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TASPsychologyQuick questions
Unit 3: Individual Behaviour
Quick questions on Behaviours Not Dependent on Learning - TCE Psychology (Tasmania)
3short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are reflex actions?Show answer
A reflex is a simple, automatic and involuntary response to a specific stimulus, present from birth. The knee-jerk reflex, the eye-blink to a puff of air, and an infant's grasping reflex are examples. Reflexes are fast because the signal travels through a reflex arc in the spinal cord without needing the brain to decide. They protect the body and require no prior experience.
What are fixed action patterns?Show answer
A fixed action pattern is an innate, stereotyped sequence of behaviour triggered by a specific sign stimulus (releaser) and run to completion once started. Unlike a single reflex, it is a whole chain of actions. A classic example is the greylag goose retrieving an egg that has rolled from the nest: once the goose begins the rolling movement, it completes the sequence even if the egg is removed. Such patterns are species-typical and shaped by evolution rather than learned.
What is maturation?Show answer
Maturation is the orderly, biologically programmed unfolding of behaviour as the body and nervous system grow, on a timetable largely independent of practice. Infants crawl, then stand, then walk in a fixed order, and this progression depends on muscle and neural development rather than on being taught. Gesell's early studies of motor development supported the idea of a maturational sequence. Maturation can set a readiness window: a child cannot be trained to walk before the nervous system is ready, no matter how much practice is given.
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