Social behavior: 11 main types of manifestation

No. 1. General psychology and sociology are the “mother” sciences for...

1. Philosophy is a discipline that studies the most general essential characteristics and fundamental principles of reality (being) and knowledge, human existence, the relationship between man and the world
2. developmental psychology is a branch of psychology that studies psychological changes in a person as they grow older.
3. educational psychology - a branch of psychology that studies methods of teaching and upbringing that increase the effectiveness of fulfilling educational tasks, the effectiveness of pedagogical measures, improving the psychological aspects of teaching, etc. In terms of subject and method, it is closely related to social psychology, on the one hand, and cognitive psychology, on the other hand another.

No. 2. Passive imagination can be...

1. exclusionary - an action derived from the subordination of norms and standards.
2. creative - a process of activity that creates qualitatively new material and spiritual values ​​or the result of creating an objectively new one.

Content

• 1 Approaches and directions 1.1 Psychology
• 1.2 Animal psychology
• 1.3 Plant behavior
• 1.4 Comparative psychology
• 1.5 Behaviorism and neo-behaviorism
• 1.6 Ethology

Approaches and directions

The roots of the behavioral sciences go back to ancient times. Aristotle, Chrysippus, Socrates and Plato dealt with issues of psychology and behavior of people and animals, however, it became possible to seriously scientifically study behavior only with the advent of the idea of ​​evolutionism. Modern scientific disciplines involved in the study of behavior are closely related to each other and overlap in many ways, and differences in subjects and methods contribute to a more complete disclosure of the essence of the behavior of various positions. Currently, there is a consolidation of behavioral sciences into interdisciplinary areas.

Psychology

Basic Concepts

Individual, personality, memory, perception, thinking

Psychology studies the human psyche, namely the patterns, characteristics and development of human mental activity. The subject of the behavioral direction of psychology is human behavior, but psychology as a whole has repeatedly changed the subject of its research over the long history of its development. Modern psychology is a developed science, based on the achievements of psychoanalysis, zoopsychology, neurophysiology, experimental psychology and a number of natural and technical sciences.

Zoopsychology

Zoopsychology deals with the study of the mental activity of animals. The object of zoopsychology is animal behavior. The subject of zoopsychology is the features and patterns of mental activity of animals, as well as its development in ontogenesis and phylogenesis. The attention of animal psychologists is aimed at studying the perception, memory, and thinking of animals.

Plant behavior

Although plants and bacteria have the ability to move under the influence of external factors (taxis) [7], and higher plants are also not without the ability to move [approx. 1][8] and learning[9], however, since the mechanisms of plant movement are purely physiological in nature, we cannot talk about the presence of a psyche in them. In psychology, plant movements are often referred to as the “prepsychic level of reflection”[6].

Comparative psychology

Comparative psychology deals with the comparative analysis of mental processes of representatives of different taxonomic groups. A characteristic feature of comparative psychology is the use of comparative analysis as the main method.

Behaviorism and neobehaviorism

Basic Concepts

Operant conditioning, black box, instrumental reflex, intervening variables, stimulus-response behavior

Behaviorism is a direction in American psychology that originated at the beginning of the 20th century. A feature of this direction was the refusal to study the psyche as an unknowable phenomenon. In this case, mental processes were completely excluded from consideration, and behavior was reduced to a set of reactions to stimuli. The founder of behaviorism is the American psychologist John Watson, who coined this term. Representatives of this direction made a great contribution to the behavioral sciences, in particular, they defined the subject of psychology, developed classical methods, practically valuable technologies, and contributed to the dissemination of mathematical methods in psychology.

Ethology

Basic Concepts

FCD, imprinting, specific motivation, key stimulus, ethogram, search behavior

Ethology in the modern sense is the science of the biological foundations of animal behavior. The subject of ethology is mechanisms, adaptive significance, features of the development of behavioral acts in ontogenesis and questions of the evolution of behavior. Ethology originated within the framework of “classical ethology,” a scientific field that studied the behavior of animals as adaptations to the environment in their natural habitat. The subject of ethology is complete, coordinated behavioral acts. The founders of ethology as a scientific direction are considered to be Konrad Lorenz and Nicholas Tinbergen [10] pp. 51-52.

What is assertiveness based on?

