Daniel S. Lehrman

A Critique of Konrad Lorenz's Theory of Instinctive Behavior

BE EGINNING about 1931, Konrad Lorenz, with his students and collaborators (notably N. Tinbergen), has published numerous behavioral and theoretical papers on problems of instinct and innate behavior which have had a widespread influence on many groups of scientific workers (Lorenz, 1931, 1932, 1935, 1937a; Lorenz and Tinbergen, 1938; Lorenz, 1939; Tinbergen, 1939; Lorenz, 1940, 1941; Tinbergen, 1942, 1948a, 1950; Lorenz, 1950; Tinbergen, 1951). Lorenzs influence is indicated in the founding of the Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie in 1937 and in its subsequent development, and also in the journal Behaviour, established in 1948 under the editorship of an international board headed by Tinbergen. Lorenzs theory of instinctive and innate behavior has attracted the interest of many investigators, partly because of its diagrammatic simplicity, partly because of its extensive use of neurophysiological concepts, and partly because Lorenz deals with behavior patterns drawn from the life cycle of the animals discussed, rather than with the laboratory situations most often found in American comparative psychology. These factors go far toward accounting for the great attention paid to the theory in Europe, where most students of animal behavior are zoologists, physiologists, zoo curators or naturalists, unlike the psychologists who constitute the majority of American students of animal behavior (Schneirla, 1945). In recent years Lorenzs theories have attracted more and more attention in the United States as well, partly because of a developing interest in animal behavior among American zoologists and ecologists, and partly through the receptive audience provided for Lorenz and his colleague, Tinbergen, by American ornithologists. The ornithologists were interested from the start, especially because a great part of the material on which Lorenz based his system came from studies of bird behavior, but the range of interest in America has widened considerably. Lorenz and his theories were recently the subject of some discussion at a conference in New York at which zoologists and comparative psychologists were both represented (Riess, 1949), and are prominently represented in the recent symposium on animal behavior of the Society of Experimental Biologists (Armstrong, 1950; Baerends, 1950; Hartley, 1950; Koehler, 1950; Lorenz, 1950; Tinbergen, 1950), and extensively used in several chapters of a recent American handbook of experimental psychology which will be a standard sourcebook for some years to come (Beach, 1951a; Miller, 1951; Nissen, 1951). Because Lorenzs ideas have gained wide attention, and in particular because a critical discussion

Gonadal hormone specificity in the sexual behavior of ring doves

1. Specific effects of gonadal hormones on male and female sexual behavior in ring doves (Streptopelia risoria) were studied as follows: Reproductively experienced male and female ring doves were castrated and (a) treated with testosterone proprionate (TP; ranging 200–800 μg) then tested with responsive females or (b) treated with estradiol benzoate (EB, ranging 50–200 μg) and tested with active males for sexual behavior. 2. The main findings were: (1) Male specific behavior patterns, such as bow-cooing and hop-charging are readily induced by TP but not by EB; conversely female specific behavior patterns, such as sexual squatting are readily induced in both sexes by EB but not by TP. (ii) Isomorphic behavior pattern, such as wingflipping and nest-soliciting are more easily induced by TP than EB in males, and EB than TP in females. 3. The results are interpreted in support of hormone specific effects and discussed in conjunction with relevant data on rats.

Auditory stimulation of ovarian activity in the ring dove (Streptopelia risoria)

Abstract The ovarian follicles of female ring doves (N = 43) placed in sound-isolation chambers, declined in size over a 21-day period. When, during the subsequent 7 days, some of these females (N = 21) were allowed to hear the sounds picked up by a microphone in a breeding room, the size of their ovarian follicles increased by a factor of approximately two, in contrast to those of birds not allowed to hear dove vocalizations (N = 22), in which no significant increase in follicle size occurred. Oviduct weights were also increased in the birds allowed to hear vocalizations, by comparison with the control group. These data suggest that vocalizations have as one function the stimulation of the reproductive system of fellow-members of the species.

