REGULATION IN BEHAVIOR 



Several years ago there appeared in Nature an account 

 of a statistical inquiry into sex determination. The results 

 indicated that children born to young mothers were predom- 

 inantly girls and that those born to old mothers were pre- 

 dominantly boys. Whether this hypothesis has been borne 

 out by further results I do not know, but assuming it to be a 

 law, it is an example of what has been called regulation in 

 behavior. The purpose which such a process serves is clear. 

 When there is a shortage of women in a community girls are 

 likely to marry when very young, due to the increased op- 

 portunity afforded them on account of the under-supply of 

 more mature women. If such marriages result in a number 

 of female infants greater than the normal expectation, the 

 balance between supply and demand is thereby reestablished. 

 A similar compensation is had when, in a society where fe- 

 males predominate, and hence are not married so early in 

 life, male offspring are in excess. 



The world is full of instances of this sort. Organisms 

 utilize the very difficulties they encounter in order to bring 

 about the removal of these difficulties. Their make-up in- 

 sures this regulation. They do not depend on outside guid- 

 ance to carry them through adverse situations. The adverse 

 situations in combination with an organism are self-eliminat- 

 ing. Of course this is not always true for the individual, 

 but the social group, which is the larger organism, survives 

 because the procreation of its parts is as rapid as their 

 destruction. 



We otten so construct a piece of machinery that this 

 principle of auto-adjustment holds in its behavior. This is 

 done so that we may not have to manipulate it and direct it 

 to any great extent. The floating ball disconnects the circuit 

 and stops the pump when the tank is full. The pendulum 

 swings to one side and releases the air pressure which tilts 

 the wing tip of the aeroplane when a gust of wind causes it 

 to pitch or roll, and this restores equilibrium. The electric 



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