Introduction

Man has always been interesting to man as an object of study. Especially his behavior. Hippocrates already proposed a system of classification of characters, the same one about choleric-phlegmatic people, which we still use today. But truly intense interest in the study of human behavior appeared only at the end of the 19th century, and is inextricably linked with the name of Sigmund Freud. Freud was a genius who first spoke about the subconscious and the analysis of subconscious activity. Moreover, Freud, ahead of the emergence of ethology by half a century, believed that the roots of the subconscious grow on the soil of the biological essence of man /1/.

In my work, I will try to determine the place of ethology in modern human sciences, tell in more detail about the outstanding Austrian scientist Konrad Lorenz and his ethological concept, presented in his two most famous works - “Aggression: the so-called evil” and “The Eight Deadly Sins of Civilized Humanity.” .

Human ethology

ethology human Lorenz concept

Freud, briefly summarizing his scientific achievements, formulated it this way: “I discovered that man is an animal.” He meant, of course, human behavior, because the zoological affiliation of humans with the order of primates was determined long before him by Linnaeus and Darwin. And such statements required great scientific and personal courage, because many people still do not like assumptions about the animal roots of human behavior. However, speaking about the biological essence of subconscious processes and their influence on humans, he did not even make an attempt to explore their physical nature and genesis! It is not surprising, therefore, that his constructions did not look very convincing and were constantly subject to criticism. In 1928, M. Scheler wrote: “The questions: “What is man and what is his position” have occupied me since the awakening of my philosophical consciousness and seemed more significant and central than any other philosophical question” / 2 /.

And since a clear theoretical basis was never built, a complete science of human behavior did not emerge. First of all, two directions emerged, two, if you like, kingdoms: humanitarian and natural.

The natural soon gave birth to eugenics, which was very popular “by the way” with the autocratic regimes that turned up, using it for ideological support of the policy of violence. As a result, not only she herself, but also the natural scientific approach to the study of human behavior in general was seriously and permanently discredited.

The intellectual community adopted a policy that biological, racial-anthropological and similar interpretations of social behavior, including the inheritance of certain personal qualities, are inadmissible. An attitude that is politically justified and humanistically commendable, but which, when taken to the extreme, has become a serious obstacle to the development of the study of human behavior.

Well, the humanitarian kingdom has since blossomed magnificently, splitting into an innumerable number of schools, trends, trends and streams, each of which strived to offer its own classification of human characters and mental types, its own model of ongoing processes.

In modern humanitarian psychology there are many such classification systems, most of which are completely independent of one another. For example, according to Leonhard, personalities are: demonstrative, pedantic, stuck, excitable, emotive (and so on); According to Fromm, personalities are: receptive, exploiting, accumulating, market and productive; according to Jung - introverts-extroverts, thinking, feeling, sensory and intuitive. And there are at least several dozen such systems proposed by well-known psychologists. This abundance, diversity and disconnect clearly indicate the absence in the realm of humanitarian psychology of a generally accepted model of motivational and mental mechanisms that control human behavior /1/. Or, more simply put, understanding the reasons for this behavior. What unites all adherents of the humanitarian kingdom are actually two postulates:

Man is not an animal. That is, of course, the fact that man belongs to the order of primates, and therefore is related to monkeys, is not denied, but this fact is decisively taken beyond the framework of humanitarian psychology on the assumption that the biological evolution of man has ended, and since then man has evolved only socially . And in behavioral reactions, the influence of animal origin is negligible, and is limited mainly to the regulation of basic physiological needs.

Everything is learning. Sometimes this postulate is formulated as the concept of a “Blank Slate”, which assumes the almost complete absence of innate behavioral patterns in a person, or at least their extreme fragility, allowing them to be easily replaced through some kind of external influence. Like a blank slate on which society and the environment write their rules of behavior. In other words, it is assumed that a person’s character is completely (except perhaps for temperament) formed by the environment in which he grew up and remains. Let me remind you that it was on this postulate that the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the formation of a new man was based. They say that as soon as we change production relations, the person will immediately change. He will become kind, humane, hardworking. In fact, for some reason it didn’t work out very well... Everyone remembers the Nikitins’ touching song “A dog can bite only from a dog’s life,” where this thesis was expressed in the most figurative form, but which in relation to dogs is certainly false, and in relation to humans, when all his humanism is at least not very convincing. At the same time, over more than a century of the existence of practical psychology, it has accumulated enormous practical experience, a large number of working methods have been empirically developed, which allows humanitarian psychology to be quite effective in solving many practical problems. Many - but not all. For example, attempts within a humanitarian framework to explain unmotivated cruelty, a number of manias and phobias, and much more, which in the natural science paradigm are explained quite naturally and harmoniously, look extremely artificial. And this is natural - after all, humanitarian psychology does not have a convincing theoretical foundation, and within the framework of the paradigm it has adopted, it is unlikely to have one. This means that each new problem has to be resolved by trial and error, the proposed methods have to be tested for a long time to determine the limits of their applicability, and so on and so forth /3/.

