Ethology definition. What does ethology study? The beginning of ethology: animals

Science, which emerged at the intersection of biology, sociology, ecology and psychology, in the modern flow of information has acquired a lot of materials of dubious content.

What is the problem?

Ethology is the science that studies, through observation, the behavior of animals in their natural habitat. This is exactly how the founders positioned it. Current state This science, differentiated in different directions, represents a wide range of possible definitions and mechanisms of application.

If children with school age taught the basics of ethology, this would probably become a certain guideline in actions. After all, understanding the biological motives of human behavior as a biological species indicates that we are not as far as it seems from our smaller brothers, and allows us to have a completely different attitude towards social manifestations in modern society.

Origins

A well-known ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in his works “History of Animals” noted the differences in the morals of animals depending on their tameness, cowardice or meekness, and most importantly, intelligence or lack thereof. Can he be considered the progenitor of the science that studies the behavior of animals and people?

The official founder of the science is the Australian zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903-1995). In the 30s of the 20th century, in his works, he generalized the system of previous knowledge of behaviorists and zoopsychologists and introduced the term ethology into the international scientific environment, understanding it as the science of the biology of animal behavior, connecting the physiological component of behavior, the development of behavior in the ontogenesis of the individual, interspecific (comparative ) behavior patterns and adaptive behavior. For his discoveries in the study of patterns in individual and group behavior of animals and in their internal motivation, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973.

And at the beginning of the last century, Konrad Lorenz did not find understanding among biologists involved in all areas of zoology.

The scientific environment at the stage of development of ethology

At the beginning of the 20th century, revolution after revolution took place in the natural sciences. Charles Darwin, with his theory of the origin of species and natural selection as a mechanism of evolution, laid the foundation for the development of a whole range of sciences, such as comparative embryology, pathological and comparative anatomy, paleontology and archaeology.

Natural knowledge in these areas stimulated the direction of thought of zoologists, evolutionists, cytologists, geneticists, and neurophysiologists. There have been debates in the scientific community about the relationship between the psyche and consciousness. The schools of classical behaviorism and neobehaviorism, classical zoopsychology, and Gestalt psychology developed their own directions in the study of instinctive behavior, the theory of stimuli and signs. Human psychology and the study of the neurophysiology of the brain have led scientific thought to the acceptance of the biological component of the species Homo sapiens.

Basic conceptual basis

Modern popularization of knowledge on this issue occurs thanks to the media and in the vein of popular science knowledge, and much less scientific knowledge. This happened because it is impossible to read scientific literature in the field of animal or human ethology without knowledge of specific terminology. And to understand the terminology, you need at least a minimum of theoretical knowledge. Let's introduce only a few general concepts, necessary to form the reader’s idea of modern concept provisions of traditional ethology.

Ethology is a scientific discipline that deals with the study of patterns (models) of general biological behavior of animals.

The name of the discipline comes from the Greek ethos - “character, disposition, habit, behavior”, logos - “teaching”.

Traditional ethology is the science of all manifestations of behavior of all types of living organisms. In any branch of ethology, four main aspects of study are considered: mechanisms of behavior, biological component and functions of behavior, ontogenesis of behavior and evolutionary development behavioral reactions. The main determining factor is studying in natural conditions.

Fields of ethology

Human ethology has become a separate field - the science of studying man as a representative of a biological species. She studies the formation of ontogenetic and species characteristics, the evolution of human behavior in the aspect historical development.

There are a sufficient number of private branches of this science depending on the object that is chosen as the subject of ethology. In this vein, it is worth highlighting ornithoethology (the study of bird behavior) and cognitive (the subject of study is the abilities of cognition and learning). Anthropogenic ethology is the science of animal behavior in artificial habitats. Molecular ethology studies the influence of a specific gene on behavioral responses. From general ethology, sociobiology emerged as a separate scientific discipline; it examines behavior in groups and hierarchical stereotypes.

Provisions: traditional ethology

The definition of behavioral science has undergone refinements and additions. The concept was finally formed in 1962, when the science of animal behavior in a general biological understanding appeared. Studying a complete overview of the fundamental principles of science is unlikely to be possible. Let's stick to those they give general understanding and will give you confidence when reading specialized literature.

Species-specific (characteristic of representatives of the entire species), innate (ready-made models that do not require training), stereotypical (templates, performed in an unchanged order and in an unchanged form) units of behavior in ethology are called fixed complexes of actions.

Nonspecific, individual and labile units of behavior of individuals are called dynamic stereotypes. This type of reaction is characteristic exclusively of organisms with a developed nervous system and learning abilities.

