Behavioural ecologists and evolutionary biologists have long recognised Professor Tinbergen's great prescience in placing the study of animal behaviour firmly in an ecological and evolutionary context nearly fifty years ago. This is a reprint of the 1969 edition of The Study of Instinct (originally published in 1951). The first six chapters cover behaviour as a response to stimuli, the neurophysiological bases of innate behaviour as then understood, and the development of behavioural patterns in individuals. The final two chapters are devoted to the adaptativeness of behaviour and evolutionary aspects of behaviour. These last two chapters have particularly withstood the test of time. 'More than the other parts,' the author wrote in 1969, 'they show the potential of studying animals in their natural environment, i.e. in the environment that exerts the pressures which each animal species has to meet...I feel very strongly that an...intense effort ought to be made to understand the effects of behaviour; of the ways in which it influences the survival of the species; and that we should try much harder to understand the state of adaptedness and the process of evolutionary adaptation.' Tinbergen's insights undoubtedly paved the way for significant observational, experimental, and theoretical advances in behavioural ecology and evolution over the past two decades. This book is reissued to make it available to a new generation of researchers and students.
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About the Author
About the author:
The late Nikolaas Tinbergen was Emeritus Professor of Animal Behavior at Oxford University, a 1973 Nobel Laureate, and the author of a number of books on animal behavior.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ethology Classic,
By
This review is from: The Study of Instinct (Hardcover)
This book is a review of scientific understanding of animal behavior circa 1950. Tinbergen was the leading animal behavior researcher of the times, and he prepared this general summary of scientific research on instinctive behavior in animals originally as a set of lectures given at Columbia University in 1947. Topics covered include: ethology, behavior as a reaction to external stimuli or internal factors, and the development, adaptiveness and evolution of behavior. Tinbergen was well known for his research on herring gulls and stickleback fish, and he uses many examples from his research on these species in this book. The other animals featured are mainly fish, birds, and insects, with very few mentions of mammals. Tinbergen purposefully steers clear of human behavior, since human behavior so often involves learning, which he classifies as a higher process, a secondary modification of innate mechanisms, which cannot be understood until the primary innate mechanisms have been studied in humans. The book is illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and photographs, often reproduced from the original scientific works cited in the text. End material includes an extensive bibliography, an author index, and a subject index.
Tinbergen's style can be rather dry, but he does a masterful job at tying in many different research results to construct a coherent picture of the broader topic. With behaviorism at its peak in the 1950s, this book must have been highly influential. Many of the behaviors that Tinbergen describes would be ideal examples for the behaviorism school: an animal is exposed to a stimulus and reacts automatically in a predictable fashion. Even some apparently random behaviors can be predictable given the genetic program of the animal. Where the book differs from strict behaviorism is that Tinbergen does not claim that all behavior can be explained by stimuli of some sort. He takes great care to point out that higher processes, such as learning displayed by humans, cannot even be studied (let alone explained by behaviorists) until all innate behaviors are well understood. Not only does Tinbergen review research results in this text, but he also provides some pointers for how to conduct behavioral research. For example, he warns researchers not to focus on the question of "What can I do with this method?", but rather on "What method is best suited for studying this behavior?". Although the research in this book is dated, the book is still well worth reading for developing a background understanding of early research on instinctive behaviors in animals, as well as understanding some of Tinbergen's approach to research in ethology.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Important,
By Chris McKinstry (South America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Study of Instinct (Hardcover)
This is an incredibly important book. It is a clear and systemetic discussion of the beginnings of ethology by one of its founders. Too bad it is out of print. I really hope the publisher makes it available via print on demand technology so I can have a private copy.
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