Good Morning,

Please could you point me in the right direction to obtain information / articles on the strengths and limitations of both American Comparative psychology and European Ethological traditions in psychology.

I have ordered a book by Clive D.L. Wynne on Animal Cognition but it has not yet arrived.

Thank you for your help.

-- Dulcie Smith (volunteer.student!@bermudahospitals.bm), February 24, 2005

Answers

Hi Dulcie, You might want to check recent evolutionary psychology texts (e.g., by Buss). A few decades ago there was a strong clash between American comparative psychology and European ethology. At the time American comparative psychology could be strongly characterize as "early behavioristic" (i.e., overemphasis on learning as opposed to instinctive type phenomena, and opposition to animal cognition), while European ethology was characterized by too little experimentation (more naturalistic observation), overuse of anedotes, and too little emphasis on learning. Today, for the most part, there here is happy ending to a long period of conflict between the two camps, because compromises were possible on most of the issues (e.g., both learning and instinct are important, experimentation can complement naturalistic observation, and a blend of cautious behavioral analysis with the more speculative cognitive theorizing is not only possible, but helpful). Today there is extensive similarity between the theories and research of the two camps. There are still, however, some "traditionally behavioristic" comparative psychologists that are still very wary of theories of sophisticated animal cognition, extensive genetic influence on behavior, and speculation about human evolutionary psychology. I hope this helps. Paul

-- Paul Kleinginna (prk@frontiernet.net), February 25, 2005.