1. Sociobiology - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia sociobiology is a neoDarwinian synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain social behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology

Sociobiology From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation search This article or section includes a list of references or external links , but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. For the book by E. O. Wilson , see Sociobiology: The New Synthesis Sociology Portal History ... Sociolinguistics Sociology of: culture deviance economics education ... Topics Sociobiology is a neo-Darwinian synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain social behavior in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages the behaviors may have. It is often considered a branch of biology and sociology , but also draws from ethology anthropology evolution zoology ... population genetics and other disciplines. Within the study of human societies , sociobiology is closely related to the fields of human behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology Sociobiology has become one of the greatest scientific controversies of the late and early 21st centuries , especially in the context of explaining human behavior. Criticism, most notably made by Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould , centers on sociobiology's contention that genes play a central role in human behavior and that variation in traits such as aggressiveness can be explained by variation in peoples' biology and is not necessarily a product of the person's social environment. Many sociobiologists, however, cite a complex relationship between

2. Sociobiology Explains major concepts of sociobiology, including Ethology, Evolution, Attraction, Sexual Dimorphism, Imprinting, Kin Selection, Reciprocal Altruism, http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/sociobiology.html

SOCIOBIOLOGY C. George Boeree Ever since Darwin came out with his theory of evolution, people - including Darwin himself have been speculating on how our social behaviors (and feelings, attitudes, and so on) might also be affected by evolution. After all, if the way our bodies look and work as biological creatures can be better understood through evolution, why not the things we do with those bodies? The entemologist E. O Wilson was the first to formalize the idea that social behavior could be explained evolutionarily, and he called his theory sociobiology. At first, it gained attention only in biological circles even there it had strong critics. When sociologists and psychologists caught wind of it, the controversy really got started. At that time, sociology was predominantly structural-functionalist, with a smattering of Marxists and feminists. Psychology was still dominated by behaviorist learning theory, with humanism starting to make some headway. Not one of these theories has much room for the idea that we, as human beings, could be so strongly determined by evolutionary biology! Over time, Wilson's sociobiology found more and more supporters among biologists, psychologists, and even anthropologists. Only sociology has remained relatively unaffected.

3. Sociobiology (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy) The term ‘sociobiology’ was introduced in E. O. Wilson s sociobiology The New Synthesis (1975) as the application of evolutionary theory to social behavior http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/entries/sociobiology/

Cite this entry Search the SEP Advanced Search Tools ... Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia Free Sociobiology First published Mon 21 Nov, 2005 Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) as the application of evolutionary theory to social behavior. Sociobiologists claim that many social behaviors have been shaped by natural selection for reproductive success, and they attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of particular behaviors or behavioral strategies. For example, evolutionary biologists have been long puzzled by cases of apparent altruism in certain animal societies: sterile workers in insect colonies, warning calls, resource sharing, and many others (see Darwin, 1859, pp. 235-242; 1871; 1872). Such behaviors appear to incur a cost to the cooperating or altruistic organisms, which would seem to make them impossible to evolve by natural selection. To explain the existence of altruism, sociobiologists first articulated the conditions under which altruistic behavior might be advantageous. In a series of theoretical papers in the 1960s and 70s, evolutionary biologists cleverly showed that natural selection would in fact favor behaviors that decrease the reproductive fitness of their actors, provided that close relatives sufficiently benefit (Hamilton, 1964; see also Trivers, 1974). Those models were later expanded to show how altruistic behaviors could evolve among unrelated organisms within social groups (Trivers, 1971; Hamilton, 1972; Maynard Smith, 1974). Further developments in the 1980s allowed evolutionary biologists to model more complex social dynamics (e.g., Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981; Maynard Smith, 1982; for a fuller treatment, see the entry on

4. Sociobiology Home Page The serial sociobiology, published by California State University Chico, was founded by its present editor in 1975 to provide a more timely publication of http://www.csuchico.edu/biol/Sociobiology/sociobiologyindex.html

Welcome to the Sociobiology Web Site The serial SOCIOBIOLOGY, published by California State University Chico, was founded by its present editor in 1975 to provide a more timely publication of quality papers by researchers of social animals. The serial has grown substantially since it was first published and as a result of the growth in computer based technologies, improvement in quality has been made as well. Over the years the majority of the papers have dealt with, but are not limited to, the various aspects of the biology of social insects such as termites and ants along with many of the insects associated with them. This web site has been produced to assist in providing insight on current investigations of social animals. Several links have been provided to direct individuals to subscription information and abstracts of articles beginning with volume 39, number 3, 2002.

