Design for a life: How behaviour develops

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Bateson, P. P. G.

Psychology & Counseling

J. Cape

This volume is devoted principally to the theme of behavioral develop ment. The study of ontogeny has attracted some of the most bitter and protracted controversies in the whole field of ethology and psychology. This is partly because the arguments have reflected more general and continuing ideological battles about nature and nurture. In the opening essay, Oppenheim shows how these debates have recurred in much the same form over the last century. His chapter also brings out a more worrying feature of such argument. He demonstrates that authors who are well known for their strongly held partisan views have written in much more balanced ways than is usually admitted. Although the ex cluded middle is familiar enough in academic argument, the dynamic tensions actually present in developing systems may be particularly prone to polarize debate about what is actually happening. This point is elegantly explored by Oyama in her essay on her concept of maturation.

Ontogeny (Perspectives in Ethology)

Politics & Social Sciences

Klopfer, Peter H.

Social Sciences

Springer

This volume is subtitled "Alternatives" because we wanted to devote at least a part of it to the alternative ways in which members of the same species behave in a given situation. Not so very long ago the supposition among many ethologists was that if one animal behaved in a particular way, then all other members of the same age and sex would do the same. Any differences in the ethogram between individuals were to be attributed to "normal biological variation. " Such thinking is less common nowadays after the discovery of dramatic differences between members of the same species which are of the same age and sex. Alternative modes of behavior, though now familiar, raise particularly interesting questions about current function, evolutionary history, and mechanism. Do the differences rep resent equally satisfactory solutions to a given problem? Are some of the solutions the best that those animals can do, given their body size and general condition? Is an alternative solution adopted because so many other individuals have taken the first? If so, do the frequencies reached at equilibrium depend on differential survival of genetically distinct types or do they result from decisions taken by individual animals? If the alternatives are induced during development, as are the castes of social insects, what is required for such triggering? The questions about alternative ways of behaving are addressed in some of the chapters in this volume.

Perspectives in Ethology: Volume 7 Alternatives

Science & Math

Mathematics

see notes for publisher info

Growing Points Ethology

<p>First published in 1976, this volume is a collection of essays by some of the most prominent and active ethologists. It is organized into four sections: motivation and perception, function and evolution, development, and human social relationships. The first three sections reflect the four questions which are basic to ethology: what were the immediate causes of a behaviour pattern; what is its biological function; how did it evolve; and how did it develop in the individual? The last section involves questions of all four types. The sections are introduced and linked by editorials and the book concludes with an important statement on asking the right questions. The essays are forward looking and identify areas of importance for the study of behaviour. The volume is a source of formative ideas for students, their teachers and research workers in a wide variety of disciplines in the biological psychological and social sciences.</p>

Hinde, R. A.

Cambridge University Press

Measuring Behaviour is a guide to the principles and methods of quantitative studies of behaviour, with an emphasis on techniques of direct observation, recording and analysis. Numerous textbooks describe and analyse human and animal behaviour, but none provides a comprehensive review of the principles and techniques of its measurement. Those undertaking this task for the first time are often bemused by the apparent difficulty of the job facing them - how will they accurately and systematically record all that is happening? The purpose of this book is to provide this basic knowledge in a succinct and easily understood form. This concise review of methodology includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography. Written with ,brevity and clarity, Measuring Behaviour is intended, above all, as a practical guide-book.

Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide

MARTIN, PAUL

Cambridge Univ Pr

Origins of Behaviour

Medical Books

Veterinary Medicine

Many myths and fables surround cats, leaving them open to persecution and misunderstanding. Covering all types from pampered pets to feral hunters, this completely revised new edition of The Domestic Cat shows how cats live and behave in a variety of circumstances and surroundings. With new chapters on welfare issues, and cat-cat communication, this volume penetrates the enigma that is Felis catus, sorting fact from fiction.

Domestic Cat

Turner, Dennis

Biological Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bateson, P. P. G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bateson, P. P. G.