292 



Why Living Things Behave As They Do unit v 



Fig. 274 In the Hampton Court Palace gardens m England a maze was constructed 

 by planting a hedge in an elaborate design. 



Habits. If you look back to the figures 

 which showed the rat's success in finding 

 its way through a maze on successive days 

 you will see that it accomplished its task 

 faster on the second day than on the first. 

 We say that it had begun to "learn," 

 whatever that may mean. After several 

 days it had learned its way still better. 

 In other words there are all degrees of 

 learning. When an animal has repeated 

 an act often enough and particularly if 

 it has met with reward, the learning be- 

 comes complete. The act then appears 

 almost like a reflex. Yet it is not a reflex, 

 because, as you know, a reflex is inborn, 

 not learned. This kind of completely 

 learned act is called a habit. The fish 

 that rises to the surface of the tank every 

 morning at eight o'clock because you 

 have made a practice of feeding it at that 

 time has learned completely to respond 

 in a certain way; it has developed a habit. 



Habits and reflexes compared. A habit 

 may become so firmly established that it 

 is performed with as much regularity 

 and with almost as much speed as a re- 

 flex. That is, it becomes automatic; you 

 do not think about it. In this respect, it 

 is like a reflex act. But it differs from a 

 true reflex in that a reflex is inborn and 

 requires no learning; a habit is learned. 

 The man who through a quick response 

 avoids an accident in his car has acquired 

 habits; he has learned certain actions so 

 perfectly that he can respond \\'ith great 

 speed. 



There is another great difference be- 

 tween habits and reflexes: reflex or in- 

 stinctive behavior in a certain species of 

 animal is identical in all members of the 

 species, for these animals are born with 

 a complete pattern for reflexes laid down 

 in their nervous system. But the habits 

 of one animal may or may not be like 