5. Sociobiology --  Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica online encyclopedia article on sociobiology the systematic study of the biological basis of social behaviour. The term sociobiology was http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9068475/sociobiology

var britAdCategory = "other"; Already a member? LOGIN Encyclopædia Britannica - the Online Encyclopedia Home Blog Advocacy Board ... Free Trial Britannica Online Content Related to this Topic This Article's Table of Contents sociobiology Print this Table of Contents Linked Articles Edward O. Wilson Shopping New! Britannica Book of the Year The Ultimate Review of 2007. 2007 Britannica Encyclopedia Set (32-Volume Set) Revised, updated, and still unrivaled. New! Britannica 2008 Ultimate DVD/CD-ROM The world's premier software reference source. sociobiology Page 1 of 1 the systematic study of the biological basis of social behaviour. The term sociobiology was popularized by the American biologist Edward O. Wilson in his book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis sociobiology... (75 of 376 words) To read the full article, activate your FREE Trial Close Enable free complete viewings of Britannica premium articles when linked from your website or blog-post. Now readers of your website, blog-post, or any other web content can enjoy full access to this article on sociobiology , or any Britannica premium article for free, even those readers without a premium membership. Just copy the HTML code fragment provided below to create the link and then paste it within your web content. For more details about this feature, visit our Webmaster and Blogger Tools page Copy and paste this code into your page var dc_UnitID = 14; var dc_PublisherID = 15588; var dc_AdLinkColor = '009900'; var dc_adprod='ADL'; var dc_open_new_win = 'yes'; var dc_isBoldActive= 'no';

6. Sociobiology: Evolution, Genes And Morality sociobiology claims to explain the origin and meaning of all human and animal social behavior in terms of genetics and natural selection. http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/sociobio.html

Academics Humanities Social Sciences Sciences Theology ... Faculty Offices Departments Current Issues Publications Conferences/Events Apologetics ... What's New Special Interest Past Features Other Sites Help LU About LU ... Feedback Navigation Site Map Site Index Advanced Search Browsing Help ... LU Home LU Updates Receive LU-Announce Probe Ministries Sociobiology: Evolution, Genes and Morality Raymond Bohlin, Ph.D. In 1981 I wrote an article for Christianity Today , which they titled "Sociobiology: Cloned from the Gene Cult."(1) At the time I was fresh from a graduate program in population genetics and had participated in two graduate seminars on the subject of sociobiology. You might be thinking, "What in the world is sociobiology, and why should I care?" That's a good question. Sociobiology explores the biological basis of all social behavior, including morality. You should care because sociobiologists are claiming that all moral and religious systems, including Christianity, exist simply because they help promote the survival and reproduction of the group. These sociobiologists, otherwise known as evolutionary ethicists , claim to be able to explain the existence of every major world religion or belief system, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and even Marxism and secular humanism, in terms of natural selection and evolution. E. O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist and major advocate of sociobiology, claims that scientific materialism (a fully evolutionary world view) will eventually overcome both traditional religion and any other secular ideology. While Wilson does admit that religion in some form will always exist, he suggests that theology as an explanatory discipline will cease to exist.

7. Exorcising Sociobiology By Paul R. Gross Biologist Paul Gross on the relationship between sociobiology and recent scandals in anthropology. http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/19/feb01/pgross.htm

Exorcising sociobiology by Paul R. Gross Click to buy the book. I Thirty years ago the distinction between technical disagreements and moral-political warfare began to dissolve. A whole generation of students and teachers became convinced that everything bad people In the summer of 1975, E. O. Wilson, the distinguished Harvard zoologist, published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis . This was a work of exemplary scientific scholarship, a weaving together of threads from many biological subdisciplines. In some of those Wilson was himself already a leader: population biology, ecology, evolution, animal behavior. He was the authority on an enormous group of social animals: the ants. His purpose was to show that results and methods were already sufficient for a systematic account of animal social behavior and for expanded new research on the hard science of it. Scores of qualified readers quickly gave praise and had no qualms about the closing chapter, in which Wilson extrapolated from his findings to speculate about human social behavior. He was laying out a program for future research, as well as recording achievements. No serious scientist denies that humans are at least animals. This part of