After the abandonment of eugenics, the natural science direction temporarily moved away from the study of human behavior, limiting itself only to the study of animal behavior. However, this was also not useful for studying human behavior, because in the realm of natural science a different postulate was in effect: “Man is an animal endowed with reason.” And, it must be said, a very arrogant animal. For obvious reasons, animal behavior is of much less public interest than human behavior, and therefore the study of animal behavior has long been the province of amateurs. However, the appearance in the 30s of the 20th century of the fundamental articles of Konrad Lorenz, from which ethology actually began, caused a small storm in the scientific world. Lorenz was the first to show, very convincingly, using the example of birds, that the high complexity of behavior, the presence of glimpses of abstract thinking and good learning abilities do not at all replace instinctive behavioral motivations, but act together with them, sometimes contradicting, sometimes complementing and modifying them. His observations of the life of gray geese were simply shocked by the similarity of some aspects of their behavior with human ones. Inevitably, the question arose again about the applicability of the conclusions of ethology to man, to which Lorenz himself and his followers answered unconditionally positively, although the “antibiological attitude” was in effect, and generally speaking, continues to operate even now. By the way, one of the prominent representatives of the natural sciences, the founder of sociobiology, Wilson, was even accused of fascism and racism in his time. However, the explanations proposed by Lorenz for the principles of the activity of the subconscious were so convincing and logical that some of the first readers of Lorenz’s articles described their sensations from what they read as a feeling of eyes opening after a long blindness, as similar ecstatic sensations. The 1970 awarding of the Nobel Prize to Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaus Tinbergen for the creation of ethology can be considered a high recognition of the persuasiveness of the ethological paradigm.

Unfortunately, these enthusiasms did not penetrate beyond the “Iron Curtain” into the Soviet Union, where ethology, along with genetics, was long considered a bourgeois pseudoscience, and is still very little known, even among specialists. In Soviet times, this was inevitable, because ethological ideas did not fit in with Marxism, but the low prevalence of ethology in modern Russia can only be explained by the inertia of existing ideas.

However, not all was rosy in the ethological kingdom. First of all, at that time comparative psychology already existed in the United States, also known as animal psychology, which dealt with approximately the same thing, that is, the study of animal behavior, but at the same time was based on the same paradigm as psychology studying humans. In fact, this scientific movement directly competed with ethology, diligently interpreting the same observational facts as the result of learning. Serious debates flared up between ethologists and animal psychologists /4/. In parallel with ethology, and partly under the influence of its ideas, scientific directions such as sociobiology and evolutionary psychology arose. Sociobiology, declaring itself the successor of all sciences about man, including ethology, considers man in the most “global” way, that is, it studies the most general patterns and relationships between the biological and social in the behavior of both humans and any living creature. But it must be said that from the sociobiological heights and latitudes of the sky, the specifics of instinctive manifestations are poorly visible; Sociobiology itself does not deal with instincts, speaking about them only insofar as.

Evolutionary psychology looks similar; by the way, it is hardly possible to divide sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists into two camps - their spheres of scientific interests and paradigmatic basis are so close. The key concepts of evolutionary psychology are “adaptation” and “external environment”. Evolutionary psychology considers the behavior of living beings as one of the ways to adapt to a changing external environment. However, despite the closeness of interests with ethology (which also considers instincts as a form of evolutionary adaptation), evolutionary psychology also does not delve too deeply into the specifics of instinctive behavior, almost philosophically considering the general patterns of adaptation. Thus, all these scientific areas have their own niche, and therefore they are all needed in their own way.

How do ethologists distinguish instinctive behavior among the entire complex of behavioral acts? In much the same way as linguists recreate ancient, extinct languages. That is, the behavioral patterns of animals (or people) belonging to very different populations, cultures, species are compared, and those of the same type are identified among them. Particularly indicative in this sense is nonconformist behavior that contradicts the norms and customs accepted in a given society, and among people - also behavior that contradicts consciously (rationally) declared intentions. Having identified such behavior, the ethologist tries to understand what its current or former expediency is for the species, to understand how it arose. Such generalized, typical, species-appropriate (at least in the past) behavior is recognized as instinctive. Comparing the behavior of representatives of a wide variety of zoological species, from the simplest to the highest, scientists discover amazing parallels and patterns that indicate the existence of general behavioral principles affecting all representatives of the animal kingdom, including humans.

Such methods of studying the world are very fruitful and are widely used in other sciences. For example, astronomers know the internal structure of the Sun much better than geologists know the internal structure of the Earth. And all because there are a lot of stars, and they are all different - by comparing them with each other, you can understand a lot. But the Earth is alone, and there is nothing to compare it with. The same is true in the study of man. By limiting ourselves to studying only him himself, we risk remaining equally limited in his understanding.

