Comparative+Psychology

Comparative psychology is “the study of similarities and differences in behavioral organization among living beings, from bacteria, to plants, to humans.” Comparative psychology focuses mainly on the psychological nature of humans in comparison to animals. It is usually studied under controlled laboratory experiments in order to discover general principles of behavior. Comparative psychologists focus on evolution and genetics in animals and humans. Some topics that comparative psychologists would focus on are individual behavior and orientation (interaction with the environment). Other key topics are personal grooming and even the way a living being learns or how it is motivated. When humans groom it usually includes bathroom activities such as primping and can also include cosmetic care of the body. “Animals regularly clean themselves and put their fur, feathers, or other skin in good order.” This is their form of hygiene. They will even extract objects such as insects, leaves, dirt and twigs. Animals learn through classical conditioning or even play, however; this is only seen in relatively smart animals and humans. Human learning occurs through education and personal development. Learning for a human may be goal oriented or caused by motivation. Motivation can be internal or external and it may be rooted in the need to “minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure.” Motivation is seen in human as well as animal behavior.

Typical questions about comparative psychology usually involve the similarities and differences of how a human or animal behaves in its environment and day-to-day life. These could include questions such as “How are animals similar or different in the way they reproduce?” or “How does conditioning help an animal or human learn?” Other questions are “How are babies and monkeys similar?” and “What is the mental capacity of an elephant?”

After Charles Darwin wrote his //On the Origin of Species//, interest in comparisons between animals and humans became more prevalent. Later he wrote //The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals// and concluded that “human and animal emotions are universal and innate and have survival value.” George John Romanes is the person that initiated comparative psychology. He set out to prove that animals had a “rudimentary human mind”. His first book, //Animal Intelligence// was the first to “attempt to describe the behaviors of animals in context of evolution.” He also went on to believe “that animals that act more advanced and humanlike were higher on an evolutionary scale.”

Charles Darwin wrote //The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.// George John Romanes wrote //Animal Intelligence// and //Mental Evolution in Man// were “enthusiastic but anecdotal attempts to found a science of animal behavior and reason built on a continuum between humans and animals. Another well known comparative psychologist is Conwy Lloyd Morgan. He believed that “in no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher physical faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one that stands lower in the psychological state”. This became know as Morgan’s canon. Other psychologists include Ivan Pavlov and Harry Harlow. Pavlov did an experiment on classical conditioning using laboratory dogs. Harlow studied the effects of social deprivation in monkeys. Edward Lee Thorndike was also important to the study of comparative psychology. His work on animal behavior and the learning process led to the theory of connectionism which states that “behavioral responses to specific stimuli are established through a process of trial and error that affects neural connections between the stimuli and the most satisfying responses”.