"Alpha" was the leading caste of people in Aldous Huxley's _Brave New World_ of 1932. He probably took this usage from naturalists of his day (being a Huxley, after all). Or, even more interestingly, perhaps naturalists adopted the usagefrom his (then very popular) book.
Chris Green York U. Toronto ============ [email protected] wrote: > In response to Kathy Morgan's query, I had rashly asserted that the term > "alpha" to indicate > the dominant animal in a group must have originated with the primate studies > of C.R. > Carpenter. I suggested that Carpenter might have used the term as early as > 1942 in an > article in the Journal of Comparative Psychology. To which David Kreiner > helpfully replied: > > >> Stephen, first the good news. I was able to access the full text of >> Carpenter (1942). The >> bad news: no use of the term "alpha male." >> > > Uh-oh. Another case of a beautiful theory slain by an ugly fact. I was led > astray by comments > such as those by Haraway (1978), on Carpenter removing the "alpha male" from > his group > and then observing the remaining animals. But after David's bad news, I was > able to get to a > book of Carpenter's published and unpublished papers dating from the > 1930's.(Carpenter, > 1964). He never said "alpha male" there or elsewhere in his writings, instead > using such > phrases as "most dominant male", "no. 1 dominant male", and "supremely > dominant male". > Clearly, Carpenter needed but was unaware of the succinct and memorable term > "alpha > male". > > On the other hand, William Scott set me on the right track by noting the use > of the term > "alpha cock" and "alpha mouse" by the zoologist W.C. Allee as early as 1942. > The phrase > appears even earlier in Allee's book, _The Social Live of Animals_ (1938), > where it seems to > be close to a definition, namely "A hen which is otherwise the _alpha_ > [italics in the original] > bird in the pen may be pecked with impunity by some low-ranking member, > although the > latter is in turn pecked by many birds over which the _alpha_ hen has a > clearly established > social superiority (p. 179). " > > So my current candidate for the originator of the phrase is W.C. Allee. > Interestingly, Allee > does not use the phrase in an even earlier paper (Masure and Allee, 1934), > instead referring > to the "despot" of the flock, an unsatisfactory and anthropomorphic term. > > Two final points: In searching the web, I came across an essay by Robert > Ardrey on "The > alpha fish" in his book _The Social Contract_ (1970) [ > http://www.ditext.com/ardrey/4.html ], > where he discusses the history of research on the alpha animal. He suggests, > although "not > sure", that it was G.K. Noble who originated the term as "the alpha fish". > In my second post, I > did cite a 1944 paper by Noble using this term, but nothing earlier. So I'm > sticking with Allee > in 1938. > > Second, I was already familiar with Allee through his delightful, brilliant, > and disgusting (1933) > study providing an early demonstration of the social facilitation effect, > that things go better > when performed in front of an audience. If I recall correctly, he showed that > cockroaches, > when in the presence of a bleacher section of enthusiastic roach supporters > chanting, "Go, > roach, go!", performed better on a simple maze than did solitary cockroaches. > I am not > making this up (ok, maybe just the chanting). > > Stephen > > > Haraway, D. (1978). Animal sociology and a natural economy of the body > politic, part I: A > political physiology of dominance. Signs, v. 4, p. 21-- > > Carpenter, C.R. (1964). Naturalistic behavior of nonhuman primates. > Pennsylvania State > University Press. > > Masure, R., and Allee, W. (1934). The social order in flocks of the common > chicken and the > pigeon. Auk, 51, 306-327 > > Gates, M. F., & Allee, W. C. (1933). Conditioned behavior of isolated and > grouped > cockroaches on a simple maze: Journal of Comparative Psychology Vol > 15(2),331-358. > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology, Emeritus > Bishop's University > e-mail: [email protected] > 2600 College St. > Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 > Canada > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