By learning, ethologists understand the modification of behavior that occurs as a result personal experience individual and leading to the appearance of completely new reactions, a change in the stimulus for habitual reactions, a change in the form or probability of a response to a stimulus. The general biological laws of learning are as follows:

• Repetition increases when a response is associated with a reward and decreases when no reward follows the response (Thorndike's law of effect).
• The desire to obtain a stimulus with the least amount of effort (Skinner's principle).
• Reinforcements are always insufficient in relation to overcoming innate tendencies and replacing them with learned stereotypes (Breland's law).
• Optimal motivation ensures successful learning. Boundary values ​​of motivation lead to a decrease in learning success (Yerkes-Dodson law).

Learning as potential behavior is one of the fundamental concepts. Human ethology does not accept Thorndike's law, although the entire Criminal Code would seem to confirm the effectiveness of this law in human behavior.

Four main questions

Whatever particular area of ​​ethology we consider, in the discipline it is studied in response to four questions. They were formulated by a Dutch ornithologist, student and colleague of Konrad Lorenz, who shared with him Nobel Prize, - Nicholas Timbergen (1907-1988). And although not all ethologists agree on the methods for answering these questions, there is an enviable unity regarding the questions themselves.

1. What stimulates a particular behavior pattern is its cause.
2. The degree of involvement of animal structures and functions.
3. Variability and boundaries of behavior change in the process of ontogenesis.
4. To what extent does the behavioral response meet adaptive needs?

Study of man

Man has always been interested in studying his own kind. Hippocrates' classification of people's characters (choleric - phlegmatic) is still relevant today.

The flourishing of interest in man as an object of study is inextricably linked with Sigmund Freud, the result of the work of his conscious and subconscious psychoanalysis was catchphrase: “I discovered that man is an animal.” Linnaeus and Darwin, Whitman and Craig, Konrad Lorenz with his long-winded works “Aggression: the So-Called Evil” and “The Eight Deadly Sins of Civilized Humanity” were unable to provide a sufficiently convincing evidence base for Freud’s words.

As a result, two directions were formed in human ethology: the humanities and the natural sciences.

Natural scientific bias of human ethology

In the field of knowledge given to the world by Lorenz and Timbergen, Charles Darwin's cousin, anthropologist, psychologist and aristocrat Sir Francis Hamilton became a follower of the behaviorists. He actively explored the possibility of inheritance moral qualities, talent and abilities. Among those who supported his idea - to find mechanisms of inheritance personal qualities, there were Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt.

This direction of ethology took shape in eugenics (translated from Greek as “the birth of the best”) - a theory about the hereditary health of a person and the possibilities of its improvement. Positive eugenics (studying factors influencing the improvement of racial characteristics) very quickly gave way to negative eugenics, the purpose of which was to breed eugenically valuable populations. This concept came in handy for the autocratic regime of Germany, which discredited for a long time not only eugenics itself, but also the very principle of the natural scientific approach.

Humanitarian ethology of man

The humanists did not seek to change anything. Humanitarian ethology is an area where descriptive and classification methods of studying the characteristics of human behavior predominate, without seeking to explain the causes and mechanisms of occurrence. Schools, like various classifications, there are a huge number in this direction. For example, the classification of personalities according to Leonhard or Jung. But all humanitarian ethologists are unanimous in the following:

• In human behavior, the animal part is insignificant.
• A person’s character is completely shaped by the environment (concept clean slate).

Modern concept of human ethology

The modern concept of human ethology is defined as the biology of behavior, formed in onto- and phylogenesis and leading to a specific behavioral strategy. The objects of research are traditional groups in comparison with neo-industrial culture.

Sociobiology was formed at the intersection of many sciences. She studies behavior as a set of advantageous qualities, formed by evolution.

There are two schools of human ethology: European and American. The Austro-German school (I. Eibl - Eisfeld, F. Sutter) are followers of K. Lorenz. Dutch and British school- followers of N. Timbergen (F. Schiefenhoevel). The American school borrows methods from the evolutionary approach and is focused on sociobiology.

In Russia, the school of ethology is developing under the leadership of Dr. historical sciences M. L. Butovskaya and Professor V. R. Dolnik, Doctor of Biological Sciences Z. A. Zorin, ornithologist and ethologist V. S. Friedman. The promoter of the teaching was the editor-in-chief of the project “Internet Association of Holiday Camps” K. Efremov.

Modern ethology is a set of disciplines designed to help a person understand the origins and motives of his behavior. It helps you find the key to knowing yourself. Animal ethology is intended to help us in agricultural activities. Numerous publications and examples of popular ethology are designed to draw our attention to the unity of all life on the planet and the place of humanity in the system of the organic world.

