Study Guide for Exam 1
Gregory Kohn, for Comparative Psychology
• What is comparative psychology?
The study of animal behavior from a psychological perspective: mental processes and
behavior to understand the whole organism
• What is multicausality and why is an important concept for all behavioral
research?
All behaviors are caused by multiple interacting factors
• Know the major figures in the history of comparative psychology. What did
they contribute to the scientific study of animal behavior?
o Aristotle: behavior of organisms is fundamentally different from objects
(fine line between agents (organisms) and mechanism (objects)
o Descartes: Behavior IS a mechanism, but thought IS NOT (only humans
have thought)
o Lamarck: Behavior evolves as brains evolve
o Darwin: Behavior evolves gradually: Differences in degree of species, not
by kind = natural selection
o Romanes: Evidence of advanced mental abilities in animals should be
shown in support of natural selection (looked at anecdotes)
o Morgan: Morgan’s Canon (parsimony): explain animal behavior in the
simplest terms (trial and error, instincts, conditioning) instead of attributing
it to complex reasoning and human thought
▪ split into ethology and American comparative psychology
▪ Ethology:
• Niko Tinbergen and Lorenz
o Fixed action patterns: Geese rolling circular things
into nest like an egg
o Ethograms
▪ Comparative psychology: stresses developmental processes
• Schneirla: Argued that behavior develops through interaction
of heredity and environment (not just instinct)
• Kuo: Believed instincts weren’t fixed; instead, behavior
emerges from interaction of environment and experience
• Gottleib: Developed the concept of probabilistic epigenesis
→ behavior results from the interaction of genetic activity,
neural activity, behavior, and environment
• Know the differences between stabilizing, direction and disruptive
o Stabilizing selection: Favors the average trait, reduces variation
▪ Example: Human birth weight → medium weight favored
o Directional selection: Favors one extreme
▪ Example: Darwin’s finches during drought → birds with deeper
beaks survived more
o Disruptive selection: Favors both extremes, but not the average
, ▪ Example: Some birds with very large beaks crack big seeds, and
very small beaks specialize in tiny seeds → medium-sized beaks
are less efficient
• What was the difference between C. Loyd Morgan’s approach to
comparative psychology in contrast to George John Romane’s approach?
o Rome’s POV including attributing human like reasoning to animals (dog
reasoned out how to undo the gate latch) and relied on anecdotes and
peoples pet observations.
o Morgan’s approach was to use Morgan’s canon and explain behavior in its
simplest term, not in terms of human reasoning (the dog opened the gate
latch through trial and error) and relied on experiments
• What did Darwin propose that was relevant to the study of animal
behavior? What does it mean to differ by degree and to differ by kind?
o Natural selection applies to behavior and animals can help us understand
human behavior
o Differ by degree: have the same fundamental abilities, but to varying
degrees (ex: human and chimps use tools)
o Differ by kind: one species has a unique ability others don’t (ex: if humans
were the only species with language)
• What is Morgan’s Canon? Know how to apply Morgan’s canon to
hypothetical examples.
o Always give the simplest explanation before attributing higher cognitive
abilities
• What was Clever Hans, and why was his story so important for the
scientific interpretation of animal behavior.
o Clever Hans was a horse people believe could do math, but was really just
responding to his owner’s facial expressions
o showed a need for controlled, objective, blind experiments and discredited
anecdotal evidence
• Who were the major founders of ethology? How did the approach of
ethologists differ from the previous approaches to study animal behavior?
o Stressed naturalistic observation and saw behavior as a product of
evolution and adaptation
o Niko Tinbergen: 4 questions
▪ Adaptive/Function (ultimate)-> Why did this behavior evolve?
Survival or reproductive advantage (fitness)?
• Example: Why do birds sing in spring? → To attract mates
and defend territory (increasing reproductive success)
▪ Phylogenetic History/Evolution (ultimate)-> How did this behavior
evolve within species?
• Example:“Do all species of finches sing, or only some
lineages?”
• Phylogenetic tree (trace origins)
▪ Mechanisms (proximate)-> How is the behavior triggered?
