Expressive behavior

Cat threatened by a dog reacts with threatening behavior (from Darwin : "Emotions" )

Expressive behavior is a technical term in behavioral biology . It describes all behavioral patterns "that have the character of a trigger and serve the intraspecial (occasionally also the interspecial) communication." Synonyms for this are emotional movements (as with Georg Ernst Stahl ) or display (younger term).

These behavior patterns have either emerged in the phylogenetic process of intra-species communication through body language or have emerged from dealing with other, competing species . As social signals, they indicate the mood of an animal and thus influence the behavior of individuals of the same or a different species. The expressive behavior is therefore also suitable for determining the emotional state of pets depending on the situation .

Forms of expressive behavior

Expressive behavior includes both visual signals ( expressive movements ) and acoustic signals ( e.g. warning signals ), as well as touch and elements of olfactory communication . Widely known is the peacock's tail feathers turning into a "wheel" , but also the singing of the nightingale , the simulation of a broken wing in the presence of a predator (whereupon it pursues the apparently sick bird and not its young), the mating replay , the dance language of the Bees and the undulating, rising and then falling flight of the male golden eagle can be interpreted as expressive behavior.

Expressive behavior in literature: the disappearance of the Cheshire Cat while grinning

The "purpose" of expressive behavior can be, for example:

• soliciting a partner
• the intimidation of rivals
• claiming a territory
• the initiation of copulation
• deterring an attacker
• communicating danger to group members
• luring an attacker away from the boys.

See also

• emotion
• Gesture of humility
• Display behavior
• Threatening behavior
• Appeasement signal (dog)
• Handicap principle
• Nonverbal communication

literature

• Charles Darwin : The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals . Eichborn 2000. ISBN 3821841885 (Critical edition of the original 1872 edition by Paul Ekman )
• Nikolaas Tinbergen : On the sociology of the herring gull , Larus a. argentatus Pont. In: "Contributions to the reproductive biology of birds", Volume 12, 1936, pp. 89-96
• Konrad Lorenz : Here I am - where are you? Ethology of the greylag goose. Munich, Zurich: Piper, 1988
• Dorit Urd Feddersen-Petersen : Expressive behavior in dogs. Facial expressions, body language, communication and understanding . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag 2008. ISBN 344009863X

Web links

• rudelberater.de ( Memento from February 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Examples of expressive behavior in dingoes (PDF; 871 kB)
• uni-saarland.de ( Memento from February 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Information on a lecture on emotions and expressive behavior
• sueddeutsche.de Joachim Marschall: "Mienenspiel: Fear sharpens the senses." Süddeutsche Zeitung of June 17, 2008, p. 16

Individual evidence

1. ^ Keyword expressive behavior in: Klaus Immelmann : Grzimeks Tierleben , supplementary volume behavior research. Kindler Verlag, Zurich 1974, p. 622.
2. ↑ Bernward Josef Gottlieb (Ed.): Georg Ernst Stahl: About the manifold influence of emotional movements on the human body (Hall 1695) / About the importance of the synergic principle for medicine (Hall 1695) / About the difference between organism and mechanism ( Hall 1714) / Considerations for a doctor's home visit (Hall 1703). Leipzig 1961 (= Sudhoff's classics of medicine. Volume 36.).
3. ↑ Expressive behavior for assessing sensitivities in horses. On: vetline.de , summary of a study from Dtsch.tierärztl.Wschr. Volume 114, No. 3, 2007, pp. 91-97.
4. ↑ Konrad Lorenz : Comparative behavior research. Basics of ethology. Springer-Verlag, Vienna and New York 1978, p. 195, ISBN 978-3-7091-3098-8 .
5. ↑ Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos. ( Memento from January 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )