BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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ACTION CHAIN 1)5)

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A behavioral sequence triggered by an initial stimulus (see: N. Tinbergen, 1965)

Action chains are present already in complex chemical reactions (Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction is an example)

However, in order of growing complexity the following sequences may be given as examples:

In Biology: the fertilization act that triggers the creation of a new living being…and the subsequent developmental process (the homeobox)

In Ecology: the emission of biochemical molecules by a tree under attack of a parasite, such as the molecule acts as a pheromone that attracts a specific parasite of the parasite

In Ethology: the hormonal stimulation of birds in spring that triggers the whole sequence of nest building

In Psychology: the frustration reaction of someone unable to stage a strong reaction against some offense or agression and substitutes it by some symbolic gesture (as for example banging a table)

Action chains should also be researched in sociology. They seem to be present in honey bees and in foraging ants for example.

The way the behavioral sequence becomes established and thereafter stabilized and transmitted through biochemical or other mechanisms should deserve a general inquiry.

Examples of such mechanisms are imprinting and innate response, but their operation is not yet clearly explained.

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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