What benefit does a person who acts aggressively receive? She intimidates others and manipulates consciousness, instilling fear. Assertive behavior cannot instantly solve all a person’s problems, since a person of this type of character will not inspire fear. A person can earn authority through prudence and sound thinking. So what is assertiveness based on? On balance. How should it manifest itself? Any person with whom you start a conversation will play the role to which he is accustomed. Perhaps the individual will choose the role of the aggressor. In this case, you will play the role of the victim. To prevent this, you must equalize the positions. Assertive behavior manifests itself in the desire to put a person in his place. But this needs to be done not aggressively, but gently. The ideal conversation between two people is a conversation on equal terms. This is exactly what needs to be achieved.

Components of mental activity

Since the time of Charles Darwin, science has established the idea of ​​three components of the mental activity of animals. These components, in Darwin's terminology - instinct, the ability to learn and the ability to reason, organically combine to form a complex phenomenon of the mental activity of animals.

Congenital

• Instinct is, in a broad sense, a hereditarily fixed component of a behavioral act. In the sciences of animal behavior, instinct is understood as a species-specific set of innate complex reactions of the body, arising, as a rule, in an almost unchanged form in response to external or internal stimuli.
• An unconditioned reflex is a relatively constant stereotypical innate reaction of the body to influences from the external and internal environment, carried out through the central nervous system and not requiring special conditions for its occurrence (for example, jerking a hand when touching very hot objects). The term was proposed by I.P. Pavlov.

Acquired

• Habituation is the simplest form of learning, which consists in weakening the response to a stimulus upon repeated presentation.
• Conditioned reflex. The classic Pavlovian reflex consists of the formation, upon repeated presentation of a biologically neutral stimulus with a biologically significant stimulus, so that both stimuli partially overlap in time, a response to a neutral stimulus. Within the framework of the reflex theory of GNI, the conditioned reflex was considered as the basic unit of individual experience.
• Operant learning is the process of forming instrumental reflexes through reinforcement of the animal’s own activity.
• Imprinting is a form of obligate learning discovered by ethologists.

Rational activity

• Rational activity is (according to Krushinsky) the ability of an animal to grasp empirical laws that connect objects and phenomena of the external world and to operate with these laws in a situation that is new to it.
• Human intelligence is a general cognitive ability that determines readiness to assimilate and use knowledge and experience, as well as to behave intelligently in problem situations.

Technicians

Adequate behavior is called assertiveness. The rules of assertive behavior were developed by more than one generation of people. You can apply a few techniques to your daily communication style and see how much your life changes.

• Speak only on your own behalf. Never refer to anyone. Don't try to whitewash yourself at the expense of others. If you want to refer to someone, make clear footnotes in your speech to classics or scientists, and not to Masha or Fedka.
• Played record. If you don't want to tell someone something, don't do it. Your personal life is no one's business. Give the same answer to the same question.
• Say no if you want to give up something. Don't you want to go to the cinema? Don't make up a reason. Honestly say that you want to spend the evening in the company of a book or watch a good movie.
• Bring your interlocutor to clean water. People rarely formulate their requests directly. They do it indirectly and start from afar. Therefore, after a conversation, you may be left with the feeling that you seem to have agreed on something, but you are not entirely clear about what exactly. Try the technique of assertive behavior, ask a direct question: “What do you really need from me?” Most likely, your opponent will be confused, but will tell you what he wants from you.

Forms of behavior

Eating behavior

Feeding behavior is common to all animals and is highly variable. It is inextricably linked with various types of activities associated with searching, storing food and metabolism. Search behavior is triggered by arousal processes caused by the absence of food.

Search and food-procuring behavior

Search and food-procuring behavior is extremely diverse and depends on the characteristics of the ecology and biology of the species. Common to animals is increased sensitivity to food irritants. In insect larvae it manifests itself in the form of positive taxis in relation to chemical stimuli.

Animals show selectivity in relation to food. It can manifest itself in the form of strict specialization, as in the slug-eating kite, or in the form of food preference, in which the animal, if it has a choice, gives preference to a certain food object [approx. 2]. Animals often strive to maintain a varied diet [approx. 3].

Among animals that feed on live food (predators[note 4]), two main food acquisition strategies are observed - hunting and grazing.

Hunting is a method of obtaining mobile prey. Hunting strategies depend on the characteristics of the prey and the biology of the hunter. Some predators, such as praying mantises, wait for prey in ambush, while others build traps. Spider traps are well known. Insects also build traps - an example is the antlion. Fast predators, such as squids, implement a special strategy - pursuit. Hunting sedentary and secretive prey requires developed analyzers and special devices for opening and killing it (such prey often has a strong shell).

