Ethology and the origins of behavioral endocrinology

The neurosciences embrace many disciplines, some long established, others of more recent origin. Behavioral endocrinology has only recently been fully acknowledged as a branch of neuroscience, distinctive for the determination of some of its exponents to remain integrative in the face of the many pressures towards reductionism that so dominate modern biology. One of its most characteristic features is a commitment to research at the whole-animal level on the physiological basis of complex behaviors, with a particular but by no means exclusive focus on reproductive behavior in all its aspects. The search for rigorously defined principles of behavioral organization that apply across species and the hormonal and neural mechanisms that sustain them underlies much of the research. Their aims are much like those put forth in the classical ethology of Lorenz and Tinbergen, one of the roots from which behavioral endocrinology has sprung. But there are others that can be traced back a century or more. Antecedents can be found in the work of such pioneers as Jakob von Uexküll, Jacques Loeb, Herbert Spencer Jennings, and particularly Charles Otis Whitman who launched a tradition that culminated in the classical contributions of Robert Hinde and Daniel Lehrman. William C. Young was another pioneer. His studies revolutionized thinking about the physiological mechanisms by which hormones influence behavior. An earlier potent influence was Karl Lashley who helped to shape the career of Frank Ambrose Beach who, more than anyone, has played a leading role in launching this new field.