ETSB
ETHOLOGY AND
SOCIOBIOLOGY
Introduction
Periodicals
Societies
Conference
Centers, Departments, and Institutes
Personal websites
Other resources
Even though our bodies and behaviors share many common attributes,
it's far more fruitful to consider not one human nature but many. The
universals that bind people together at any point in our evolution are
covered in the word human. The word natures emphasizes the differences
that give us our individuality, our cultural variety, and our potential
for future genetic and — especially — cultural evolution.
— Paul R. Ehrlich
Uniqueness can be the product of processes that are themselves
general to all living matter.
— Robert Foley
When I first encountered the term "evolutionary psychology,"
I thought it referred to the study of how mind and behavior have evolved.
But I was mistaken. In the last decade, evolutionary psychology has come
to refer exclusively to research on human mentality and behavior, motivated
by a very specific, nativist- adaptationist interpretation of how evolution
operates .... This is a strange, anthropocentric usage, akin to identifying
human biology with "biology" generally, or describing geography
as "astronomy."
— Cecilia Heyes
Introduction
It is useful to distinguish, in a first approximation,
between behavioral biology in general, and the more special fields of
classical comparative psychology, classical ethology, and the newer fields
of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. Contemporary animal behavior
research often tries to combine the methods and insights of the experimental
approach of comparative psychology with the field observational approach
of ethology. Comparative psychology originated in North America as a branch
of experimental psychology; its practitioners were mainly interested in
differences between species, especially in intelligence and learning.
Classical ethology is a branch of biology that originated in Europe, used
observational rather than experimental methods, and was interested first
and foremost in the naturally occurring behavior of animals. Although
the dichotomy must not be overstressed, animal behaviorists tend to be
trained in psychology, work with "bright" animals, and generally
are interested in learned behaviors; while contemporary ethologists, sociobiologists,
and evolutionary psychologists are likely to concentrate on innate behaviors.
While the study of learned behavior is both important and immediately
applicable to human psychology, these behaviors do not have an evolutionary
basis beyond the neural capacity to learn. (For a more detailed account
of the differences between these traditions, see, e.g., Barry
Sinervo.)
The research covered in this area introduction encompasses
a very large domain. For the sake of convenience, we have divided it in
clusters that are listed alphabetically under the conventional labels
"animal behavior," "animal cognition," "ethology,"
"behavioral ecology," "cognitive ecology," "neuroethology,"
"sociobiology," and "evolutionary psychology." It
should be borne in mind throughout that these labels reflect little more
than the contingencies of the history of behavioral biology, and that
in practice, the boundaries between these sub-areas tend to be quite blurred.
Animal behavior / Behavioral biology
"The study of all aspects of behavior, including
neurophysiology, ethology, comparative psychology, sociobiology, and behavioral
ecology" (Primate
Definitions).
Anthologies
• Toates,
Control of Behaviour, 1998
Takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of
the control of behavior, drawing on the work of psychologists, neurophysiologists
and ethologists. It describes those factors, both internal and external,
that have been shown to control behavior. Some behaviors are rhythmic,
involving cyclic changes in the amount of hormone secreted. Other behaviors,
such as aggression, are a response to external factors. Animals and humans
may respond to identifiable stimuli in their environment in a particular
way, but at other times the response to a stimulus may be difficult to
predict. In this book, both rhythms and motivation are explored and the
links between them emphasized, leading to explanations of the control
of behavior at both the behavioral and neurophysiological level. Control
of Behaviour is part of a series produced by The Open University (UK).
[Source]
• McFarland,
The Oxford Companion to Animal Behavior (2nd ed.), 1987
"The best source of detailed information on many
terms and definitions" (D.L.G. Noakes).
Handbook
• Alcock,
Animal Behavior (6th ed.), 1997
The book is distinguished by its balanced treatment
of both the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary causes of behavior.
The text stresses the utility of evolutionary theory in unifying the different
behavioral disciplines. Important concepts are explained by reference
to key illustrative studies, which are described in sufficient detail
to help students appreciate the role of the scientific process in producing
research discoveries. Examples are drawn evenly from studies of invertebrates
and vertebrates, and are supported by more than 1,300 reference citations,
including many articles that have appeared in the last four years. The
writing style is clear and engaging: beginning students have no difficulty
following the material, despite the strong conceptual orientation of the
text. Indeed, instructors consistently report a high level of enthusiasm
for the book on the part of their students. Animal Behavior is
organized into two major sections, one dealing with the proximate mechanisms
of behavior and the other with the ultimate or evolutionary causes of
behavior. A final chapter presents an evolutionary view of human behavior.
The text stresses the role of theory and hypothesis-testing in doing science,
emphasizes the tentative nature of scientific conclusions, and identifies
controversial and unresolved issues. Throughout, Dr. Alcock conveys his
deep enthusiasm for the process of science and the discoveries made by
behavioral researchers.
[Source]
Animal cognition
Anthologies
• Heyes/Huber,
The Evolution of Cognition, 2000
In the last decade, "evolutionary psychology"
has come to refer exclusively to research on human mentality and behavior,
motivated by a nativist interpretation of how evolution operates. This
book encompasses the behavior and mentality of nonhuman as well as human
animals and a full range of evolutionary approaches. Rather than a collection
by and for the like-minded, it is a debate about how evolutionary processes
have shaped cognition.
