Comparative psychology
Encyclopedia
Comparative psychology generally refers to the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals. However, scientists from different disciplines do not always agree on this definition. Comparative psychology has also been described as a branch of psychology
in which emphasis is placed on cross-species comparisons—including human-to-animal comparisons.
However, some researchers feel that direct comparisons should not be the sole focus of comparative psychology and that intense focus on a single organism
to understand its behavior is just as desirable, if not more. Donald Dewsbury reviewed the works of several psychologists and their definitions and concluded that the object of comparative psychology is to establish principles of generality focusing on both proximate and ultimate causation.
It has been suggested that the term itself be discarded since it fails to be descriptive of the field but no appropriate replacement has been found. If looking for a precise definition, one may define comparative psychology as psychology concerned with the evolution (phylogenetic history and adaptive significance) and development (ontogenetic history and mechanism) of behavior.
Using a comparative approach to behavior allows one to evaluate the target behavior from four different, complementary perspectives, developed by Niko Tinbergen. First, one may ask how pervasive the behavior is across species. Meaning, how common is the behavior in animals? Second, one may ask how the behavior contributes to the lifetime reproductive success of the individuals demonstrating it. Meaning, does it result in those animals producing more offspring than animals not showing the behavior? These two questions provide a theory for the ultimate cause of behavior.
Third, what mechanisms are involved in the behavior? Meaning, what physiological, behavioral, and environmental components are necessary and sufficient for the generation of the behavior? Fourth, a researcher may ask about the development of the behavior within an individual. Meaning, what maturational, learning, social experiences must an individual undergo in order to demonstrate a behavior? These latter two questions provide a theory for the proximate causes of behavior. For more details see Tinbergen's four questions
.
and psychology" were written by al-Jahiz
, a 9th century Afro-Arab
scholar who wrote many works on these subjects. The 11th century Arabic psychologist, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), wrote the Treatise on the Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals, the early treatise dealing with the effects of music on animals
. In the treatise, he demonstrates how a camel's pace could be hastened or retarded with the use of music, and shows other examples of how music can affect animal behavior, experimenting with horses, birds and reptiles. Through to the 19th century, a majority of scholars in the Western world
continued to believe that music was a distinctly human phenomenon, but experiments since then have vindicated Ibn al-Haytham's view that music does indeed have an effect on animals.
Charles Darwin
was central in the development of comparative psychology; it is thought that psychology should be spoken in terms of "pre-" and "post-Darwin" because his contributions were so influential. Darwin's theory led to several hypotheses, one being that the factors that set humans apart, such as higher mental, moral and spiritual faculties, could be accounted for by evolutionary principles. In response to the vehement opposition to Darwinism was the "anecdotal movement" led by George Romanes
who set out to prove that animals possessed a "rudimentary human mind."
Near the end of the 19th century, several scientists existed whose work was also very influential. Douglas Alexander Spalding, who was called the "first experimental biologist," worked mostly with birds—studying instinct, imprinting, and visual and auditory development. Jacques Loeb
emphasized the importance of objectively studying behavior, Sir John Lubbock is credited with first using mazes and puzzle devices to study learning and Lewis Henry Morgan is thought to be "the first ethologist in the sense in which we presently use the word."
Throughout the long history of comparative psychology, repeated attempts have been made to enforce a more disciplined approach, in which similar studies are carried out on animals of different species, and the results interpreted in terms of their different phylogenetic or ecological backgrounds. Behavioral ecology in the 1970s gave a more solid base of knowledge against which a true comparative psychology could develop. However, the broader use of the term "comparative psychology" is enshrined in the names of learned societies and academic journals, not to mention in the minds of psychologists of other specialisms, so it is never likely to disappear completely.
A persistent question with which comparative psychologists have been faced is the relative intelligence of different species of animal. Indeed, some early attempts at a genuinely comparative psychology involved evaluating how well animals of different species could learn different tasks. These attempts floundered; in retrospect it can be seen that they were not sufficiently sophisticated, either in their analysis of the demands of different tasks, or in their choice of species to compare. More recent comparative work has been more successful, partly because it has drawn upon studies in ethology and behavioral ecology to make informed choices of species and tasks to compare.
