Change of Concepts of Behaviour over the Last 60 Years at Humboldt University Berlin

Abstract

st , 1948, the institute of ethology or behavioural sciences was founded as Forschungsstatte fur Tierpsychologie at Humboldt University Berlin. One of the first research subjects was Susi, the only chimpanzee surviving the war at the Zoo Berlin which resulted in my first book with an ethological approach Grundzuge der Schimpansen-Psychologie (Outlines of Chimpanzee Psychology). Basic concepts about communication and the development of behaviour emerged from the synthesis of evolutionary theory, systems theory, biocybernetics, and theory of self-organization, but also the development of computer technology had a decisive influence. Thus, a clear distinction from former animal psychology led to classical ethological themes defining “the concept of behaviour as organismic interaction with the environment on the basis of an exchange of information ensuring individual, ecological and inclusive fitness”. Some selected aspects will be addressed: Acoustic biocommunication was not seen as an isolated incidence of sound utterances, but as an interaction between sender and receiver, defined as affine, i. e. attractive, distance reducing and diffugous, i. e. aversive, distance enhancing sounds, whereas ambivalent intermediary signals stabilize the distance. It was part of the research on the behaviour of foxes, that led to a substantial increase of the Tierstimmenarchiv (Archive of Animal Sounds) and to the formation of bioacoustics. The Three-Vector-Model of Behaviour was developed as a framework for studying behaviour. Other specific concepts of behaviour as for example chronobiology and the Theory of Strata with four ‘strata (layers)’ emerged: evolutionary, biogenetic, tradigenetic and ratiogenetic potential. In the 1980’s the research concept Humans as Bio-psycho-social Units incorporating various aspects into the basis of human behaviour was developed in close cooperation with endocrinologists, developmental psychologists and philosophers.

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