John B. Calhoun
Encyclopedia
John B. Calhoun was an American
ecologist and research psychologist noted for his studies of population density and its effects on behavior. He claimed that the bleak effects of overpopulation
on rodents
were a grim model for the future of the human race. During his studies, Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink
" to describe aberrant behaviors in overcrowded population density situations and “beautiful ones” to describe passive individuals who withdrew from all social interaction. His work gained world recognition. He spoke at conferences around the world and his opinion was sought by groups as diverse as NASA
and the District of Columbia’s Panel on overcrowding in local jails. Calhoun's rat studies were used as a basis in the development of Edward T. Hall
's 1966 proxemics
theories.
, the third child of James Calhoun and Fern Madole Calhoun. Their first child died in infancy. John (Jack) had three siblings: an older sister, Polly, and two younger brothers, Billy and Dan. His father was a high school principal who rose to a position in administration in the Tennessee department of education. His mother was an artist.
His family moved from Elkton to Brownsville, Tennessee
, and finally to Nashville, when Jack was in junior high school.
At this time he began attending meetings of the Tennessee Ornithological Society
. Mrs. Laskey, distinguished for her work in bird banding and in the study of the chimney swift
, was a pivotal influence on his developing interest in bird
s and bird habits. Jack spent his junior high and high school years banding birds and recording the habits of birds. His first published article was in The Migrant, the journal of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, when he was 15 years old. Despite his father’s refusal to help him attend an out-of-state university Jack made his way to the University of Virginia
where he earned his bachelor's degree
in 1939. During the summers he worked for Alexander Wetmore
, head of the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington DC, doing ornithology
work. He gained his M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University
in 1942 and 1943. The subject of his thesis was the 24-hour rhythms of the Norway rat.
It was at Northwestern that he met his future wife, Edith Gressley, who was a biology major and a student in one of his classes.
and Ohio State University
. In 1946 he and his wife, Edith, moved to Towson, Maryland
, a suburb of Baltimore
. Calhoun worked on the Rodent Ecology Project at Johns Hopkins University
. In March 1947 he began a 28-month study of a colony of Norway rats in a 10000 square feet (929 m²) outdoor pen. Interestingly, even though five pregnant females over this time-span could theoretically produce 50,000 healthy progeny for this size pen, Calhoun found that the population never exceeded 200 individuals, and stabilized at 150, similar to the Dunbar number. Moreover, the rats were not randomly scattered throughout the pen area, but had organized themselves into twelve or thirteen local colonies of a dozen rats each. He noted that twelve rats is the maximum number that can live harmoniously in a natural group, beyond which stress and psychological effects function as group break-up forces.
. While in Bar Harbor his first daughter, Cat Calhoun, was born. The family lived in the guesthouse on the Luquer estate.
, in 1951. He worked for Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in the division of neuropsychiatry before gaining his position at the National Institutes of Health
in 1954 where he worked for the next 33 years. 1954 was also the year his second daughter, Cheshire Calhoun, was born.
Calhoun pursued his experiments in behavior, using domesticated Norway rats, at his lab on the second floor of a huge barn on the Casey farm in the country outside Rockville, MD. The area is now a suburban center but the barn still stands, renovated for suburban usage. In the days of Calhoun’s occupancy there was a small, cluttered office area at the top of the stairs. The rodent odor was overpowering, and it took some time before one could breathe normally. The research area was divided into three parts. In the center section a box-like room was built. There was a hallway all the way around this box and stairs that led to the top of it. This box was divided into 4 rooms, or habitats, 10 feet x 14 feet x 9 feet (10 feet (3 m) x 14 feet (4.3 m) x 9 feet (2.7 m)). Each room had a door for a researcher or caretaker to enter by, and in the ceiling of each room was a glass window. The activity in each room could be observed through these windows. Each room was divided into quarters by 2 foot (0.6096 m) partitions. “V” shaped ramps connected pens I and II, II and III, III and IV. Pens I and IV were not connected. Mounted on the wall in the corner of each quarter was an artificial burrow, which could be accessed via a spiral staircase. In two of the quarters the “burrows” were 3 foot (0.9144 m) from the floor, and in the other two the “burrows” were 6 feet (1.8 m) from the floor. Each quarter also contained a drinking station and a feeding station. These variations in environment led to differences in behavior patterns and ultimately to the concept of “behavioral sinks”. The research carried on in the lab on Casey’s farm began in 1958 and lasted until 1962.