8. Sociobiology A brief historical perspective from Southern Arkansas University. http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/C1Intro/Sociobiology.htm

Sociobiology Updated: Sociobiology, in its most recent form, dates from the 1970s and the work of Edward O. Wilson. However, the roots of sociobiology are older. The first use of the term sociobiology likely dates to the work of Warder C. Allee, Alfred E. Emerson, and their associates in their 1949 book, Principles of Animal Ecology. Sociobiogists study the behavior of social animals, including humans. Sociobiology developed from studies in population biology and genetics. Research in the social insects, especially ants and honey bees, had shown that the old Darwinian maxim of individual selection, of individuals working for their own reproductive success, did not seem to apply to those groups. The worker castes of those species do not reproduce; yet, their behavior in defense of their nests was tenacious and often life-threatening to the defenders. How could such behavior be explained? The answers began to crystallize when Hamilton (1964) developed the concept of inclusive fitness. Inclusive fitness incorporated not only one's own reproductive success, but also the reproductive success of relatives. In the social insects, all of the workers born of the same queen are full sisters, but, they are all even more closely related to their mother, the queen. So, if one transfers the logic of evolution from the individual to genes, then the behavior of social insects begins to make sense. When workers die in defense of their nests, they are more likely to increase the likelihood of their genes' survival, even though they died in the effort.

9. Science As Culture - SOCIOBIOLOGY SANITIZED: THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND GEN Sociopolitical overview of the circumstances leading to the development of Evolutionary Psychology as distinct from sociobiology, by Val Dusek. http://www.human-nature.com/science-as-culture/dusek.html

Latest Writings and Papers Home Contents Join the Discussion Forum Rationale ... Search SOCIOBIOLOGY SANITIZED: THE EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND GENIC SELECTIONISM DEBATES [For more on evolutionary psychology see The Human Nature Daily Review Evolutionary Psychology Online The Open Directory by Val Dusek Amazon US UK I Two decades later the debate concerning the genetic determination of human behavior has been reanimated in the general intellectual and middle-brow media with a somewhat more restrained tone. The study of evolutionary accounts of human behavior is now called "evolutionary psychology" to avoid some of the justifiably bad connotations that were associated with sociobiology. During the last few years the linguist Steve Pinker, ( ) philosopher Daniel Dennett, ( ) New Republic editor and science popularizer Robert Wright,( ) and science writer Matt Ridley ( ) have produced feisty, polemical expositions of evolutionary psychology for a broad audience. Stephen J. Gould has returned to the breach to criticize evolutionary psychology, but several writers considered to be on the left have defended sociobiological approaches and criticized postmodern rejection of biologism. The core theories of evolutionary psychology are the same as those of sociobiology. Several of the commonly made distinctions between evolutionary psychology and sociobiology turn out not to distinguish the two. So what has changed and what is new?

10. Subject: Sociobiology - Cogprints Crusio, Wim E. (1995) The sociopathy of sociobiology. Moore, Jim (1992) sociobiology and incest avoidance a critical look at a critical review. http://cogprints.org/view/subjects/bio-socio.html

@import url(http://cogprints.org/style/auto.css); @import url(http://cogprints.org/style/print.css); @import url(http://cogprints.org/style/nojs.css); Cogprints Home About Browse by Year ... Create Account Subject: Sociobiology Subject Areas Biology Sociobiology Number of items at this level: Situngkir, Hokky Constructing the Phylomemetic Tree: Indonesian Tradition-Inspired Buildings. [Departmental Technical Report] Situngkir, Hokky Towards Complexity Studies of Indonesian Songs. [Departmental Technical Report] Situngkir, Hokky Computational Experiments with the Fuzzy Love and Romance. [Departmental Technical Report] Situngkir, Hokky The Ribbon of Love: Fuzzy-Ruled Agents in Artificial Societies. [Departmental Technical Report] Gabora, Dr. L. M. Why the Creative Process is Not Darwinian. [Journal (Paginated)] Situngkir, Hokky Advertising in Duopoly Market. [Departmental Technical Report] Ghirlanda, Stefano and Enquist, Magnus and Nakamaru, Mayuko Cultural evolution developing its own rules: The rise of conservatism and persuasion. [Journal (Paginated)] Braha, Dan