However, studying human ethology is not easy. In addition to the objective difficulties arising from the powerful influence of reason, which masks and modifies many instinctive manifestations, researchers regularly encounter public rejection of the ethological method itself as applied to humans. Many people find the very fact of comparing human behavior to animals unacceptable and even offensive. And there is an ethological explanation for this too. It lies in the action of the instinct of ethological isolation of species, which is described in detail in the book by V. Dolnik “The Naughty Child of the Biosphere.” The essence of this instinct can be expressed in the form of the motto “love your own - love someone else’s”; “strangers” in our case are monkeys, the hostile attitude towards which extends to the thesis about the kinship of our behavior with their behavior. It would seem that Darwin’s theory, despite the ongoing (due to the same hostility) attempts to refute it to this day, is firmly and irrevocably accepted by the scientific community, and most educated people completely agree with their origins from monkeys. However, the idea that this or that feeling is the voice of instinct still causes sharp protests among many people, most of which do not find a rational explanation. Meanwhile, the root of this hostility is precisely the subconscious rejection of our kinship with monkeys.

It should also be carefully emphasized that ethology does not claim to be an all-encompassing and comprehensive explanation of all features of human and animal behavior. It opens up a very powerful, very important, and hitherto almost untouched layer of deeply subconscious processes of instinctive behavior. But it does not consider either the physiological subtleties of the functioning of the nervous system, or the patterns of functioning of the mind, or the shallow layers of the subconscious, considering them only to the extent of minimal necessity. This is all within the competence of other disciplines /3/.

Ethology

(from the Greek ethos - habit, character, disposition, manner of behavior and logos - teaching) - a scientific discipline that studies animals from a general biological perspective and explores its four main aspects:

1) mechanisms;

2) biological functions;

4) evolution.

E. focuses on species-specific (characteristic of a given animal species) behavior in natural habitats. The founders of E. are the zoologists K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen. The development is divided into the classical period (mid-30s - mid-50s) and the modern stage (from the late 50s). In E., a morphological approach to behavior is used, in which behavior in many respects is studied by analogy with how morphology studies the structure of the body. According to Lorenz, the basis of species-specific behavior is made up of instinctive movements (see,) or complexes of fixed actions (CFA), the form of which is innate, genetically fixed. Comparative studies of behavior in different animal species formed the basis for the ethological study of the evolution of behavior. Lorenz proposed a model of instinctive behavior based on the hypothesis of physiological mechanisms of a non-reflex nature (see). The basic concepts of this model, as well as Lorenz's hypothesis about the initial coordination of behavior at the level of the central nervous system - all this largely determined the direction of E.'s research, which sought to confirm, correct or refute this model. Lorenz also formulated the concept of imprinting. Tinbergen created a model of the hierarchical organization of instinctive behavior based on Lorenz's concept.

In the mid-50s. classical E. was sharply criticized by behaviorist-oriented researchers of behavior (see), who denied the existence of innate, genetically fixed behavior and argued that despite the undoubted influence of heredity, almost all animal behavior is formed under the influence of the external environment and learning. This criticism has had a serious impact on the development of ethology at the present stage. Gradually between E. and American comparative psychology Close contacts and an active exchange of ideas emerged. In modern economics, the classical concept has undergone significant revision, modification, and complexity. Ethologists present all species-specific behavior in the form of a spectrum, on one end of which there is strictly stereotypical behavior of the QFD type, and on the other - variable behavior associated with learning. Although there has been a tendency in economics to sharply criticize and even reject a number of ideas and concepts related to the classical theory of behavior, no other general theory has emerged to replace the classical one, and since the 80s, at a new level of knowledge, it has begun again growing interest in classical ideas, which are being rethought and improved.

Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: “PHOENIX”. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .

Ethology

The science of animal behavior, the “biology of behavior,” the general biological foundations and patterns of animal behavior. The concept and basic principles of it were formulated in 1895 by L. Dollo. Considers the relationship between innate instinctive behavior and environmental influences. One of the authoritative directions of modern biology extends its principles to humans; Research by ethologists is also directly interesting for zoopsychology (sometimes even considered as a variant of zoopsychology). Together with animal psychology, ethology tries to understand how the innate mechanisms that guide the emergence and development of behavior are complemented by the influence of the environment with which they interact. According to her views, only by increasingly deepening knowledge about lower organisms can we better understand the basics of behavior and its evolution in the animal kingdom. The tasks of ethology include:

1 ) study of the phylogenetic and ontogenetic development of animal behavior;

2 ) identifying the significance of behavior as a factor in their evolution;

3 ) identifying the significance of behavior as a factor in their individual and population adaptation.

The main attention is paid to species-typical (instinctive) components of behavior. Ethological analysis is based on the study by biological methods of an integral behavioral act. Species-typical poses and movements are described in the form of “ethograms” - systematized “catalogs” of motor activity of species; through observations and experiments, the functional significance of these components is established, and a quantitative and qualitative analysis of external and internal factors of behavior is performed. Particular attention is paid to the biological (ecological) mechanisms of behavioral acts. The connections between species and other animal taxa based on behavioral characteristics are clarified. Ethology also studies deviations in animal behavior from the norm in extreme situations. Its achievements are used in livestock farming and other sectors of the national economy, as well as in the development of the scientific basis for keeping animals in captivity ( cm.; ). Over the past decades, the share of research in one of the branches of ethology - human ethology - has increased. Its purpose is to illuminate the biological foundations of human nature. One of the ways to achieve the goal is to systematically collect data on the ways of expressing emotions, feelings and various social interactions among representatives of different cultures. It is argued that in all cases there are certain “universal” manifestations for humanity ( cm. anthropomorphism).