The debate is divided into five sections: Orientations,
on the phylogenetic, ecological, and psychological/comparative approaches
to the evolution of cognition; Categorization, on how various animals
parse their environments, how they represent objects and events and the
relations among them; Causality, on whether and in what ways nonhuman
animals represent cause and effect relationships; Consciousness, on whether
it makes sense to talk about the evolution of consciousness and whether
the phenomenon can be investigated empirically in nonhuman animals; and
Culture, on the cognitive requirements for nongenetic transmission of
information and the evolutionary consequences of such cultural exchange.
Contributors: Bernard Balleine, Patrick Bateson, Michael
J. Beran, M. E. Bitterman, Robert Boyd, Nicola Clayton, Juan Delius, Anthony
Dickinson, Robin Dunbar, D. P. Griffiths, Bernd Heinrich, Cecilia Heyes,
William A. Hillix, Ludwig Huber, Nicholas Humphrey, Masako Jitsumori,
Louis Lefebvre, Nicholas Mackintosh, Euan M. Macphail, Peter Richerson,
Duane M. Rumbaugh, Sara Shettleworth, Martina Siemann, Kim Sterelny, Michael
Tomasello, Laura Weiser, Alexandra Wells, Carolyn Wilczynski, David Sloan
Wilson.
"This important collection of essays represents
most major currents of present thought in animal cognition: from the modularity
of the mind to cultural evolution, from the search for episodic memory
in animals to the properties of causal reasoning in humans, from honeybees
to ravens. A crucial reference in this dynamic and rapidly evolving field."
(Alex Kacelnik)
• Balda/Pepperberg/Kamil,
Animal Cognition in Nature, 1998
In this book, the editors bring together results from
studies on all kinds of animals to show how thinking on many behaviors
as truly cognitive processes can help us to understand the biology involved.
Taking ideas and observations from the wide range of research into animal
behavior leads to unexpected and stimulating ideas. A space is created
where the work of field ecologists, evolutionary ecologists and experimental
psychologists can interact and contribute to a greater understanding of
complex animal behavior, and to the development of a new and coherent
field of study. (Publisher's description)
[Source]
• Tomasello/Call,
Primate Cognition, 1997
IMichael Tomasello and Josep Call review what is already
known about the cognitive skills of nonhuman primates, and assess the
current state of our knowledge. They integrate empirical findings on the
topic from the beginning of the century to the present, placing this work
in theoretical perspective. The first part examines the way primates adapt
to their physical world, mostly for the purpose of foraging. The second
part looks at primate social knowledge and focuses on the adaptations
of primates to their social world for purposes of competition and cooperation.
In the third section, the authors construct a general theory of primate
cognition, distinguishing the cognition in primates from that of other
mammals (human in particular). (From the publisher's description)
[Source]
• Heyes/Galef,
Social Learning in Animals, 1996
The increasing realization among behaviorists and psychologists
is that many animals learn by observation as members of social systems.
Such settings contribute to the formation of culture. This book combines
the knowledge of two groups of scientists with different backgrounds to
establish a working consensus for future research. The book is divided
into two major sections, with contributions by a well-known, international,
and interdisciplinary team which integrates these growing areas of inquiry.
Contributors: R. Boyd, D. Custance, L.A. Dugatkin, D.M.
Fragaszy, B.G. Galef, Jr., L.-A. Giraldeau, C.M. Heyes, M.A. Huffman,
K.N. Laland, L. Lefebvre, A. Meltzoff,B.R. Moore, R.R. Provine, P.J. Richeron,
J. Terkel, M. Tomasello, E. Visalberghi, M.E. West, A. Whiten, T.R. Zentall.
[Source]
• Whiten,
Natural Theories of Mind, 1991
• Cheney/Seyfarth,
How Monkeys See the World, 1990
• Byrne/Whiten,
Machiavellian Intelligence (2 vols.), 1988
• Zentall/Galef,
Social Learning, 1988
Selected monographs
• Shettleworth,
Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior, 1998
How do animals perceive the world, learn, remember,
search for food or mates, and find their way around? Do any non-human
animals count, imitate one another, use a language, or think as we do?
What use is cognition in nature and how might it have evolved? Historically,
research on such questions has been fragmented between psychology, where
the emphasis has been on theoretical models and lab experiments, and biology,
where studies focus on evolution and the adaptive use of perception, learning,
and decision-making in the field.
Cognition, Evolution and the Study of Behavior
integrates research from psychology, behavioral ecology, and ethology
in a wide-ranging synthesis of theory and research about animal cognition
in the broadest sense, from species-specific adaptations in fish to cognitive
mapping in rats and honeybees to theories of mind for chimpanzees. As
a major contribution to the emerging discipline of comparative cognition,
the book is an invaluable resource for all students and researchers in
psychology, zoology, and behavioral neuroscience.
[Source]
• Byrne,
The Thinking Ape, 1995
Ethology
The study of the behavior of animals (including humans)
by direct observation and quantification of their behavior in a natural
setting, or as close to it as possible. Keywords: animal communication:
causation; display; domestication; ethogram; fixed action pattern; function;
imprinting; instinct (genetically-programmed behavior); learning; migration;
play; releasing mechanism; rituals; signals; signs; social behavior and
organization; stress.
Tinbergen's four questions regarding animal behavior,
equally important and legitimate: questions about (adaptive) function,
(proximate) causation, development, and (ultimate) evolutionary history.