11. THE SOCIOBIOLOGY OF SOCIOPATHY: AN INTEGRATED... In an effort to present an integrated model, I will use a variety of arguments and data from the literature in sociobiology, game theory, behavior genetics, http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.mealey.html

Below is the unedited preprint (not a quotable final draft) of: Mealey, L. (1995). The sociobiology of sociopathy: An integrated evolutionary model. Behavioral and Brain Sciences The final published draft of the target article, commentaries and Author's Response are currently available only in paper. For information about subscribing or purchasing offprints of the published version, with commentaries and author's response, write to: journals_subscriptions@cup.org (North America) or journals_marketing@cup.cam.ac.uk (All other countries). THE SOCIOBIOLOGY OF SOCIOPATHY: AN INTEGRATED EVOLUTIONARY MODEL Linda Mealey Department of Psychology College of St. Benedict St. Joseph, MN 56374 Keywords sociobiology, sociopathy, psychopathy, antisocial personality, evolution, criminal behavior, game theory, emotion, moral development, facultative strategies Abstract Sociopaths are also sometimes known as psychopaths or antisocial personalities. Unfortunately, the literature reflects varied uses of these three terms (Hare 1970, Feldman 1977, McCord 1983, Wolf 1987, Eysenck 1987). Some authors use one or another term as a categorical label, as in psychiatric diagnosis or in defining distinct personality "types"; an example is the "antisocial personality" disorder described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (1987). Other authors use the terms to refer to individuals who exhibit, to a large degree, a set of behaviors or personality attributes which are found in a continuous, normal distribution among the population at large; an example of such usage is "sociopathy" as defined by high scores on all three scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire- extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism (Eysenck 1977, 1987).

12. Behavioral Ecology And Sociobiology - Behavioural Sciences Journals, Books & Onl Behavioral Ecology and sociobiology Behavioral Sciences. Behavioral Ecology and sociobiology publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries http://www.springer.com/life sci/behavioural/journal/265

Please select Africa Asia Australia / Oceania Europe France Germany Italy North America South America Switzerland United Kingdom All Author/Editor Title ISBN/ISSN Series Journals Series Textbooks Contact Select your subdiscipline Agriculture Aquatic Sciences Behavioral Sciences Biochemistry Bioinformatics Cell Biology Developmental Biology Ecology Entomology Forestry Microbiology Plant Sciences Zoology Select a discipline Astronomy Biomedical Sciences Chemistry Computer Science Economics Education Engineering Environmental Sciences Geography Geosciences Humanities Law Life Sciences Linguistics Materials Mathematics Medicine Philosophy Physics Psychology Public Health Social Sciences Statistics Home Life Sciences Behavioral Sciences Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Chief Editor: T. Czeschlik ISSN: 0340-5443 (print version) ISSN: 1432-0762 (electronic version) Journal no. 265 Springer Online version available Online First articles available Description Editorial Board Description Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology publishes reviews, original contributions and commentaries dealing with quantitative empirical and theoretical studies in the analysis of animal behavior on the level of the individual, population and community. A new section, "Methods", considers submissions dealing with statistical procedures and their problems, as well as with problems related to measurement techniques. Special emphasis is placed on the proximate mechanisms, ultimate functions and evolution of ecological adaptations of behavior.

13. Selfish Genes, Paradise Engineering And The Post-Darwinian Transition How genetic engineering will get rid of suffering in all sentient life. http://www.sociobiology.com/

T HE H EDONISTIC I MPERATIVE Heaven on Earth? ABSTRACT "...for just as the smallpox virus was systematically hunted down to extinction, so the precise molecular signature(s) of aversive experience and its predisposing genes will be hunted down and wiped out as well. The systematic application of nanotechnology, self-reproducing micro-miniaturised robots armed with supercomputer processing power, and ultra-sophisticated genetic engineering, perhaps using retro-viral vectors, will cure the root of all evil in its naturalistic guise throughout the living world. And once the pain has gone, with the right genes and designer drugs there's no reason why life shouldn't just get better and better.... " THE MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF PARADISE WTA HedWeb HerbWeb BLTC Research ... The Post-Darwinian Transition E-mail info@sociobiology.com

14. Great Ideas In Personality--Evolutionary Psychology This page deals with evolutionary psychology, an evolutionary approach to human nature. http://www.personalityresearch.org/evolutionary.html