Dictionary of a practical psychologist. - M.: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998.

ETHOLOGY

(English) ethology; from Greek ethos- place of life, way of life) - the science of biological foundations and patterns behavior animals. The main attention is paid to species-typical (genetically fixed) forms of behavior characteristic of all representatives of a given species (instinctive behavior). However, since forms of behavior reflecting the accumulated in the process phylogeny species experience are constantly intertwined with individually variable forms of behavior, ethological research extends to this area.

The basis of ethological analysis (causal, functional and phylogenetic) is a holistic behavioral act (the so-called behavior syndrome), reflecting a high degree of integration of life processes and the influence of environmental factors. E. is closely related to zoopsychology, physiology higher nervous activity And neurophysiology. Animal behavior is classified and analyzed by ethologists on functional grounds, for example: rest, comfortable behavior (cleansing the body, bathing in water and sand, stretching, etc.), (locomotion) and orientation, play and manipulation activity, nutrition, protection and attack, reproduction, migratory activity, etc. A large place in ethological research is occupied by the study of territorial and group behavior of animals (see. ).

Large psychological dictionary. - M.: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .

Ethology

In the literal sense, it is a biological study of behavior. Ethologists spend considerable effort studying animals in their wild (natural) state. As a result of long-term observation of various species, ethologists can compile a detailed description, or ethogram, of the behavior patterns of a particular species of animal. For example, observing the behavior of male sticklebacks during mating reveals stereotypical actions and movements characteristic of all males of a given species. They collect algae and glue them together to form a nest. If another male approaches, they adopt a special "head down" shoza, which is a demonstration of threat to the rival. When the female approaches, the male leads her to the nest in a “zigzag” dance. When she lays eggs, he accompanies her in the nest and fertilizes the eggs, and then supplies them with oxygen by vigorous movements of his fins. Ethologist Niko Ginbergen believes that when studying animal behavior, one should proceed from four main questions:

Development: Does an animal's behavior change over the course of its life?

Reasons: is behavior the result of internal states or external stimuli?

Functions: why does the animal behave this way? What benefits does it joke about?

Evolution: What are the evolutionary reasons for behavior?

Early ethological theories about animal behavior were based on careful observations and intuitions rather than on the experimental evidence usually associated with scientific psychophysics.

Although the ethological study of animal behavior can be found in most psychology textbooks and reference books under the heading "Comparative Psychology", there are significant differences between the two disciplines. Ethologists are interested in many species of animals and the behavioral patterns that characterize those species. Comparative psychologists, on the other hand, study a limited number of species and proceed from the premise that general laws of behavior can be derived that apply to all species. The study of specific behavior is a very important feature of ethology. Stereotypical patterns of behavior that exist in different animals have led ethologists to believe that such behavior is innate and instinctive. The controversy between ethology and comparative psychology led to important changes in the scientific views of both disciplines. Psychologists began to recognize the role of evolutionary influences on learning, and ethologists realized the value of a balanced experimental approach in understanding animal behavior.

The rapid development of ethology in the last 20 years has been associated with renewed interest in the function of behavior (i.e., why animals behave as they do). Meanwhile, sociobiology was moving away from a focus on behavioral traits and attempting to explain how natural selection could influence the causes of behavior. This has led to a number of controversial statements about the applicability of evolutionary ideas to human beings, especially to ideas about human nature (see).

Psychology. AND I. Dictionary reference / Transl. from English K. S. Tkachenko. - M.: FAIR PRESS. Mike Cordwell. 2000.

Synonyms:

See what “ethology” is in other dictionaries:

ETHOLOGY- (from the Greek “ethos” custom, disposition, character) the science of animal behavior in nature. habitat. In France, the term “ethology” has been used to refer to the science of animal behavior since the beginning of the century. floor. 18th century; however, to designate a special... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

Ethology- Ethology ♦ Éthologie The objective study of the morals and behavior of both humans and animals, which does not include any normative concepts. It is precisely the latter that ethology differs from ethics, just like the objectivity of biology (for which life is a fact... Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary

Ethology- (from the Greek ethos character, disposition and...logy), biological science of animal behavior. The creator of ecology, E. Haeckel, used the term “ethology” as a synonym for ecology. The section “Ecological ethology” occupies a significant place in ethology... ... Ecological dictionary

ETHOLOGY Modern encyclopedia

ETHOLOGY- (from the Greek ethos custom, moral character and...logy), biological science that studies the behavior of animals in natural conditions; pays primary attention to the analysis of genetically determined (hereditary, instinctive) components... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Ethology- (from the Greek ethos custom, disposition, character and...logy), biological science that studies the behavior of animals in natural conditions; pays mainly attention to the analysis of genetically determined (hereditary, instinctive) components... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

ETHOLOGY- (Greek). A study of the individual characters, morals and customs of a famous people. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. ethology (gr. ethos character, disposition + ...logy) one of the directions in the study... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

ETHOLOGY- ETOLOGY, a discipline devoted to the study of animal behavior, especially in their natural habitat. The first principles of ethology were formulated in the 1920s. Konrad LORENZ and Nicholas TINBERGEN. Ethologists study the natural patterns of behavior inherent in... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

ETHOLOGY- ETOLOGY, and, g. The science of animal behavior in natural environments. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Ethology (from the Greek ήθος - “character”, “disposition”) is the study of behavior in the natural environment. This is a fairly young discipline, the roots of which lie in zoology, biology, physiology, genetics, and comparative psychology.

