Table of Contents
Behavioral biology (ethology) does not just describe what animals and humans do; it aims to understand why they behave as they do, how behavior works, and what it is good for in an evolutionary context. Its goals can be grouped into four main areas that complement each other.
1. Describing and Classifying Behavior
A first essential goal is to record behavior as objectively and precisely as possible.
- Systematic description
Behavioral biologists aim to: - Identify distinct behavioral elements (e.g., “pecking,” “grooming,” “threat posture”).
- Describe when, how often, and under what conditions they occur.
- Avoid everyday interpretations such as “the animal is angry” and instead use neutral terms and observable criteria.
- Creating “behavior inventories”
For many species, especially little‑known ones, the goal is to compile a catalog of typical behaviors: - Which behaviors exist?
- How are they structured (simple vs. complex sequences)?
- Which behaviors tend to follow each other (behavior chains)?
- Standardized terminology and classification
Behavioral biology seeks to develop: - Comparable descriptions across studies and species.
- Categories (e.g., feeding behavior, reproductive behavior, social behavior, defensive behavior), which later allow broader comparisons and hypotheses.
This descriptive and classificatory work is the foundation for all further questions about mechanisms, development, and function.
2. Explaining Proximate Causes: Mechanisms and Control of Behavior
Another central goal is to clarify the immediate (“proximate”) causes of behavior—how it comes about in the moment.
Key aspects include:
- Internal control mechanisms
Behavioral biology investigates how: - Nervous system, hormones, and sensory organs generate and modulate behavior.
- Internal states (hunger, sexual maturity, stress) influence which actions are likely.
- External triggers (stimuli)
It aims to identify: - Which environmental stimuli (light, temperature, sounds, odors, social signals) trigger particular reactions.
- How organisms filter and process this sensory information.
- Coordination and decision‑making
A further goal is to understand: - How conflicting drives (e.g., fear vs. curiosity) are resolved.
- How movement patterns are produced and coordinated.
- How simple rules at the level of individuals can lead to complex group behavior (e.g., schooling in fish, flocking in birds).
Proximate explanations answer “How does this behavior work right now?”
3. Explaining Ontogeny: Development of Behavior in the Individual
Behavior does not appear fully formed; it changes over the life of an individual. Behavioral biology wants to understand how behavior develops.
Main questions:
- Innate vs. learned components
Behavioral biologists ask: - Which parts of behavior are genetically programmed?
- Which parts depend on experience, learning, and environment?
- How do genes and environment interact in shaping typical behavior patterns?
- Sensitive and critical periods
A further goal is to identify: - Phases in life when certain experiences have particularly strong or lasting effects (e.g., imprinting).
- How missing or altered experiences in such phases change later behavior.
- Age‑specific behavior
Behavioral biology aims to describe and explain: - How juvenile behavior differs from adult behavior.
- How behavior changes with aging (e.g., play behavior, territoriality, parental care).
Ontogenetic explanations answer “How did this behavior arise during the life of this individual?”
4. Explaining Ultimate Causes: Function and Evolution of Behavior
A fundamental goal is to understand behavior in terms of evolution and adaptation—the “ultimate” causes.
Key aims:
- Functional significance (adaptive value)
Behavioral biology examines: - How a certain behavior influences survival and reproduction.
- Under which environmental conditions it is advantageous or disadvantageous.
- Trade‑offs (e.g., foraging vs. avoiding predators, mating effort vs. parental care).
- Comparative analysis across species
By comparing related and unrelated species, researchers aim to: - Reconstruct how behaviors may have evolved.
- Identify homologous behaviors (inherited from a common ancestor) vs. analogous behaviors (independently evolved solutions to similar problems).
- Behavior as part of the evolutionary strategy
Behavioral biology wants to show: - How behavior contributes to adaptation to specific habitats and lifestyles.
- How social systems (e.g., hierarchies, mating systems, cooperation) arise and persist.
- How new behavioral patterns can open up new ecological niches.
Ultimate explanations answer “Why does this behavior exist at all, and why in this form?” in terms of evolutionary history and function.
5. Integrating the Four Levels of Explanation
A more overarching goal of behavioral biology is to link different types of explanations into a coherent picture. Often, four basic question types are distinguished (after Niko Tinbergen):
- Mechanism: What immediate internal and external factors cause the behavior?
- Ontogeny: How does the behavior develop over the individual’s lifetime?
- Function: What is the behavior’s contribution to survival and reproduction?
- Evolution: How did the behavior arise and change in the course of evolutionary history?
Behavioral biology aims to:
- Avoid one‑sided explanations (e.g., only “it’s genetic” or only “it’s learned”).
- Show how all four levels complement each other.
6. Application to Human Behavior and Societal Questions
Although animal behavior is a central focus, another goal is to apply behavioral biological knowledge to humans and societal issues, while respecting ethical boundaries.
This includes:
- Exploring which aspects of human behavior have biological roots and which are mainly shaped by culture.
- Identifying parallels and differences between human and animal social behavior.
- Contributing to areas such as:
- Animal welfare and species‑appropriate housing.
- Nature conservation (e.g., understanding migration, breeding, and territorial behavior).
- Use of model organisms to gain insights into human diseases and disorders that affect behavior.
Here the goal is not to “excuse” human actions biologically, but to understand biological influences and their limits.
7. Improving Survey and Interpretation Methods
Finally, behavioral biology has the long‑term goal of continually refining the ways in which behavior is studied and interpreted.
This includes:
- Developing more precise, objective recording methods.
- Reducing observer bias and anthropomorphism.
- Designing better experiments and analysis tools to test hypotheses about the causes, development, function, and evolution of behavior.
In sum, the goals of behavioral biology span from careful description to deep explanation. It seeks to understand behavior as a biological phenomenon that is controlled by mechanisms, shaped across an individual’s life, and molded over evolutionary time to help organisms survive and reproduce in their particular environments.