Ethologists and sociobiologists have typically concentrated on only the
first of these questions. (Cf. Psych
1AA3: Psychology of Interpersonal Behavior, McMaster University.)
Introductory readings
Konrad Lorenz
• Autobiography
(Nobel e-Museum)
• Konrad
Lorenz Page (Nobel Prize Internet Archive)
Links to books by and about Lorenz.
• Lorenz,
Here I Am — Where Are You?, 1988
Nikolaas Tinbergen
• Autobiography
(Nobel e-Museum)
Karl von Frisch
• Autobiography
(Nobel e-Museum)
Anthology
• Burghardt,
Foundations of Comparative Ethology, 1986
Selected monographs
• De
Waal, Chimpanzee Politics (rev. ed.), 2000
"The best book ever written on the social life
of apes in captivity.... The author has that special empathetic insight
into the mind of the chimpanzee which is shared by few but can somehow
be recognized by many." (William McGrew)
[Source]
• Akimushkin,
Ethology, 1988
• Slater,
Introduction to Ethology, 1985
• Hinde,
Ethology, 1982
• Gould,
Ethology, 1982
• Lorenz,
Foundations of Ethology, 1981
• von
Frisch, The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees, 1967
• Lorenz,
Evolution and Modification of Behavior, 1965
Behavioral Ecology
Students of behavioral ecology have attempted to synthesize
the evolutionary tradition of ethology and the mechanistic studies of
comparative psychology. Behavioral ecology focuses on organisms interacting
in natural environments, assuming that the adaptive (ultimate) significance
of a given behavior is related to the environment within which an organism
lives. Consequentely, an understanding of an organism's autecology is
essential for understanding its behavior. Researchers are interested both
in the mechanistic underpinnings of behavior and the fitness consequences
of behavioral traits. Behavioral ecology also draws in issues of energetics
and physiology. Rather than measuring fitness per se, it is assumed that
energy acquisition and foraging is a useful proxy for the fitness traits
(e.g., differences in survival and reproduction). The development of optimal
foraging theory during the 1970s and 1980s has added a distinct theoretical
perspective to this field, which can also be successfully applied to humans
under certain conditions.
Introductory reading
• Krebs/Davies,
An Introduction to Behavioral Ecology (3rd. ed.), 1993
Anthology
• Krebs/Davies,
Behavioural Ecology (4th ed.), 1997
Of related interest:
• Hall/Halliday,
Behaviour and Evolution, 1998
Illustrating how the profound changes in our understanding
of evolution have influenced behavioral research, this book spans studies
of how behavior itself has evolved as well as the adaptiveness that evolution
has brought about.
Cognitive Ecology
Integrates theory and data from evolutionary ecology
and cognitive science to investigate how animal interactions with natural
habitats shape cognitive systems, and how constraints imposed on nervous
systems or bias animal behavior.
Anthology
• Dukas,
Cognitive Ecology, 1998
Cognitive Ethology
Introductory reading
• Allen,
"Philosophy
of Cognitive Ethology"
"The simplest characterization of cognitive ethology
is that it is the marriage of cognitive science and ethology. But simple
characterizations of any marriage should never be trusted, and this one
masks some fundamental tensions between the two partners." (Colin
Allen)
Selected monograph
• Allen/Bekoff,
Species of Mind, 1997
Online bibliography
• Griffin/Allen/Bekoff,
Combined
Cognitive Ethology Bibliography
Neuroethology
Studies the neural basis of naturally occurring animal
behavior.
Introductory reading
• Topics
in Neuroethology (Mark Nelson)
Home page for a graduate level seminar held in the Beckman
Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Fall of 1996.
One aim of the course was to develop a useful online resource for people
interested in neuroethology; thus, besides the class syllabus, the reading
list, and assignments, you will also find web pages created by students
in the class that provide overviews of 19 model systems in neuroethology.
For many model systems, there is a brief citation analysis of a classic
paper for that system.
Anthology
• Krebs/Horn,
Behavioural and Neural Aspects of Learning and Memory, 1991
Selected monograph
• Camhi,
Neuroethology, 1984
Of related interest:
• Halliday,
The Senses and Communication, 1998
This textbook introduces students to the neurophysiology
of the senses and communication of both human and animal systems. The
topics included have been selected to cover a variety of senses and to
illustrate a number of the more important general principles involved
in sensory physiology and communication. The text further considers the
ways in which humans and animals integrate the information provided by
the sense organs within their nervous systems to direct their behavior.
This involves communication between sense organs, the nervous system,
the brain and the various parts of the body, such as muscles and limbs,
that are involved in behavior. Another kind of communication that occurs
between individual animals, a process in which their sense organs are
intimately involved. The subject matter is extensively illustrated with
clear diagrams, and each chapter ends with a list of learning objectives
and questions.
Sociobiology
"The systematic study of the biological basis of
all social behavior" (Edward O. Wilson).
Introductory Web resources
• "Sociobiology"
(C. George Boeree, Shippensburg University, PA)
• Wilson,
"Is
Humanity Suicidal?" (New York Times Magazine, 1993)
• Wilson,
"The
Biological Basis of Morality" (The Atlantic Online, 1998)
Introductory reading
• Wilson,
On Human Nature, 1978
Further readings
• Segerstråle,
Defenders of the Truth, 2000
• Kitcher,
Vaulting Ambition, 1985
• Wilson,
Sociobiology, 1975
Evolutionary Psychology (EP)
In the wake of the sociobiology debate, EP has extended
the traditions of behavioral ecology and sociobiology directly to human
behavior, aiming to uncover both the psychological mechanisms that underpin
human behavior and the selective forces that shaped those mechanisms.