First, animal ethology arose, and then human ethology was formed on its basis. The time difference between the appearance of these two sections is small - only about 30 years. Ethologists view human behavior as a correlation between social and biological aspects, and therefore human ethology is closely related not only to the natural sciences, but also to the humanities.

The beginning of ethology: animals

Animal ethology made itself known through the voices of two zoologists - Konrad Lorenz and Nicholas Tinbergen. Lorenz's merit is a physiological hypothesis that explained the spontaneity and goal-directed behavior of animals. Lorenz said that the behavior of an individual is stimulated by internal forces, while before him the prevailing idea was that external influences were key, and all the actions of an animal were nothing more than a combination of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes.

Tinbergen proposed the concept of four questions, which, despite its apparent simplicity, allows us to give a complete analysis of the behavioral act of an animal. This analysis can be considered successful if the researcher has revealed the following four provisions.

How does a single behavioral action relate to an organism's ability to adapt to its environment?
What triggers and regulates a behavioral act?
What changes does behavior undergo during the process of individual development (ontogenesis)?
How did behavioral acts arise and change in the process of historical development (phylogenesis)?

These four questions of Tinbergen are considered not only the succinct theoretical basis of ethology at the modern stage, but also the fulcrum for research in all behavioral sciences.

Natural observation as the main research method is one of the most important differences between ethology and. Proponents of this direction, as is known, also dealt with issues of behavior, but studied it in laboratories.

Studying an individual without removing it from its natural habitat allows ethologists to analyze a wide variety of functional states of the animal: wakefulness and sleep, rest and movement, attack and defense, nutrition, communication with its own kind...

Such an observation provides ethologists with rich material about the relationship between hereditary and acquired behavior. For example, it is possible to trace general manifestations in representatives of the same species and their individual modifications that individuals demonstrate when interacting with the external environment.

Development of ethology: people

Human ethology began to be considered a full-fledged scientific field quite recently - around the 60s of the last century (and in our country even later). She refutes the common idea that, behaviorally, at birth a person is a “blank slate” and has to learn everything.

Human ethology proves that there are special genetic programs inherent to us as a biological species. They determine the fundamental features of behavior, including its most complex types, which are directly related to cultural traditions. It has been found that this innate determination, the original “programming,” is most concerned with motivation and nonverbal communication.

We should dwell on nonverbal communication in a little more detail. In animal ethology, so-called releasers are considered - key stimuli of behavior that perform functions related to communication and social behavior. These are smells, sounds, color patterns and specific movements (for example, mating dances) - everything that helps animals, birds and insects understand each other.

It was the ethological study of such signals in representatives of the animal world that served as a powerful impetus for the study of human nonverbal communication. These studies, for example, revealed that all human facial expressions are innate movements.

Ethology is also of great importance in the study of innate verbal behavior: this science provides extensive material regarding the distinction of phonemes (minimal sound units that help distinguish one word from another) and the ability to create metaphors.

Sections and areas of research

Human ethology branches into many areas: art and aesthetics, aggression, youth subcultures, cognitive ethology...

The ethology of the city is very interesting. It is the city that has now become the natural habitat for people, and ethology, as we remember, studies it. However, at the same time, we are faced with a contradiction: the human body was formed in conditions completely different from the space of a modern metropolis, which means that the basic ethological needs of people remain insufficiently satisfied.

What exact needs are we talking about? First of all, about the need for closeness to nature, peace and personal space. This, it would seem, can be tolerated quite calmly, however, as it turned out, the dissatisfaction of these needs directly affects (and therefore the level of crime) and complicates socialization and interpersonal communication. Ethological studies make a major contribution to urban planning.

Following the recommendations of scientists, architects are trying to design urban environments taking into account not only aesthetics and functionality, but also behavioral needs. For example, it has been proven that the fewer floors in a house and the more plants around it, the less the inhabitants of the building are susceptible to conflicts and aggressive behavior.

Different groups of people and the relationships between them: men and women, children and parents are examined separately. Of course, such factors of group behavior as group identity (the feeling of belonging to a particular group), hierarchy and leadership in the group, and group norms are taken into account.

Thus, thanks to the analysis of these problems, it was concluded that the motivation to follow the norms of the group and resist those who violate such norms is innate. Such conclusions shed light on the issues of cultural coexistence and partly explain why it is so difficult.

By the way, children provide ethologists with rich food for thought in terms of the intersection of cultures. They exhibit universal, cross-cultural behavioral characteristics much more clearly than adults. With age, a person is increasingly exposed to the influence of a specific sociocultural community, and these common features fade. Author: Evgenia Bessonova

What is a person? This issue is discussed again and again in the scientific community and has various, sometimes opposing, scientific concepts on its essence.