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 connected not only with the natural sciences, but also with 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 internally, while before him the prevailing idea was that the key ones were external influences, and all the actions of an animal are nothing more than a combination of conditional and without conditioned 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? individual development(ontogenesis)?
• How did behavioral acts arise and change in the process of historical development (phylogeny)?

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 method of research 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 characteristic of us as 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, 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, consequently, 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 develop urban environment 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.

Separately considered different groups people and relationships between them: men and women, children and parents. 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

Larisa Magdanova

Human ethology- a science based on the application of methods and laws of ethology (the science of animal behavior) to the study of human behavior.

Behavior(in biology) - the ability of an animal to change its actions under the influence of internal and external factors.

Behavior(in psychology) - a set of actions and deeds of an individual.

Currently, human civilization finds itself in a situation of anthropological crisis caused by the lag biological evolution person from cultural evolution: despite the fact that in the modern era science and technology have come a long way in their rapid development, the body Homo sapiens, and therefore his mental abilities, remained practically unchanged - the same as they were 10 thousand years ago, during the emergence of modern man. In this regard, it becomes especially relevant comprehensive the study of human consciousness and behavior using methods of both the humanities and natural sciences. Understanding the causes, characteristics and trends in the development of his behavior is necessary to form the concept of a new person capable of emerging from the current systemic crisis and forming a new sustainable society.

Formation of human ethology

Attempts to determine what a person is and what the meaning of his existence is have been made throughout the history of mankind. Religious revelation was often contrasted with efforts to gain an understanding of human nature through observation and introspection. Biology, namely the theory of evolution, provided new impetus for the development of an empirical and rational approach to the study of man. People were faced not only with evidence of their animal origin, but also with the awareness of the fact that man is not the crown of evolution, but rather represents best adapted creature, intermediate link on the path to higher levels of humanity.

Charles Darwin was the first to draw attention to the problems of biology human behavior. Further, with the discovery of conditioned reflexes, I. P. Pavlov introduced the behavioral sciences to a promising experimental approach and the hope that complex behavior could be explained by the sequential reinforcement of associations. In the USA, the school of behaviorists developed stimulus-response psychology, focusing on experimental study learning processes. Experience becomes the all-encompassing explanatory principle.

Denial of genetic factors controlling the processes of self-differentiation nervous system, apparently, was a reaction to concept of "instinct" W. James and K.L. Morgana. These scientists in their works proceeded from the assumption that organisms include not only a set of necessary organs, but also a program for their use. The neural structures that underlie the ability to control organs are the result of evolution. The scientific community saw the concept of "instinct" as vitalistic and almost mystical power, guiding the animal. This idea was contrasted with the stimulus-response concept.

The separation of the natural sciences and the cultural sciences predetermined the dominant trend in sociology of the 20th century. Studies of society focused exclusively on value (non-natural) categories. The fact that man has a bodily nature and belongs to the species of higher primates was not denied in itself, but was taken beyond the scope of the subject of sociological analysis. Idea "social construction of the body" in sociology and "blank slate" concept in psychology, it would seem, finally rids these sciences of biological and population remnants inherent in the teachings of the 19th century (in particular, those associated with the name of S. Freud and his school). This tendency receives additional justification in the attitude adopted by the intellectual community towards the inadmissibility of biological, racial-anthropological and eugenic interpretations of human behavior, including the inheritance of certain personal qualities.

K. Lorenz and N. Tinbergen, the founders of ethology, considered testing the suitability of hypotheses obtained from observing animals for the study of human behavior as one of the most important tasks. In the book “Aggression,” Lorenz devotes an entire chapter to the question of the role of innate behavior in human life. In two later works, The Other Side of the Mirror and The Eight Deadly Sins of Civilized Man, he develops the idea of ​​cultural evolution and the deterioration of the human gene pool. Around the same time, N. Tinbergen, in his Nobel lecture, 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 mental disorders in humans.

The need to use ethological approaches to explain human behavior became quite obvious in the 60s. In the early 70s, many psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, anthropologists, and zoologists began talking about the need to develop human ethology. Among them are I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, R. Hind, W. McGrew, D. Freeman, E. Hess, J. Bowlby, N. Blurton Jones, P. Smith, D. Morris and many others. By the beginning of the 70s, a real, fairly representative scientific community had emerged, connecting its scientific interests with human ethology. As a science, human ethology took shape largely 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 the book “Ethology - Biology of Behavior”. About the real formation of a new scientific discipline also evidenced by the creation in 1970 in Germany of the Institute of Human Ethology within the framework scientific society Max Planck. In the 1970s, the books by K. and S. J. Hutt “Direct Observation and Measurement of Behavior”, V.S. McGrew, "An Ethological Study of Child Behavior." Created in 1978 International Society human ethology.

