Definition
Biological preparedness is a broad explanation for why some associations are learned more easily than others, invoking the evolutionary history of the animal.
Introduction
Animals appear to learn about some stimuli in the world better than others, and a number of studies have shown that some sets of stimuli seem to be more easily associated than others. Some explanations exist for why this might occur, including ideas of belongingness and preparedness. Biological preparedness was first introduced as a term by Martin Seligman in his seminal paper “On the generality of the laws of learning” (Seligman 1970). As with any trait, learning and behavior in any species are the result of evolutionary processes. Broadly speaking, learning enables an animal to use past experience to inform future behavior. Learning allows an individual to better track a changing environment, and this plasticity forms the foundation of flexible behavior. While the neurological mechanisms underlying...
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Dunlap, A.S. (2018). Biological Preparedness. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1301-1
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