Abstract: | An analysis of the relationship between ethology and comparative psychology is presented by an ethologist whose background was in agriculture, animal breeding, and evolutionary genetics. The view is presented that today, comparative psychology is largely an American name for the ethological work taking place in psychology departments throughout the world. Generally, those studying animal behavior or human ethology fill an important niche in psychology departments, providing the biological, particularly the evolutionary, complement to other fields of psychology. This role is functional, rather than having a theoretical foundation different from ethology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |