Biological Sciences
Group Behavior Biology
Group behavior in biology refers to the actions and interactions of individuals within a social group. It encompasses various aspects such as communication, cooperation, competition, and collective decision-making. Understanding group behavior is crucial for studying social structures, evolutionary dynamics, and ecological relationships within animal and human populations.
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3 Key excerpts on "Group Behavior Biology"
eBook - ePub- B.F Skinner(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Free Press(Publisher)
SECTION IV
THE BEHAVIOR OF PEOPLE IN GROUPS
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CHAPTER XIX
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Social behavior may be defined as the behavior of two or more people with respect to one another or in concert with respect to a common environment. It is often argued that this is different from individual behavior and that there are “social situations” and “social forces” which cannot be described in the language of natural science. A special discipline called “social science” is said to be required because of this apparent break in the continuity of nature. There are, of course, many facts—concerning governments, wars, migrations, economic conditions, cultural practices, and so on—which would never present themselves for study if people did not gather together and behave in groups, but whether the basic data are fundamentally different is still a question. We are interested here in the methods of the natural sciences as we see them at work in physics, chemistry, and biology, and as we have so far applied them in the field of behavior. How far will they carry us in the study of the behavior of groups?Many generalizations at the level of the group need not refer to behavior at all. There is an old law in economics, called Gresham’s Law, which states that bad money drives good money out of circulation. If we can agree as to what money is, whether it is good or bad, and when it is in circulation, we can express this general principle without making specific reference to the use of money by individuals. Similar generalizations are found in sociology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and history. But a “social law” must be generated by the behavior of individuals. It is always an individual who behaves, and he behaves with the same body and according to the same processes as in a nonsocial situation. If an individual possessing two pieces of money, one good and one bad, tends to spend the bad and save the good—a tendency which may be explained in terms of reinforcing contingencies—and if this is true of a large number of people, the phenomenon described by Gresham’s Law arises. The individual behavior explains the group phenomenon. Many economists feel the need for some such explanation of all economic law, although there are others who would accept the higher level of description as valid in its own right.
eBook - PDFHuman Evolution beyond Biology and Culture
Evolutionary Social, Environmental and Policy Sciences
- Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Part III Bridging Natural and Social Sciences 5 Evolution of Social Behaviour in Animals and Humans 5.1 Sociobiology The emergence of social evolution in various types of animals meant the appearance of a new level of reality, characterised by advanced communication, cooperation in large groups, complex social organisation, and institutions to stabilise society or enhance learning. Social-cultural evolution can involve genetic and non-genetic changes. Social organisation in relatively simple creatures, such as ants, has been dominated by genetic factors, through the mechanism of so-called ‘kin selection’. Selection of higher animals with a more developed memory has further been affected by ‘reciprocal altruism’. In even more intellectual animals, such as primates, not only kin and reciprocal altruism but also indirect reciprocity and associated reputation effects have left their imprint. The evolution of human culture has most likely been shaped by a combination of all these types of selection, as well as by group selection (Chapter 6) and non-genetic cultural evolution (Chapter 7). Sociobiology denotes the body of literature that originally introduced an evolutionary angle to the analysis of social behaviour and strategies of animals. This meant an integration of evolutionary theory and ethology, the study of animal behaviour. Socio- biology was intended to clarify group composition and size, social organisation, communication and the division of labour within populations, colonies and other groups of animals. A main accomplishment was explaining the balance between competition and cooperation, as being driven by combinations of selfishness and certain types of altruism. Foundational insights of sociobiology were derived by William (Bill) Hamilton (1964), Robert Trivers (1971) and John Maynard Smith and George R. Price (1973). An early synthesis of the literature is found in a much-debated book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis by myrmecologist (ant-expert) E.O.
eBook - ePub- Laurie Ann Callihan(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Research & Education Association(Publisher)
CHAPTER 7 Population Biology CHAPTER 7 POPULATION BIOLOGY ECOLOGYEcology is the study of how organisms interact with other organisms and how they influence or are influenced by their physical environment . The word “ecology” is derived from the Greek term oikos (meaning “home” or “place to live”) and ology (meaning “the study of ”), so ecology is a study of organisms in their home. This study has revealed a number of patterns and principles that help us understand how organisms relate to their environment. First, however, it is important to grasp some basic vocabulary used in ecology.The study of ecology centers on the ecosystem. An ecosystem is a group of populations found within a given locality, including the abiotic environment around those populations. A population is the total number of a single species of organism found in a given ecosystem. Typically, there are many populations of different species within a particular ecosystem. The term organism refers to an individual of a particular species. Each species is a distinct group of individuals that are able to interbreed (mate), producing viable offspring. Although species are defined by their ability to reproduce, they are usually described by their morphology (their anatomical features).Populations that interact with each other in a particular ecosystem are collectively termed a community . For instance, a temperate forest community includes pine trees, oaks, shrubs, lichen, mosses, ferns, squirrels, deer, insects, owls, bacteria, fungi, etc.The part of the Earth that includes all living things is called the biosphere . The biosphere also includes the atmosphere (air), the lithosphere (ground), and the hydrosphere (water).A habitat refers to the physical place where a species lives. A species’ habitat must include all the factors that will support its life and reproduction. These factors may be biotic (i.e., living—food source, predators, etc.) and abiotic
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