Humans have been observing and manipulating animals for thousands of years Probably never observing this But definitely responsible for the existence of domestic animals In the classical Greco Roman world animals were observed and their behavior recorded In some cases the recorded behaviors were accurate but others showed a high degree of anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans to animals non living things phenomena material states objects or abstract concepts such as organizations governments spirits or deities Amongst land animals the elephant is the largest and the one whose intelligence comes nearest that of man for he understands the language of his country obeys commands has a memory for training takes delight in love and honour and also possesses a rare thing even amongst men honesty self control and a sense of justice he also worships stars and venerates the sun and moon Pliny the Elder 23 79 A D Medieval Bestiaries were designed to illustrate moral lessons for illiterate European Christians As young pelicans grow they begin to strike their parents in the face with their beaks Though the pelican has great love for its young it strikes back and kills them After three days the mother pierces her side or her breast and lets her blood fall on the dead birds and thus revives them Some say it is the male pelican that kills the young and revives them with his blood But ask the animals and they will teach you or the birds of the air and they will tell you or speak to the earth and it will teach you or let the fish of the sea inform you Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind Job 12 7 10 The rigorous scientific study of animal behavior did not begin until the latter part of the 19th century but before that three major developments contributed to the study of animal behavior 1 publication of the theory of evolution by natural selection 2 development of a systematic comparative method 3 studies in genetics and inheritance 1 Flow Chart of Evolutionary Reasoning Potential for rapid reproduction Relatively constant resources and population size over time Competition for survival and reproduction Variability in structures and behaviors NATURAL SELECTION On the average the fittest organisms leave the most offspring Observation Conclusion based on observation Some variability is inherited EVOLUTION The genetic makeup of the population changes over time driven by natural selection Remember that evolution does not occur to individuals only to populations over time This is metamorphosis NOT evolution 2 Comparative Method George John Romanes 1848 1894 Formalized the comparative method in studying animal behavior But also believed that Mental processes evolve from lower to higher Continuity of mental processes from one species to another Can infer mental processes in other animals by comparing to humans So to Romanes a scale could be constructed showing the mental states of animals or what we today would call animal emotion Worms were lowest showing only surprise and fear Insects had various social feelings and curiosity Fish showed play jealousy and anger Reptiles displayed affection Birds exhibited pride and terror Mammals capable of hate cruelty and shame The comparative method gained legitimacy when C Lloyd Morgan 1852 1936 stated that only directly observed behaviors or experiments could be used to make generalizations and develop theories He is probably best known for his Law of Parsimony 1903 In no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher psychical faculty if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one which stands lower in the psychological scale 3 Science of genetics and of inheritance Gregor Mendel 1822 1884 established key principles of the laws of inheritance of biological characteristics Today behavior is studied from an evolutionary perspective how traits can change over time and genetics how traits are passed from one generation to another Animal behavior has a genetic component and this can be studied in ways similar to physiological or anatomical features Behavior is part of an animal s phenotype The ideas methods and theories established during the the 19th century form the foundation of today s 21st century experimental approaches to the study of animal behavior 1 Comparative Psychology and Physiology 2 Ethology 3 Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Until relatively recently there have been 2 major schools of thought regarding the modern study of animal behavior 1 Psychology and Roughly corresponding to the Proximate and Ultimate dichotomy 2 Ethology Psychology Currently animal behavior as studied by Psychologists can be disguised as many things depending on the University and Departmental Structure Physiological Psychology Cognitive Neuroscience Psychophysiology Biopsychology Comparative Psychology Behavioral Neuroscience Evolutionary Psychology Neuropsychology Behaviorism University of Texas at Austin Behaviourists and comparative psychologists were initially North American scientists trained in psychology rejected the notion of instinct interested in the flexibility of behaviour shown by individuals rather than the evolution of behaviour in species and understanding the environmental requirements for the development of behaviour in the young Studied how animals learn new behaviours using a restricted number of species principally rats and pigeons under laboratory conditions using statistical methods and carefully controlled experimental variables with the intention of discovering general laws of behaviour that could be applied to all species including humans Comparative Psychology is the study of different animals behavior patterns in order to determine the general principles that explain their actions Broadly speaking Psychologists studying animal behavior generally concentrate on Experimentation in Laboratories Learning Conditioned and Instrumental A few model species rats pigeons primates These are much more typical of what an actual rat experimental maze would look like T Maze Radial Arm Maze Some Notable Psychologists Today comparative psychology has melded into the larger discipline of animal behavior or Edward Thorndike Ivan Pavlov Ethology 1874 1949 B F Skinner 1904 1990 1849 1936 John Garcia 1917 Michael Domjan 1947