learned behaviour

What is a learned behaviour?

Learned behaviour is one that is not innate, instinctive or “canalized” but rather is acquired through practice or a specific experience with an external event.

Scientists and psychologists believe that the human ability to learn is an evolutionary adaptation that allows us to adjust to changing environments on a short-term basis.

Learned behaviour vs innate behaviour

In the past, animal behaviours were studied and theorized without taking into account the knowledge of the nervous system development and structure.

Under the traditional view, innate behaviour is programmed by genes, and learned behaviour is a more recent development that is much more complex, and costly in terms of genetic code.

This innate vs. learned behaviour distinction in human beings has been extensively discredited in recent years (although psychology textbooks may not mention this).

Scientists no longer separate them into two distinct categories of behaviour. Rather, behaviour varies from being independent of learning to being highly dependent on it.

Innate behaviors, or instinctive learning, are canalized, meaning that they do not rely as heavily on learning, whereas learned behaviors are primarily the result of previous experience.