(NIMH) acquired property in a rural area outside Poolesville, Maryland
. The facility that was built on this property housed several research projects, including those headed by Calhoun. It was here that his most famous experiment, the mouse universe, was created. In July 1968 four pairs of mice were introduced into the Utopian universe. The universe was a 9 feet (2.7 m) square metal pen with 54 inches (1.4 m) sides. Each side had four groups of four vertical, wire mesh “tunnels”. The “tunnels” gave access to nesting boxes, food hoppers, and water dispensers. There was no shortage of food or water or nesting material. There were no predators. The only adversity was the limit on space.
Initially the population grew rapidly, doubling every 55 days. The population reached 620 by day 315, after which the population growth dropped markedly. The last surviving birth was on day 600. This period between day 315 and day 600 saw a breakdown in social structure and in normal social behavior. Among the aberrations in behavior were the following: expulsion of young before weaning was complete, wounding of young, inability of dominant males to maintain the defense of their territory and females, aggressive behavior of females, passivity of non-dominant males with increased attacks on each other which were not defended against. After day 600 the social breakdown continued and the population declined toward extinction. During this period females ceased to reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They were dubbed “the beautiful ones”.
The conclusions drawn from this experiment were that when all available space is taken and all social roles filled, competition and the stresses experienced by the individuals will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors, ultimately resulting in the demise of the population.
Calhoun saw the fate of the population of mice as a metaphor for the potential fate of man. He characterized the social breakdown as a “second death”, with reference to the “second death” mentioned in the Biblical book of His study has been cited by Conservative Christian writers such as Bill Perkins as a warning of the dangers of the living in an "increasingly crowded and impersonal world".
On September 27, 1974 Calhoun met with Pope Paul VI
.
Calhoun's book was published in 1983: Environment and Population: Problems of Adaptation: An Experimental Book Integrating Statements by 162 Contributors Book Description
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Author: John B Calhoun
Language: English
ISBN:
0275909557
EAN:
9780275909550
No. of Pages: 486
Calhoun died on September 7, 1995 at the age of 78.
, an animated film, was based on the children’s novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
, by Robert C. O’Brien, published in 1971. This book, in turn, was inspired by Calhoun's work.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ecologist and research psychologist noted for his studies of population density and its effects on behavior. He claimed that the bleak effects of overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
on rodents
Animal testing on rodents
Rodents are commonly used in animal testing, particularly guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, and mice.-The statistics:In the UK in 2004, 1,910,110 mice, 464,727 rats and 37,475 other rodents were used...
were a grim model for the future of the human race. During his studies, Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink
Behavioral sink
In 1958, ethologist John B. Calhoun conducted over-population experiments on rats on a farmland in Rockville, Maryland which resulted in the publication of an article in the Scientific American of a study of behavior under conditions of overcrowding , also referred to Crowding into the Behavioral...
" to describe aberrant behaviors in overcrowded population density situations and “beautiful ones” to describe passive individuals who withdrew from all social interaction. His work gained world recognition. He spoke at conferences around the world and his opinion was sought by groups as diverse as NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the District of Columbia’s Panel on overcrowding in local jails. Calhoun's rat studies were used as a basis in the development of Edward T. Hall
Edward T. Hall
Edward Twitchell Hall, Jr. was an American anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher. He is remembered for developing the concept of Proxemics, a description of how people behave and react in different types of culturally-defined personal space...
's 1966 proxemics
Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of measurable distances between people as they interact. The term was introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1966...
theories.
Early years
John B. Calhoun was born May 11, 1917 in Elkton, TennesseeElkton, Tennessee
Elkton is a city in Giles County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 578 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Elkton is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...
