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February 1938

Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels (Der Artgenosse als auslösendes Moment sozialer Verhaltungsweisen) [The Companion in the Environment of the Bird: The Fellow-Member of the Species as a Motivating Factor in Social Behavior].

Arch NeurPsych. 1938;39(2):430-432. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1938.02270020220018

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Abstract

Many psychologists and psychiatrists who deal with human beings become engulfed in the complexity of their material and never become acquainted with the simple and important facts of "natural history." Training in the simple biology of barnyard and forest is a great educational advantage. The fact that many leading psychologists are urban products, knowing little of these biologic fundamentals, has led to much misunderstanding of what an instinct really is and to much vague use of such terms as "instinctual."

Recognizing this weakness in modern psychology, it was with delight that the reviewer came on these two papers by Lorenz. He has made extensive observations on birds, both wild and domesticated, captive and free, and has come to conclusions which seem to upset orthodox beliefs of the comparative psychologists and to illuminate obscure parts of Darwin's explanation of the survival value of certain structures and behavior patterns.

Conspicuous among Lorenz'

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