Expressive behavior

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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

literature

Web links

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 )