Table Of ContentPREFACE
One of the major basic problems of psychology and biology is the effect of
heredity upon behavior; yet in the 1930's and early 1940's research in this area
had almost completely gone out of style. At that time it was possible to count on
the fingers of one hand the persons who had done significant research in the
field. Tryon had done an extensive experiment on heredity and maze running in
rats, followed up by important studies from his students, Hall and Searle.
Dawson had begun to work with behavior in dogs, but his project was terminated
by the outbreak of war.
In the human area, interest in the Thirties was largely confined to a somewhat
sterile controversy over the extent to which IQ scores could be modified by
special training, although Thurstone and Strandskov had become interested in
applying the technique of factorial analysis to problems of behavior genetics.
Among most scientists there had been a revulsion against the exaggerated claims
of the early eugenicists and the racist doctrines of Nazi Germany, and it was not
infrequently stated that heredity had no effect upon human behavior.
It was against this general background that Dr. Alan Gregg, then Director for the
Medical Sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation, went to lunch with Dr. C. C.
Little, the director and founder of the Jackson Laboratory, and expressed the
opinion that psychiatrists and sociologists were paying too little attention to the
factor of heredity as it affected behavior. Dr. Little's imagination caught fire, and
the outcome was a tentative arrangement for a long-range project, later known as
"Genetics and the Social Behavior of Mammals."
The results of that project are now summarized in this book, which is primarily
an account of an experiment lasting some thirteen years and involving intensive
and extensive measurements on the behavior of hundreds of purebred and hybrid
dogs, studied from birth to one year. As the experiment progressed, we were
more and more impressed with the developmental approach to the problem of
the genetics of behavior, and much of our work is presented from that viewpoint.
In addition, we have analyzed the genetic results by most of the conventional
statistical methods and have developed certain new ones as well. Finally, we
have shown how these results relate to the general problems of human and
animal behavior.
As well as presenting our own work, we have collected a great deal of
As well as presenting our own work, we have collected a great deal of
background information on the origin and nature of genetic diversity in dogs.
The book as a whole is therefore a source of general information on behavior of
dogs and should be of interest to dog owners and breeders as well as theoretical
scientists.
This is, naturally, not the last word on the subject. Our work has raised as many
new questions as it has answered old ones, and we present our findings to date in
the hope that they may provide a background for much needed future work. One
thing which has impressed us is that the dog, for all its eight thousand years or so
of association with human beings, is still in many respects a scientifically
unknown animal. Despite the hundreds of papers that have been published about
this animal, there are vast areas of information which are still unexplored. With
the more generous support now available for research, it should eventually be
possible to know instead of merely speculate about the nature of man's best
friend.
While this experiment has been going on, much progress has been made
elsewhere and in many scientific disciplines. Many workers have contributed to
the revival of interest in the problem of genetics and behavior, in particular the
ethologists under the leadership of Tinbergen and Lorenz, whose studies of
instinct have reformulated the question of genetic differences between species.
In other fields, symposia on behavior genetics have been held at the two 1963
International Congresses of genetics and psychology. A recent presidential
address of the American Psvchological Association was devoted to the subject of
genetics and schizophrenia. A committee on behavior genetics has been set up
by the Social Science Research Council. At a symposium of the American
Psychiatric Society (published afterward as a volume entitled Roots of Behavior)
one-fourth ot the papers were directly concerned with behavior genetics,
PREFACE vH
and eight of the thirty-one authors had some direct association with the Jackson
Laboratory.
If Alan Gregg were alive today, we think that he would be pleased with the
results.
J. P. Scott
J. L. Fuller
J. L. Fuller
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The pronoun "we" is used deliberately in this book, not only because it has two
authors, but in recognition of the contributions made by our numerous co-
laborers on the project.
We particularly wish to recognize the efforts of our research assistants, on whom
the accuracy and integrity of the data so largely depended. Many of them have
since gone on to advanced training and have become independent investigators.
We are especially indebted to Margaret Charles Higgins and Edna DuBuis for
their long periods of service, and to C. L. Brace, Orville Elliot, Albert
Pawlowski, and Joseph Royce for their contributions to data analysis. Others
who made contributions over the 13-year span of the project were Duane Blume,
Marian Burns, John Craig, Jr., Donald Dickerson, Clarice Easier, Alan E. Fisher,
Priscilla Hinch-cliffe, David King, Nancy M. King, Mona Meltzer, Robert
Pettie, Maxine Schnitzer, Joyce Sprague, Mary E. Smith, and Elizabeth
Williams.
We were fortunate in having over the whole period much the same group of
general assistants, on whom a uniform system of care for the animals depended.
We especially thank Frank Clark, Gordon Gilbert, Sheldon Ingalls, Pearl
McFarland, and Dan Reynolds.
Many scientific investigators made notable contributions. C. C. Little, then the
Director of the Jackson Laboratory, acquired the foundation stocks and worked
out the color genetics of the breeds; C. S. Hall and W. T. James gave advice and
helped organize the project; B. E. Ginsburg and Sherman Ross contributed much
as longtime Visiting Investigators. Other colleagues and associates too numerous
to mention here helped with encouragement and counsel.
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Major financial support was given by the Rockefeller Foundation over a 13-year
period during which the basic data were gathered. Continuing support enabling
the processing of the data and writing this book was provided by the Ford
Foundation and by the National Institutes of Health (Grants MH 01775 and MH
04481).
Certain figures and tables have been previously published in the following books
and journals: The Concept of Development (University of Minnesota Press,
and journals: The Concept of Development (University of Minnesota Press,
1957), Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Animal
Behaviour, Journal of Heredity, American Zoologist, Monographs of the Society
for Research in Child Development, Science, Journal of Genetic Psychology,
Psychosomatic Medicine, and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Permission to reproduce this material is hereby acknowledged.
CONTENTS
Part IV GENERAL IMPLICATIONS
15. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ART OF DOG BREEDING / 383
16. THE EVOLUTION OF DOGS AND MEN / 397
17. TOWARD A SCIENCE OF SOCIAL GENETICS / 413
BIBLIOGRAPHY / 435 AUTHOR INDEX / 449 SUBJECT INDEX / 452
PLATES following page 176
The five pure breeds
Outside runs and nursery room interior
The Behavior Laboratory and staff
Breeding stock (cocker spaniels) and Fj hybrids
Breeding stock (basenjis) and F x hybrids
Litter from backcross to cocker spaniel
Litter from backcross to basenji
BCS F 2 litter
CSB F 2 litter
Aboriginal dogs of Africa, Iraq, and Australia
Early English land spaniels and hounds
Forced training
Reward training
Problem-solving: detour and manipulation tests