, the third child of James Calhoun and Fern Madole Calhoun. Their first child died in infancy. John (Jack) had three siblings: an older sister, Polly, and two younger brothers, Billy and Dan. His father was a high school principal who rose to a position in administration in the Tennessee department of education. His mother was an artist.
His family moved from Elkton to Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville, Tennessee
Brownsville is a city in Haywood County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Haywood County. The city is named after Jacob Jennings Brown, an officer who served during The War of 1812.-Geography:...
, and finally to Nashville, when Jack was in junior high school.
At this time he began attending meetings of the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Tennessee Ornithological Society
The Tennessee Ornithological Society is an independent non-profit educational, scientific, and conservation organization in Tennessee, dedicated to the study and conservation of birds. It was formed in 1915 and has published a quarterly journal, The Migrant, since 1930...
. Mrs. Laskey, distinguished for her work in bird banding and in the study of the chimney swift
Chimney Swift
The Chimney Swift is a small bird .-Physical description:In flight, this bird looks like a flying cigar with long slender curved wings. The plumage is a sooty grey-brown; the throat, breast, underwings and rump are paler. They have short tails.-Reproduction:The breeding season of Chimney Swifts is...
, was a pivotal influence on his developing interest in bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and bird habits. Jack spent his junior high and high school years banding birds and recording the habits of birds. His first published article was in The Migrant, the journal of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, when he was 15 years old. Despite his father’s refusal to help him attend an out-of-state university Jack made his way to the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
where he earned his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1939. During the summers he worked for Alexander Wetmore
Alexander Wetmore
Frank Alexander Wetmore was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist.-Life:Wetmore studied at the University of Kansas...
, head of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington DC, doing ornithology
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
work. He gained his M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in 1942 and 1943. The subject of his thesis was the 24-hour rhythms of the Norway rat.
It was at Northwestern that he met his future wife, Edith Gressley, who was a biology major and a student in one of his classes.
1943-1949
After graduating from Northwestern he taught at Emory UniversityEmory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
and Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. In 1946 he and his wife, Edith, moved to Towson, Maryland
Towson, Maryland
Towson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 at the 2010 census...
, a suburb of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. Calhoun worked on the Rodent Ecology Project at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. In March 1947 he began a 28-month study of a colony of Norway rats in a 10000 square feet (929 m²) outdoor pen. Interestingly, even though five pregnant females over this time-span could theoretically produce 50,000 healthy progeny for this size pen, Calhoun found that the population never exceeded 200 individuals, and stabilized at 150, similar to the Dunbar number. Moreover, the rats were not randomly scattered throughout the pen area, but had organized themselves into twelve or thirteen local colonies of a dozen rats each. He noted that twelve rats is the maximum number that can live harmoniously in a natural group, beyond which stress and psychological effects function as group break-up forces.
1949-1951
He continued studying the Norway rat while posted at Jackson lab in Bar Harbor, MaineBar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
. While in Bar Harbor his first daughter, Cat Calhoun, was born. The family lived in the guesthouse on the Luquer estate.
1951-1962
Calhoun and family moved back to Silver Spring, MarylandSilver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
, in 1951. He worked for Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...
in the division of neuropsychiatry before gaining his position at the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
in 1954 where he worked for the next 33 years. 1954 was also the year his second daughter, Cheshire Calhoun, was born.
Calhoun pursued his experiments in behavior, using domesticated Norway rats, at his lab on the second floor of a huge barn on the Casey farm in the country outside Rockville, MD. The area is now a suburban center but the barn still stands, renovated for suburban usage. In the days of Calhoun’s occupancy there was a small, cluttered office area at the top of the stairs. The rodent odor was overpowering, and it took some time before one could breathe normally. The research area was divided into three parts. In the center section a box-like room was built. There was a hallway all the way around this box and stairs that led to the top of it. This box was divided into 4 rooms, or habitats, 10 feet x 14 feet x 9 feet (10 feet (3 m) x 14 feet (4.3 m) x 9 feet (2.7 m)). Each room had a door for a researcher or caretaker to enter by, and in the ceiling of each room was a glass window. The activity in each room could be observed through these windows. Each room was divided into quarters by 2 foot (0.6096 m) partitions. “V” shaped ramps connected pens I and II, II and III, III and IV. Pens I and IV were not connected. Mounted on the wall in the corner of each quarter was an artificial burrow, which could be accessed via a spiral staircase. In two of the quarters the “burrows” were 3 foot (0.9144 m) from the floor, and in the other two the “burrows” were 6 feet (1.8 m) from the floor. Each quarter also contained a drinking station and a feeding station. These variations in environment led to differences in behavior patterns and ultimately to the concept of “behavioral sinks”. The research carried on in the lab on Casey’s farm began in 1958 and lasted until 1962.
