Studies of the differences among animal (including human) species in behaviour and psychological capacities. It is traditionally concerned with attempts to rank groups of vertebrates in terms of intelligence, and to relate intelligence to relative brain size and other characteristics. However, it is now accepted that different species cannot be ordered on a single scale of intelligence, but that each species' capacities partly reflect specialized adaptations to particular environmental conditions.
Comparative psychology, taken in its most usual, broad sense, refers to the study of the behavior and mental life of animals other than human beings. Veterinarians sometimes use the phrase "animal psychology" to refer specifically to the study of disordered behaviour in animals, discussed below.
History
Comparative psychology may be said to have come into being in the late nineteenth century, with the work of George Romanes on animal psychology, inspired by Charles Darwin. Early comparative psychology experimented on animals to discover fundamental principles, especially of learning, that might be applicable to humans. Interest in the social behavior of animals has always also been a lesser part of comparative psychology;
Comparative Psychology and the Comparative Method
Strictly speaking, comparative psychology ought to involve the use of a comparative method, 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. Throughout the long history of comparative psychology, repeated attempts have been made to enforce this more disciplined approach, especially since the rise of ethology in the mid twentieth century.
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. 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
A wide variety of species have been studied by comparative psychologists. Increasing interest in the study of abnormal animal behaviour 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 twentieth century and continues to be used. Interest in primate studies has increased with the rise in studies of animal cognition.
Animal cognition
Since the 1980s, comparative psychology has undergone a reversal in its fundamental approach. Instead of seeking principles in animal behaviour in order to explain human performance, comparative psychologists started taking principles that have been uncovered in the study of human cognition and testing them in animals of other species. This approach is referred to as the study of animal cognition.
Disorders of animal behaviour
Today an animal's psychological constitution is recognised by veterinary surgeons as an important part of its living conditions in domestication or captivity.
Common causes of disordered behaviour in captive or pet animals are lack of stimulation, inappropriate stimulation, or overstimulation.
The way dogs behave when understimulated is widely believed to depend on the breed as well as on the individual animal's character.
The systematic study of disordered animal behaviour draws on research in comparative psychology, including the early work on conditioning and instrumental learning, but also on ethological studies of natural behaviour. 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.
Noted comparative psychologists
Noted comparative psychologists, in this broad sense, include:
George Romanes C. Harlow Richard Herrnstein Sara Shettleworth Allen and Beatrice Gardner Irene PepperbergAll these were active in fields other than animal psychology;
Related fields
Fields of psychology and other disciplines that draw upon, or overlap with, comparative psychology include:
Animal cognition Behavioral ecology Conditioning Ethology Experimental analysis of behavior Physiological psychology Psychopharmacology
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