Behavioral Sink
John B. Calhoun coined "behavioral sink" to explain behavior collapse due to overpopulation in rat and mice experiments. His work raised concerns about societal implications of overcrowding, sparking ongoing debate.
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John B. Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" to describe the collapse in behavior resulting from overpopulation, based on experiments with rats and mice conducted between 1958 and 1972. In these experiments, he created environments with unlimited resources leading to overcrowding, which caused various behavioral disturbances including high mortality rates, social disorganization, and abnormal behaviors like cannibalism and maternal neglect. Calhoun's work has been used as a model for societal collapse and urban sociology. He later extended his research to mice, observing similar patterns of social breakdown and population decline due to overcrowding. Calhoun's findings raised concerns about the potential implications for human populations, with some researchers questioning the direct applicability of his results to human behavior. Despite controversy, Calhoun's work highlighted the impact of social density on behavior and the potential consequences of overpopulation on societal functioning. His experiments continue to be a subject of interest and debate in the fields of psychology and sociology.
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