Comparative psychology often utilizes a comparative method to study animal behavior.
The comparative method involves comparing the similarities and differences among species to gain an understanding of evolutionary relationships.
The comparative method can also be used to compare modern species of animals to ancient species.
Grace Chon / Image Source / Getty Images
Other important comparative thinkers included C. Lloyd Morgan and Konrad Lorenz.
Why Study Animal Behavior?
Studying what animals do and comparing different species can offer useful information about human behaviors.
Consider the work of learning and behaviorist theorists.
Ivan Pavlovsconditioning studies with dogsdemonstrated that animals could be trained to salivate at the sound of a bell.
This work was then taken and applied to training situations with humans as well.
To study developmental processes
Comparative psychology has also famously been used to study developmental processes.
If the animals missed this vital opportunity, they would not developattachmentlater in life.
During the 1950s, psychologistHarry Harlowconducted a series ofdisturbing experimentson maternal deprivation.
Infant rhesus monkeys were separated from their mothers.
In some variations of the experiments, the young monkeys would be reared by wire “mothers.”
One mother would be covered in cloth while the other provided nourishment.
The results of Harlow’s experiments indicated that this early maternal deprivation led to serious and irreversible emotional damage.
The deprived monkeys became unable to integrate socially, unable to form attachments, and were severely emotionally disturbed.
Students of biological sciences and social sciences can benefit from studying comparative psychology.
2012;55(12):449-454. doi:10.3345/kjp.2012.55.12.449