In the words of two of its pioneers, EP "is based on the recognition
that the human brain consists of a large collection of functionally specialized
computational devices that evolved to solve the adaptive problems regularly
encountered by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Because humans share a universal
evolved architecture, all ordinary individuals reliably develop a distinctively
human set of preferences, motives, shared conceptual frameworks, emotion
programs, content-specific reasoning procedures, and specialized interpretation
systems — programs that operate beneath the surface of expressed
cultural variability, and whose designs constitute a precise definition
of human nature" (Leda Cosmides and John Tooby). Thus EP has attempted
to explain the adaptive origins of human behaviors as diverse as foraging,
siblicide, and female choice. Humans are considered subject to the same
"organic rules" that shape other social organisms. Major issues
include: cognitive biases in social exchange, domain-specificity, and
the modularity of mind and behavior.
Needless to say, this area is quite contentious as researchers
attempt to derive explanations for behaviors displayed by humans in modern
society.
Introductory readings
• Buss,
Evolutionary Psychology, 1999
"It is especially exciting to be an evolutionary
psychologist during this time in the history of science. Most scientist
operate within long established paradigms. Evolutionary psychology, in
contrast, is a revolutionary new science. a true synthesis of modern principles
of psychology and evolutionary biology. By taking stock of the field at
this time, I hope this book contributes in some modest measure to the
fulfillment of a scientific revolution that will provide the foundation
for psychology in the new millennium."
"Despite the emergence of evolutionary psychology
over the past decade, until now no text on the discipline existed. This
book is meant to fill that gap. Although it is written with undergraduates
in mind, it is also designed to appeal to a wider audience of laypersons,
graduate students, and professionals who seek an up-to-date overview of
evolutionary psychology."
(From the author's Preface)
[Source]
• Cosmides/Tooby,
"Evolutionary
Psychology: A Primer," 1997
"Their focus on adaptive problems that arose in
our evolutionary past has led EPs to apply the concepts and methods of
the cognitive sciences to many nontraditional topics: the cognitive processes
that govern cooperation, sexual attraction, jealousy, parental love, the
food aversions and timing of pregnancy sickness, the aesthetic preferences
that govern our appreciation of the natural environment, coalitional aggression,
incest avoidance, disgust, foraging, and so on.... By illuminating the
programs that give rise to our natural competences, this research cuts
straight to the heart of human nature.
• Crawford/Janicki,
"What
is Evolutionary Psychology?"
• Recent
essays by Robert Wright,
the author of The Moral Animal and Nonzero: The Logic of Human
Destiny
Further readings:
• Barkow/Cosmides/Tooby,
The Adapted Mind, 1992
An edited volume of original, commissioned papers centered
on the complex, evolved psychological mechanisms that generate human behavior
and culture. It has two goals: The first is to introduce the newly crystallizing
field of evolutionary psychology to a wider scientific audience.... The
second goal of this volume is to clarify how this new field, by focusing
on the evolved information-processing mechanisms that comprise the human
mind, supplies the necessary connection between evolutionary biology and
the complex, irreducible social and cultural phenomena studied by anthropologists,
sociologists, economists, and historians.... With The Adapted Mind, we
hope to provide a preliminary sketch of what a conceptually integrated
approach to the behavioral and social sciences might look like. Contributors
were asked to link evolutionary biology to psychology and psychology to
culture — a process that naturally entails consistency across fields....
The central premise of The Adapted Mind is that there is a universal
human nature, but that this universality exists primarily at the level
of evolved psychological mechanisms, not of expressed cultural behaviors....
A second premise is that these evolved psychological mechanisms are adaptations,
constructed by natural selection over evolutionary time. A third assumption
made by most of the contributors is that the evolved structure of the
human mind is adapted to the way of life of Pleistocene hunter-gatherers,
and not necessarily to our modern circumstances.
[From
the Introduction] [Contents]
More Web resources:
• Buller, "DeFreuding
Evolutionary Psychology"
• Buller, "Individualism
and Evolutionary Psychology"
• Foster/Shapiro, "Prediction
and Accommodation in Evolutionary Psychology"
• Horst, "Our
Animal Bodies"
Argues that the passions are a collection of separate
special-purpose mechanisms built into animals (including human animals).
"One can tell a plausible story about each of these animal mechanisms
in terms drawn from cognitive science, particularly evolutionary biology
[sic], that shows how they could have been selected for some adaptive
advantage confered upon an individual or its phenotype."
TOP
Periodicals
• Adaptive
Behavior (1992— )
(Quarterly. MIT Press [vols. 1-6]; International
Society for Adaptive Behavior [vol. 7— ].) The first international
forum for research on adaptive behavior in animals and autonomous, artificial
systems. Offering ethologists, psychologists, computer scientists, and
robotic scientists the chance to compare insights, it features mechanisms,
organizational principles, and architectures that can be expressed in
computational, physical, or mathematical models. Articles, reviews, and
short communications address topics like perception and motor control,
motivation and emotion, action selection and behavioral sequences, and
characterization of environments.
"Research especially focuses on] the bottom-up
approach to understanding behaviour.... [Nearly all papers] contain testable
models [neural networks, parallel distributed processing, and genetic
algorithms] that address real and interesting behavioural problems....