By the beginning of the 80s, researchers from various fields of knowledge came to understand the need for a synthesis of natural science and humanitarian knowledge to explain the essence of human behavior. It was recognized that the behavioral norm of reaction in humans is exceptionally high. Being within the framework of a culture, he not only blindly obeys its laws and rules (having learned them in the process of socialization), but also creates this culture himself and actively modifies it.

Man is by nature a social being, just like his closest relatives, the apes. It is human biology that serves as the necessary foundation for the development of culture - language, beliefs, customs, morality. Genes and culture act together in a single process of gene-culture coevolution. It is not enough to analyze behavior separately from biological and humanitarian positions; mutual understanding is necessary between specialists of these sciences.

Biological sciences of human behavior

Among the biological sciences aimed at studying human behavior are:

Human ethology;

Evolutionary Psychology;

Behavioral genetics;

Sociobiology;

Physiology of higher nervous activity.

Ethology- the science of animal behavior.

Unlike other sciences, the object of which is the behavior of animals, ethology concentrates on the study of behavior in natural environment. The descriptions and calculations obtained as a result of observations form the basis for a theoretical explanation, which is further developed in three directions: 1) through additional observations, 2) through experimental testing of hypotheses, 3) through comparison of recorded behavioral traits different types.

Among the issues actively studied by ethologists:

• mating games;
• territoriality;
• caring for offspring;
• protection from predators;
• foraging efficiency;
• communication;
• public organization.

Subject and tasks of human ethology

Human ethology is the result of the application of ethological methods to the study of species Homo sapiens. Human ethology uses experimental and analytical methods for the study of behavior developed within a wide variety of human disciplines, such as anthropology and psychology. From animal ethology, methods of observation without participation, methods of documenting observations, and a comparative approach are taken. Theoretical basis human ethology is the critical realism of K. Popper. Consequently, the basis of science is the assumption that any adaptation reflects a real need and is closely related to the subject’s habitat.

Human ethologists work closely with ethnologists and social anthropologists (E. Hoffmann, K. Jettmar, M. Godelier, G. Schindler). The commonality of interests of these specializations arose with the advent of works devoted to the comparison of different cultures and the growing interest in the general, universal laws of human behavior. This aspect also addresses issues early development children and socialization, issues social structures, hierarchical organizations, aggression, ethical standards, etc.

There is also a relationship between psychologists, sociologists and linguists. In the latter case, the development of both the conceptual apparatus and speech itself is studied.

There is a long history of close collaboration with medicine, especially with psychiatry and psychoanalysis (D. Ploeg, J. Bloulby).

The interest of political scientists in ethological discoveries is growing. In the USA, a new discipline is currently actively developing - biopolitics (R. D. Alexander, K. Barner-Barry, P. A. Corning, A. Somit, G. Schubert).

The discoveries of ethology also inspired figures in art history and archeology (D. Fehling, G. K. Rump, M. Schuster).

In modern human ethology the following directions have emerged:

• ethology of childhood;
• ethology of nonverbal communications;
• ethology of sexual differences;
• cross-cultural ethology;
• ethology of psychopathologies.

The latter direction has received particularly intensive development, perhaps due to its focus on medical issues.

The first ethological studies of children's behavior were carried out in the 60s. Several major works in this area were carried out almost simultaneously by N. Blurton Jones, P. Smith and K. Connolly, W. McGrew. Research on children's behavior sheds light on the innate (not distorted by culture) properties of human behavior; allow us to establish the commonality of behavioral patterns of humans and other primates; provide data on the phylogeny and ontogeny of behavior Homo sapiens. In addition, ethological methods can be used in child psychiatry to analyze autism in children.

A special area of ​​research is related to non-verbal communication, in particular facial expressions. Ethologists have described many body techniques, including elements of facial expressions and gestures (the most famous of them is the greeting facial expression studied by I. Aibl-Eibesfeldt). Research on nonverbal communications is focused primarily on the study of their phylogenesis, ontogenesis, cultural conditioning and social functions. However, as a rule, in the case general theories origin and development of mankind, the problem lies in the logical and experimental evidence of the relationships between cultural and biological descriptions.

The founder of ethological research at the cross-cultural level is I. Aibl-Eibesfeldt. The many years of work of this author show that many aspects of human behavior become more understandable if they are analyzed using a complex of ethological, cultural-anthropological, linguistic and environmental approaches. Within the framework of cross-cultural ethology, behavioral universals (elements of behavior found in all people, regardless of cultural background) and rituals are considered. J. Hogenson and S. N. Davidenkov consider myth and ritual as the most important adaptation mechanisms that support social homeostasis, and insist that these mechanisms have a powerful biological basis.

