Moderate

Imagine you are a male three-spined stickleback (a fish). You come across a nest of unfertilized three-spined stickleback eggs and you can't help but do a particular dance and then go ahead and fertilize the eggs. Which theory of motivation accounts for your behavior?

Correct answer: B. Instinct

  • A. Opponent-process
  • B. Instinct
  • C. Arousal
  • D. Behavioral

Explanation

The fish's fixed courtship and fertilisation sequence is an inherited, species-typical response to a specific stimulus, which is the basis of instinct theory. Arousal and opponent-process theories do not explain this programmed behaviour as directly.

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