Darwin's theory led to a lively scientific debate about human nature. And this discussion between supporters of the biological and social essence of man is finding more and more supporters on both sides.

By the beginning of the 1980s, researchers in various fields of human knowledge began to understand the need for a synthesis of natural science and humanities knowledge to understand the natural essence of man and human behavior.

Ethology. History of ethology.

Ethology. The emergence and development of ethology. Formation of human ethology.

Ethology originally aimed to study the behavior of animals.

Ethology. The emergence of the term and concept of science “ethology”.

The term “ethology” is borrowed from the Greek language, in which the word “ethos” means morals, character, habit, custom.

In 1859, the term “ethology” was proposed by the French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to name the study of the life and behavior of animals in the natural environment.

Initially, the scientific discipline “ethology” is closely related to zoology, biology, physiology, evolutionary biology, zoopsychology, and comparative psychology.

The famous biologist and ethologist Konrad Lorenz, Nobel Prize winner, called ethology “the morphology of animal behavior.”

The term “ethology” began to be mentioned in almost its modern form and understanding, starting in 1902, thanks to the work of the American entomologist William Morton Wheeler.

Modern “ethology” was finally formed in the 1930s on the basis of field zoology and evolutionary theory as the science of comparative description of the behavior of an individual in the natural environment.

The emergence of modern “ethology” as a scientific discipline is associated with the work of scientists Konrad Lorenz and Nicholas Tinbergen, although they themselves initially did not call themselves ethologists.

Subsequently, the term "ethology" was additionally used to distinguish specialists in the study of animals in natural conditions from comparative psychologists and behaviorists, working mainly in the United States, and using analytical methods in laboratory conditions.

The most famous ethologists: Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen, Wallace Craig, Leonid Viktorovich Krushinsky, Richard Dawkins, Marina Butovskaya, Victor Dolnik, Desmond Morris, Karl Frisch, Dian Fossey.

Modern “ethology” is an interdisciplinary scientific field that combines physiological, genetic, mental and evolutionary patterns that explain the principles of behavior of animals, including humans.

Human ethology. History of human ethology.

The process of formation of human ethology as an independent discipline, and its main historical milestones.

Of course, Charles Darwin, with his observations and conclusions explaining the biological natural essence of man, laid the foundations for human ethology.

Human ethology, as an independent scientific direction, began to take shape on the basis of “ethology” only in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In this formation, it should be noted the role of scientific research by K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen, who are considered the founders of ethology; these studies made it possible to disseminate hypotheses obtained from observing animals for the study of human behavior.

K. Lorenz in his book “Aggression” (1966) devoted an entire chapter to the issue of the role of innate behavior in human life.

Around the same time, N. Tinbergen, in his Nobel lecture (1974), expressed the idea of the limitations of human adaptive capabilities in the process of rapid changes in environmental conditions and the importance of ethological approaches in the study of emerging mental disorders in humans.

At the beginning of the 1970s, not only ethologists themselves, but also many psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, anthropologists, and zoologists spoke of the need to develop human ethology. Among them are the now famous I. Able-Eibesfeldt, R. Hind, W. McGrew, D. Freeman, E. Hess, J. Bowlby, N. Blurton Jones, P. Smith, D. Morris and many others.

Thus, by the beginning of the 70s, a real, fairly authoritative scientific community had emerged, connecting its scientific interests with human ethology.

The peculiar borderline position of the new scientific discipline “human ethology” has caused and continues to cause great and heated discussions in the scientific community.

The famous zoologist D. Morris was one of the first to popularize human ethology in the public consciousness.

In the books by D. Maurice “The Naked Ape” (1967) and “The Human Zoo” (1971), a unique, zoological view of human behavior was proposed, and similarities between non-verbal communication and the social structure of humans and other primates were discussed.

D. Maurice's books were written popularly and interestingly for a wide range of readers, but had an ambiguous impact on the public.

The extreme simplification and gross extrapolation present in the books when comparing humans and animals caused well-deserved protests from both humanities scholars and biologists.

At the same time, the work of D. Morris cannot be regarded as some kind of negative phenomenon. It was the fact that he offered the general public a biological view of the origins of human behavior, and forced people to reflect on their evolutionary past, that undoubtedly eased the task of subsequent generations of ethologists, and caused significant public interest, and an influx of students and new researchers in human ethology.

D. Morris, with his work, certainly stimulated discussions between humanists and biologists about the phylogenetic roots of human sexuality, parental behavior, cooperation, aggression and the structuring of social relationships.

Human ethology as a science took shape to a large extent thanks to the efforts of I. Aibl-Eibesfeldt.

In 1967, I. Aibl-Eibesfeldt, a student of K. Lorenz, published a chapter dedicated to man in his book “Ethology - Biology of Behavior”.