The papers are of a high standard." (Times Higher Education Supplement)
• Aggressive
Behavior (1975— )
[TOCs (1996— )]
(Bi-monthly; available online; Wiley Interscience.)
Will consider manuscripts in the English language concerning the fields
of animal behavior, anthropology, ethology, psychiatry, psychobiology,
psychology, and sociology which relate to either overt or implied conflict
behaviors. Papers concerning mechanisms underlying or influencing behaviors
generally regarded as aggressive and the physiological and/or behavioral
consequences of being subject to such behaviors will fall within the scope
of the journal. Review articles will be considered as well as empirical
and theoretical articles.
• Animal Behavior Abstracts
• Animal
Behaviour (1952— )
Formerly British Journal of Animal Behaviour
[TOCs
(1993— )]
(Monthly since 1989; Academic Press.) A leading
international publication containing critical reviews, original papers,
and research articles on all aspects of animal behavior. Book reviews
are also included. Growing interest in behavioral biology and the international
reputation of Animal Behaviour prompted an expansion to monthly
publication in 1989. The journal of choice for biologists, ethologists,
psychologists, pysiologists, and veterinarians with an interest in the
subject. Research areas include behavioral ecology, evolution of behavior,
sociobiology, ethology, behavioral psychology, behavioral physiology,
population biology, sensory behavior, navigation and migration.
• Animal Behaviour Monographs (1968 —
1973)
• Animal
Cognition (1998— )
[TOCs
(1998— )]
(Quarterly; available online; Springer.) An interdisciplinary
journal publishing current research from various backgrounds and disciplines
(ethology, behavioral ecology, animal behaviour and learning, cognitive
sciences, comparative psychology and evolutionary psychology) on all aspects
of animal (and human) cognition in an evolutionary framework. The aim
of the journal is to establish the course of the evolution of "intelligence",
of the mechanisms, functions and adaptive value of basic and complex cognitive
abilities from invertebrates to humans. Animal Cognition publishes original
empirical and theoretical work, reviews, short communications and correspondence
on the mechanisms and evolution of biologically rooted cognitive-intellectual
structures. Experiments and field studies with animals and humans and
the comparative method will be given preference, but simulation models
and theoretical analyses will be also considered. Papers on the following
topics are particularly welcome: How do animals categorize and recognize
individuals (potential mates, offspring), food, spatial patterns? How
do animals form concepts? Which rules of logic and decision are used and
how do these work? What satisficing heuristics do animals use? How do
animals reason about their social world? How do animals learn by observation,
imitation and instruction? Animal time perception and use — causality
detection; innate reaction patterns and innate bases of learning; numerical
competence and frequency expectancies; symbol use; communication; problem
solving, animal thinking and use of tools; modularity of the mind. How
do these topics relate to the natural ecology of the species concerned?
• Animal
Learning & Behavior
Publishes experimental and theoretical contributions
and critical reviews that cover the broad categories of animal learning,
cognition, motivation, emotion, and comparative animal behavior. Specific
topics include classical and operant conditioning, discrete-trial instrumental
learning, habituation, exploratory behavior, early experience, social
and sexual behavior, imprinting, and territoriality.
• Applied
Animal Behavior Science
[TOCs
and abstracts (1995— )]
(4 issues per year; available online; Elsevier.)
An international scientific journal reporting on the application of ethology
to animals used by man.
• Behavior
Genetics
[TOCs:
2000— )]
(Bi-monthly; available online; Kluwer.) Concerned
with the genetic analysis of complex traits is published in cooperation
with the Behavior Genetics Association. Disseminates the most current
original research on the inheritance and evolution of behavioral characteristics
in man and other species. Contributions from eminent international researchers
focus on both the application of various genetic perspectives to the study
of behavioral characteristics and the influence of behavioral differences
on the genetic structure of populations.
• Behavioral
Ecology
[Abstracts
and TOCs]
(Bimonthly; available online; Oxford University Press.)
The official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.
Bringing together significant work on all aspects of the subject, Behavioral
Ecology is broad-based and covers both empirical and theoretical approaches.
Studies on the whole range of behaving organisms, including plants, invertebrates,
vertebrates, and humans, are included. Construes the field in its broadest
sense to include 1) the use of ecological and evolutionary processes to
explain the occurrence and adaptive significance of behavior patterns;
2) the use of behavioral processes to predict ecological patterns, and
3) empirical, comparative analyses relating behavior to the environment
in which it occurs.
• Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology
[TOCs
(1994)]
(2 volumes, six issues each, annually; available online;
Springer.) Publishes reviews and original contributions dealing
with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the field of the
analyis of animal behavior on the level of the individual, population
and community. Special emphasis is placed on the proximate mechanisms,
ultimate functions and evolution of ecological adaptations of behavior.
Aspects of particular interest: intraspecific behavioral interactions,
with special emphasis on social behavior; interspecific behavioral mechanisms,
e.g., of competition and resource partitioning, mutualism, predator-prey
interactions, parasitism; behavioral ecophysiology; orientation in space
and time; relevant evolutionary and functional theory. Purely descriptive
material is not acceptable for publication unless it is concerned with
the analysis of behavioral mechanisms or with new theory.
