Comparative Psychology

Comparative Psychology

• The study of the evolutionary and developmental basis of behavior.

• Comparing non-human and human behavior

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Morgan’s Canon

• In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes, if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development. (Morgan 1903, p. 59)– Anthropomorphism

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Ethology

–Species-typical natural behavior

–Observation FIRST - Ethogram (Lorenz)

–Then experiments (Tinbergen, Von Frisch)

Bee “Waggle” Dance - Von Frisch

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Social Behavior

• Interactions between 2+ animals• Agonistic Behaviors• Rituals (decreases injuries)

Dominance HierarchiesA linear social organization

Alliances in Dolphins

• Male pair bonds• During breeding season, pairs and trios get

together to herd females

Play – Why play??

• Practice Hypothesis: perfecting survival behaviors– Playfully stalking and

attacking playmates– Similar motions used

to capture and kill prey

• Exercise Hypothesis: way to exert energy and build strength and endurance

Communication

• Vervet Monkeys -Playback Studies

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Altruistic Behavior

• A behavior that reduces an individual's personal welfare but benefits others

• Nursing orphaned animals• Dolphins supporting sick or injured animals• Food sharing• Vampire bats “buddy system”• Allo-mothering

Animal Cognition

• We’ve already touched on:• Problem-solving • Language• Memory• Personality

Tool Use - Primate

• Chimps:• Sharpen sticks to use as spears• Chimps and Bonobos use sticks

to collect ants (fashion sticks to fit holes)

• Hammer and Anvil to crack nuts

• Wooden clubs (break bee hives, experiment with fake leopard)

• Gorillas and Orangutans:• Sticks to measure the depth of

water

Tool Use - Birds

• Egyptian vultures: • Use of a rock manipulated

with beak to crack an ostrich egg

• Crows and Woodpecker Finches:

• Use stick tools with their beaks to extract insects from logs

• Striated Herons:• Use bait to catch fish

Tool Use - Dolphins

• Bottlenose Dolphins:

Tool Use - Elephants

• Dig holes to drink water; rip bark from a tree, chew it into a ball, fill in hole and cover it to avoid evaporation– Elephants returned to spot for a drink

• Use branches to swat flies or scratch themselves

• Seen dropping large rocks onto electric fences– Cut of electricity or ruin fence

Imitation – Why is this adaptive?

Mirror Self-Recognition

• Gordon Gallup (1997)

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Understanding Intentions

Gaze Following

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Culture – Various Feeding Behaviors

• Dolphins (sponge feeding, transmitted vertically)

• Herding (swim around school of fish, take turns)

• Mudflats• Driver (with fluke)• Human-dolphin fishery in Brazil

Numbers

• Relative Numerosity

• Mapping symbols to numerosities

• Manipulating numerical symbols (addition/subtraction)

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