factors

Individual and group behaviors involve reflexes, instincts, goals, emotions, motivations, and learning.

jobs

Jobs can have tension or responsibility. Administrator attitudes and behaviors affect worker psychology most. People can become bored with job. People can have overwork. Perhaps, people change jobs when marginal job-satisfaction rate continues to fall.

accident

Accidents {accident, behavior} happen if information rate is too high or time allowed to process information is too short. Accident frequency inversely relates to ability to control behavior. Accident frequency varies with temperature, lighting, and humidity.

automatic writing

People can feel like they are writing under someone else's control {automatic writing}.

blushing

Embarrassment, guilt, or consciousness of another person's thoughts or opinions can cause uncontrollable face reddening {blushing}|. Only humans, who have consciousness, can blush. Women blush more than men. Young children, who do not understand social rules, do not blush. Blind people can blush.

confinement

Living in confined environment {confinement}|, such as in space or in submersible, has low privacy, few people, artificial day-night cycles, circadian rhythm shifts, anxiety about mechanical systems and safe return, tiredness from long work schedules, delays in completing assigned tasks, frustration with failure, and boredom.

crying

Only humans cry {crying}|.

deception in behavior

Social species try to create false beliefs in other group members by intentionally deceiving them {deception, behavior}| {Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis}. However, it is unlikely that non-human animals have theories of mind. Deception is likely to be association.

decision-making

Animals select behavior from available behaviors {decision-making}|, to attain or avoid something. Minds decide to act by non-linear process. Excitatory neurons stimulate inhibitory neuron, which inhibits excitatory neurons. Learning builds larger behavior units and so reduces number of decisions that consciousness makes.

eye-hand coordination

Vision and hand motions can link {eye-hand coordination}|. Hand and vision coordination can happen without sight of hand, if another experience links hand motion to seen object.

fantasizing

People can imagine different situation or outcome {fantasizing, behavior}|.

fatigue in behavior

Over time, performance slows, people make more errors, concentration is poor, perception fades, and memory decreases {fatigue, behavior}|. Little sleep typically causes fatigue. Fatigue increases during adverse conditions and anxiety. High motivation can overcome fatigue.

flight-or-fight response

When faced with threat or aggression, animals flee or fight {flight-or-fight response}|. The flight-or-fight response uses aminergic signals in autonomic nervous system.

frustration

Interference with goal-directed activity, interference with arousal or desire, choice between two incompatible responses, tension creation, forced activity, or forced withdrawal can cause frustrations {frustration}|. Frustration can cause imagining different situation or outcome {fantasizing, frustration}, committing violence against others or objects {aggression, frustration}, going back to childish behaviors {regression, frustration}, or not thinking about or acting on situation {withdrawal, frustration}.

galvanic skin response

Emotional arousal causes sweating and lowers skin electrical resistance {galvanic skin response}|.

gesture

Body and limb movements {gesture, behavior} can signal intentions, commands, or suggestions. Gestures can evolve from behaviors used for survival. Gestures can be specific to groups.

imitation

Imitation is seeing action, remembering it, and then doing it {imitation, behavior}| [Thorndike, 1903] [Thorndike, 1911]. In organisms with voluntary muscles, behavior perception can lead to voluntary independent similar behavior, if organism can already perform the behavior by learning or random exercise, and if perception and memory can form behavior representations that can initiate movements. Imitation is voluntary but is also an automatic response. Sense input sets up motor reaction tendency and/or elicits memory.

facial expressions

Facial imitation involves matching seen faces to felt proprioceptive signals while trying to mimic. Minutes after birth, babies can imitate some facial expressions, without visual feedback.

innate

Ability to imitate body or facial expression probably is innate.

age

Infants imitate sounds, gestures, and body positions. From 12 to 15 months, children can imitate up to week after perceiving action. They also can tell when others are imitating them [Meltzoff, 1996].

animals

Birds can imitate bird songs. Parrots can imitate sounds. However, apparent imitation is usually only accidental learning in same situation.

Whales can imitate whale songs [Reiss, 1998].

