Habit formation and higher mental processes in animalsTolman, E. C.
doi: 10.1037/h0070440pmid: N/A
139 titles, mostly from the years 1921-1925, are reviewed under 8 different topic headings. Several studies resulted in the acquiring by birds of discrimination box, choice box, and maze habits. Drugs and endocrine substances have pronounced effects upon maze learning ability in rats. Lashley found that destruction of part of a rat's cortex affects retention but not acquisition of a maze habit. A number of studies are reported on reliability of the maze, and one on interference of habits. Evidence that the speed of learning depends upon the nature of the drive, evidence that alternative paths are eliminated in order of undesirableness, and observations on the qualitative aspects of maze learning are all interpreted by the reviewer as meaning that maze learning should be envisaged as a case of problem solving. Evidence has been found for characteristic types of exploratory impulses and for individual differences in ability. Several studies show that animals respond on a relative rather than an absolute basis, and there is some evidence that they respond to objects rather than to qualities. Investigations of higher processes are reported under 4 heads: (1) delayed reaction; several investigators obtained successful delay in monkeys or apes, (2) insight experiments; a number of cases are reported, particularly by Köhler, in which the animal seems to "comprehend" the situation, (3) imitation; the evidence here is mostly negative, and (4) response to symbols or speech; dogs and apes cannot understand words as symbols for objects, though apes may react to pictures as symbols. The literature on theories of learning is discussed at some length by the reviewer.
Recent contributions to the experimental literature on native or congenital behaviorStone, C. P.
doi: 10.1037/h0071668pmid: N/A
64 titles are reviewed under the following heads: (1) embryo, fetus, and newborn, (2) appetites, (3) hibernation, (4) migration, (5) activities associated with the reproductive functions, and (6) congenital behavior following cerebral lesions. Elaborate observations on embryos and larvae indicate that different reaction patterns appear in a time order correlative with the maturation of essential connections in the nervous system. Other observations, particularly on human fetuses, guinea pig fetuses, and the new-born of opossums, show specific reflexes appearing at particular stages of development. Appetite, as indicated by food taking activity in rats, appears to be correlated with age, sex, and periods of sexual activity. Studies on hibernation are inconclusive, but indicate a correlation with blood sugar. Determination of age norms for the appearance of copulation has been the object of several studies. One study reports the maturation of the sexual response apart from social stimuli. Copulation can be delayed by control of nutrition and hastened by injection of gonadal extracts. Sexual aggressiveness lost by castration can be reawakened by transplantation of testicular tissue. Sexual activity can be perverted by artificial conditions. Voluntary activity has been correlated with the oestral cycle in the female rat. Maternal behavior appears spontaneously at the birth of young, and there is some evidence that it is conditioned by physiological factors attendant upon pregnancy. Several studies with destruction of parts of the cerebral cortex resulted in derangement of instinctive acts.
Review of 'Almost Human'Fernberger, Samuel W.
doi: 10.1037/h0065613pmid: N/A
Reviews the book, Almost Human by Robert M. Yerkes . This book is a valuable contribution from the viewpoint of scientist and layman. Yerkes has made available for the student of animal behavior the results gained by Madam Abreu from years of companionship and observation of her collection of primates which number seventy-five and represent most families of Anthropoidea Written in a style which the layman can readily understand, this book is of social significance at the present time. The lay reader is constantly bombasted with evidence for and against evolution, most of which is morphological and structural. The behavior descriptions of the infrahuman primates corroborate the facts of evolution in an almost uncanny, and certainly to the fundamentalist, uncomfortable manner.
Review of 'Tierpsychologie vom Standpunkte des Biologen'Fernberger, Samuel W.
doi: 10.1037/h0067707pmid: N/A
Reviews the book, Tierpsychologie vom Standpunkte des Biologen by Friedrich Hemplemann (1926). Dr. Hemplemann is a professor of biology and comparative anatomy at the University of Leipzig. Why he chose to write on psychology rather than biology or anatomy, he does not say. The author's reason as set forth in the preface seems to be that the time is ripe for such a book, and the wealth of material which has accumulated during the last ten years, and particularly during the last year needs evaluation and classification. Except in reference to important issues the book is limited to the literature of the last decade and in the field of sensory processes only the very important papers are reviewed. The author feels and we hope that other biologists agree that there is now no question that there is such a science as animal psychology. The author proposes to set forth all sides of animal psychology where it is feasible to do so. There is no doubt in the mind of the reviewer as to the value of this book. It is both excellent and entertaining. Hemplemann is a master of arrangement; the whole treatise, considering the truly amazing amount of material included, proceeds clearly and logically. No point of view is allowed to dominate the book to the extent that any material is denied entrance. From the standpoint of mechanical form, the book is really a work of art. The extreme care which the whole work shows is further displayed by the classified bibliography and the very complete indices. The reviewer feels that the book is worthy of a great deal more study than was possible before writing this review.
Review of 'Tierpsychologie'Fernberger, Samuel W.
doi: 10.1037/h0065920pmid: N/A
Reviews the book, Tierpsychologie by Robert Sommer (1925). As the author states, this book is not an exhaustive treatment of animal psychology but is rather an attempt at a general orientation of the subject. Beginning with a short historical sketch, he proceeds to a consideration of the similarities and differences existing between the human and the lower animals. Among these he discusses the erect posture as well as the differences of the anatomy of the extremities and endeavors to point out some of the results of these differences in the mental life of human beings and animals. Other similarities and differences are brought out in the discussion of the expressive movements and the organs and muscles upon which they depend. Throughout the discussion he stresses the fact that in mental life as in physical life the differences found are due to differences in evolutionary development. He next considers the psychological categories such as: sensation, memory attention, ideas, instinct, intelligence, association, abstraction, apperception, and habit. In each case he attempts to define to what extent they are found below the human level and points out as mentioned above that this extent is determined by the evolutionary development of the animal. In the following pages he takes up the various species of animals and discusses their mental life. Probably the most important part of the book is the latter part in which Sommer discusses the comparative pathology of internal hydrocephalus and the comparative psychopathology of man and animal. Most of the experimental work mentioned is drawn from German sources. The last ten pages of the book are devoted to a bibliography on animal psychology again selected almost entirely from German sources.
The Animal Mind: A Textbook of Comparative Psychology (3rd Edition)Fernberger, Samuel W.
doi: 10.1037/h0067184pmid: N/A
Reviews the book, The Animal Mind: A Textbook of Comparative Psychology 3rd Edition by Margaret Floy Washburn . This revision, like the first, is chiefly a matter of incorporating the new material which has accumulated. So far as the present reviewer can see, Miss Washburn's attitude toward her subject-matter has not changed appreciably. One might assert on the basis of this comparison that Miss Washburn is coming to believe that, "To the true psychologist" there is another challenge which is, at least, almost as enticing "as that presented by the problem of how it feels to be another person or another animal." This other challenge is to study the behavior as a sufficient end in and of itself. This is a problem which we need never give up in despair as Miss Washburn admits to be sometimes the case with the problem of feeling by proxy. On the other hand, to one who is not interested in arguing a question on rather slight evidence, the change of a few words in these two sentences may only signify that the author has corrected in the present edition a slip of the pen in the last. The reviewer does not wish to seem too unsympathetic in his treatment of this book, for, to be so, would be to confess inexcusable ignorance of the great difficulties which immediately surround one who attempts such a work. The volume of material to be dealt with is enormous; the task of organization is stupendous; the critical analysis of the mass of experimental data taxes the clearest and most logical mind. No student of animal life should be without access to a copy of The Animal Mind