Author:

Mark Englandmark.england100@gmail.com

Affiliations: •Committee Member Australian Psychological Society( APS), Psychologists for the Promotion of Animal Welfare Interest Group •Founding Committee Member and Acting Chair APS Dispute Resolution and Psychology Interest Group•Board Member of the Australian Disputes Resolution Association•National Treasurer and Member, APS College of Organisational Psychologists•Chair, APS Sydney Branch•Affiliate Member, APS College of Forensic Psychologists

Introductory Overview This poster aims to explain and expound upon the application of human psychology to other

animals. Animals may be perceived as beings with minds and related emotions. With such an approach, a field of animal psychology takes its place with that of the much studied human psychology. This poster explores such an approach and draws upon published research in doing so.

‘Psychology’ Defined

Rudolf Goclenius (the Older), a German philosopher, is claimed to have coined the name ‘psychology’ in 1590. Amongst his other achievements was a contribution to Term Logic, comprising a series of chained syllogisms. This paper concerns an exploration of the term psychology and how the logic of its application needs to be broadened if it is to be consistent with its meaning and associated intent.

The term ‘psychology’ is derived from two Greek words, ‘psyche’ and ‘logos’. The root of the word psychology is ‘psych’, which is a Greek affix. It’s meaning is soul, spirit or mind. It originally referred to that which is related to soul, without necessarily referring to paranormal powers. The term ‘logos’ refers to ‘the study of’. Hence the term ‘psychology’ was originally coined to mean the study of the soul.

Mind, soul and spirit were viewed as intertwined phenomena and so ‘psychology’ was viewed as a philosophical religious study.

Early Research In Psychology

Psychology as a scientific study of the human mind began to emerge from the realms of non evidence based philosophising with experiments by researchers such as Pavlov and Skinner. As we know, Pavlov extrapolated to human beings about conditioned responses from the behaviour of dogs and Skinner from the behaviour of laboratory based rats and pigeons.

The aim of these early experiments was to impute something about the mind of humans from the observed behaviour of dogs and rats. The reverse logic of this experimentation is that the study of mind, or psychology, as measured by the observed behaviour of pigeons, dogs and rats extends between these species of animals other than humans. By logical implication, all other animals equally have minds and so the study of all and any animal’s minds falls legitimately within the field of psychology.

Current Approaches to Psychology

Psychological Societies around the world typically describe but do not define psychology. The American Psychological Association (APA) does offer a definition of psychology that is listed on the 2010 website. It defines psychology as:

‘Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. The discipline embraces all aspects of the human experience — from the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to care for the aged. In every conceivable setting from scientific research centers to mental health care services, "the understanding of behavior" is the enterprise of psychologists’.

Current Approaches to Psychology The APA focuses this definition on the original linguistic meaning of psychology as the study of

the mind. In addition the APA refers to behaviour, which is a means by which the study of the mind is carried out. The enterprise of psychologists is said to be “the understanding of behaviour”. Given that mind and behaviour extend to all animals, psychology not only embraces all aspects of human experience. Psychology also embraces all aspects of the experience of all animals.

The APA’s people-centric view of the study of the mind, or psychology, may be examined by an experiment of preferred relationships, which I conducted in June 2010 and will explain in the following:

A Survey of Preferred Relationships

I asked a small sample of people what would be their preferred choice as a companion for a brief period of time, say an evening. The three choices given were:

1. ‘Rudolf Goclenius (the Older), a German philosopher who coined the term psychology in the 16th Century. Imagine he is alive today but has never been to the dentist or showered. He can only speak in 16th Century German and write indecipherably in Latin and German.

2. A playful young monkey3. A gaming machine

Of the exploratory sample given this choice, none chose a gaming machine, some chose the monkey and the majority chose Rudolf Goclenius as a companion. The options provided in this survey reflect options being made in the broader community. Many but not most choose animals other than humans as primary or significant companions. The choice of machines over animals, whether human or non-human, may be considered a sign of mental illness, although this was not indicated to those in the sample survey.

Companion Non-Human Animals As Significant Others

The Australian Companion Animal Council reports that the incidence of pet ownership in Australia is one of the highest in the world. The Council reports that 63% of Australia’s 6.6 million households own a pet. The significance of this is that the number of single person households in Australia has grown steadily each census and in 2006 accounted for 22% of all households. From this data it may be deduced that many single people choose or rely upon animals other than humans as their primary companion.

BIS Shrapnel analysed implications of the Australian 2006 National Census in their report ‘Emerging Trends in Residential Market Demand’. They found that while the number of single person households is growing significantly, there has been a steady decline over the past 20 years of the proportion of households with children. Animals as pets may be a substitute for children or for some a preferred companion.

The United States Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook (2007) reports that in 2006, approximately half of pet owners regarded their pets as family members. This demonstrates that non-human animals can hold the same level of emotional bonds for humans as can other humans.

Feelings of Humans Toward Non-Human Animals An insurance firm surveyed 1,300 British dog and cat owners and reported in March 2010 that half

claimed the loss of a pet is as traumatic as the death of a beloved relative. A third compared such a loss to the death of a parent, sibling or spouse.

Just as humans care for and become emotionally attached to other non-human animals, there are reported instances of animals caring for humans. At age 8, Rochom P'ngieng disappeared in an isolated jungle area in Cambodia. 18 years later she was caught and found to be calling noises and hunched in a posture similar to a monkey. Her father claimed her and her survival indicates that a tribe of monkeys had cared for her.

Emotional Feelings of Humans Toward Non-Human Animals The possibility that Rochom was cared for by monkeys is likely given that monkeys and humans

share many characteristics. It is now recognised that orang-utans are mankind’s closest relatives, sharing 28 unique physical characteristics. While we now know of this biological fact, comparatively little has been recorded of the psychology of urang-utangs. Unless we as humans value and respect urang-utangs as beings with their own rights to be nurtured and survive, all animals risk losing this species. The ability of us as human animals to comprehend our own psychology is bound and interconnected with the psychology of a web of all animals.

Conclusions

The term ‘psychology’ translates as the study of the mind. Psychology as a profession has been advanced by examining non-human animal behaviour. By recognising animals other than humans in our research we have been better able to understand humans. An implication of this is that all animals as well as humans have been better understood as a result of this work.

Many humans prefer or include non-human animals as significant others in their personal if not professional lives. Organisations such as International Animal – Law promote animal welfare and associated ethics, science and law. These are avenues for the advancement of psychology as the study of the mind for all animals. In this way we as humans will better understand our selves in the web of life.