Contents

98 PART II: Descriptive MethodsBOX 4.1OBSERVATION: TAKING ANOTHER LOOKPsychologists are not the only researchers whoobserve behavior in natural settings. Observationis a fundamental method in ethology, a branch ofbiology (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1975). Ethologists studythe behavior of organisms in relation to their naturalenvironment, typically logging countless hoursof observation of animals in their natural settings.Speculations about the role of innate mechanismsin determining human behavior are not uncommonamong ethologists.For over a century, many biologists simply assumedthat all animals engaged in female-malesex, without even looking at the sex of the animals.Recently, however, based on increasingnumbers of observations from a large, diversearray of species, biologists suggest that samesexsexual behavior is a nearly universal phenomenon(Bagemihl, 2000; Zuk, 2003). Biologists aretaking another look at sex.Researchers who study mating and procreationamong animals have been struggling to interpretevidence indicating sexual and parentingbehaviors among same-sex animals (Mooallem,2010). Although most biologists avoid comparisonsto human sexuality, the observations ofsame-sex behavior and co-parenting among animalshas led to a great deal of controversy (seeFigure 4.2). People on both sides of the sociopoliticaldebate regarding homosexuality have usedevidence of same-sex behavior among animalsto further their own agendas. A hallmark of scientificobservation, however, is that it is objectiveand free from bias—including political agendas.Yet, many would wish to interpret animal sexualityusing human terms, such as homosexualityor lesbianism, rather than to interpret the animal’sbehavior in its own context, with its ownpurpose.The problem in understanding same-sex behaviorslies at the heart of evolutionary biology,namely, that all evolutionary-adaptive behavioris guided by a central goal: passing on genes.Nevertheless, biologists recently have developedtheories suggesting that certain behaviors,FIGURE 4.2The children’s book, And Tango Makes Three (Richardson & Parnell, 2005) is based on the storyof two male penguins that were observed fostering a penguin chick at Central Park Zoo. TheAmerican Library Association reports that this was the most frequently banned book in 2009.