Exteroceptive stimulation of the reproductive system of the female ring dove (Streptopelia risoria) by the mate and by the colony milieu

Abstract Female ring doves were exposed for 7 days to stimulation (through a glass partition) from intact or castrate males, either with or without ambient sounds from the breeding colony. Intact males induced more ovarian development than did castrate males, and more ovarian development was induced with sounds from the colony milieu than without, whether the female was with the intact or with the castrate male. It is concluded that, in the normal colony situation, stimuli from the mate and those from the surrounding colony environment combine in inducing ovarian development in female doves.

Previous breeding experience and hormone-induced incubation behavior in the ring dove.

Injected progesterone induces incubation behavior much faster, and in a higher percentage of cases, in doves with previous breeding experience thanin those without such experience. The nature of the animals previous experience is thus one of the variables influencing behavioral responses to exogenous hormones.

Physiological conditions for the stimulation of prolactin secretion by external stimuli in the male ringdove

Abstract Male and female ring doves were separated by the insertion of a glass plate at various times during the pre-egg and incubation periods of the reproductive cycle, and the males were then allowed to observe the females continuously through the remainder of the period ending 13 days after the laying of the second egg. The males were then tested for readiness to incubate, and their crops were weighed. The results indicate that prolactin secretion (indicated by readiness to incubate and by crop growth) is induced in the male dove as a consequence of his observation of the incubating female, but only if the male associates freely (i.e. without separation by a glass plate) with the female during the period of courtship, nest building and egg laying.

Oviduct Response to Estrogen and Progesterone in the Ring Dove.(Streptopelia risoria)

Summary 1. Adolescent female ring doves (Streptopelia risoria) were injected with progesterone, estrogen or a combination of the two. Progesterone did not increase oviduct weights over the controls. Estrogen caused moderate increase, while the maximum increase was caused by synergism between estrogen and progesterone. 2. Eight-day priming with estrogen, followed by 2-day treatment with the estrogen-progesterone combination, caused oviduct growth as great as that caused by the 10-day treatment with the combined dose. On the other hand, priming with progesterone did not significantly augment the effect of 2-day treatment with the combination. 3. On the basis of these data and of a discussion of the mechanisms of nest-building and incubation behavior, it is suggested that the normal cycle includes a period of estrogen secretion (concurrent with nest-building) followed by progesterone secretion (associated with egg-laying maximal oviduct growth, and incubation behavior).

Situational and hormonal determinants of courtship, aggressive and incubation behavior in male ring doves (Streptopelia risoria)

Abstract Previous experiments with ring doves ( Streptopelia risoria ) suggested that neither gonadal nor adrenal steroids play an essential role in causing the transition from courtship to incubation behavior in males. The present experiments were designed to (a) test whether any endogenous change is required in male doves before they become capable of displaying incubation behavior and (b) determine what environmental factors may operate in effecting such an endogenous change. The results show that a male taken from isolation does not immediately incubate when paired with a female who is already at the incubatory stage of her cycle. Of the environmental factors tested, previous exposure to nesting material and to a female partner were most important for inducing endogenous changes required for display of incubation behavior upon pairing with an incubating female. However, neither of these factors is absolutely essential. Environmental factors can apparently act in an additive fashion with each other and with hormones to facilitate the transition from courtship to incubation.

Relative effectiveness of diethylstilbestrol and estradiol benzoate in inducing female behavior patterns of ovariectomized ring doves (Streptopelia risoria)

Abstract Diethylstilbestrol, the synthetic substance having estrogenic properties, is as effective as the natural estrogen, estradiol benzoate, in stimulating oviduct growth, but is relatively ineffective by comparison with estradiol benzoate in inducing female sexual behavior.

Advances in the Study of Behavior.

Advances in the Study of Behavior was initiated over 40 years ago to serve the increasing number of scientists engaged in the study of animal behavior. This volume makes another important contribution to the development of the field by presenting theoretical ideas and research findings to professionals studying animal behavior and related fields. * Initiated over 40 years ago to serve the increasing number of scientists engaged in the study of animal behavior* Makes another important contribution to the development of the field * Presents theoretical ideas and research to those studying animal behavior and related fields