Ethological dictionary

An ethological problem.

The ethological approach to aggression.

There are several ways in which ethology, the biological study of behaviour, can contribute to our understanding of aggression. First of all, by studying animals we can get some idea of what aggression is and how it relates to other, similar patterns of behaviour. We can also begin to grasp the reasons why natural selection has led to the widespread appearance of apparently destructive behaviou...

The ethological analysis of imitation.

Theorists and experimental researchers have long debated whether animals are able to imitate. A variety of definitions of imitation have been proposed to describe this complex form of social learning. Experimental research on imitation has often been hampered by either a too loose 'anthropomorphic' approach or by too narrow 'behaviourist' definitions. At present neither associative nor cognitiv...

Barking in family dogs: an ethological approach.

Although it is one of the most conspicuous features of dog behaviour, barking has received little attention from ethologists or from an applied perspective. In this review, an ethological look is taken at the communicative aspect of dog barking. Emerging new research has indicated that in the repertoire of dog vocalisations barking has unique features in showing wide ranges of acoustic paramete...

An Ethological Approach to Personality Development

attachment that we have jointly developed is that it is an ethological approach to personality development. We have had a long and happy partnership in pursuing this approach. In this article we wish to give a brief historical account of the initially separate but compatible approaches that eventually merged in the partnership, and how our contributions have intertwined in the course of develop...