According to H. Harbach, the “new behavioral biology”, combining ethological and sociobiological approaches, is capable of producing fruitful partial theories about social behavior animals and humans.

Human evolution in the light of ethological concepts

Many ethologists try to model the evolution of human behavior based on ethological observations and identified patterns. In his book “Aggression”, starting from concepts of innate morality, formulated on the basis of observations of animals, K. Lorenz emphasizes that primates are weakly armed herbivores. In this regard, among the ancestors of the clan Homo in the process of evolution, a complex of sufficiently strong blocks of aggression, called innate morality, was not formed. In other words, there was no need to form internal protection of the species from self-destruction.

However, the ability to use tools that emerged in the process of development led to the fact that, under conditions of the previous level of aggressiveness, the weaponry of the species sharply increased. Man was able to attack fellow humans and lead a predatory lifestyle due to “cultural” but not biological evolution. In particular, cannibalism, not limited by internal prohibitions, has led to the presence at present of a single species of intelligent hominids. Modern morality arose later and was a necessity and a product of cultural evolution.

K. Lorenz in his works shows concern about human aggression being intensified by increasing the pace of life and population density. In particular, in this sense, capitalism is criticized, which elevates a person’s career to a cult and provokes constant competition. According to the researcher, such a system is associated with a catastrophic increase in mental pathologies among the population and cannot continue indefinitely.

In addition to innate morality and aggression, to explain the peculiarities of human development, concept of "self-domestication". Charles Darwin first spoke about the phenomenon of “self-domestication”. In his work “The Origin of Species,” he notes that humans demonstrate the presence of the main signs of “domestication”: friendliness, extreme polymorphism of physical, mental and social properties, flexibility of behavior and a high ability to learn. These characteristics are acquired by animals subjected to methodical artificial selection, primarily on the basis of tolerance to humans.

The hypothesis of “self-domestication” was taken up by many researchers (E. Fischer, L. Bolk, K. Lorenz) and, of course, did not escape fierce criticism (R. Goldschmidt, D. Stark, V. Guerre and M. Roers). Proponents of the concept conclude that the reasons for “self-domestication” were uncontrolled selection to reduce the mutual aggression of human individuals and a decrease in the intensity natural selection on signs of physical and mental health. These phenomena led to an extraordinary increase in population polymorphism Homo sapiens, the development of high learning ability, permanent sexual activity and the associated exceptional fertility of the species, as well as the observed “degeneration”, i.e. high incidence of congenital pathologies and low resistance to various physical and mental illness.

"Self-domestication" is often considered in conjunction with fetalization(preservation of the corresponding characteristics in the adult organism of the embryonic state). According to K. Lorenz, the species Homo sapiens in its development underwent specialization in “non-specialization”, which was realized, in particular, due to infantilization(i.e., the acquisition by adults of traits characteristic of a child’s body) and subsequently gave a person a set of universal “tools” for adaptation to environmental conditions. At the same time, the author expresses a pessimistic point of view about the harm of the phenomenon of “self-domestication” in the context of the physical and mental health of humanity. K. Lorenz considers optimal ancient civilization with its characteristic cult of the body, the development of society, science and philosophy.

Thus, the obvious progress of the human nervous system (expressed in increased functional plasticity of the brain) occurs against the background of a weakening of its resistance to mental illness and the preservation of relict behavioral reactions. Physiologist of higher nervous activity S. N. Davidenkov designates this phenomenon as paradox of neuropsychic evolution. The emergence of the paradox is explained by the late development of some functional features of the nervous system and the accumulation of mutations as a result of a decrease in the intensity of natural selection.

When developing a supermodern project, it is useful to take into account evolutionary trends. In particular, it is necessary to find ways to minimize the negative effects caused by the improvement of consciousness and the complication of the social organization of people.

It is worth noting that, in general, sociobiological research is an undoubted “risk group”, since the parascientific component is widely represented here. In particular, this is observed in areas related to the hierarchical organization of communities and human sexual behavior. For example, overly simplified and therefore obviously false concepts appear (such as social Darwinism).

It is currently accepted in ethological theory that human behavior is controlled by a sociocultural structure that is only indirectly related to the basic inclinations of individuals, where natural selection may be at work.

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Studying animal behavior. In order to study a particular species, it is necessary to observe it in its natural environment. However, to learn the principles underlying observed behavior, external intervention is sometimes necessary. Ethology helps explain the complex interactions between naturally encoded innate behavior and the environment.