Stationary and numerous prey eliminates the need to track and kill it. Feeding on such prey—grazing—consists of eating part or individual organs of food organisms. A classic example of a grazing type of predator is large vertebrate herbivores such as sheep and goats.

Taking prey from others—kleptoparasitism—is also common in the animal kingdom. For some species it is a help in unfavorable conditions. For others, such as many skuas, it is a common source of food. Such species are capable of actively and persistently pursuing prey in order to take prey. Kleptoparasitism does not always cause retaliatory aggression, especially with interspecific kleptoparasitism[11].

Saturation

When eating food, inhibitory mechanisms are activated, triggered by both physiological changes and signals from receptors in the mouth, pharynx, stomach and intestines. In highly organized animals, the process of food consumption is controlled with the participation of the central nervous system; in less highly organized animals, this process is controlled by the peripheral nervous system. For example, in flies, food consumption is controlled by a negative feedback principle - as the intestine stretches, the suppression of feeding behavior increases [12]. Among arthropods, external digestion is found. It is characteristic of spiders, fly larvae and dragonflies.

Food storage

It is common among insects to store food for larvae. For example, copra lay eggs in prepared dung balls. Many Hymenoptera and some Diptera lay eggs in the bodies of other animals (mainly insects). The uniqueness of this form of food storage made it possible to distinguish them into a separate ecological category - parasitoids. In some rodents, which include hamsters, bag rats and chipmunks, food storage has become an adaptation to an unfavorable season. Their food storage is timed to coincide with the ripening period of cereals. During the season, an ordinary hamster stores up to 16 kg of plant food[13].

Comfortable behavior

Comfort behavior combines behavioral acts aimed at caring for the body. Comfortable behavior is an integral part of the life of a healthy animal. Violation of comfortable behavior indicates the animal’s distress (illness, hunger or low social status in social animals). Animals can clean their bodies with their limbs, rub against the substrate, shake themselves, and bathe in water or sand.

Behavioral acts that do not have direction, such as adopting a sleeping position, also belong to comfort behavior.

Reproductive behavior

Ritual feeding in the common tern
Of the two main types of reproduction - sexual and asexual, the first is characterized by an exceptional variety of forms of behavior aimed at finding a partner, forming pairs, recognizing a partner, mating rituals and mating itself. Organisms that reproduce partogenetically also sometimes exhibit complex sexual behavior. Asexual reproduction does not require such adaptations.

Animals living in natural areas with pronounced seasons have an annual breeding cycle. Their sexual behavior is triggered by internal annual (circannual) rhythms, while environmental factors have a corrective effect. For example, in fish living in temperate waters, spawning occurs once a year (in autumn, summer or spring), while in fish living in the tropics it may not be expressed at all.

In mammals, along with the circannual cycle, there is a shorter estrous cycle, determined by physiological processes. These factors determine readiness to mate. Under the influence of sex hormones, animals become sensitive to sexual signals - chemical, sound and visual, and begin to display complexes of actions aimed at finding partners.

Most higher animals begin to mate only after courtship. Courtship is an exchange of special signals - demonstrations. Courtship in animals is highly ritualized and is characterized by exceptional diversity: it can include the presentation of food, like the great grebe, the demonstration of plumage, like birds of paradise, the construction of structures, and mating. Courtship is seen as a mechanism of sexual selection. In general, it promotes the selection of the most suitable partner, and, in addition, prevents interspecific hybridization [14].

Types of Marriage Relationships

There are three main types of marriage relationships: polygamy, monogamy and polyandry.

Polygyny, a special case of polygamy in which one male impregnates more than one female, is the most common form of marital relations. The reproductive success of males in this form of mating is not the same. It creates fertile conditions for sexual selection, which has led to the emergence of fancy jewelry, courtship rituals and tournaments, the winners of which receive the right to mate.

Monogamy is a type of marital relationship in which more or less strong couples are formed and both partners participate in caring for the offspring. It is the most common form of mating among birds[15] p. 369. However, monogamy in birds is often combined within a species with other forms of marital relations. For example, monogamous pairs of the Wood Accentor are often diluted with polyandrous, polygynous and polygynandrous groups[16].