A wide variety of species have been studied by comparative psychologists. However a small number have dominated the scene. Ivan Pavlov
's early work used dogs; although they have been the subject of occasional studies, since then they have not figured prominently. Increasing interest in the study of abnormal animal behavior has led to a return to the study of most kinds of domestic animal. Thorndike
began his studies with cats, but American comparative psychologists quickly shifted to the more economical rat
, which remained the almost invariable subject for the first half of the 20th century and continues to be used.
Skinner introduced the use of pigeons, and they continue to be important in some fields. There has always been interest in studying various species of primate
; important contributions to social and developmental psychology were made by Harry F. Harlow's studies of maternal deprivation
in rhesus monkeys. Interest in primate studies has increased with the rise in studies of animal cognition. Other animals thought to be intelligent have also been increasingly studied. Examples include various species of corvid, parrots—especially the African Gray Parrot—and dolphin
s.
and testing them in animals of other species. For example, if the amount of drug injected into a vein of laboratory animals are allowed to control, the addiction to this drug can happen to the animals. This approach is referred to as the study of animal cognition
. It has led to significant advances in our understanding of concept formation, memory
, problem solving
, metacognition
and other cognitive abilities in animals.
Common causes of disordered behavior in captive or pet
animals are lack of stimulation, inappropriate stimulation, or overstimulation. These conditions can lead to disorders, unpredictable and unwanted behavior, and sometimes even physical symptoms and diseases. For example, rat
s that are exposed to loud music for a long period will ultimately develop unwanted behaviors that have been compared with human psychosis
, like biting their owners.
The way dogs behave when understimulated is widely believed to depend on the breed
as well as on the individual animal's character. For example, huskies have been known to completely ruin gardens and houses if they are not allowed enough activity. Dogs are also prone to psychological damage if they are subjected to violence. If they are treated very badly they may even become dangerous.
The systematic study of disordered animal behavior draws on research in comparative psychology, including the early work on conditioning and instrumental learning, but also on ethological studies of natural behavior. However, at least in the case of familiar domestic animals, it also draws on the accumulated experience of those who have worked closely with the animals.
He goes on to question how other people phrase the problem of humanity and answers this by saying that an accepted premise is that in all societies children have to learn to differentiate and separate themselves from others. Strangers from Kin and "not people," like animals. Something that Ingold stated in his studies was that Sigmund Freud said, "Children show no trace of arrogance which urges adult civilized men to draw a hard-and-fast line between their own nature and that of all other animals. Children have no scruples over allowing animals to rank as their full equals." It's hard for people to accept that they themselves indeed are animals so they create these separations and divided into animals and wild animals and tame animals which are then divided into house pets, all of these things can be seen as analogies of man's contrast between someone who is part of a human community and someone who isn't: the outsider. Most times nature is symbolizing the outsider.
The New York Times had an article that showed the psychological benefits of animals, more specifically of children with their pets. It's been proven that having a pet does in fact improve kids' social skills, in the article Dr. Sue Doescher, a psychologist involved in the study, stated "It made the children more cooperative and sharing." It was also shown that these kids were more confident with themselves and able to be more empathic with other children.
Furthermore, in an edition of Social Science and Medicine it was stated that, "A random survey of 339 residents from Perth, Western Australia were selected from three suburbs and interviewed by telephone. Pet ownership was found to be positively associated with some forms of social contact and interaction, and with perceptions of neighborhood friendliness. After adjustment for demographic variables, pet owners scored higher on social capital and civic engagement scales." Results like these let us know that owning a pet provides opportunities for neighborly interaction, among many other chances for socialization among people.
Many of these were active in fields other than animal psychology; this is characteristic of comparative psychologists.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
in which emphasis is placed on cross-species comparisons—including human-to-animal comparisons.
However, some researchers feel that direct comparisons should not be the sole focus of comparative psychology and that intense focus on a single organism
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
to understand its behavior is just as desirable, if not more. Donald Dewsbury reviewed the works of several psychologists and their definitions and concluded that the object of comparative psychology is to establish principles of generality focusing on both proximate and ultimate causation.
It has been suggested that the term itself be discarded since it fails to be descriptive of the field but no appropriate replacement has been found. If looking for a precise definition, one may define comparative psychology as psychology concerned with the evolution (phylogenetic history and adaptive significance) and development (ontogenetic history and mechanism) of behavior.
Using a comparative approach to behavior allows one to evaluate the target behavior from four different, complementary perspectives, developed by Niko Tinbergen. First, one may ask how pervasive the behavior is across species. Meaning, how common is the behavior in animals? Second, one may ask how the behavior contributes to the lifetime reproductive success of the individuals demonstrating it. Meaning, does it result in those animals producing more offspring than animals not showing the behavior? These two questions provide a theory for the ultimate cause of behavior.
Third, what mechanisms are involved in the behavior? Meaning, what physiological, behavioral, and environmental components are necessary and sufficient for the generation of the behavior? Fourth, a researcher may ask about the development of the behavior within an individual. Meaning, what maturational, learning, social experiences must an individual undergo in order to demonstrate a behavior? These latter two questions provide a theory for the proximate causes of behavior. For more details see Tinbergen's four questions
Tinbergen's four questions
Tinbergen's four questions, named after Nikolaas Tinbergen, are complementary categories of explanations for behavior. It suggests that an integrative understanding of behavior must include both a proximate and ultimate analysis of behavior, as well as an understanding of both...
.
History
The earliest works on "the social organization of ants" and "animal communicationAnimal communication
Animal communication is any behavior on the part of one animal that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of another animal. The study of animal communication, is sometimes called Zoosemiotics has played an important part in the...
and psychology" were written by al-Jahiz
Al-Jahiz
Al-Jāḥiẓ was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.In biology, Al-Jahiz introduced the concept of food chains and also proposed a scheme of animal evolution that entailed...
, a 9th century Afro-Arab
Afro-Arab
Afro-Arab refers to people of mixed Black African and genealogical Arab ancestral heritage and/or linguistically and culturally Arabized Black Africans...
scholar who wrote many works on these subjects. The 11th century Arabic psychologist, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), wrote the Treatise on the Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals, the early treatise dealing with the effects of music on animals
Zoomusicology
Zoomusicology is a field of musicology and zoology or more specifically, zoosemiotics. Zoomusicology is the study of the music of animals, or rather the musical aspects of sound or communication produced and received by animals....
. In the treatise, he demonstrates how a camel's pace could be hastened or retarded with the use of music, and shows other examples of how music can affect animal behavior, experimenting with horses, birds and reptiles. Through to the 19th century, a majority of scholars in the Western world
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
continued to believe that music was a distinctly human phenomenon, but experiments since then have vindicated Ibn al-Haytham's view that music does indeed have an effect on animals.
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
was central in the development of comparative psychology; it is thought that psychology should be spoken in terms of "pre-" and "post-Darwin" because his contributions were so influential. Darwin's theory led to several hypotheses, one being that the factors that set humans apart, such as higher mental, moral and spiritual faculties, could be accounted for by evolutionary principles. In response to the vehement opposition to Darwinism was the "anecdotal movement" led by George Romanes
George Romanes
George John Romanes FRS was a Canadian-born English evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms between humans and other animals.He was the youngest of Charles Darwin's...
who set out to prove that animals possessed a "rudimentary human mind."
Near the end of the 19th century, several scientists existed whose work was also very influential. Douglas Alexander Spalding, who was called the "first experimental biologist," worked mostly with birds—studying instinct, imprinting, and visual and auditory development. Jacques Loeb
Jacques Loeb
Jacques Loeb was a German-born American physiologist and biologist.-Biography:...
emphasized the importance of objectively studying behavior, Sir John Lubbock is credited with first using mazes and puzzle devices to study learning and Lewis Henry Morgan is thought to be "the first ethologist in the sense in which we presently use the word."
Throughout the long history of comparative psychology, repeated attempts have been made to enforce a more disciplined approach, in which similar studies are carried out on animals of different species, and the results interpreted in terms of their different phylogenetic or ecological backgrounds. Behavioral ecology in the 1970s gave a more solid base of knowledge against which a true comparative psychology could develop. However, the broader use of the term "comparative psychology" is enshrined in the names of learned societies and academic journals, not to mention in the minds of psychologists of other specialisms, so it is never likely to disappear completely.
A persistent question with which comparative psychologists have been faced is the relative intelligence of different species of animal. Indeed, some early attempts at a genuinely comparative psychology involved evaluating how well animals of different species could learn different tasks. These attempts floundered; in retrospect it can be seen that they were not sufficiently sophisticated, either in their analysis of the demands of different tasks, or in their choice of species to compare. More recent comparative work has been more successful, partly because it has drawn upon studies in ethology and behavioral ecology to make informed choices of species and tasks to compare.
Species studied
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....
's early work used dogs; although they have been the subject of occasional studies, since then they have not figured prominently. Increasing interest in the study of abnormal animal behavior has led to a return to the study of most kinds of domestic animal. Thorndike
Thorndike
- Names :Thorndike is a surname, and may refer to:* Ashley Horace Thorndike , an American educator* Augustus Thorndike , an American physician* Edward Thorndike , a behavioral psychologist...
began his studies with cats, but American comparative psychologists quickly shifted to the more economical rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
, which remained the almost invariable subject for the first half of the 20th century and continues to be used.
Skinner introduced the use of pigeons, and they continue to be important in some fields. There has always been interest in studying various species of primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
; important contributions to social and developmental psychology were made by Harry F. Harlow's studies of maternal deprivation
Maternal deprivation
The term maternal deprivation is a catch-phrase summarising the early work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, John Bowlby on the effects of separating infants and young children from their mother although the effect of loss of the mother on the developing child had been considered earlier by Freud...
in rhesus monkeys. Interest in primate studies has increased with the rise in studies of animal cognition. Other animals thought to be intelligent have also been increasingly studied. Examples include various species of corvid, parrots—especially the African Gray Parrot—and dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s.
Animal cognition
Since the 1990s, comparative psychology has undergone a reversal in its fundamental approach. Instead of seeking principles in animal behavior in order to explain human performance, comparative psychologists started taking principles that have been uncovered in the study of human cognitionCognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
and testing them in animals of other species. For example, if the amount of drug injected into a vein of laboratory animals are allowed to control, the addiction to this drug can happen to the animals. This approach is referred to as the study of animal cognition
Animal cognition
Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
. It has led to significant advances in our understanding of concept formation, memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
, problem solving
Problem solving
Problem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
, metacognition
Metacognition
Metacognition is defined as "cognition about cognition", or "knowing about knowing." It can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving...
and other cognitive abilities in animals.
Disorders of animal behavior
Today an animal's psychological constitution is recognized by veterinary surgeons as an important part of its living conditions in domestication or captivity.Common causes of disordered behavior in captive or pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
animals are lack of stimulation, inappropriate stimulation, or overstimulation. These conditions can lead to disorders, unpredictable and unwanted behavior, and sometimes even physical symptoms and diseases. For example, rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s that are exposed to loud music for a long period will ultimately develop unwanted behaviors that have been compared with human psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
, like biting their owners.
The way dogs behave when understimulated is widely believed to depend on the breed
Dog breed
Dog breeds are groups of closely related and visibly similar domestic dogs, which are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris, having characteristic traits that are selected and maintained by humans, bred from a known foundation stock....
as well as on the individual animal's character. For example, huskies have been known to completely ruin gardens and houses if they are not allowed enough activity. Dogs are also prone to psychological damage if they are subjected to violence. If they are treated very badly they may even become dangerous.