Perhaps, chimpanzees do not imitate but only transfer skills by being in same situation or learning to conform [Heyes and Galef, 1996] [Tomasello, 1999].

animals: parrots

Sounds must sound the same to parrot as to people in order for parrot to imitate people.

properties: medium

When recreating perceptions, imitation uses a medium, such as paper. When imitating actions, imitation uses the body as medium.

properties: representation

Imitation uses mental representation to imitate actions, such as yawning, or recreate perceptions, such as drawings and sounds.

properties: voluntary muscles

Action imitation uses voluntary muscles.

factors: behavior

Imitation can happen only if people already can perform the automatic procedure.

effects: emotion

Imitating human expression causes people to have associated emotion. Even infant can imitate expression and can have associated emotion.

copying

Imitation allows copying and variation. In competitions, imitations can have different values, and imitated events can evolve. Events copied more have better copies and are more valuable. Events have groups with levels and rules [Blackmore, 1999] [Schoenauer et al., 2000] [Steels, 2000].

imprinting in behavior

Animals can learn to fixate on another animal {imprinting, behavior}, so they ignore or avoid other individuals.

instinct

Animals have automatic behavior patterns {fixed-action pattern} {modal action pattern} that start by stimulus {sign stimulus}. Animals react to external or internal stimuli with inherited related-reflex patterns {innate behavior} {instinct}|.

properties

Fixed-action patterns are hereditary, specific, and complex responses to external or internal stimuli. Innate behaviors happen without training and are more probable the longer the time since the previous one. Animals perform them completely once started.

effects

Fixed-action patterns can remove drive or need.

will

Fixed-action patterns can be partially under voluntary control.

motivation

Instinctive action is its own motivation.

emotion

Instinctive action seems to have emotion.

goals

Instinctive action has no goals or reasons.

behaviors

Most animals never produce new behaviors but only link new stimuli to innate behaviors.

interviewing

Interviewer needs to obtain and interpret information from interviewee to make decision {interviewing}.

technique

Interview technique {seven-point plan} for defined job obtains information about physique, intelligence, aptitude, attainments, interests, disposition, and circumstances.

properties

Time interviewer talks correlates with probability that candidate receives job offer.

negative information

Job interviewers can want to obtain negative information, to exclude someone.

learning

Interviewing can improve by profiling interviewer's style and providing feedback about good and bad things.

isolation

Prolonged isolation {isolation, behavior}| causes anxiety and hallucinations. After isolation, people have strong visual and other illusions.

lying

People can make false statement {lying}| to confuse, mislead, gain, or protect self.

obedience

Humans and other mammals can obey {obedience}|. People that obey authority do not feel that they are responsible for their actions but feel that they are only agents for other people. In famous experiment, people kept giving strong electrical shocks to other people, though givers experienced stress and protested to experimenter.

optimal state

People can engross themselves in activities and lose self or time feelings, with no anxiety or boredom {flow} {optimal state} [Csikszentmihalyi, 1975] [Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi, 1988].

persuasion

People can persuade others {persuasion}|, because people feel that they should reciprocate, be consistent, and do what other people do {social validation}. People can like persuader, want to follow authority, or want to hedge against scarcity.

play

Behaviors {play, behavior} can involve role practice, aggression, sex, and exploration.

reading rate

Humans can choose reading or speaking symbols {reading rate} {speaking rate} at 20 to 40 bits per second.

serial chaining

People can perform organized action sequences {serial chaining}|.

sneezing

Eyes reflexively close when sneezing {sneezing}|, to prevent damage. Mouth opens to let air out. People can sneeze in bright light {autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst} (ACHOO).

weightlessness

In zero gravity {weightlessness}|, people learn how to move themselves around using hands and arms, rather than legs. People learn to judge object mass using inertia, rather than weight. Body fluids shift to head. Bones lose calcium. Muscles atrophy. Blood changes composition.

motion sickness

Sensory conflict causes space motion sickness. Semicircular canals operate normally, but otoliths do not. Drugs can reduce motion-sickness symptoms.

effects

Returning astronaut feels heavy and clumsy. Head movements make world seem to move.

