Stimulus and Response

Why animals and plants do what they

do
OR
A fancy way of saying cause and
effect in the animal world.
 Catalyst

1. Describe a situation in which you

were immediately scared and/or
reacted quickly to something. Write
at least 1 paragraph with 4 sentences
describing your experience.
2. Take out your vocab books and your
colors.
3. Take out your dry erase board.
After today you will be able
to:
1. Identify and classify stimuli as
internal or external
2. Define a response.
3. Identify behavior as learned
behavior or instinct.
What is a stimulus?

Stimulus: any change in an

organisms environment that
causes to the organism to react.
It is a fancy way of saying
cause.
Stimulus singular
Stimuli plural

Example: An animal is cold so it moves into the sun.

(Add this word to your vocabulary book)
What is a response?

Response: how the organism

reacts to a stimulus and results
in a change in behavior. It is a
fancy way of saying effect.
Example: Getting a drink when you are
thirsty.

(Add this word to your vocabulary book)

Examples of stimuli and their
responses:
You are hungry so you eat some food
A rabbit gets scared so it runs away
You are cold so you put on a jacket
A dog is hot so lies in the shade
It starts raining so you take out an
umbrella
Plants also respond to their
environment. When a plant
grows towards the sun we call
this phototropism.
Think Pair - Share

Turn to your partner

and share two other
stimuli and their
responses.
There are two types of
stimuli:

External Stimuli
and
Internal Stimuli
External Stimulus

External stimulus: a stimulus that

comes from outside an organism.

Examples:
1. You feel cold so you put on a jacket.
2. A snake lunges at a rabbit so it runs away.
3. A dog feels hot so it goes to lay in the shade.

Add this word to your vocabulary book.

Internal Stimulus

Internal stimulus: a stimulus that

comes from inside an organism.

Examples:
1. You feel hungry so you eat some food.
2. A cat feels thirsty so it drinks water.
3. A dog feels hot so it goes to lay in the shade.

Add this word to your vocabulary book.

Make a T-chart on your dry erase board and
label the columns internal and external. Put
the letter of each stimulus in the proper
column.
A. You have a stomach ache and decide to
lay down.
B. A bird is thirsty and drinks some water.
C. A squirrel sees a cat and runs up a tree.
D. A lion gets hungry and eats a gazelle.
E. You see a spider and scream.
Animals can respond to stimuli
in two ways:
1. In a way that they learned. We call this
learned behavior.

OR

2. In a way that they were just born

knowing how to do. We call this instinct.
Learned behavior: a
response to a
stimulus that an
animal was taught.
Add this word to your vocabulary book
A mother bear teaching her
cubs to fish
Teaching an animal a trick
Training a dog
Even you have learned
behavior. For example, you
learned to read and to talk.
Instinct: an animals
natural reaction to a
stimulus. It is an
automatic reaction that
the animal was not
taught to do.
Add this word to your vocabulary book
Animals natural instinct is to
run away from danger. We call
this the need for safety.
Animals will naturally find or
make themselves a home
because they have a need for
shelter.
Animals will naturally look for
food and water.
Animals that need to will
naturally migrate.
Animals instinctually know to
store their food for the winter.
Think Write - Share

On your board write down one

learned behavior that you
have an one instinct that you
have.
Summarize what you have learned today. On
a sheet of NBP answer the following
questions.
1. What is a stimulus?
2. What is a response?
3. Give one example of a stimulus and its response.
4. What is an internal stimulus?
5. What is an external stimulus?
6. It is raining and you open up an umbrella. Is this
an internal or external response? Justify your
answer.
7. What is learned behavior?
8. What is an instinct?
9. When a rabbit runs away from a wolf is this
learned behavior or instinct? Justify your answer .