Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:14:03.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The aetiology of childhood autism: a criticism of the Tinbergens' ethological theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Lorna Wing  and
Derek M. Ricks
Lorna Wing*
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London and Children's Department, Harperbury Hospital, Radlett, Hertfordshire
Derek M. Ricks
Affiliation:
MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London and Children's Department, Harperbury Hospital, Radlett, Hertfordshire
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Lorna Wing, MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Kanner's descriptions of the children showing the abnormal behaviour pattern he observed and named 'early infantile autism’ are summarized. E. A. and N. Tinbergens' ethological theory of the aetiology of this syndrome is outlined and criticized. The major problem in evaluating this theory, apart from the absence of any evidence in its favour, is the lack of precision with which the Tinbergens use the terms ‘autism’ and ‘Kanner's syndrome’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , February 1977 , pp. 533 - 543
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ainsworth, M. D. (1962). The effects of maternal deprivation: a review of findings and controversy in the context of research strategy. In Deprivation of Maternal Care: A Reassessment of Its Effects, pp. 97–165. Public Health papers, no. 14, World Health Organisation: Geneva.Google Scholar
Axline, V. (1971). Dibs – In Search of Self. Penguin: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Bartak, L. & Rutter, M. (1973). Special educational treatment of autistic children: a comparative study. I. Design of study and characteristics of units. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 14, 161–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartak, L., Rutter, M. & Cox, A. (1975). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorder. I. The children. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 127–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bettelheim, B. (1967). The Empty Fortress. Collier–Mac-Millan: London.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal Care and Mental Health. World Health Organisation: Geneva.Google ScholarPubMed
Brask, B. H. (1970). A prevalence investigation of childhood psychosis. Paper given at the 16th Scandinavian Congress of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Chess, S. (1971). Autism in children with congenital rubella. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 1, 33–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Churchill, D. W. (1972). The relationship of infantile autism and early childhood schizophrenia to developmental language disorders of childhood. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 2, 182–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, A., Rutter, M., Newman, S. & Bartak, L. (1975). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorders. II. Parental characteristics. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 146–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Creak, E. M. (1963). Childhood psychosis: a review of 100 cases. British Journal of Psychiatry 109, 84–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Ambrosic, R. (1971). No Language But a Cry. Cassell: London.Google Scholar
DeMyer, M. K. (1976). Motor, perceptual-motor and intellectual disabilities of autistic children. In Early Childhood Autism, 2nd ed. (ed. Wing, L.), pp. 169–193. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
DeMyer, M. K., Pontius, W., Norton, J. A., Barton, S., Allen, J. & Steele, R. (1972). Parental practices and innate activity in normal, autistic and brain damaged infants. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 2, 49–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeMyer, M. K., Barton, W. E., DeMyer, W. E., Norton, J. A., Allen, J. & Steele, T. (1973). Prognosis in autism: a follow-up study. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 3, 199–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, U. (1970 a). Studies in pattern perception in normal and autistic children: immediate recall of auditory sequences. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 76, 413–420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, U. (1970 b). Studies in pattern detection in normal and autistic children: reproduction and production of colour sequences. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 10, 120–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frith, U. & Hermelin, B. (1969). The role of visual and motor cues for normal, subnormal and autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology 10, 153–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hermelin, B. (1976). Coding and the sense modalities. In Early Childhood Autism, 2nd ed. (ed. Wing, L.), pp. 135–168. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Hermelin, B. & O'Connor, N. (1970). Psychological Experiments with Autistic Children. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child 2, 217–250.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1946). Irrelevant and metaphorical language in early childhood autism. American Journal of Psychiatry 103, 242–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanner, L. (1949). Problems of nosology and psychodynamics in early infantile autism. American Journal of rthopsychiatry 19, 416–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanner, L. (1954). To what extent is early childhood autism etermined by constitutional inadequacies? Proceedings of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases 33, 378–385.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1965). Infantile autism and the schizophrenias. Behavioural Science 10, 412–420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanner, L. (1968). Early infantile autism revisited. Psychiatry Digest 29, 17–28.Google ScholarPubMed
Kanner, L. (1973). Childhood Psychosis: Initial Studies and New Insights. Winston: Washington.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. & Eisenberg, L. (1955). Notes on the follow-up studies of autistic children. In Psychopathology of Childhood (ed. Hoch, P. H. & Zubin, J.), pp. 227–239. Grune and Stratton: New York.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. & Eisenberg, L. (1956). Early infantile autism, 1943–1955. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 26, 55–65.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. & Lesser, L. I. (1958). Early infantile autism. Pediatric Clinics of North America 5, 711–730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keeler, W. R. (1958). Autistic patterns and defective communications in blind children with retrolental fibroplasia. In Psychopathology of Communication (ed. Hoch, P. & Zubin, J.), pp. 64–83. Grune and Stratton: New York.Google Scholar
