Human Ethology is a 1989 book about ethology by the ethnologist Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt. The author was praised for his discussion of human behavior. He was credited with helping to establish that forms of behavior such as facial expressions have universal characteristics and cannot be understood solely in terms of learned cultural values.
Summary
Eibl-Eibesfeldt discusses human ethology, which he defines as "the biology of human behavior."
Background and publication history
Human Ethology is an English translation of Eibl-Eibesfeldt's German-language work Die Biologie des menschlichen Verhaltens by Pauline Wiessner-Larsen and Anette Heunemann. The book was published by Aldine de Gruyter in 1989 as part of the Foundations of Human Behavior series.
Reception
Human Ethology received a positive review from Lerdinha Bhavalpur in International Social Science Review. The book was also reviewed by David Edward Shaner in The Quarterly Review of Biology, Linda D. Wolfe in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Steven M. Green in Human Biology, and the psychologist Colwyn Trevarthen in Semiotica, and discussed by John Archer in Aggressive Behavior, the ethnologist Frank Salter, Karl Grammer, and Anja Rikowski in Human Nature, Augusta Gaspar and R. F. Oliveira in Acta Ethologica, Carlos B. Moreno and Jairo Muñoz-Delgado in Suma Psicológica, Salter in Politics and the Life Sciences, Gregory Hanlon in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, and Patrick A. Stewart, Salter, and Marc Mehu in Politics and the Life Sciences. Bhavalpur described the book as an impressive volume that showed its author's "depth, profundity, and expertise". He stated that it had been praised by scholars around the world, including the anthropologist Melvin Konner, who considered it essential for anyone concerned with human behavior. He credited Eibl-Eibesfeldt with basing his views on "extensive and intensive field work all over the world, even in distant and isolated areas" and with discussing "all important ethological subjects" as well as "the genesis, nature, typology, interpretation, theories, and consequences of human behavior." He also praised the book's bibliography and illustrations. Archer criticized Eibl-Eibesfeldt for relying on "qualitative observations" and avoiding quantification in his studies of human behavior. He argued against this approach on the grounds "that we would end up being mere collectors of examples" of behavior and that it was impossible to "avoid making deductions about" behavior. In his view, it was "essential to use quantitative data rather than speculative interpretations of qualitative data" and Eibl-Eibesfeldt's "transfer of ethological methods to humans" neglected social science methods. Gaspar and Oliveira credited Eibl-Eibesfeldt with helping to show which facial expressions are universal and to what extent culture influences their meanings by "documenting many human facial action universals". Moreno and Muñoz-Delgado wrote that research had confirmed Eibl-Eibesfeldt's view that there are "universal characteristics of human behavior." Salter credited Eibl-Eibesfeldt with providing an "encyclopedic review of the literature on human ethology". Hanlon credited Eibl-Eibesfeldt with helping to establish that human behavior could not be understood solely in terms of "learned cultural values", that the behavioral sciences could help to explain "the interpersonal actions in past societies", and that "every known human society recognizes marriage." He compared Human Ethology to the biologist E. O. Wilson's On Human Nature and the historian Daniel Lord Smail's Deep History and the Brain. Stewart, Salter, and Mehu credited Eibl-Eibesfeldt with identifying "salient features of greeting displays as initial eye contact followed by the head toss and eyebrow flash, followed by one or more nods."