The systematic study of disordered animal behavior draws on research in comparative psychology, including the early work on conditioning and instrumental learning, but also on ethological studies of natural behavior. However, at least in the case of familiar domestic animals, it also draws on the accumulated experience of those who have worked closely with the animals.
Effect of animals on humans
In anthropology, animal studies is a field that is greatly neglected even though for many years animals have been used as a way to investigate the evolution of man and even understanding their relationships with one another. Things like domestication have been a keen element in understanding the relationships between humans, this being that humans by making animals property they established some sort of differentiation and inequality. This could then lead someone to believe this to be the seeds for the way some humans see others as inferior or different to themselves. Also, while some may be searching for how humans are like animals and how far they share some characteristics, anthropologists use this opportunity to see how different societies see their human nature depending on which animals they might be comparing themselves to, according to Ingold.He goes on to question how other people phrase the problem of humanity and answers this by saying that an accepted premise is that in all societies children have to learn to differentiate and separate themselves from others. Strangers from Kin and "not people," like animals. Something that Ingold stated in his studies was that Sigmund Freud said, "Children show no trace of arrogance which urges adult civilized men to draw a hard-and-fast line between their own nature and that of all other animals. Children have no scruples over allowing animals to rank as their full equals." It's hard for people to accept that they themselves indeed are animals so they create these separations and divided into animals and wild animals and tame animals which are then divided into house pets, all of these things can be seen as analogies of man's contrast between someone who is part of a human community and someone who isn't: the outsider. Most times nature is symbolizing the outsider.
The New York Times had an article that showed the psychological benefits of animals, more specifically of children with their pets. It's been proven that having a pet does in fact improve kids' social skills, in the article Dr. Sue Doescher, a psychologist involved in the study, stated "It made the children more cooperative and sharing." It was also shown that these kids were more confident with themselves and able to be more empathic with other children.
Furthermore, in an edition of Social Science and Medicine it was stated that, "A random survey of 339 residents from Perth, Western Australia were selected from three suburbs and interviewed by telephone. Pet ownership was found to be positively associated with some forms of social contact and interaction, and with perceptions of neighborhood friendliness. After adjustment for demographic variables, pet owners scored higher on social capital and civic engagement scales." Results like these let us know that owning a pet provides opportunities for neighborly interaction, among many other chances for socialization among people.
Topics of study
- Individual behavior
- General descriptions
- Orientation (interaction with environment)
- LocomotionAnimal locomotionAnimal locomotion, which is the act of self-propulsion by an animal, has many manifestations, including running, swimming, jumping and flying. Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, or a suitable microhabitat, and to escape predators...
- Ingestive behavior
- HoardingHoardingHoarding or caching is a general term for a behavior that leads people or animals to accumulate food or other items in anticipation of future need or scarcity.-Animal behavior:...
- Nest building
- Exploration
- PlayPlay (activity)Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
- Tonic immobilityTonic immobilityApparent death, colloquially known as playing dead or playing possum, is an antipredator behavior observed in a wide range of animals in which they take on the appearance of being dead to an observer...
(playing dead) - Other miscellaneous behaviors (personal groomingPersonal groomingPersonal grooming is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. It is a species-typical behavior that is controlled by neural circuits in the brain.- In humans :...
, hibernationHibernationHibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve food, especially during winter when food supplies are limited, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...
, etc.)
- Reproductive behavior
- General descriptions
- Developmental psychologyDevelopmental psychologyDevelopmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
- Control (nervous system and endocrine system)
- Evolution of sexual characteristics/behaviors
- Social behavior
- ImitationImitationImitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics.-Anthropology and social sciences:...