Knobloch, H. & Pasamanick, B. (eds.) (1974). Developmental Diagnosis. Harper and Row: New York.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. Wiley: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockyer, L. & Rutter, M. (1969). A five to fifteen year follow-up study of infantile psychosis. III. Psychological aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry 115, 865–882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lotter, V. (1966). Epidemiology of autistic conditions in young children. I. Prevalence. Social Psychiatry 1, 124–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lotter, V. (1967). Epidemiology of autistic conditions in young children. II. Some characteristics of parents and children. Social Psychiatry 1, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, J. (1972). Human language. In Non-verbal Communication (ed. Hinde, R. A.), pp. 49–85. Cambridge University Press: London.Google Scholar
Ornitz, E. H. (1973). Childhood autism – a review of the clinical and experimental literature. California Medicine 118, 21–47.Google ScholarPubMed
Pitfield, M. & Oppenheim, A. N. (1964). Child rearing attitudes of mothers of psychotic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 5, 51–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popper, K. R. (1972). Conjectures and Refutations, 4th ed.Routledge and Kegan Paul: London.Google Scholar
Pronovost, W., Wakstein, M. P. & Wakstein, D. J. (1966). A longitudinal study of speech behaviour and language comprehension of fourteen children diagnosed as atypical or autistic. Exceptional Child 33, 19–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, B. S., Newsom, C. D. & Lovaas, O. I. (1974). Auditory overselectivity in autistic children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 2, 253–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ricks, D. M. (1975). Verbal communication in pre-verbal normal and autistic children. In Language, Cognitive Deficits and Retardation (ed. O'Connor, N.), pp. 75–85. Butterworths: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricks, D. M. & Wing, L. (1976). Language, communication and the use of symbols. In Early Childhood Autism, 2nd ed. (ed. Wing, L.), pp. 93–134. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Rimland, B. (1965). Infantile Autism. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1970). Autistic children: infancy to adulthood. Seminars in Psychiatry 2, 435–450.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1972). Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. Penguin: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Bartak, L. (1973). Special educational treatment of autistic children: a comparative study. II. Follow-up findings and implications for services. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 14, 241–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. & Lockyer, L. (1967). A five to fifteen year follow-up study of infantile psychosis: I. Description of the sample. British Journal of Psychiatry 113, 1169–1182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M., Greenfield, D. & Lockyer, L. (1967). A five to fifteen year follow-up study of infantile psychosis. II. Social and behavioural outcome. British Journal of Psychiatry 113, 1183–1189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Bartak, L. & Newman, S. (1971). Autism – a central disorder of cognition and language? In Infantile Autism: Concepts, Characteristics and Treatment (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 148–172. Churchill: London.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H. R. (1974). Early social behaviour and the study of reciprocity. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 27, 209–216.Google Scholar
Sheridan, M. D. (1972). The child's acquisition of codes for personal and inter-personal communication. In The Child With Delayed Speech (ed. Rutter, M. & Martin, J. A. M.), pp. 189–203. Clinics in Developmental Medicine, no. 43. Heinemann: London.Google Scholar
Taft, L. T. & Cohen, H. J. (1971). Hypsarrhythmia and childhood autism: a clinical report. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 1, 327–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tinbergen, E. A. & Tinbergen, N. (1972). Early childhood autism – an ethological approach. Beihefte zur Zeitshrift für Tierpsychologie, no. 10.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, N. (1974). Ethology and stress diseases. Science 185, 20–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tizard, B. & Rees, J. (1975). The effect of early institutional rearing on the behaviour problems and affectional relationships of four-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 16, 61–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trevarthen, C. (1974). Conversations with a 2-month old. New Scientist 62, 230–235.Google Scholar
Tubbs, V. K. (1966). Types of linguistic disability in psychotic children. Journal of Mental Deficiency Research 10, 230–240.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K. (1976). Kanner's syndrome: a historical introduction. In Early Childhood Autism, 2nd ed. (ed. Wing, L.), pp. 3–14. Pergamon: Oxford.Google ScholarPubMed
Wing, L. (1969). The handicaps of autistic children – a comparative study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 10, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, L. (1971). Perceptual and language development in autistic children: a comparative study. In Infantile Autism: Concepts, Characteristics and Treatment (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 173–197. Churchill: London.Google Scholar
Wing, L. (1975). A study of language impairments in severely retarded children. In Language, Cognitive Deficits and Retardation (ed. O'Connor, N.), pp. 87–112. Butterworths: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wing, L., Yeates, S., Brierley, L. & Gould, J. (1976). The prevalence of early childhood autism: comparison of administrative and epidemiological studies. Psychological Medicine 6, 89–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolkind, S. N. (1974). The components of ‘affectionless psychopathy’ in institutionalized children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 15, 215–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolkind, S. N. & Rutter, M. (1973). Children who have been ‘in care’ – an epidemiological study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 14, 97–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed