DANCEST 805 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Psychological Review, Animal Cognition, Wistar Institute
Document Summary
Herbert spencer (1820 1903) - in 1864 coined the phrase survival of the fittest". Defended the view that life started from very simple, homogeneous organisms and constantly became more complex and better integrated integrated darwin"s ideas into his own, claiming that evolution had a direction and an equilibrium endpoint. Also adopted an idea initially proposed by jean baptiste lamarck (1744 1829) that organisms could pass on newly learned skills to their offspring. Beginnings: anthropomorphic interpretation (anecdotal) interpreting behavior of non-human living creatures by attributing human motives & human-like intelligence to them briton george romanes (1848 1894) Approach combined observations of behavior with inference of the animal"s adaptive capacities. Edward lee thorndike (1874 1949: was attracted to psychology after reading james"s principles. Went to study with him proposed the study of instinctive and intelligent behavior in chickens. Put hungry animals (chickens, rats, dogs and cats) in puzzle boxes he constructed himself.