withdrawal from life

Stress can lower aspirations, cause escape to fantasy, or result in not thinking about or acting on situations {withdrawal from life}|.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Aggression

aggression in behavior

Human behavior can try to cause physical or psychological injury to other people {aggression, behavior}|. Aggressive behavior is either fear/submission behavior or preparation to fight.

purposes

Aggression exercises or tests power. Aggression is also for defense and self-protection. In animals, aggression settles status, dominance order, and possession of, or access to, objects and territories.

causes

Direct aggression causes include consciously desiring to kill or harm someone, feeling anger, feeling fear, feeling anxiety, feeling inadequate, wanting approval from one's group, being blocked or delayed during goal-directed behavior, being denied gratification, being threatened, facing disrespect, having one's dignity or pride threatened or reduced, having group or personal symbols desecrated, having internal conflicts, committing crime already, and competing with others.

causes: competition

Competition causes aggression. Human males compete for females. Children fight to obtain or retain objects, positions, or activities. Children defend against adult aggression.

causes: frustration

Aggression results from frustration, but frustration can have other results {frustration-aggression hypothesis}. Removing or altering frustration cause can reduce aggression.

causes: arousal

Aggression level relates to activity level. Lowering arousal, acquisitiveness, or assertiveness lowers aggressiveness.

causes: biology

Hormones directly affect aggressive behavior. Aggression level in boys stays constant from age three to adulthood.

responses

Aggressive behavior typically causes withdrawal behavior in people aggressed against.

People can diffuse aggression by diverting attention, leaving people alone, substituting for behavior cause, removing behavior cause, or ignoring behavior.

Coaxing, soothing, reasoning, scolding, and giving up do not lessen aggression. Allowing aggression increases it. Low punishment encourages aggression. Fear of retaliation or punishment inhibits aggression.

Successful aggression causes imitation by others, even if they have no frustration.

aggression between groups

Group aggression against another group depends on member feelings about their group, knowledge of other group, approval from their group, and reinforcement.

aggression in group

In groups with aggressive individuals, stability can happen only at specific proportions of conventional and vicious fighters.

catharsis after aggression

Aggressive acts reduce urge to aggress {catharsis, aggression}|.

displacement of aggression

People can direct aggression toward something that cannot retaliate or punish them {displacement, aggression}|.

eye contact

Animals look into each other's eyes {eye contact}| {mutual gaze}, often for aggression. Animals can avert gaze after eye contact, to show submission. Animals can have eyespots, which can be threats.

threat posture

Postures {threat posture}| can elaborate or ritualize into symbols, to show aggression.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Conflict

conflict behavior

People often make either-or choices, or people compete with other people for rewards {conflict, behavior}. Personal conflicts include whether to accept or give love, choose autonomy or dependence, choose competition or cooperation, and think before acting or express impulse immediately. Sports and business have interpersonal conflicts.

approach-approach conflict

Two desirable, but incompatible, goals can be available simultaneously {approach-approach conflict}.

approach-avoidance conflict

Goals can have both good and bad attributes {approach-avoidance conflict}.

avoidance-avoidance conflict

Two goals can both be undesirable, but people must choose one {avoidance-avoidance conflict}.

double approach-avoidance conflict

Often two available goals have good and bad aspects {double approach-avoidance conflict}.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Displacement

displacement behavior

Animals can perform automatic activities typically performed in standard situations in inappropriate situations {displacement behavior}|. Displacement activities are hurried, stereotyped, or incomplete compared to same behavior in normal context. Displacement activities can reveal animal motivations.

coping behavior

Displacement activities enable animal to resolve conflicts {coping behavior}| and involve inhibition release.

motivational conflict

Displacement happens when two behaviors or goals are incompatible {motivational conflict}.

thwarting

Displacement happens when something prevents actions toward behaviors or goals {thwarting}|.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Habit

habit

People can repeat automatic behaviors {habit}. Serial chaining can become habit.

functionally autonomous habit

People can have reflex-like, repeated behaviors {functionally autonomous habit}|. They originally are independent of drives. Functionally autonomous habits can associate with drive and thus become drives.

habit family hierarchy

People build and alter habitual behaviors {habit family hierarchy}|.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Humor

laughter as behavior

Only humans laugh {laughter, behavior}| {humor}. Laughter involves mental censors and suppressers.