• Behavioral
and Brain Sciences
An International Journal of Current Research
and Theory with Open Peer Commentary
[BBS
online archive] [BBS
Editorial]
(Bimonthly; available online; Cambridge University
Press.) A journal of Open Peer Commentary in the behavioral and brain
sciences, which are understood as follows:
- behavioral biology, including behavior genetics, animal communication
and intelligence, human ethology, invertebrate, lower vertebrate and
mammalian behavior, primatology, sociobiology. etc.;
- cognitive science, including artificial intelligence, human information
processing, linguistics, mathematical models, philosophy and philosophy
of science, psycholinguistics, psychophysics, etc.;
- neuroscience, including higher CNS function, invertebrate neurobiology,
human neuropsychology, motor systems, neuroanatomy, neuroethology, neurochemistry
and neuropharmacology sensory systems, etc.;
- psychology, including clinical, cognitive, comparative. developmental,
personality, social and physiological psychology, experimental analysis
of behavior, etc.
• Behaviour
(1948— )
An International Journal of Comparative Ethology
[TOC]
(Available online; Brill.) Contributes substantially
to the biological analysis of the causation, ontogenetic development,
function, and evolution of the behaviour of all animal species, including
humans.
Each volume presents a selection of the most recent
papers promoting the experimental study of ethology. Physiological, genetic
and ecological aspects are discussed and a wealth of figures and tables
is included.
• Brain,
Behavior and Evolution (BBE)
[TOC
Alert]
(Karger.) A journal with a loyal following, high
standards, and a unique identity as the main outlet for the continuing
scientific discourse on the structure, function and evolution of the nervous
system. Its goal is to embrace the whole universe of disciplines from
neuroscience to behavioral ecology that contribute to understanding nervous
system evolution, and to encourage the application of cutting-edge techniques
from all of them to advance this understanding. Publishes comparative
neurobiological studies that focus on the morphology, physiology, and
histochemistry of various neural structures, as well as aspects of psychology,
ecology, and ethology in both vertebrates and invertebrates as they relate
to nervous system structure, function, and evolution. In addition to original
research reports, the journal contains review and theory papers. One issue
each year is devoted to the proceedings of the annual Karger Workshop.
This issue includes a series of related review papers on a current topic
in the area of comparative neurobiology and the evolution of the brain
and behavior.
• British Journal of Animal Behaviour
See: Animal Behaviour
• Canadian
Journal of Zoology (1929— )
[TOCs
(1998— )] [Sample
issues]
(Monthy; available online; NRC Research Press.) Canada's
best known publication in the broad field of zoology. It has achieved
international prominence due to contributions by respected scientists
in the areas of behaviour, biochemistry and physiology, developmental
biology, ecology, genetics, morphology and ultrastructure, parasitology
and pathology, and systematics and evolution.
• Developmental
Psychobiology
[TOC (1996— )]
(2, for each issue volumes a year.) The official publication
of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology.A peer-reviewed
journal that publishes original research papers from the disciplines of
psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine that contribute to an
understanding of behavior development. Research that focuses on development
in the embryo/fetus, neonate, juvenile, or adult animal and multidisciplinary
research that relates behavioral development to anatomy, physiology, biochemistry,
genetics, or evolution is appropriate. Represents a broad phylogenetic
perspective on behavior development by publishing studies of invertebrates,
fish, birds, humans, and other animals. The journal publishes experimental
and descriptive studies whether carried out in the laboratory or field.
Also publishes review articles and theoretical papers that make important
conceptual contributions. Special dedicated issues, consisting of invited
papers on a topic of general interest, may be arranged with the Editor-in-Chief.
Developmental Psychobiology also publishes Letters to the Editor,
which discuss issues of general interest or material published in the
journal. Letters discussing published material may correct errors, provide
clarification, or offer a different point of view. Authors should consult
the editors on the preparation of these contributions. Overall scholarship
including soundness of experimental design, appropriate controls and procedures,
and importance and significance are the major criteria for publication.
• Ethology
(1986— )
Continues Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie
[TOCs
(1997— )]
(Monthly: available online; Blackwell.) Welcomes
original contributions from all branches of behaviour research on all
species of animals, both in the field and in the laboratory, as well as
theoretical investigations. Essays on controversial topics are also encouraged.
Reviews of notable books are included in each issue.
• Evolution
of Communication (1997— )
A Multidisciplinary Journal
(2 issues annually; John Benjamins.) A broadly-conceived
journal covering not only the origins of human language but also the evolutionary
continuum of communication in general. Accommodates studies on various
species as well as comparative, theoretical, and experimental studies.
This truly multidisciplinary approach will integrate research from a variety
of disciplines, such as artificial life, biological and developmental
psychology, cognitive science, ethology, evolutionary biology, linguistics,
neuroscience, palaeontology,philosophy, primatology, and social and biological
anthropology. Research in these rapidly expanding fields of evolution
and communication are usually published across journals within these disciplines.
Evolution of Communication will provide a forum in which scholars
studying the evolution of communication can share their research within
a multidisciplinary, international perspective.
• Human
Nature
An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective
[TOCs]
[Forthcoming
articles]
(Quarterly; Aldine de Gruyter.) Dedicated to
advancing the interdisciplinary investigation of the biological, social,
and environmental factors which underlie human behavior. It focuses primarily
on the functional unity in which these factors are continuously and mutually
interactive. Features major overviews and statements of biosocial interpretation
and research as well as news briefs highlighting recent conferences and
research reports.