1962-1963
Calhoun was invited to spend a year at The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, CA.1963-1983
In the early 1960s, the National Institute of Mental HealthNational Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...
(NIMH) acquired property in a rural area outside Poolesville, Maryland
Poolesville, Maryland
Poolesville is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland United States with a population of approximately 5000 people. It is surrounded by the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, and is considered a distant bedroom community for commuters to Washington, DC.The name of the town comes from the...
. The facility that was built on this property housed several research projects, including those headed by Calhoun. It was here that his most famous experiment, the mouse universe, was created. In July 1968 four pairs of mice were introduced into the Utopian universe. The universe was a 9 feet (2.7 m) square metal pen with 54 inches (1.4 m) sides. Each side had four groups of four vertical, wire mesh “tunnels”. The “tunnels” gave access to nesting boxes, food hoppers, and water dispensers. There was no shortage of food or water or nesting material. There were no predators. The only adversity was the limit on space.
Initially the population grew rapidly, doubling every 55 days. The population reached 620 by day 315, after which the population growth dropped markedly. The last surviving birth was on day 600. This period between day 315 and day 600 saw a breakdown in social structure and in normal social behavior. Among the aberrations in behavior were the following: expulsion of young before weaning was complete, wounding of young, inability of dominant males to maintain the defense of their territory and females, aggressive behavior of females, passivity of non-dominant males with increased attacks on each other which were not defended against. After day 600 the social breakdown continued and the population declined toward extinction. During this period females ceased to reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They were dubbed “the beautiful ones”.
The conclusions drawn from this experiment were that when all available space is taken and all social roles filled, competition and the stresses experienced by the individuals will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors, ultimately resulting in the demise of the population.
Calhoun saw the fate of the population of mice as a metaphor for the potential fate of man. He characterized the social breakdown as a “second death”, with reference to the “second death” mentioned in the Biblical book of His study has been cited by Conservative Christian writers such as Bill Perkins as a warning of the dangers of the living in an "increasingly crowded and impersonal world".
On September 27, 1974 Calhoun met with Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
.
Conclusion
Calhoun believed that his research provided clues to the future of mankind as well as ways to avoid a looming disaster. During the 1960s, he and Dr. Leaonard Duhl formed an informal group, the Space Cadets, which met to discuss the social uses of space. The members of this group came from as diverse professions as architecture, city planning, physics, and psychiatry. In Calhoun’s own words “Our success in being human has so far derived from our honoring deviance more than tradition. Template changing always has gained a slight, though often tenuous, lead over template obeying. Now we must search diligently for those creative deviants from which, alone, will come the conceptualization of an evolutionary designing process. This can assure us an open-ended future toward whose realization we can participate.”Calhoun's book was published in 1983: Environment and Population: Problems of Adaptation: An Experimental Book Integrating Statements by 162 Contributors Book Description
Publisher: Praeger Publishers
Author: John B Calhoun
Language: English
ISBN:
0275909557
EAN:
9780275909550
No. of Pages: 486
Calhoun died on September 7, 1995 at the age of 78.
Calhoun and The Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMHThe Secret of NIMH
The Secret of NIMH is a 1982 animated film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. While released to critical acclaim,...
, an animated film, was based on the children’s novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is a 1971 children's book by Robert C. O'Brien. Illustrated by Zena Bernstein, it won the 1972 Newbery Medal. A film adaptation, The Secret of NIMH, was released in 1982....
, by Robert C. O’Brien, published in 1971. This book, in turn, was inspired by Calhoun's work.