• Immediate biological, hormonal, or neural cause
• Example: Birdsong is triggered by rising testosterone levels
Gregory Kohn, for Comparative Psychology
• What is comparative psychology?
The study of animal behavior from a psychological perspective: mental processes and
behavior to understand the whole organism
• What is multicausality and why is an important concept for all behavioral
research?
All behaviors are caused by multiple interacting factors
• Know the major figures in the history of comparative psychology. What did
they contribute to the scientific study of animal behavior?
o Aristotle: behavior of organisms is fundamentally different from objects
(fine line between agents (organisms) and mechanism (objects)
o Descartes: Behavior IS a mechanism, but thought IS NOT (only humans
have thought)
o Lamarck: Behavior evolves as brains evolve
o Darwin: Behavior evolves gradually: Differences in degree of species, not
by kind = natural selection
o Romanes: Evidence of advanced mental abilities in animals should be
shown in support of natural selection (looked at anecdotes)
o Morgan: Morgan’s Canon (parsimony): explain animal behavior in the
simplest terms (trial and error, instincts, conditioning) instead of attributing
it to complex reasoning and human thought
▪ split into ethology and American comparative psychology
▪ Ethology:
• Niko Tinbergen and Lorenz
o Fixed action patterns: Geese rolling circular things
into nest like an egg
o Ethograms
▪ Comparative psychology: stresses developmental processes
• Schneirla: Argued that behavior develops through interaction
of heredity and environment (not just instinct)
• Kuo: Believed instincts weren’t fixed; instead, behavior
emerges from interaction of environment and experience
• Gottleib: Developed the concept of probabilistic epigenesis
→ behavior results from the interaction of genetic activity,
neural activity, behavior, and environment
• Know the differences between stabilizing, direction and disruptive
o Stabilizing selection: Favors the average trait, reduces variation
▪ Example: Human birth weight → medium weight favored
o Directional selection: Favors one extreme
▪ Example: Darwin’s finches during drought → birds with deeper
beaks survived more
o Disruptive selection: Favors both extremes, but not the average
, ▪ Example: Some birds with very large beaks crack big seeds, and
very small beaks specialize in tiny seeds → medium-sized beaks
are less efficient
• What was the difference between C. Loyd Morgan’s approach to
comparative psychology in contrast to George John Romane’s approach?
o Rome’s POV including attributing human like reasoning to animals (dog
reasoned out how to undo the gate latch) and relied on anecdotes and
peoples pet observations.
o Morgan’s approach was to use Morgan’s canon and explain behavior in its
simplest term, not in terms of human reasoning (the dog opened the gate
latch through trial and error) and relied on experiments
• What did Darwin propose that was relevant to the study of animal
behavior? What does it mean to differ by degree and to differ by kind?
o Natural selection applies to behavior and animals can help us understand
human behavior
o Differ by degree: have the same fundamental abilities, but to varying
degrees (ex: human and chimps use tools)
o Differ by kind: one species has a unique ability others don’t (ex: if humans
were the only species with language)
• What is Morgan’s Canon? Know how to apply Morgan’s canon to
hypothetical examples.
o Always give the simplest explanation before attributing higher cognitive
abilities
• What was Clever Hans, and why was his story so important for the
scientific interpretation of animal behavior.
o Clever Hans was a horse people believe could do math, but was really just
responding to his owner’s facial expressions
o showed a need for controlled, objective, blind experiments and discredited
anecdotal evidence
• Who were the major founders of ethology? How did the approach of
ethologists differ from the previous approaches to study animal behavior?
o Stressed naturalistic observation and saw behavior as a product of
evolution and adaptation
o Niko Tinbergen: 4 questions
▪ Adaptive/Function (ultimate)-> Why did this behavior evolve?
Survival or reproductive advantage (fitness)?
• Example: Why do birds sing in spring? → To attract mates
and defend territory (increasing reproductive success)
▪ Phylogenetic History/Evolution (ultimate)-> How did this behavior
evolve within species?
• Example:“Do all species of finches sing, or only some
lineages?”
• Phylogenetic tree (trace origins)
▪ Mechanisms (proximate)-> How is the behavior triggered?
• Immediate biological, hormonal, or neural cause
• Example: Birdsong is triggered by rising testosterone levels