• Journal
of Animal Ecology (1932— )
[TOCs
(1997— )]
(Bimonthly; available online; Blackwell.) Publishes
original research on any aspect of animal ecology. Recently it has published
papers on population ecology, behavioural ecology, community ecology,
physiological ecology and evolutionary ecology. Field, laboratory and
theoretical studies based upon terrestrial, freshwater or marine systems
are all published. The editors are keen to promote all these traditional
areas and also to encourage publication of papers in new and emerging
fields such as molecular ecology.
• Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
( —1983)
• Journal
of Comparative Psychology (1982— )
[TOCs
(2000— )] [TOC
Current issue]
(Quarterly; American Psychological Association.) Publishes
original empirical and theoretical research from a comparative perspective
on the behavior, cognition, perception, and social relationships of diverse
species. Studies can be descriptive or experimental and can be conducted
in the field or in captivity. Papers in areas such as behavior genetics,
behavioral rhythms, communication, comparative cognition, behavioral biology
of conservation and animal welfare, development, endocrine-behavior interactions,
evolutionary psychology, methodology, phylogenetic comparisons, orientation
and navigation, sensory and perceptual processes, social behavior and
social cognition are especially welcome. Both Regular Articles and Brief
Communications will be considered.
• Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavioral Processes
(Quarterly; American Psychological Association.) Publishes
experimental and theoretical studies concerning all aspects of animal
behavior processes. Studies of associative, nonassociative, cognitive,
perceptual, and motivational processes are welcome. The journal emphasizes
empirical reports but may include specialized reviews appropriate to the
journal's content area. The journal also publishes brief communications,
typically based on a single experiment that reports a significant new
empirical or theoretical contribution, perhaps involving a novel technique
or analytic approach.
• Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews (1977— )
(8 issues annually; electronic journal; Elsevier.)
Official journal of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.
Will publish original and significant review articles dealing with all
aspects of neuroscience, where the relationship to the study of psychological
processes and behavior is clearly established. Conversely, the journal
will also publish articles whose primary focus deals with psychological
processes and behavior, and which have relevance to one or more aspects
of neuroscience. Submissions to the journal are actively encouraged which
deal with topics not only in the more traditional areas, but also in the
following areas, whenever the reviews bring new insights into brain-behavior
relations: neuropsychology; cognitive neuroscience; brain imaging; in
vivo monitoring of the brain's electrical and biochemical activities;
molecular biology; genetics; neurocomputation. Theoretical articles and
mini-reviews, for which the scope and literature coverage are more restricted,
will also be published.
• Physiology
and Behavior (1966— )
[Free
online sample copy]
(15 issues per year; Elsevier.) Official journal
of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. Invites original
reports in the area of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, across the
full range of systematic studies of motivation, reward, learning and memory.
The Journal is committed to publishing studies in the area of physiology
and behavior in which at least one variable is physiological and the primary
emphasis and theoretical context are behavioral. The range of subjects
include ingestion, behavioral neuroendocrinology, sensory physiology,
psychoneuroimmunology, learning, memory and studies related to addiction.
• Politics
and the Life Sciences (PLS)
[TOCs
(July 1982— )]
(2 issues annually; Association for Politics and
the Life Sciences.) Peer-reviewed, with readers in more than twenty
countries. Publishes articles, commentaries, program and organizational
profiles, conference reports, teaching reports, book reviews, lists of
recent books and articles, and news and announcements. Most journal issues
also include at least one "roundtable," a package consisting
of an article, multiple commentaries by diverse experts, and a response
from the original author. Recent issues of PLS have addressed such
topics as chemical and biological terrorism, physician-assisted suicide,
regulation of biotechnology, controlling the proliferation of biological
weapons, the evolutionary roots of political rhetoric, deception in politics,
feminism and the evolutionay sciences, neuroscience and political intolerance,
adolescent sexuality and public policy, world population policy, human
nature and crime control, pregnancy and substance abuse, regulating assisted
reproduction, evolution and ethnic group formation, regulating germ-line
gene therapy, and responding to global environmental challenges.
• Visual
Anthropology
(Quarterly; International Commission on Visual Anthropology.)
Seeks to publish articles, comments, discussions, film and book reviews
which contribute to the following areas of scholarly endeavor: the study,
use, and production of anthropological and ethnographic films, videos,
and photographs for research and teaching; the analysis of visual symbolic
forms from a cultural-historical framework; the study of human behavior
through visual means; visual theories, technologies, and methodologies
for recording and analyzing behavior and the relationships among different
modes of communication; the analysis of the structuring of reality as
evidenced by visual productions and artifacts; the cross- cultural study
of art and artifacts from a social, cultural, historical and aesthetic
point of view; the relationship of cultural and visual perception; the
study of the forms of social organization surrounding the planning, production
and use of visual symbolic forms; the support of urgent ethnographic filming;
the use of media in cultural feedback; and to encourage the development
of Third World ethnographic media productions.
• Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie (1937
- 1985)
Continued by Ethology
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Societies
• Animal
Behavior Society (ABS)
A non-profit scientific society, founded to encourage
and promote the study of animal behavior. ABS members are primarily from
North, Central, and South America. Membership is open to those interested
in the study of animal behavior.
• Association
for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) (1980— )
[Newsletter
TOCs (December 1996— )]
An international and interdisciplinary association of
scholars, scientists, and policy makers concerned with problems or issues
that involve politics or public policy and one or more of the life sciences.
The association publishes a journal, Politics and the Life Sciences;
a newsletter, APLS News; and a membership directory, The APLS Directory.
