Despite over a hundred years of research and theorizing, questions concerning play behaviour, such as what behaviour qualifies as play, what brain mechanisms are needed to produce play, and of what be
For centuries the phenomenon of play has perplexed scientists across the board. Studies by biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and educators have excited keen debate and conte
All students and researchers of behaviour – from those observing freely-behaving animals in the field to those conducting more controlled laboratory studies – face the problem of deciding what exactly to measure. Without a scientific framework on which to base them, however, such decisions are often unsystematic and inconsistent. Providing a clear and defined starting point for any behavioural study, this is the first book to make available a set of principles for how to study the organisation of behaviour and, in turn, for how to use those insights to select what to measure. The authors provide enough theory to allow the reader to understand the derivation of the principles, and draw on numerous examples to demonstrate clearly how the principles can be applied. By providing a systematic framework for selecting what behaviour to measure, the book lays the foundations for a more scientific approach for the study of behaviour.
All students and researchers of behaviour – from those observing freely-behaving animals in the field to those conducting more controlled laboratory studies – face the problem of deciding what exactly to measure. Without a scientific framework on which to base them, however, such decisions are often unsystematic and inconsistent. Providing a clear and defined starting point for any behavioural study, this is the first book to make available a set of principles for how to study the organisation of behaviour and, in turn, for how to use those insights to select what to measure. The authors provide enough theory to allow the reader to understand the derivation of the principles, and draw on numerous examples to demonstrate clearly how the principles can be applied. By providing a systematic framework for selecting what behaviour to measure, the book lays the foundations for a more scientific approach for the study of behaviour.
This volume is the first to aim at summarizing all of the scientific literature published so far regarding male-female differences and similarities, not only in behavior, but also in basic biology, ph