The origins of ethology as a science

In the early 20th century, animal behavior was studied primarily through laboratory experiments. This empirical approach led to many great discoveries such as the law of effect and behaviorism. Ethology became a respectable discipline several decades later when European behaviorists (ethologists) Drs. Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen gave humanity such seminal discoveries as imprinting, critical periods of development, behavioral triggers, fixed action patterns, behavioral drives, and the concept of behavioral repression.

Lorenz and Tinbergen, along with bee aficionado Karl von Frisch, shared the Nobel Prize in 1973 for their contributions to the study of animal behavior. Although some details of their theories were subsequently debated and changed, the fundamental principles remained the same. Behaviorism and ethology are two different ways of studying animal behavior; one is limited primarily to laboratory research (behaviorism) and the other relies on field research (animal ethology). The results of research from both sciences provide a clearer understanding of animal behavior.

The question of what ethology is was dealt with by such prominent scientists of the end 19th and early 20th centuries, like Charles Darwin, O. Whitman, Wallace Craig and others. Behaviorism is a term that also describes the scientific and objective study of animal behavior, but it usually refers to the study of prepared behavioral responses in laboratory conditions and without much emphasis on evolutionary adaptability. Many naturalists have studied aspects of animal behavior throughout human history.

Science of ethology

What is ethology? This is a subsection of biology that deals with the study of animal or human behavior. Typically, ethologists observe animals in their natural habitat, they study typical behavior and the conditions that influence this behavior. Typical behavior is the habits characteristic of members of a particular species. More complex than a reflex, it is a kind of innate trigger mechanism that is triggered by exposure to certain stimuli.

Understanding animal ethology or behavior can be an important element of animal training. Studying the natural behavior patterns of different species or breeds allows the trainer to select those representatives that are better suited to perform the required tasks. This also allows the trainer to properly stimulate natural behavior and prevent unwanted behavior.

Typically, ethologists try to answer four basic questions about behaviors:

1. What is the reason and incentive for this behavior pattern.
2. What structures and functions of the animal are involved in the behavior.
3. How and why the behavior of an animal changes with its development.
4. How behavior affects an animal's fitness and adaptation.

Concept of ethology

Animal ethology as a concept has existed since 1762, when it was defined in France as the study of animal behavior. In this sense it carries the same meaning as the Greek word “ethos”, from which the modern term ethology is derived. However, the independent meaning of the word ethology is associated with the term “ethics” and is used in Anglo-Saxon literature as the “science of character.” The founder of modern ethology is the physician and zoologist Konrad Lorenz. Through the systematic application of biological research methods, he analyzed the behavior of animals.

First modern textbook ethology on the study of instinct was written in 1951 by Nicolaas Tinbergen. The observations of a number of the founders of ethology as a science, including Spalding (1873), Darwin (1872), Whitman (1898), Altuma (1868) and Craig (1918), arouse scientific interest in animal behavior. Increased attention began to be paid to what ethology is, as well as to the subject of its study. This science began to be considered an independent branch of zoology already in 1910. In the modern sense, ethology deals with scientific study animal behavior, as well as some aspects of human behavior. The term "animal psychology" is still sometimes used, but purely in a historical context.

Different Animal Behaviors: Training

Ethology studies the different behavior patterns of animals, which are then classified and compared with the behavior patterns of other species, especially closely related ones. It is important that animals are observed in their natural or near-natural habitat. Additional observations in captivity are also often necessary.

Although learning is considered very important in animal behavior, one of the main tasks of ethology is the study of innate patterns of behavior that are characteristic of all members of the same species. Once these models have been examined, we can begin to look at changes in behavior brought about by learning. This is important because not every change in the form or effectiveness of one behavior pattern over the course of an individual's life involves learning as a form of experience.

Examples of animal behavior

Animal behavior includes a wide variety of actions. An example can be given: an elephant waters a zebra near a pond. Why is he doing this? Is this a game or a gesture of goodwill? In fact, spraying a zebra is not a friendly gesture at all. The elephant is simply trying to keep the zebras away from the watering hole. There are a huge number of examples of animal behavior, for example, when a dog sits on command, or a cat trying to catch a mouse. Animal behavior includes all the ways in which they interact with each other and their environment.

Maturation of instincts and genetics

Already in 1760, a professor in Hamburg, Hermann Samuel Reimarus, revealed to the world the concept of “maturation of instincts” and pointed out the difference between innate and acquired skills. Innate skills, such as foraging for food or understanding the dance language of bees, are present from the moment of birth. In order to successfully adapt, an animal must have at its disposal information about environment. This information can be embedded in chromosomes or stored in memory, that is, it can be innate or acquired. In complex behavior patterns, there is often an interaction between both elements.