Ethology

ethology) E. is the science of the behavior of living organisms in their natural habitat, the concept of which includes not only physical. environment, but also social interactions. Ethological teaching also considers the role of natural selection in the formation of animal behavior. It is basic. on the implicit assumption that behavior is largely determined by genotypes, which, in turn, are a product of the evolutionary history of the species. Another assumption is associated with it, namely: selection by genotype occurred under the influence of the consequences of naturally occurring forms of behavior. Since it is precisely this behavior that forms the basis. subject of study in Ethology, ethologists show little interest in traditional concepts of learning or mentalistic concepts. Basic concepts of classical ethology The starting point for the development of ethological teaching is considered to be ethograms - comprehensive, detailed descriptions of the behavior of species in their natural habitat. This method originates in the works of European naturalists of the late 19th and early 19th centuries. XX century: O. Heinroth, J.-A. Fabre and D. Spaulding. These first ethologists were struck by the constant, stereotypical character of plurals. forms of adaptive behavior. As a result, such stereotypical behavior was often classified as innate or instinctive. The ethological conceptualization of these forms of behavior was clarified and developed in the works of K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen. A special term was introduced to denote them - “fixed sequences of actions”. Fixed action sequences are species-specific, stereotyped patterns of behavior that are thought to be under strong genetic control. In fact, fixed sequences of actions are so constant that they have been used from time to time as criteria for taxonomic classification. species. In addition, they are usually caused by specific stimuli (called releasers, or signal stimuli) and, apparently, continue without the participation of the releaser that caused them. Lorenz and Tinbergen believed that for each fixed sequence of actions, an animal has an innate neuronal program that is triggered only in response to stimuli similar to the familiar signal stimuli encountered in its natural habitat. This innate program is called "innate resolution mechanism" (IRM). Thus, resolving stimuli - releasers - were likened to triggering devices that “start up” the VRM. Another important characteristic of fixed sequences of actions is their high specificity. Nest-building, maternal and copulatory behaviors may include several. such sequences, but they themselves are too universal to be considered as fixed sequences of actions. Modern achievements of ethology. Since Lorenz and Tinbergen in the 1930s. laid down the theory. foundation E., theor. and the empirical approaches of ethologists to animal behavior have undergone significant changes. The ethological theory, according to which the energy for carrying out specific actions accumulates until the signal stimulus causes a fixed sequence of actions as a result of the activation of the VRM, has similarities with other early theories of the reduction of impulses (or drives) - from K. Hull before Z. Freud. Like all these theories, the classical BPM theory is far from flawless in methodological terms due to the inherent vicious circle: the only available way to measure energy for the implementation of specific actions is by observing the behavior to be explained. In addition, there is no evidence in favor of the existence of separate neurological subsystems, respectively. each hypothetical BPM of an animal. Nevertheless, the classical theory of VRM has some value as a descriptive cx. Many different behaviors are triggered by relatively specific signaling stimuli. Moreover, plural of these behaviors acquire lower trigger thresholds over time. An important development in ethological theory was the growing recognition of the role of learning in animal behavior, including its influence on fixed action sequences. As one example, we can name imprinting, which Lorenz pioneered. considered as an innate reaction of following in response to a specific permissive stimulus. Subsequent studies have provided abundant evidence that the acquisition of imprinting is based on simple and rapidly formed conditioned connections. And although a specific fixed sequence of actions may initially be caused by a specific enabling stimulus, perceptual learning begins to occur immediately. Consequently, this sequence becomes conditioned by the configuration of the stimulus acting as a releaser. Another important transformation of theory is associated with the narrowing of the boundaries of theories. explanations and categories of behavior being studied. Previously, theorizing was broad, covering large categories of naturally occurring forms of behavior, although research. often limited to observing animals in natural conditions, with virtually no experiments. interventions. In later ethological studies. The emphasis has shifted to thorough experimentation. analysis of specific behavior. Molecular science, which studies the mechanisms of the influence of a single gene on behavior, has become an independent field. Sociobiology is another approach to animal behavior that arose in the depths of classical economics. The origin of this approach is usually associated with the name of E. Wilson. One of the main The assumptions of sociobiology are that the units of natural selection are individual genes, not species. The second assumption is that the genotype correlates with different types of behavior, including certain forms of highly organized social behavior. behavior. Kin selection, basic. on behavior is an important concept in sociobiology. This is a type of natural selection that occurs when a) behavior correlates with genotype and when b) behavior increases the likelihood of reproduction of individuals with the same genotype, although this behavior itself may reduce the likelihood of producing offspring in the animal demonstrating it. An example of this behavior is the alarm cry of gophers. By emitting this cry, a particular animal becomes more vulnerable to predators, while simultaneously making its nearby relatives less vulnerable. Sociobiologists have been able to predict a number of animal behavior phenomena, especially in the field of social insect behavior. See also Ecological Psychology, Instinctive Behavior J. King

ETHOLOGY

ethology) Currently, ethology is understood not as the science of character formation, as indicated in some dictionaries, but as the study of animal behavior in natural conditions. The existence of a relationship between ethology and psychoanalysis is due to

a) the possibility that ethology will provide psychoanalysis with a theory of INSTINCTS based on observations of animals;

b) the possibility that some of its techniques will be applicable in the study of infants and children, which will make it possible to test psychoanalytic hypotheses about infant DEVELOPMENT by direct observation.

