The human being is, without a doubt, an animal that holds great mysteries. We observe our species in awe, incredulous before all that is good and bad of which we are capable, feeling like a “bug” different from what lives in nature. And also, why not say it, as the most important.

This vision, known as anthropocentrism, has been part of our lives for many years , promoted by different religions, and has prevented us from “assuming” our primitive and natural side. Or what is the same, our animal roots, which come from a lineage of enormous primates to which we are inexorably linked.

In recent years, however, ideas about the evolution of species have begun to take hold in popular culture. These ideas have also raised new questions for us to think about: are human beings as free as they think they are? to what extent has evolutionary history conditioned our decisions? are we just another animal?

These questions, among many others, try to be answered from human ethology . In spite of being a relatively recent discipline, it has already taken its place among the sciences that deal with the human fact. In this article we will discuss what it is, and on what basis it builds its broad body of knowledge.

What is ethology?

The word ethology comes from the classical Greek, and more specifically from the terms “ethos” (habit or custom) and “logos” (knowledge or science). It is, therefore, a multidimensional discipline (biology, genetics, medicine, psychology, etc.) whose purpose is the scientific approach to the behaviour of animals in their natural environment, as well as the description of their interactions with other subjects in the group or with their physical environment. For all these reasons, theories such as those of evolution, based on sexual reproduction and adaptation to the environment, are often used.

Ethology is separated from psychology not only in its perspective of study, but also in the fact that its scope of knowledge is focused only on the behavioral, obviating many of the internal processes that the observed subject could be “reproducing” at a given moment. Its explanatory power lies in phylogeny, that is, in the evolutionary history of the species; being able to explain any individual action in the light of the shared experience of the group to which it belongs.

Ethology as a discipline was founded by the Austrian physician Konrad Lorenz (whose work concluded in a relevant doctoral thesis in the field of zoology) and by the zoologist from the Netherlands Nikollas Tinbergen, in the late 1930s. Their work at the School of Ethological Animal Behaviour led them to win the Nobel Prize (shared) in 1973, for their crucial contribution to the knowledge of mother-child relationships and for the detailed description of the phenomenon of “imprinting”, which would later be added to the sciences of human behaviour (with the construct of attachment).

In the early days of ethology, it focused only on field (live) research on non-human animals. As time went by, and especially at the moment when the human being descended from the pedestal he had once occupied (to understand himself as one more being of nature), a new branch emerged in charge of the study of our species. In this way, and just as happened with psychology and/or philosophy, this area of knowledge made its object of study coincide with the subject who is observing it.

The branch of human ethology was born at the beginning of the 1970s, by Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt , and it was mainly focused on the social dynamics and the definition of the behavioural repertoires that people could use during their exchanges with the environment. He inherited from classical ethology his interspecies comparative method, in such a way that primates would be the creatures chosen for the analysis (at least regarding elementary gestures, not communication or symbolization), emphasizing the behavioral overlap with our ancestors.

In short, human ethology would start from the same premise as the original discipline; and its aims would be the study of the stimuli (both internal and external) associated with the initiation of motivated behaviour, the analysis of the usefulness of such actions, the exploration of the origin of the habits that facilitate correct adaptation and the assessment of results according to reproductive or survival criteria. Likewise, all this would be carried out taking into account the evolution of the species itself (phylogeny) and the unique development of the subject (ontogeny) .

What is human ethology?

Human ethology seeks to know the one that is, without a doubt, the most complex animal on the planet . And this is so, above all, because of our capacity to reason and assume consciousness of ourselves, which is made possible by the extraordinary development of the neocortex (the most recent of all brain structures in an evolutionary sense). As a direct consequence of this, our species experienced, at some point, an authentic cognitive revolution and became the first to be able to live together in spaces where thousands or millions of individuals lived. The social structure of primates was quickly surpassed, and laws or norms emerged to regulate interactions.

Both phenomena, at least in their magnitude, are unique to the human species and explain the relevance of a separate branch of the thick epistemological trunk of ethology. Even so, they share their roots, which is why a mbas are planted on the ground of the evolution of the species proposed by Darwin . Through this theoretical prism, we intend to give an account of human phenomena, being sensitive to the heritage of our most remote ancestors and to the biological sacrifice for their survival. Issues such as genetic kinship, reproduction and instincts are at the base of its postulates.

Since the best way to understand the concept of human ethology is through examples, we will now discuss how it interprets certain phenomena. It is important to bear in mind that, given the breadth of its field of study, it must necessarily draw on advances in related sciences (such as sociology, psychology and biology).

Some examples

In order to clarify what the objective of human ethology is, it is useful to have recourse to some simple examples of the many that would be possible. From now on, four almost universal assumptions will be raised in the life of every individual, and the way in which this science interprets them under the protection of the theoretical models that support it.

1. Goal of Life

Most of us like to believe that our lives have a purpose , and every day we strive precisely to achieve it and be able to feel satisfied. These goals can be very different, and fluctuate through time according to the needs of each evolutionary period, but in any case they give us a deep sense that goes beyond the mere fact of existing for the sake of existing. Achieving a certain social position, reaching the top of a profession, building a happy family or just being proud of having tried are common examples of vital goals that people set for themselves.

