Chapter 1 Evolution Adaptation Cognition and Behavior An Introduction Mental Abilities that animals have o Sense things that touch the body o Imagine o Experience pain o Play o Show gratitude o Count things The Problem of Comparative Cognition o Button the Wonder Schnoodle She would go out on the front lawn to wait for the kids to get home About 10 she finds his wife and follows her around until she gets a treat Button runs or growls in her sleep o Being able to ascertain if animals have cognitive abilities Historical Background o The Scala Naturae Great Chain of Being Latin ladder or stairway of nature Hierarchical list of species in terms of perfection Law of Continuity o Darwin and Evolution Nature doesn t make animal kinds seperate without making something intermediate between them St Albertus Magnus Minerals fossils plants animals humans celestial beings God Charles Darwin Btitish Naturalist that proposed the Theory of Evolution Voyage of the Beagle and the Galapagos Islands Only one species of mockingbird in South America but three in the Galapagos Islands far off coast 2 different environments mockingbirds developed different characteristics based on environments Descent from a Common Ancestor with Branching Evolution 1 main species branches into others The Scala Naturae vs Branching Evolution Branching evolution describes WHY Phylogenetics evolutionary tree or tree of life Tree showing evolutionary interrealtionships among various species or other entities that are believed to have a common anscestor Each node with descendants represent most recent common ancestor of descendants Darwin s Finches Same with different beaks one gene control beak size Common Descent and Branching Evolution 1 ancestor branches off others Explains caused from genetic mutations traits are carried down o The Geologic Fossil Record o Homologous types Features derived from a common ancestor o Recapitulation and Vestigial Structures Forms common to earlier ancestors appear as animal develops Vestigial structures tail bone but no tail o Biogeography Idea that species developed in particular areas Darwin s Theory of Evolution Physical Traits Natural Selection genetic variation in population Hobbes and Hedonism o Hobbe s philosophy hedonism voluntary behavior is governed by the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain Mind functions lawfully Forerunner of Malthus late 18th century ideas of limited resources and Darwin s 19th century ideas of survival of the fittest Forerunner of 20th century behaviorists who emphasize importance of reinforcement and punishments as determinants of behavior Theory of Evolution Psychological Traits Continuity from animals to humans psychological and mental abilities also evolved Described in books like The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals Idea is basis for field of comparative psychology Early Comparative Cognition George J Romanes Naturalist who studied animal intelligence and was arguably the 1st comparative psychologist of modern era o Defined intelligence showing ability to make new adjustments or to modify old ones in accordance with the results of its own individual experience o Weakness anecdotal method not scientific o Evidence for cognition What Romanes dubbed behavioral ambassadors o Set stage for scientific study of animal cognition Clever Hans Affair o Wilhelm von Osten school teach that trained his hose Hans to answer questions o Responses by Hands included Tapping with hoof Tapping with muzzle Picking up things with mouth o Potential explanations of Hans abilities Hands was intentionally given signals by the questioner Sensitivity to N rays neural rays Hans was telepathic or psychic Hans was using unintentional signals from questioner or audience Hans was indeed clever o Commission was formed by a group of German board of educations led by psychologist Carl Stumpf and consisting of veterinarian circus manager cavalry officer school teachers and director of the Berlin zoo Found no tricks or fraud o Pfungst a student of Stumpf Observations showed Hans would answer questions when he could see the questioner and when the questioner knew the correct answer Unconscious postures and facial expressions Social communication in horses o What can we learn Power of Experimental Method Observation Hypothesis Experimentation Verification Explanation Comparative perspective Eyes of a horse vs eyes of humans o Scientific overreaction to the Clever Hans Affair C Lloyd Morgan psychologist who studied mental evolution and proposed Morgan s canon Canon rule body of rules principles generally established Accept simpler explanation mind vs simpler processes pick the simple process without more evidence Related to Occam s razor all things being equal the simplest explanation tends to be the best one William of Oskam Called rule of parsimony Avent of Behaviorism o Watson experimental psychologist founder of behaviorist movement o B F Skinner experimental psychologist leader of behaviorist movement o Behaviorism theory which maintains that mental events cannot be characterized independently from overt physical behavior Resists attempts to define mental expressions such as pain in reference to introspective reports by subject Accepts there may be mental states but scientists can explain everything without referring to them Comparative Cognition returns o Cognitive processes in Animal Behavior Hulse Fowler and Honig Contained chapters on Cognition in simple forms of learning Attention and expectancy Pattern counting o Comparative Cognition Society Short term and working memory