In the 60s, the first ethological studies of children’s behavior were carried out. Several major works in this area were carried out almost simultaneously by N. Blairton Jones, P. Smith and C. Connolly, W. McGrew. The first one described a number of mimic expressions, aggressive and defensive postures in children and singled out goo play as an independent form of behavior [Blurton Jones, 1972]. The latter conducted detailed observations of the behavior of children aged from two years nine months to four years nine months at home and in kindergarten (in the company of parents and without them) and showed the presence of gender differences in social behavior. They also suggested that individual personality differences can be described on the basis of data on external behavioral manifestations [Smith, Connolly, 1972]. W. McGrew in his book «The Ethological Study of Children’s Behavior» gave a detailed ethogram of children’s behavior and proved the applicability of ethological concepts and concepts, such as dominance, territoriality, the influence of group density on social behavior, and the structure of attention [McGrew, 1972]. Prior to this, these concepts were considered applicable to animals and were widely used primarily by primatologists. An ethological analysis of competition and dominance among preschoolers made it possible to conclude that the dominance hierarchy in such groups obeys the rules of linear transitivity, it is quickly established at the time of the formation of a social team and remains stable over time. Of course, the problem is far from being fully resolved, because the data of different authors point to different aspects of this phenomenon. According to one view, dominance is directly related to preferential access to limited resources [Strayer, Strayer, 1976; Charlesworth and Lafreniere 1983]. According to others — with the ability to get along with peers and organize social contacts, attract attention (our data on Russian and Kalmyk children).
An important place in the work on children’s ethology was occupied by studies of non-verbal communication. The use of the facial movements coding system developed by P. Ekman and W. Friesen allowed G. Oster to establish that infants can perform all mimic muscular movements typical of adults [Oster, 1978]. Observations of the facial expressions of sighted and blind children in the natural context of daytime activity [Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1973] and of the reactions of children in experimental situations [Charlesworth, 1970] led to the conclusion that blind children deprived of the possibility of visual learning demonstrate similar facial expressions in identical situations. Observations of children aged two to five years have made it possible to talk about the expansion of the general repertoire of distinct mimic expressions [Abramovitch, Marvin, 1975]. As a child’s social competence grows, between the ages of 2,5 and 4,5 years, there is also an increase in the frequency of using a social smile [Cheyne, 1976]. The use of ethological approaches in the analysis of developmental processes confirmed the presence of an innate basis for the development of human facial expressions [Hiatt et al, 1979]. C. Tinbergen applied ethological methods in child psychiatry to analyze the phenomena of autism in children, drawing attention to the fact that avoidance of gaze, typical for autistic children, is caused by fear of social contact.