In ethology and cognitive ethology, the hawk/goose effect refers to a behavior observed in some young birds when another bird flies above them: if the flying bird is a goose, the young birds show no reaction, but if the flying bird is a hawk, the young birds either become more agitated or cower to reduce the danger. It was first observed by Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen.
As part of their introducing experimentalism into animal behavior research they performed experiments in which they made 2-dimensional silhouettes of various bird-like shapes and moved them across the young birds' line of vision. Goose-like shapes were ignored while hawk-like shapes produced the response. Later Tinbergen reported that a single shape that was sort of an abstract composite of the hawk and goose sillhouettes could produce the effect if moved in one direction but not the other. Initially thought to be an inborn instinct developed from natural selection, it was subsequently shown by others to be socially reinforced by other birds.
Video Hawk/goose effect
References
Maps Hawk/goose effect
Further reading
- Schleidt, Wolfgang; Shalter, Michael D.; and Moura-Neto Humberto."The hawk/goose story: The classical ethological experiments of Lorenz and Tinbergen, revisited." Journal of Comparative Psychology, 125(2):121-133, 2011.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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