The association's annual conference is held in late August or early September,
concurrently with — but independently of — the annual meeting
of the American Political Science Association.
• Association
for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) (1936— )
[Newsletter]
Promotes the study of animal behavior. Membership is
open to all who share this interest. There are now approximately 2000
members, mostly drawn from Britain and Europe. Many members are professional
biologists who work in universities, research institutes, or schools.
Owns the journal Animal Behaviour.
• Behavior
Genetics Association (BGA)
Promotes scientific study of the interrelationship of
genetic mechanisms and behavior, both human and animal; encourages and
aids the education and training of research workers in the field of behavior
genetics; and aids in the dissemination and interpretation to the general
public of knowledge concerning the interrelationship of genetics and behavior,
and its implications for health and human development and education.
• European
Sociobiology Society (ESS) ( —2000)
[Newsletters
(July 1994—September 2000)]
A forum for the study of the role of biological factors
in the behavior of animals and man, with special emphasis on evolutionary
aspects. As of 2000, has merged with the International
Society for Human Ethology.
• Human
Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES)
An interdisciplinary, international society of researchers,
primarily from the social and biological sciences, who use evolutionary
theory to discover human nature — including evolved cognitive, behavioral,
emotional and sexual adaptations.
• International
Society for Adaptive Behavior, Inc.
An international scientific society devoted to education
and furthering research on adaptive behavior in animals, animats, software
agents, and robots.
• International Society for Behavioral Ecology
• International
Society for Human Ethology (ISHE) (1972— )
Promotes ethological perspectives in the study of humans
worldwide. Encourages empirical work in all fields of human behavior using
the full range of methods developed in biology and the human behavioral
sciences and operating within the conceptual framework provided by evolutionary
theory.
• Society
for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (SBN)
A scientific society committed to understanding interactions
between behavior and neuroendocrine function. Promotes exchanges between
investigators approaching this problem from diverse perspectives. Researchers
working in laboratory, field, or clinical settings; on invertebrates,
vertebrates, or cell lines both in vitro and in vivo are encouraged to
join the Society. Scientists interested in behavioral ecology, animal
behavior, biological timing, neurosciences, endocrinology, development,
cell biology and genetics are all welcome. It is not necessary that one's
research explicitly employ behavioral techniques as long as the research
area is relevant to behavior. Similarly, appropriate behavioral research
need not employ neuroendocrine techniques, but only be related to neuroendocrine
function at some level. Integrating cellular and molecular concepts into
a functional framework is crucial to understanding how neuroendocrine
function affects behavior and is, in turn, affected by behavior.
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Conference
• From Animals to Animats: The International Conference
on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior (SAB)
Every two years, the Animals to Animats Conference brings
together researchers from ethology, psychology, ecology, artificial intelligence,
artificial life, robotics, engineering, and related fields to further
understanding of the behaviors and underlying mechanisms that allow natural
and synthetic agents (animats) to adapt and survive in uncertain environments.
The work presented focuses on well-defined models — robotic, computer-simulation,
and mathematical — that help to characterize and compare various
organizational principles or architectures underlying adaptive behavior
in both natural animals and animats.
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Centers, Departments, and Institutes
• Graduate
Program in Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology, University of Arizona
(USA)
• Individual
Differences and Evolutionary Psychology Program, University of Texas
Austin (USA)
• Human
Ecology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium)
• Cambridge
Center for Behavioral Studies (UK)
• Evolutionary
Psychology and Behavioural Ecology Research Group, University of Liverpool
(UK)
• Center
for the Human-Animal Bond, Purdue University School of Veterinary
Medicine (USA)
• Center
for Evolutionary Psychology (CEP), University of California Santa
Barbara (USA)
One of the largest and most active communities of researchers
in evolutionary psychology and allied disciplines in the world. To provide
support for research and comprehensive training in this area, and to facilitate
multidisciplinary and multi-university collaboration, UCSB has established
the Center for Evolutionary Psychology. The goals of the Center are (1)
to promote the discovery and systematic mapping of the adaptations that
comprise the evolved species-typical architecture of the human mind and
brain, and (2) to explore how cultural and social phenomena can be explained
as the output of such newly discovered or newly mapped psychological adaptations.
• Evolutionary
Psychology Research Group, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, British
Columbia) (Canada)
• Ludwig
Boltzmann Institute for Urban Ethology (1991— ) (Vienna,
Austria)
The research is dedicated to all kinds of mass phenomena
in big cities.
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Personal websites
• Ethology
and Sociobiology Site
(Neil Greenberg, University of Tennessee)
• Evolution
of Intelligence and Consciousness
(Herbert S. Terrace, Columbia University)
• Psychology,
Evolution and Culture Home Page
(Al Cheyne, Department of Psychology, University
of Waterloo, Ontario)
Contains interesting materials (also graphical) on paleopsychology
("Signs of Consciousness: Speculations on the Psychology of Paleolithic
Graphics") and sleep paralysis, as well as useful links regarding
cultural-historical psychology and the evolution of consciousness, language,
and sociality.
• Signalling
Theory and Animal Behavior
(Carl T. Bergstrom, University of Washington)
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Other resources
• Computer
Software Archives for the Study of Animal Behavior (CSASAB)
(Shan Duncan, Indiana University)
• Film
Archive of Human Ethology of the Max-Planck-Society and Human Studies
Center at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich
• Primate
Info Net, Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center, University of
Wisconsin - Madison
Provides a useful selection of primate-related definitions.
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