Psychoanalytic authors such as Spitz (1959), who rely more on direct observations of infants than on therapeutic work, are perhaps more human ethologists than psychoanalysts. Regarding the intersection of psychoanalysis and ethology, see Lorenz on aggression (1966).

ETHOLOGY

Greek ethos - custom, habit, logos - science, teaching). The branch of biology that studies the behavior of animals in natural conditions. Particular attention is paid to the study of genetically determined forms of behavior. Transferring E.'s conclusions to the study of forms of human behavior is of interest, but one should take into account the social status of a person, whose behavior cannot be reduced to purely biological mechanisms and can only be explained by them.

ETHOLOGY

English ethology; from Greek ethos - place of life, way of life) - the science of the biological foundations and patterns of animal behavior. The main attention is paid to species-typical (genetically fixed) forms of behavior characteristic of all representatives of a given species (instinctive behavior). However, since forms of behavior that reflect the species' experience accumulated in the process of phylogenesis are constantly intertwined with individually variable forms of behavior, ethological research extends to this area.

The basis of ethological analysis (causal, functional and phylogenetic) is a holistic behavioral act (the so-called behavior syndrome), reflecting a high degree of integration of life processes and the influence of environmental factors. E. is closely related to zoopsychology, the physiology of higher nervous activity, and neurophysiology. Animal behavior is classified and analyzed by ethologists on functional grounds, for example: sleep and rest, comfortable behavior (cleansing the body, bathing in water and sand, stretching, etc.), locomotion (movement) and orientation, play and manipulation activity, nutrition , defense and attack, reproduction, migratory activity, etc. A large place in ethological research is occupied by the study of territorial and group behavior of animals (see Ethogram).

Ethology

from Greek ethos - habit, character, disposition, manner of behavior and logos - doctrine) a scientific discipline that studies the behavior of animals from a general biological perspective and explores its four main aspects: 1) mechanisms; 2) biological functions; 3) ontogeny and 4) evolution. The focus of E. is behavior in natural habitats. The founders of ethology are zoologists K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen.

Ethology

Literally, the biological study of behavior. Ethologists spend considerable effort studying animals in their wild (natural) state. As a result of long-term observation of various species, ethologists can create a detailed description, or ethogram, of the behavioral patterns of a particular species of animal. For example, observing the behavior of male sticklebacks during mating reveals stereotypical actions and movements that are characteristic of all males of this species. They collect algae and glue them together to form a nest. If another approaches; male, they take a special “head down” pose, which is a demonstration of threat to the opponent. When the female approaches, the male leads her to the nest in a “zigzag” dance. When she lays eggs, he accompanies her into the nest and fertilizes the eggs, and then supplies them with oxygen by vigorous movements of his fins. Ethologist Niko Ginbergen believes that when studying animal behavior, one should proceed from four main questions: - Development: does the behavior of an animal change during its life? - Causes: is the behavior the result of internal states or external stimuli? - Functions: why does the animal behave this way? What benefits does it get? - Evolution: what are the evolutionary reasons for behavior? Early ethological theories about animal behavior were based on careful observations and intuitions rather than on the experimental evidence usually associated with scientific psychology. Although the ethological study of animal behavior can be found in most psychology textbooks and reference books under the heading "Comparative Psychology", there are significant differences between the two disciplines. Ethologists are interested in many species of animals and the behavioral patterns that characterize those species. Comparative psychologists, on the other hand, study a limited number of species and proceed from the premise that general laws of behavior can be derived that apply to all species. The study of specific behavior is a very important feature of ethology. Stereotypical patterns of behavior that exist in different animals have led ethologists to believe that such behavior is innate and instinctive. The controversy between ethology and comparative psychology led to important changes in the scientific views of both disciplines. Psychologists began to recognize the role of evolutionary influences on learning, and ethologists realized the value of a balanced experimental approach in understanding animal behavior. The rapid development of ethology in the last 20 years has been associated with renewed interest in the function of behavior (i.e., why animals behave as they do). Meanwhile, sociobiology was moving away from a focus on behavioral traits and attempting to explain how natural selection could influence the causes of behavior. This has led to a number of controversial statements about the applicability of evolutionary ideas to human beings, especially ideas about human nature (see Evolutionary psychology).

ETHOLOGY

The term comes from the Greek words ethos, meaning character or essence, and -ology, meaning study. Hence, it has been used to refer to: 1. The study of ethics, especially the comparative study of ethical systems. 2. Empirical research into human character. 3. Study of cultural traditions. All three of these meanings, however, are rarely found today. This term in modern psychology is used almost exclusively to refer to 4. 4. An interdisciplinary science that combines zoology, biology and comparative geology. engaged in the careful observation of the behavior of animals in their natural environment and the development of theoretical characteristics of this behavior with skill in the subtle interaction of genetic and environmental factors. This science dates back to the work of the European naturalists Lorenz. Tinbergen, Yurpa, von Frisch and others. The main objective of otological research is a complete, comprehensive analysis of behavior; natural observation methods are used. In this respect, it usually differs from comparative psychology, where experimentally controlled and laboratory methods are mainly used.