In George Mivart’s ‘Genesis of Species’, Mivart thoroughly reviews Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Mivart concludes that Darwin’s theory of natural selection is flawed because it cannot account for all of the mechanics of inheritance, specifically the initial developments of useful characteristics. He disputes that natural selection can account for the passing of negative or unnecessary traits, or for individualized traits occurring in only one species. He also asks how certain developments could occur without saltations, an idea absent in Darwin’s theories, but prominent in many of his contemporaries’. To illustrate these issues with natural selection, Mivart uses giraffes, insects that mimic other things in nature, fish, kangaroos, and whales as examples, which I will summarize below.…
For example, wild tufted capuchin monkeys are capable of using tools to open up fruits, the husks cannot open in it’s teeth or jaws so therefore, they use tools to smash them open (Gron, 2009). They have been observed in utilizing a stick to club a snake and shells to crack open oysters as well as other insects. The capuchin monkeys’ ability to use and modify the sticks as probes, and stone and bone fragments as cutting and nut-cracking instruments without any training nor human demonstration is extremely surprising, however possible (Westergaard, 1995). Usually managing to grasp and understand the method of handling a tool to do certain things, takes years to figure out for primates however, with this ability by the capuchin monkeys, they have a high level of…
As the evolutionary approach is a biological one, it suggests that aspects of human behaviour have been coded by our genes because they were or are adaptive. However, a debate of this approach is the nature vs. nurture approach, nature supporting the evolutionary approach being that we have evolved through survival value and its ability to increase an individuals opportunities to pass on their genes, an example showing this was Bowlby’s theory of attachment – concerning the role of evolution is the explanation of stress as an adaptive response to environmental pressures. Animals born without such responses die quickly. Nurture, on the other hand, is a view proposed by the social approach suggesting behaviour is affected by experience and environment.…
Away is a play written by the Australian playwright Michael Gow, published by Currency Press in 1986. First performed by the Griffin Theatre Company in 1986, it tells the story of three internally conflicted families holidaying on the coast for Christmas, 1968. It has become one of the most widely produced Australian plays of all time and is part of the Higher School Certificate syllabi or general High School Curriculum in many states, including Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. It is also used as a college text, but this move has been widely regarded as a bad idea due to the lack of interest that is generated from students in the Australian Capital Territory. This is especially the case when one considers the fact that Gow did not "know what play is about" until some time after he wrote it and got feedback from a fan. This fan was probably his reflection in the mirror.…
Rifkin is able to make his audience believe that we should do more for animals by using very negative language when talking about how we currently treat animals. At the end of his article there is a paragraph where Rifkin asks a lot of questions. Almost all of his questions have negative words. For example, he talks about "animals subjected each year to painful laboratory experiments" and "raised under the most inhumane conditions." He also says that animals are "for slaughter and human consumption." Many of these words are totally negative. Words like "subjected," "inhumane," and "slaughter" are almost always used to make it seem as if people are treating animals terribly. If something is subjected it is controlled by and powerless to something else. When I think of inhumane I think that what is being done is wrong. And when I think of slaughter I automatically think negative thoughts. In this article Rifkin wants us to believe that the current way that we treat animals needs to be changed. But maybe not all animals are treated so unjustly? What if, instead of saying "subjected each year to painful laboratory experiments" Rifkin says that animals are used in research? If he said that the impact of his argument wouldn't be as strong. He wants the audience to think that what is happening now is bad and that we need to treat animals better. His choice of negative words helps him do this.…
Behaviorism had many shortfalls with its primary one being that it excluded the effect of genetics entirely. It only accounted for what had been learned through reward and punishment only. Questions were raised and answers were missing when examining the question through the lens of behaviorism only. One area where ethologists observed discrepancies were in fixed-action patterns and critical periods in animals. Fixed-action patterns were behaviors that received little to no reward or punishment in which the animals engaged in and critical period referred to a specific period of time in which if a…
Learned behavior has become more advantages in the primate group because of several factors. First, learned behavior allows them for better access to food, such as the skill of cracking a nut with the use of two rocks. Alongside with that it also gives them social skills that are not instinctively, rather learned by the parent. With the social skills learned they can thus live in a group in which they are socially accepted and they have the benefits of protection and food. Alongside with that they also have the advantage of learning parenting skills which would increase the fitness of their offspring such as it did with…
To answer your question regarding why Patrick had a sudden change of heart; I believe that Patrick realized he did not need to kill Zachary to seek justice. The fact that he was successful in abducting Zachary showed him how easy it would be to kill him if he wanted. He showed Zachary how he should be grateful for being alive and indeed a Mulvaney could have hurt him for raping Marianne. As Patrick stated “He knows who I am, sure”, “I have executed justice”, “What an awful way to die” (Oates 302). After Patrick had this revelation in an instant, he realizes he did not need to kill Zachary to seek justice. He already got justice for Marianne as he showed Zachary how could of let him die, but let him live. As I stated in my post this week, I…
not very convincing when we consider the theory of nurture. Human beings learn new things everyday, as soon as we come in to the world,…
The major difficulty in training animals is that they operate either by instinct or by rote. The shortcut of intelligence to make new associations that are not instinctive in minimally available. Therefore, imprinting in an animal’s mind the artificial connection…say, roll over, it will get a treat can be achieved by only mind-numbing repetition. I shouted Hep! Hep! Thousands of times, I tossed meerkats morsels at him that I would have gladly eaten myself. (Martel, 303)…
16. According to Dr Koenig, what cognitive and social capacities are shared with other species? What sets humans apart from other species? What is symbolic representation? When does it…
humans start out in life with some amount of knowledge. Nature provides us with abilities and…
The human mind is designed with the innate ability to achieve anything. The interesting part of this paper is how we all use different triggers and motivations to goad us into gear. Motivation is an area of psychology that has gotten a great deal of attention, especially in the recent years. There are several distinct theories of motivation we will discuss in this section. Some include basic biological forces, while others seem to transcend concrete explanation. All creatures are born with specific innate knowledge about how to survive. Animals are born with the capacity and often times knowledge of how to survive by spinning webs, building nests, avoiding danger, and reproducing. These innate tendencies are preprogrammed at birth, they are in our genes, and even if the spider never saw a web before, never witnessed its creation, it would still know how to create one.…
Q: In your own words, details the ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments with regard to innate and learned behaviour.…
In his examination of the theories developed in the studies of learning (humans and animals) Prof McConaghy looks at their position in relation to:…