Do Now 9.19

1. Take out animal behavior Cornell notes so I can check them.

2. What does it mean if an experiment is biased? What is bias?

Animal Behavior

• Instinctual Behavior– automatic processes triggered by specific stimuli.

Present at birth• Simple reflexes: Are not processed by brain, but spinal

cord.• Fixed action pattern: like reflexes but behavior is more

complex.• Imprinting: fast, irreversible learning (e.g. duck mom)

Animal Behavior

• Learned Behavior– Not present at birth.• Habituation: repeated stimuli become ignored.• Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s dog (association

of stimuli)• Operant conditioning: trial and error learning

based on positive or negative outcomes.

• Circadian Rhythms– Internal “clock” that can regulate behavior,

i.e. activity cycle.

What about the Termites?

• What type of behavior is the trail-following behavior we studied in Reticulitermes flavipes?A. Simple reflexB. Fixed-action patternC. ImprintingD. HabituationE. conditioning

Characteristics of Life

• Try this mnemonic:• OGE2R3

– Organization, growth, energy use, evolution, reproduction, response, regulation.

• Know ‘em… and what they mean!

Bias• What is bias?– Prejudice that favors some data or results over others.

• Only using data that supports or refutes a hypothesis, not all available data.

• Rigging an experiment to produce desired results.

• Why is it a bad thing?– Science must have accurate data to work properly.

• What causes bias– Confirmation bias: see what you want to see.– Conflicts of interest: $$$ and awards / promotions, etc.– Poor experimental design

Experiments

• Heart rate

• Telepathy / ESP

How Science Fights Bias• Peer review process– Trained scientists in the field review research papers to

make sure proper controls were used, and the methods were fair.

• Repeatability– Others in the field will attempt to confirm finding, or add

to them. If they can’t, then the original research will be discredited.

Pharmaceutical Company Bias

• Why Mr. Tomasino is a teacher, and not working for “the man.”

• Avandia article: ongoing lawsuits in the news

• Pfizer– Largest guilty plea ever (BILLION$$$)– Nigeria ethical issues

Homework

• Complete Bias worksheet.