However, from an ethological perspective, all of them can be summarized in one: the transmission of our genes , which has been coined as reproductive success. At a metaphorical level, living organisms would be only a physical vehicle from which the genes themselves would be maintained over time, this being the ultimate end of existence. This is perhaps an unromantic vision of a reality that has inspired thinkers throughout the ages, but it proposes a useful framework for understanding why we act as we do in certain circumstances.

This reproductive success, or biological efficiency, can be expressed in two different ways : the direct and the indirect. The former depends on one’s own sexual activity, by which one extends one’s genetic baggage to the lineage (children), while the latter goes one step further and includes the reproduction of those with whom one shares a kinship. Both are, for human ethology, the most basic of the motivations that all people harbour for living. It is for this reason that it tacitly conditions many of our acts, even though we are not aware of it.

2. Social relations

Human ethology addresses issues such as altruism or prosocial behaviour, which are very often displayed during relationships between two individuals, especially when they belong to the same family. This way of acting would promote the survival of the species when “correcting” the difficulties of the members of the collective , which sometimes come to compromise life. For many years it was thought that this explanation was valid to understand why we help each other, but all this changed with the theory of The Selfish Gene (1976), published by Richard Dawkins. It was a turn of the screw.

This postulate presented an innovative idea to the scientific community, which quickly spread to human ethology and became established in the very heart of the discipline. It proposed that acts that benefit groups lack adaptive value, while selfish ones would be effective in promoting genetic continuity. By acting in such a way (self-centered) one would be more likely to provide oneself with the essential resources to survive, but… why do so many people continue to care for others?

This theoretical model states, for example, that parents may be able to give their lives for their children because it depends on them to maintain their genetic legacy in the future . Thus, by giving priority to their security over their own, indirect biological efficacy (discussed in the previous section) would be reinforced. This view of things is applicable to many animals, such as primates or cetaceans, and gives a good account of why they tend to be grouped into small groups according to inbreeding.

In the case of the human being it is considered that, in spite of the fact that at some point in his extensive evolutionary history it could have been a fundamental explanatory element for his survival, at present his usefulness is questionable. And this is so because our brains allow for an unparalleled degree of reasoning, which usually manifests itself in cultural constructions that transcend the limitations of biology and genes, daring to trace paths where other beings only allow themselves to be carried away by the intense flow of biology. All these issues are still hotly debated among ethologists today.

3. Interpersonal attraction

Being attracted to someone, or even being in love, are two experiences that (if they are reciprocated) bring enormous happiness. At the moment of feeling romantic curiosity about another person, the truth is that there are many variables that come into play, from how he is physically to his character or material resources . The fact is that every human being has his or her priorities when choosing a partner, and makes them a precondition for mixing his or her chromosomes with those of someone else.

Even so, a large percentage is able to recognize that “physics” is basic. Thus, it is not uncommon to hear statements like “it has to come in through the eye” or “I have to like what I see” when investigating what reasons are weighed for choosing someone. Although most people believe this, voices are raised accusing those who express it aloud of being superficial. But does such a question make sense from the prism of human ethology? Obviously, the answer is a resounding yes.

Certain physical attributes, such as height or muscular and lipid distribution, allowed in ancient times to infer the genetic quality of the one who held them . The firm buttocks, the broad chest or the corpulent arms indicated that the subject had athletic abilities suitable for hunting, which would allow food to be available even in the most difficult moments. The wide hips and generous breasts were, in turn, an unmistakable sign of fertility. All of them became desirable features in the eyes of women or men, because they facilitated the replicative will of the genes. In a way, they are still in use today.

4. Falling in love

Falling in love has also been an object of interest for human ethology. A large part of the population has felt this way at some time in their lives: difficulty in stopping thinking about the other, the need to share time at their side, the feeling of being “distracted”, excitement at the idea of meeting, the desire to have intimate physical contact, etc. And although it is a wonderful feeling, ethology has understood it as a mechanism to promote contact between two individuals for as long as it takes for them to reproduce. Thus, in fact, this sensation usually fades away after a few years, leaving behind a much more measured and rational love.

5. Attachment

One of the most important contributions of ethology to the relationship between parents and their offspring is that of imprinting. This is a link that is drawn between two living beings in the moments close to the birth of one of them , from which both will seek a physical closeness that facilitates the survival of the most vulnerable. It has been observed in many animal species, especially birds. We can all imagine, right now, the bucolic scene of a “mother duck” crossing a road or highway with her chicks. They all move in a straight line and together, forming a compact group that avoids getting lost.

Well, the phenomenon has been described in the human being through attachment. This concept was formulated by John Bowlby, an English psychiatrist who studied how human offspring relate to their bonding figures during the first years of life, in search of an essential security that allows the exploration of the environment and the development of behaviours such as symbolic play. Attachment is key to understanding the mother-child relationship, and it is a phenomenon that conditions how we will interact with others when we reach adulthood (although it can be modulated by other constructive experiences that are forged beyond childhood).

All these examples are just a discreet brushstroke of the very diverse postulates that are emerging from human ethology in recent years, and which bring to mind something we should never have forgotten: that we are a primate with a very particular brain, but not a being alien to nature or to the forces that evolution exerts on everything that is alive.

Bibliographic references:

  • Leedom, L. (2014). Human Social Behavioral Systems: a Unified Theory. Human Ethology Bulletin. 29, 41-49.
  • Martinez, J.M. (2004). Human Ethology. Isagogé, 1, 31-34.