Evolutionary Psychology Table of Contents Adaptationist Program Inclusive Fitness Wilson's Ladder Level 1 ... Home Evolutionary psychology is an evolutionary approach to human nature. Attachment Theory is also grounded in certain evolutionary ideas, and Behavior Genetics is a field concerned with that all-important evolutionary mechanism, the gene. Evolutionary Psychology and Sociobiology One author summed up the basic idea of evolutionary psychology this way: "A person is only a gene's way of making another gene" (Konner, 1985, p. 48). Sociobiology (of which evolutionary psychology is a subfield that particularly concerns humans) can be thought of as having, like any research program , a "hard core" of problem solving strategies that provide possible answers to vexing research questions, and a "protective belt" of promising research questions to be addressed by providing actual answers to these questions. The protective belt structures our ignorance by identifying research questions that must be addressed if the research program is to advance. Whereas the actual answers that arise from the protective belt may be wrong, the hard core (by methodological fiat) is never wrongany potential negative evidence is to be blamed on faulty auxiliary assumptions rather than on the theory itself. Sociobiology can be thought of as a special case of the adaptationist program , which assumes that all phenotypic features (or characters) of contemporary organisms result from the fact that these features allowed the organisms' predecessors to produce more offspring in a prehistoric environment (Lewontin, 1979). "Narrow sociobiology" is defined as the study of evolution and of function, and chiefly applies to non-human animals in which cultural transmission is not an important variable intervening between possible and actual explanations (Kitcher, 1988). The hard core of narrow sociobiology includes the following laws or problem solving strategies, the basics of evolutionary theory:

15. Sociobiology And You Ever since E.O. Wilson first published the 1975 book sociobiologywhich argued that human behavior, like that of all creatures on the planet, was partially http://www.thenation.com/doc/20021118/johnson

location.replace("/itr/?o=%2Fdoc%2F20021118%2Fjohnson"); GA_googleAddAttr("blog_issue", "20021118"); GA_googleAddAttr("origin", "print"); GA_googleAddAttr("author", "steven_joh"); GA_googleAddAttr("privilege", "free"); GA_googleAddAttr("role", "none"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_Top_728x90"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_Middle_336x280"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_ATF_300x250"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_Bottom_468x60"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_Right_160x600"); GA_googleAddSlot("ca-pub-7565666144516430", "Article_Right_173x173"); Home Issues November 18, 2002 issue Sociobiology and You posted October 31, 2002 (November 18, 2002 issue) Sociobiology and You Steven Johnson PRINT ARTICLE EMAIL ARTICLE Web Letters (0) SHARE ARTICLE Buzzflash del.icio.us Digg Facebook ... Write to the Magazine If Steven Pinker's latest 500-page treatise on the brain, The Blank Slate , serves any wider purpose in the popular discussion of science issues, it will, one hopes, be the final demolition of that battle-worn slur, "biological determinism," still lugged out by the occasional critic when someone starts talking about genes, evolution and human behavior in the same paragraph. Ever since E.O. Wilson first published the 1975 book

16. Connotea Sociobiology Offers links to news and journal articles. http://www.connotea.org/rss/search?q=Sociobiology

17. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis By E. O. Wilson A science of sociobiology, if coupled with neurophysiology, might transform the insights of ancient religions into a precise account of the evolutionary http://www.2think.org/sociobiology.shtml

Enter your search terms Web 2think.org Submit search form Edward Osborne Wilson Sociobiology: The New Synthesis "A science of sociobiology, if coupled with neurophysiology, might transform the insights of ancient religions into a precise account of the evolutionary origin of ethics and hence explain the reasons why we make certain moral choices instead of others at particular times." (p. 129) A big book gets even bigger. With over 700 jumbo sized pages of small, double columned print this is not a text that one can plow through in a week or two. Despite its size Sociobiology hasn't been expanded and updated in the past 25+ years (with the exception of Wilson's new 4 page introduction). Even with the vast amount of more recent research, Sociobiology is still worth reading. It will remain a timeless classic and constantly referred to work throughout the foreseeable future. Example after example through the entire book of various species demonstrating certain behaviors make Sociobiology almost as entertaining as it is fascinating which is unusual for something that on the surface appears to be a textbook of sorts. If the facts of the social behaviors of these species aren't intriguing enough for you then the novel and clever ways in which scientists have discovered these traits via careful observation and/or ingenious experiment will. The chapter on aggression is very interesting. It has been demonstrated that species far less conscious than humans are genetically programmed to be aggressive (via hormones like catecholamine) when crowded. Although the chapter isn't about

