Comparative Psychology: Evolution and Development of Behavior - Hardcover

Papini, Mauricio R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130804290 ISBN 13: 9780130804297

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2001

Synopsis

This introduction to the evolutionary and developmental principles underlying the study of animal behavior provides a broad view of animal behavior from the comparative psychology perspective. Emphasizing problems and research interests that have traditional relevance for psychologist, the book uses examples drawn from specialized journals to provide a firm grasp of evolutionary science as it is applied to the understanding of behavior. The author discusses all aspects of the animal behavior including comparative learning and cognition, brain evolution and behavior, behavior genetics, behavioral ecology, social behavior in an ecological context, early experience and development, and the ontogeny of social behavior. For individuals interested in developing and deepening their understanding of evolutionary principles within psychology.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Any scientific discipline has two major goals: to promote original research leading to new knowledge in its area of interest and to become a source of education for itself and for the larger science within which it is inserted. As a teacher, my graduate and undergraduate courses on comparative psychology and animal behavior have always been organized with both goals in mind. I have tried to convey to the students the excitement I feel about comparative research—the same excitement that drove me into this profession during my undergraduate years at the University of Buenos Aires. I have also striven to provide psychology students with a firm grasp of evolutionary science as it is applied to the understanding of the behavior and psychological processes of human and nonhuman animals. My problem has always been the lack of textbooks that I considered appropriate for this task. Most current textbooks on animal behavior do not cover evolutionary principles in detail because they are written with the biology student in mind. Unlike psychology majors, biology students have plenty of opportunities to be exposed to evolutionary principles. The main incentive to write this book was, in fact, to try to fill this gap.

For these reasons, this is not a typical book on animal behavior. First, this book was written for undergraduate psychology majors who take a course on comparative psychology or animal behavior. As a result, it includes more general information about evolutionary theory, human evolution, and brain evolution than is typical of most animal behavior textbooks. Second, this book provides extensive coverage of areas that continue to be at the core of comparative psychology, including behavioral development, learning, and cognition. I expect students to develop and deepen their understanding of evolutionary principles in general, and of the application of such principles to the study of behavior in particular. In my opinion, one of the main contributions of comparative psychology to the science of psychology is to provide students with a firm grasp of evolutionary thinking from within psychology.

I also hope that this book will contribute to strengthening the identity of comparative psychology as a research discipline. I have struggled to provide comparative psychologists with a tool to expose students in psychology and the social sciences to the intricacies of evolutionary science. Psychology is increasingly influenced by the development of biological disciplines including neuroscience, molecular biology, and genetics. Many of the newest scientific developments have a tremendous potential to increase our understanding; of behavior and psychological processes. However, this task demands a new, generation of psychologists equipped with the conceptual machinery capable of absorbing biological principles without losing the behavioral perspective. I believe comparative psychologists are in an ideal position to carry out this task for the benefit of their own discipline, as well as of psychology as a whole.

The organization of this book reflects years of teaching experience during which I changed and adjusted the sequence of topics to be covered in class according to the experience I was gaining in the process. Its relatively unorthodox structure made it particularly necessary for me to receive feedback from my colleagues and students. I have made important changes in the content and structure of this book as a result of their reviews and comments, for which I am very grateful. They have undoubtedly improved the final product.

I appreciate and acknowledge the contributions made by those who read one or more chapters of the manuscript, including Marifran Arias, Jeff Bitterman, Aaron Blaisdell, Daniela Brunner, Mike Domjan, Francisco Fernandez Serra, Gary Greenberg, Douglas Grimsley, Jerry Hirsch, Geoffrey Hall, Anita Hartmann, Jennifer Higa, John Horner, Masato Ishida, H. Wayne Ludvigson, Euan M. Macphail, Roger Mellgren, Ruben N. Muzio, Jesse E. Purdy, Duane Rumbaugh, Pablo Tubaro, and Jeannette P. Ward. Francisco Fernandez Serra introduced me to the work of Gomez Pereira, described in Chapter 1, whereas Jim Chambers and several contributors of the Romarch discussion list guided me through the story of human sacrifices in Ancient Carthage included in Chapter 5. Several graduate and undergraduate students also made significant contributions to the manuscript, including especially Ixchel Alvarez, Bambi Bonilla, Dawn Hansen, Dawn McVicar, Des Robinson, Steven Stout, and Cindy Weldon. Many students made indirect contributions by commenting on the organization of my courses; their views are now reflected in this book. I also appreciate the diligence with which many colleagues responded to my request for photographs and drawings of their research, including Michael Domjan, Irit Gazit, Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, Karen Hissmann, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Ruben Muzio, Katharine Rankin, Duane Rumbaugh, William Smotherman, Josef Terkel, Keiichiro Tsuji, Pablo Tubaro, Jeannette Ward, Masakata Watanabe, Emily Weiss, and Shuhai Xiao. I am fortunate for the support I received from my colleagues and staff in the Psychology Department and in the Mary Couts Burnett Library at TCU. I am especially thankful to David Cross, Jennifer Higa, Tim Hubbard, Tamy Joyce, and Dawn McVicar for their valuable help. I am also thankful to the staff at Prentice Hall who worked around my schedule and provided support during the three years it took me to complete the manuscript.

My deepest appreciation to Jeff Bitterman and Bruce Overmier, who, over the past twenty years, have provided me with the best advice and greatest challenges a student of animal learning and behavior could hope to receive from a mentor; and to Enrique Gandolfi, who brought to my attention the intricacies and rewards of a scientific view of psychology during my undergraduate years. Whatever value readers may find in this book is surely a reflection of their influence. Writing a book is such a complicated task that it would be impossible to accomplish without affecting the lives of those around us. I will be forever grateful to my sons, Santiago and Angel, to Mirta, and to my parents, Elena and Victorio, for their unqualified support, without which I would have never been able to complete this book.

Mauricio R. Papini
Texas Christian University

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0130804290
• ISBN 13: 9780130804297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 634