The Play of AnimalsD. Appleton and Company, 1898 - 341 Seiten "In this volume Professor Groos makes a contribution to three distinct but cognate departments of inquiry: philosophical biology, animal psychology, and the genetic study of art. The world of play, to which art belongs, stands in most important and interesting contrast with the stern realities of life; yet there are few scientific works in the field of human play, and none at all in that of animal play--a fact to be accounted for, probably, by the inherent difficulties of the subject, both objective and subjective. The animal psychologist must harbour in his breast not only two souls, but more; he must unite with a thorough training in physiology, psychology, and biology the experience of a traveller, the practical knowledge of the director of a zoological garden, and the outdoor lore of a forester. And even then he could not round up his labours satisfactorily unless he were familiar with the trend of modern aesthetics. Groos holds play to be an instinct developed by natural selection, and to be on a level with the other instincts which are developed for their utility. Its utility is, in the main, twofold: First, it enables the young animal to exercise himself beforehand in the strenuous and necessary functions of its life and so to be ready for their onset; and, second, it enables the animal by a general instinct to do many things in a playful way, and so to learn for itself much that would otherwise have to be inherited in the form of special instincts; this puts a premium on intelligence, which thus comes to replace instinct"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved). |
Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
A. R. Wallace acquired characters actions activity acts æsthetic Animal Intelligence animal psychologist appears beautiful Brehm says Büchner cage called chase cited colours connection consciousness courtship creature curiosity dancing Darwin delight display energy evolution example excitement exercise explain expression fact feathers feeling female fighting flock germ plasm gray parrot Groos ground habit hereditary heredity Hudson Ibid idea imitative impulse individual inheritance of acquired instinct kind Lamarckian leaping Lloyd Morgan Loango make-believe male mate means ment mental monkeys motion Müller natural selection Naturalist Naumann nest object observations pairing parrot paws phenomena Plata playful pleasure practice prey principle Principles of Psychology psychology reflex remarkable Romanes Scheitlin Schiller seems seizing sexual selection singing song sound species Spencer stinct tail theory Thiere der Heimath Thierseelenkunde tion titmouse turn uncon voice Wallace Weismann wings wood lark young animals young birds
Beliebte Passagen
Seite 217 - Brehm gives a curious account of the instinctive dread, which his monkeys exhibited, for snakes ; but their curiosity was so great that they could not desist from occasionally satiating their horror in a most human fashion, by lifting up the lid of the box in which the snakes were kept.
Seite 112 - ... while the leader utters loud single notes at regular intervals. The march ceases; the leader elevates his wings and stands erect and motionless, still uttering loud notes ; while the other two, with puffed-out plumage and standing exactly abreast, stoop forward and downward until the tips of their beaks touch the ground, and, sinking their rhythmical voices to a murmur, remain for some time in this posture. The performance is then over and the visitor goes back to his own ground and mate, to...
Seite 29 - For my own part, I look upon it as upon the principle of gravitation in bodies, which is not to be explained by any known qualities inherent in the bodies themselves, nor from any laws of mechanism, but, according to the best notions of the greatest philosophers, is an immediate impression from the first mover, and the divine energy acting in the creatures.
Seite 162 - At times the male will chase the female all over the aviary, then go to the bower, pick up a gay feather or a large leaf, utter a curious kind of note, set all his feathers erect, run round the bower and become so excited that his eyes appear ready to start from his head; he continues opening first one wing...
Seite 98 - ... by digging out the mortar, broke countless squares of glass by scraping away the putty all round the frames, and tore up and swallowed, in splinters, the greater part of a wooden staircase of six steps and a landing — but after some three years he too was taken ill, and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the last upon the meat as it roasted, and suddenly turned over on his back with a sepulchral cry of 'Cuckoo!
Seite 221 - And the scent of winged flowers, And the coolness of the hours Of dew, and sweet warmth left by day, Were scattered o'er the twinkling bay. And the fisher with his lamp And spear about the low rocks damp Crept, and struck the fish which came To worship the delusive flame.
Seite 111 - ... notes, though it was loudly thundering at the time, while vivid flashes of lightning lit the black cloud overhead at short intervals. I watched their flight and listened to their notes, till suddenly as they made a wide sweep upwards they disappeared in the cloud, and at the same moment their voices became muffled, and seemed to come from an immense distance. The cloud continued emitting sharp flashes of lightning, but the birds never reappeared, and after six or seven minutes once more their...
Seite 98 - It may have been that he was too bright a genius to live long, or it may have been that he took some pernicious substance into his bill, and thence into his maw — which is not improbable, seeing that he...
Seite 5 - with a quotation from a German author to the effect that the aesthetic sentiments originate from the play-impulse. I do not remember the name of the author ; and if any reasons were given for this statement, or any inferences drawn from it, I cannot recall them. But the statement itself has remained with me, as being one which, if not literally true, is yet the adumbration of a truth.
Seite 77 - Animals cannot be said to play because they are young and frolicsome, but rather they have a period of youth in order to play ; for only by so doing can they supplement the insufficient hereditary endowment with individual experience, in view of the coming tasks of life.