Study genetic basis behavior is an important component of ethology. For example, crossing two species of ducks that differ in courtship behavior during the mating season can produce hybrids with completely different behavioral patterns during this period, different from the parents, but present in the behavior of the common putative ancestors of the species. However, it is still unclear what physiological reasons are responsible for these differences.

Nature vs. Nurture: The Evolution of Animal Behavior

Ethology, as a rule, emphasizes behavior in natural conditions and views behavior as an evolutionary-adaptive trait. If animals' behavior is controlled by genes, they can evolve through natural selection. The main behavior patterns are determined by genes, the rest are life experience in a certain environment. The question of whether behavior is primarily controlled by genes or environment is often the subject of debate. Behavioral habits are determined by both nature (genes) and nurture (environment).

In dogs, for example, the tendency to behave in certain ways towards other dogs may be controlled by genes. However, normal behavior cannot develop in an environment where there are no other dogs. A puppy that has been raised in isolation may be afraid of other dogs or act aggressive towards them. Behaviors also evolve in natural environments because they clearly increase the fitness of the animals that engage in them. For example, when wolves hunt together, the pack's ability to catch prey increases significantly. This way, the wolf has a better chance of surviving and passing on its genes to the next generation.

Causes of behavior include all stimuli that influence behavior, whether external (food or predators) or internal (hormones or changes in the nervous system). The purpose of a particular behavioral response is to directly influence the behavior of another animal, for example, attracting a partner for mating. Behavioral development refers to the events or influences by which behavior changes during the life of an animal. The evolution of behavior is concerned with the origins of behavior and how they change over generations.

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Primatology Protozoology
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Origin of the name and history

Ethology was finally formed in the 30s of the 20th century on the basis of field zoology and evolutionary theory as the science of a comparative description of the behavior of an individual. The emergence of ethology is associated mainly with the works of Konrad Lorenz and Nicholas Tinbergen, although they themselves initially did not call themselves ethologists. The term then came to be used to distinguish natural animal scientists from comparative psychologists and behaviorists in the United States, who worked primarily analytically in laboratories. Modern ethology is interdisciplinary and has physiological, evolutionary components, and the legacy of behaviorism.

Tinbergen's Four Questions

• adaptive function: How does a behavioral act affect an animal's ability to survive and produce offspring?
• reason: what influences trigger a behavioral act?
• development in ontogenesis: How does behavior change over the years, during individual development (ontogenesis), and what previous experiences are necessary for the behavior to manifest?
• evolutionary development: what are the differences and similarities of similar behavioral acts in related species, and how could these behavioral acts arise and develop during the process of phylogenesis?

Famous ethologists

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Literature

• Butovskaya M. L., Fainberg L. A. Ethology of primates ( tutorial). - M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1992.
• Vagner V. A. Biological foundations of comparative psychology. T. 2: Instinct and reason. - 2005. - 347 p.
• Zorina Z. A., Poletaeva I. M. Fundamentals of ethology and genetics of behavior. - M: Moscow State University, 1999.
• Korytin S. A. Behavior and smell of predatory mammals. - Ed. 2nd. - M.: Publishing house "LKI", 2007. - 224 p.
• Korytin S. A. Trapper's lures. Controlling the behavior of animals with the help of appellants. - M.: Publishing house "LKI", 2007. - 288 p.
• Krushinsky L.V. Selected works. - M., 1991.
• Krushinsky L.V. Notes of a Moscow biologist. Mysteries of animal behavior. - M.: Languages ​​of Slavic culture, 2006. - 500 p.
• McFarland D.: Translated from English. - M.: Mir, 1988. - 520 p., ill. - ISBN 5-03-001230-3.
• Paevsky V. A. Feathered polygamists: marriages, infidelity and divorces in the world of birds. - M.; SPb.: Partnership scientific. ed. KMK, 2007. - 144 p.
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• Hind R. Animal behavior. - M., 1975.
• Dolnik V. R. Naughty child of the biosphere. Conversations about human behavior in the company of birds, animals and children. - St. Petersburg: CheRo-on-Neva; Petroglyph, 2004. - ISBN 5-88711-213-1.

