A Comparative-Developmental Approach to Behaviour

Abstract

The comparative study of behaviour may well be a necessary requirement for our understanding of human individual differences. The theme is illustrated with reference to two areas of research, the effect of undernourishing animals early in life and the part played by pheromones in modifying behaviour. The research raises questions about the relationship between psychology and other sciences and particularly its position within the neurosciences. The spectacular achievements in biological sciences over the last 50 years are regarded as providing psychology with a strong base from which it can draw and yet be differentiated from biology where interest focuses on species rather than the study of individual differences. Ethology has broadened our awareness of the complexity of behaviour in a wide range of species and directed attention to the constraints needed in the traditional explanations of behaviour proffered by psychologists. Sociobiology has also provided a quantitative element to the study of interactions between animals that we had hitherto lacked. Genetic and social factors act throughout development. Research on undernutrition and on pheromones emphasizes that there are sensitive periods during which the underlying neural, hormonal and metabolic states differ as between groups and individuals. These need to be examined in relation to both short- and long-term behavioural changes.