18. Steve Sailer: "E.O. Wilson's Sociobiology At Age 25" - National Review, 6/19/200 Vast yet coherent, sociobiology demonstrated in rigorous detail how Darwinian selection molded the various ways in which all animalsfrom the lowly corals http://www.isteve.com/Sociobiology.htm

Sociobiology at Age 25 by Steve Sailer www.iSteve.com National Review Home Email Steve ... Sociobiology: The New Synthesis 25th Anniversary Edition , by Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University Press, 697 pages, $75.00 cloth, $29.95 paper) [This is the last of the various versions I wrote for NR. No doubt it differs in some fashion from what they actually printed. Steve Sailer, www.iSteve.com Great fiction does not grow obsolete. Nor in it's own way does great propaganda. In contrast, truly important scientific books render themselves obsolete by opening new fields for subsequent scholars to elaborate. Edward O. Wilson's 1975 landmark Sociobiology , which introduced Darwinian explanations for behavior to the publicand which has now been reissued to mark its 25th anniversaryis just such a book. Vast yet coherent, Sociobiology demonstrated in rigorous detail how Darwinian selection molded the various ways in which all animalsfrom the lowly corals to the social insects to the highest primatescompete and cooperate with others of their own species. Outraging the leftists who dominated academia, Wilson suggested numerous analogies between animal and human societies. While men have drawn such parallels since long before Aesop, Wilson's command of natural history and the power of neo-Darwinian theory in unifying this vast body of knowledge lent credibility to his grand ambition to reduce social science to a branch of biology, just as, Wilson argued, biology could ultimately be reduced to chemistry and chemistry to physics. .

19. Animal And Human Behavior - Dr. Paul J. Watson Animal and Human Behavior Research and Teaching of Dr. Paul J. Watson, Depart of Biology, University of New Mexico. Field courses and graduate studies in http://biology.unm.edu/biology/pwatson/public_html/pjw_cv.htm

In my work on metabolic capacities of male sierra dome spiders, measured respirometrically during the spider's elaborate and strenuous ritual of copulatory courtship, I have found that both metabolic efficiency (microwatts consumed per unit of courtship performance) and maximum metabolic rate (sustainable aerobic capacity) are positively selected by females. Two overt male traits independently predict fertilization success, body mass and copulatory vigor (measured as intromission rate - the number of separate genitalic connections made by the male per unit time during copulatory courtship). Metabolic efficiency is correlated with male body mass (even after compensating for the expected allometric relationship) and aerobic capacity with copulatory vigor. Interestingly, due to some fundamental physiological tradeoff (maybe to do with accelerating rates of oxygen free-radicals with increasing metabolic rates) efficiency and maximum metabolic rate are negatively correlated in the general male population. By simultaneously selecting positively for both of these traits, females are effectively shopping for the least negative tradeoff between these two viability-enhancing physiological traits. In other words, by cross-referencing body mass and courtship performance, females are sexually selecting for metabolic power : the maximum rate at which the male can perform useful metabolic work (as opposed, for example, to "work" wasting calories in the production of heat or unnecessary movement).

20. Animal Behavior & Evolutionary Psychology -  Lecture 1, Page 1 Lecture on sociobiological behavior based on experimental animal observation from McMaster University, Canada. http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/psych1a6/1aa3/EvoPsych/lec1-1.htm

Animal behavior combines approaches from two fields: It combines the laboratory experimental approach of comparative psychology with the field observational approach of ethology , a branch of biology. Ethological observational work gives us information about what animals do, in what order, and under what conditions. It tells us little or nothing (directly) about the causes of that behavior. Comparative psychology studies the factors that determine an animal's behavior, but it's focus on laboratory research means that it often does not see animals in their natural habitats. Nikko Tinbergen, one of the 'fathers' of ethology (and, along with Konrad Lorenz, the winner of a Nobel prize for his work in the area) argued that there are really only four basic questions that we can ask about any behavior. (Note that the ontogeny of a behavior is its development over time in the individual.) Tinbergen's four questions may not seem like much, but they actually open a world of questions when applied to the specific behaviors of hundreds (or thousands) of different species. Some of these specific questions are listed in the graphics to the left and below. Back to the top of the page

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