Reproduction requires enormous expenses from animals. Therefore, during the breeding season, animals become especially demanding of environmental factors. In addition to the listed forms, reproductive behavior can include protecting the territory and caring for offspring.

Parental behavior

Parental behavior combines behavioral acts associated with the production of offspring. <Complex> parental behavior is observed in birds, mammals and some fish and amphibians. Parental behavior is closely related to reproductive behavior [approx. 5]. For example, in birds, nest construction occurs during the mating season and is a component of courtship. Parental behavior is divided into several successive phases.

Birds

In birds, the first phase of parental behavior is egg laying, followed by incubation. Eggs can be incubated by both male and female alternately, like the common tern, only the male or only the female. Most birds sit on their eggs, warming them with body heat, but some, such as weed chickens, build special incubators.

A necessary condition for the beginning of the transition to incubation is the recognition of eggs [approx. 6]. Selectivity for eggs varies among species. Some birds are ready to incubate dummies that only vaguely resemble their eggs, while others refuse to incubate similar eggs of related species, and sometimes even their own. Considering the prevalence of intraspecific and interspecific nest parasitism - it has been described in more than 230 species - the biological significance of selectivity in relation to eggs becomes clear[15].

After the chicks hatch, the feeding stage begins. Based on the nature of caring for their offspring, two groups of birds are distinguished: nestlings and broodbirds. In nestling birds, the chicks hatch helpless, unable to obtain food on their own, and the parents carefully look after them - feed, warm and protect them. The chicks actively beg for food—in this case, the parent’s beak acts as a releaser. In breeding birds (loons, galliformes, anseriformes and others), the chicks hatch sighted, capable of moving after their parents and feeding independently in the first hours of life. The feeding behavior of parents and chicks is innate.

Mammals

In mammals, parental behavior includes nest building, childbirth, feeding the offspring, caring for the offspring - licking, dragging and training. Feeding their young is of particular importance to them. Baby mammals are born with a sucking reflex. Feeding in mammals is a coordinated process in which both the female and the young play an active role. At the end of feeding, the female is often required to specifically wean the cubs from the breast in various ways, including the use of aggression.

Insects

Parental behavior is not typical for invertebrates, but insects, the most highly organized group of this type, care for the offspring. Care of offspring is a characteristic feature of social insects. The evolution of social lifestyles has even been linked to parental behavior.

A male bedbug from the family Belostomidae with clutch on his back

An exceptional phenomenon is the paternal parenting behavior of bedbugs of the subfamily Belostomatidae, in which females, after copulation, lay eggs on the back of males. The participation of the latter in caring for the offspring is not limited to carrying the clutch: they create a flow of water with the help of their limbs, from time to time they float to the surface to give the eggs access to atmospheric air, and help the nymphs get out of the eggs[17].

Defensive Behavior

Defensive behavior includes actions aimed at avoiding danger. Defensive reactions occur in response to external stimuli and can be active, even attacking, or passive. A classic example of a defensive response is the avoidance response observed in broodbirds in response to the silhouette of a predator.

Aggressive behavior

Aggressive behavior is destructive behavior directed at another individual. This includes threatening demonstrations, assault and causing injury. Aggression serves to establish hierarchical relationships in social animals, distribute territory and other resources. The question of the admissibility of using the term aggression to describe the relationship between predator and prey remains open.

Aggressive behavior is triggered by the perception of a specific stimulus (releaser), which is usually the smell, sound signals and color elements of another individual. The manifestation of aggressive behavior, or rather sensitivity and selectivity towards releasers, depends on the internal state of the body. In most animals, aggression is observed during the breeding season. This phenomenon has been well studied in birds and territorial fish. In them (males), during the breeding season, aggression is caused by an opponent approaching the boundaries of the territory.

In the absence of specific stimuli, aggression can accumulate. The result of this process is a decrease in the threshold of sensitivity (and selectivity) to releasers.

Social behavior

Social behavior includes manifestations of mental activity directly related to the interaction between individuals and their groups. There are two main types of social behavior - group, which is characterized by the presence of mutual attraction between individuals, and territorial, in which there is no such attraction. Accordingly, the first type involves the sharing of spatial resources, the second excludes it. The territorial type of behavior can be called solitary. With this type of social relations, representatives of their own species cause aggression, with the exception of a certain period.