purposes

Perhaps, laughter is for alliance making.

factors

Humor and laughter can still happen when people suffer, starve, are in pain, or have oppression. Social situation determines laughter quality and quantity. Laughter can interrupt another person's speaking and thinking, and so to take control [Ramachandran, 2004].

animals

Other mammals appear happy. Young chimpanzees puff air when they play, sort of like laughing. Chimpanzees smile when submitting, but not from happiness.

incongruity in humor

Perhaps, laughter happens if actual situation differs from expected situation {incongruity, laughter}|, but not if situation is too simple or too complex. Expression or perception that deviates from normal thoughts or images, such as something ludicrous, can cause laughter. Laughter happens only if unexpected caused no harm. Perhaps, it only upsets dignity [Ramachandran, 2004].

disposition theory

Perhaps, humor depends on criticizing or disparaging other people and on emotions generated by being in or out of groups {disposition theory}.

relief theory

Perhaps, laughter happens after relief from physically or psychologically dangerous situation {relief theory}. Most jokes are about possible harm: taboos, injuries, and logical absurdities. Perhaps, laughter happens only if unexpected caused no harm [Ramachandran, 2004].

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Novelty

novelty seeking

People seek new experiences {novelty, motivation}, probably for stimulation.

novelty reaction

New stimuli or environment changes cause most animals first to flee and then to approach and investigate {novelty reaction}|. More novelty causes more fear.

curiosity

People can like to learn more about new object or event {curiosity}|. Curiosity is thinking about something in new way.

exploring behavior

Feeding behaviors involve exploring {exploring behavior}. Following behaviors and searching behaviors develop from exploring behaviors and enhance perception and learning.

preferential looking time procedure

Surprise or novelty causes longer looking {preferential looking time procedure}, which can test for surprising features.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Pain Infliction

sadism

People can gain sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or cruelty on others {sadism}|.

masochism

Pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, can come from subjection to pain or cruelty {masochism}|.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Stimulus Response

dishabituation

Habituation to stimulus can stop {dishabituation}| suddenly or gradually. Habituation to stimulus immediately ends if another stimulus begins. Sensitization affects same synapses affected by habituation.

fixed sequence

Animal behavior has unchanging action programs {fixed sequence}|, which can combine.

mere exposure

Exposure to stimulus {mere exposure} makes people favor stimulus.

motor routine

Stereotyped behavior distributes spatiotemporal signals to target neurons {motor routine}| in response to stimulus or brain signal. The same motor routine can distribute signals to different locations and at different spatial scales.

reflex in behavior

Receptor stimulation can send signal to spinal cord and then to muscle or gland, resulting in involuntary action {reflex, behavior}.

sensitization in behavior

If dangerous or important stimuli happen, escape or fighting reflexes can heighten for several minutes {sensitization, behavior}. Repeated dangerous stimuli make sensitization last days or weeks. Response to other stimuli also increases. Sensitization affects same synapses affected by habituation. Sensitization releases more vesicles by increasing interneuron activity on habituated-reflex sense and motor neurons. Sensitization is not associative.

startle response

Fear increases response to startling {startle response, fear}.

6-Psychology-Behavior-Kinds-Tropism

ergotropic behavior

Active animal behaviors {ergotropic behavior} involve fighting, fleeing, seeking food, and looking for mate. Pupils dilate, respiration increases, and blood pressure rises.

trophotropic behavior

Animal resting and building-up behaviors {trophotropic behavior} involve sleeping, eating, digesting, eliminating, replenishing glucose, and building cells from protein and fat. Pupils are small, respiration is slow, and alimentary canal glands secrete.

Related Topics in Table of Contents

6-Psychology

Drawings

Drawings

Contents and Indexes of Topics, Names, and Works

Outline of Knowledge Database Home Page

Contents

Glossary

Topic Index

Name Index

Works Index

Searching

Search Form

Database Information, Disclaimer, Privacy Statement, and Rights

Description of Outline of Knowledge Database

Notation

Disclaimer

Copyright Not Claimed

Privacy Statement

References and Bibliography

Consciousness Bibliography

Technical Information

Date Modified: 2022.0225