- Behavior genetics
- Instincts
- Sensory-perceptual processes
- Neural and endocrine correlates of behavior
- MotivationMotivationMotivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
- EvolutionEvolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
- LearningLearningLearning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
- Qualitative and functional comparisons
- ConsciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
and mindMindThe concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
- Imitation
Notable comparative psychologists
Noted comparative psychologists, in this broad sense, include:- AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
- Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
- Wilhelm WundtWilhelm WundtWilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physician, psychologist, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology"...
- George RomanesGeorge RomanesGeorge John Romanes FRS was a Canadian-born English evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms between humans and other animals.He was the youngest of Charles Darwin's...
- James Mark BaldwinJames Mark BaldwinJames Mark Baldwin was an American philosopher and psychologist who was educated at Princeton under the supervision of Scottish philosopher James McCosh and who was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at the university...
- Linus Kline
- Willard Small
- C. Lloyd MorganC. Lloyd MorganConwy Lloyd Morgan, FRS was a British psychologist. He is best remembered for the experimental approach to animal psychology now known as "Morgan's canon"....
- Edward L. Thorndike
- L.T. Hobhouse
- Ivan PavlovIvan PavlovIvan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....
- John B. WatsonJohn B. WatsonJohn Broadus Watson was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it which was given at Columbia University in 1913...
- Frank Beach
- Wolfgang KöhlerWolfgang KöhlerWolfgang Köhler was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.-Early life:...
- T. Schjelderup-Ebbe
- Clark L. HullClark L. HullClark Leonard Hull was an influential American psychologist who sought to explain learning and motivation by scientific laws of behavior. Born in Akron, New York, Hull obtained bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan, and in 1918 a PhD from the University of...
- Edward C. TolmanEdward C. TolmanEdward Chace Tolman was an American psychologist. He was most famous for his studies on behavioral psychology....
- B.F. Skinner
- Robert Lockhard
- Donald HebbDonald Olding HebbDonald Olding Hebb FRS was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning...
- O. Hobart Mowrer
- Neal E. Miller
- Harry F. Harlow
- Richard HerrnsteinRichard HerrnsteinRichard J. Herrnstein was an American researcher in animal learning in the Skinnerian tradition. He was one of the founders of quantitative analysis of behavior....
- Sara ShettleworthSara ShettleworthSara Shettleworth is an American born, Canadian experimental psychologist and zoologist. Her research focusses on animal cognition. She is a professor of psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto....
- Allen and Beatrix Gardner
- Irene PepperbergIrene PepperbergIrene Maxine Pepperberg is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. She is an adjunct professor of psychology at Brandeis University and a lecturer at Harvard University...
- Margaret Floy WashburnMargaret Floy Washburn'Margaret Floy Washburn , leading American psychologist in the early 20th century, was best known for her experimental work in animal behavior and motor theory development...
- Konrad LorenzKonrad LorenzKonrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
- F.J.J. Buytendijk
Many of these were active in fields other than animal psychology; this is characteristic of comparative psychologists.
Related fields
Fields of psychology and other disciplines that draw upon, or overlap with, comparative psychology include:- Animal cognitionAnimal cognitionAnimal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
- Behavioral ecologyBehavioral ecologyBehavioral ecology, or ethoecology, is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment...
- ConditioningConditioningConditioning may refer to:* In psychology, the process of performing some particular action to directly influence an individual's learning; see education...
- EthologyEthologyEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
- Experimental analysis of behaviorExperimental analysis of behaviorThe experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to the school of psychology founded by B.F. Skinner, and based on his philosophy of radical behaviorism. A central principle was the inductive, data-driven examination of functional relations, as opposed to the kinds of hypothetico-deductive...
- Physiological psychologyPhysiological psychologyPhysiological psychology is a subdivision of behavioral neuroscience that studies the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments...
- PsychopharmacologyPsychopharmacologyPsychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
Further reading
- Johnson-Pynn, J.; Fragaszy, D.M. & Cummins-Sebree, S. (2003). Common territories in comparative and developmental psychology: The quest for shared means and meaning in behavioral investigations. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 16, 1–27. Full text