Territorial behavior

Territorial is behavior associated with the division of accessible territory into individual areas. It includes the allocation of an individual area, marking its boundaries and protection from other individuals. Territory may be marked by sounds like birds, scent marks like cats, and visual marks. Visual marks include excrement, trampled areas, scratches and gnawing marks on tree bark, or in most cases a combination of different marks. For example, bears urinate near trees, rub against them, scratch and gnaw the bark, and also make depressions in the ground[18].

Exploratory behavior

Exploratory behavior includes activity aimed at studying the environment, not related to the search for food or a sexual partner. Higher animals, having found themselves in an unfamiliar environment, begin to actively move, inspect, feel and sniff the surrounding objects. Exploratory behavior is suppressed by hunger, fear response and sexual arousal. There are orienting reactions, in which the animal remains motionless, and active exploration, in which the animal moves relative to the object or territory being studied.

Benefits of Assertiveness

Most people have friends who, during any conversation, begin to prove something, get angry and spoil the mood of those around them. This type of behavior is called aggressive. Such individuals do not know how to control their emotions, so they splash them out on others without thinking about the consequences. In contrast, there is another type of behavior. Passive individuals cannot make their own decisions; they want to be pitied and caressed. They prefer to solve any problem with tears. Assertive behavior is a balance between two extremes. It is urgently necessary for all sane people to find it. A person can communicate normally with others when he knows how to stand up for himself, but at the same time does not try to make someone guilty. People who have learned to control their emotions will never find themselves in an awkward situation. Such individuals never lose their composure and are distinguished by a cool mind. An adequate person has self-respect and has a great chance of getting what he wants from life.

Literature

Popular science

• Lorenz Konrad.
  Aggression (so-called “evil”).
• Lorenz Konrad.
  A man finds a friend.
• Lorenz Konrad.
  King Solomon's ring.
• N. Tinbergen.
  Social behavior of animals.

• Fabre Jean Henri.
  Instinct and customs of insects. - in two volumes.
• Dolnik V. R.
  Naughty child of the biosphere. Conversations about human behavior in the company of birds, animals and children. - St. Petersburg: Petroglyph, 2007.
• Zhukov Boris.
  Introduction to behavior. The history of science about what motivates animals and how to understand them correctly. - M.: Corpus, 2020.

Classic monographs

• Charles Darwin.
  Expression of emotions in animals and humans.
• N.N.
  Ladygina-Cats. Chimpanzee child and human child.

Textbooks

• D. McFarland.
  Animal behavior. Psychobiology, ethology and evolution. - Moscow: “Mir”, 1988.
• Yu.K.
  Roshchevsky. Features of group behavior of animals. - tutorial. — Kuibyshev: region. printing house named after Myagi, 1978. - 1,000 copies.

In English

• Graham Scott.
  Essential Animal Behavior. - Blackwell Science Ltd, 2005.

Notes

1. The “nyctinasties” of plants are well known—the opening and closing of flowers in connection with the change of day and night, phototropisms of leaves, plant movements when hunting animals, hydro- and chemotropisms of roots; Mimosa pudica is capable of folding its leaves very effectively when touched or shaken. Moreover, if you touch the top of the leaf, you can observe a sequential spread of the reaction from top to bottom - first the leaves will fold, then the petioles, then the petiole will drop
2. Ecologists define food preference as the excess of a certain food item in the diet over its content in the environment.
3. Balanced Preference
4. This category in ecology is opposed to detritivores and unites both herbivorous and carnivorous animals (true predators).
5. some researchers even classify it as reproductive.
6. Some scientists identify egg recognition as a separate phase of parental behavior.

Goals

Any person who wants to change their behavior style must understand why they need it. What goals are pursued by a person who has decided to adhere to assertive behavior?

• State your requirements clearly. A person who knows what he wants knows how to structure his speech. After a brief introduction, the person moves on to the main part of his demand, and then says goodbye to his interlocutor on a friendly note. Also, the ability to formulate your requests and appeals helps to better convey your thoughts to your interlocutor.
• The ability to say “no”. If you don't want something, refuse the offer. You don't have to give up your desires to please someone. There is only one life, and you shouldn’t waste it on things that are unpleasant to you.
• Establishing a contact. Each person is unique, and this must be understood. Some individuals make contact easily, while others do not. A person must be able to find an approach to any individual.
• Always consider your goals and interests. If you want to achieve something, then you need to learn to defend your position, especially when it comes to your desires.