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Excerpt characterizing Ethology

- Well, are you refusing Prince Andrei? - said Sonya.
“Oh, you don’t understand anything, don’t talk nonsense, just listen,” Natasha said with instant annoyance.
“No, I can’t believe it,” Sonya repeated. - I don't understand. How did you love one person for a whole year and suddenly... After all, you only saw him three times. Natasha, I don’t believe you, you’re being naughty. In three days, forget everything and so...
“Three days,” Natasha said. “It seems to me that I have loved him for a hundred years.” It seems to me that I have never loved anyone before him. You can't understand this. Sonya, wait, sit here. – Natasha hugged and kissed her.
“They told me that this happens and you heard correctly, but now I have only experienced this love.” It's not what it used to be. As soon as I saw him, I felt that he was my master, and I was his slave, and that I could not help but love him. Yes, slave! Whatever he tells me, I will do. You don't understand this. What should I do? What should I do, Sonya? - Natasha said with a happy and frightened face.
“But think about what you’re doing,” said Sonya, “I can’t leave it like that.” These secret letters... How could you let him do this? - she said with horror and disgust, which she could hardly hide.
“I told you,” Natasha answered, “that I have no will, how can you not understand this: I love him!”
“Then I won’t let this happen, I’ll tell you,” Sonya screamed with tears breaking through.
“What are you doing, for God’s sake... If you tell me, you are my enemy,” Natasha spoke. - You want my misfortune, you want us to be separated...
Seeing this fear of Natasha, Sonya cried tears of shame and pity for her friend.
- But what happened between you? – she asked. -What did he tell you? Why doesn't he go to the house?
Natasha did not answer her question.
“For God’s sake, Sonya, don’t tell anyone, don’t torture me,” Natasha begged. – You remember that you cannot interfere in such matters. I opened it for you...
– But why these secrets! Why doesn't he go to the house? – Sonya asked. - Why doesn’t he directly seek your hand? After all, Prince Andrei gave you complete freedom, if that’s the case; but I don't believe it. Natasha, have you thought about what secret reasons there could be?
Natasha looked at Sonya with surprised eyes. Apparently, this was the first time she had asked this question and she didn’t know how to answer it.
– I don’t know what the reasons are. But there are reasons!
Sonya sighed and shook her head in disbelief.
“If there were reasons...” she began. But Natasha, guessing her doubt, interrupted her in fear.
- Sonya, you can’t doubt him, you can’t, you can’t, do you understand? – she shouted.
– Does he love you?
- Does he love you? – Natasha repeated with a smile of regret about her friend’s lack of understanding. – You read the letter, did you see it?
- But what if he is an ignoble person?
– Is he!... an ignoble person? If only you knew! - Natasha said.
“If he is a noble man, then he must either declare his intention or stop seeing you; and if you don’t want to do this, then I will do it, I will write to him, I will tell dad,” Sonya said decisively.
- Yes, I can’t live without him! – Natasha screamed.
- Natasha, I don’t understand you. And what are you saying! Remember your father, Nicolas.
“I don’t need anyone, I don’t love anyone but him.” How dare you say that he is ignoble? Don't you know that I love him? – Natasha shouted. “Sonya, go away, I don’t want to quarrel with you, go away, for God’s sake go away: you see how I’m suffering,” Natasha shouted angrily in a restrained, irritated and desperate voice. Sonya burst into tears and ran out of the room.
Natasha went to the table and, without thinking for a minute, wrote that answer to Princess Marya, which she could not write the whole morning. In this letter, she briefly wrote to Princess Marya that all their misunderstandings were over, that, taking advantage of the generosity of Prince Andrei, who, when leaving, gave her freedom, she asks her to forget everything and forgive her if she is guilty before her, but that she cannot be his wife . It all seemed so easy, simple and clear to her at that moment.

On Friday the Rostovs were supposed to go to the village, and on Wednesday the count went with the buyer to his village near Moscow.
On the day of the count's departure, Sonya and Natasha were invited to a big dinner with the Karagins, and Marya Dmitrievna took them. At this dinner, Natasha again met with Anatole, and Sonya noticed that Natasha was saying something to him, wanting not to be heard, and throughout the dinner she was even more excited than before. When they returned home, Natasha was the first to begin with Sonya the explanation that her friend was waiting for.
“You, Sonya, said all sorts of stupid things about him,” Natasha began in a meek voice, the voice that children use when they want to be praised. - We explained it to him today.
- Well, what, what? Well, what did he say? Natasha, how glad I am that you are not angry with me. Tell me everything, the whole truth. What did he say?
Natasha thought about it.
- Oh Sonya, if only you knew him like I do! He said... He asked me about how I promised Bolkonsky. He was glad that it was up to me to refuse him.
Sonya sighed sadly.
“But you didn’t refuse Bolkonsky,” she said.
- Or maybe I refused! Maybe it's all over with Bolkonsky. Why do you think so badly of me?
- I don’t think anything, I just don’t understand it...
- Wait, Sonya, you will understand everything. You will see what kind of person he is. Don't think bad things about me or him.
– I don’t think anything bad about anyone: I love everyone and feel sorry for everyone. But what should I do?
Sonya did not give in to the gentle tone with which Natasha addressed her. The softer and more searching the expression on Natasha’s face was, the more serious and stern Sonya’s face was.