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Boakes. (1984) - From Darwin To Behaviorism
Boakes. (1984) - From Darwin To Behaviorism
18/12/2017
From Darwin to
behaviourism
Psychology and
the minds of animais
ROBERT BOAKES
Laboratory of Experimental Psychology,
University of Sussex
C A M B R ID G E U N IV E R S IT Y P R E SS
Cambridge
London New York New Rochelle
M elbourne Sydney
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521235129
Contents
Contents viii
Notes 242
References and author index 260
Subject index 270
Illustrations
List of illustrations x
4.2 Descartes' kneeling man From the Yerkes Collection; by courtesy of Yale
From Descartes (1662). 88 University Library. 151
4.3 Reflex action 6.6 Yerkes' discrimination box and the Yerkes-Dodson
From Descartes (1662). 88 Law
4.4 Julien Offray de la Mettrie From Munn (1950). 152
Engraving by Beljambe after Notte (authenticity 6.7 Ground plan of Yerkes' multipie choice apparatus
questioned); by courtesy of the Wellcome From Yerkes & Coburn (1915). 156
Trustees. 90 6.8 Pig entering multipie choice apparatus
4.5 David Hartley From Yerkes & Coburn (1915). 157
From Hartley (1791); by courtesy of the Wellcome 6.9 James Mark Baldwin
Trustees. 93 By courtesy of the Psychology Department, Indiana
4.6 An electrical demonstration University. 160
From Winckler (1748); by courtesy of the National 6.10 Group photograph at Clark University, 1909
Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland. 97 By courtesy of the Clark University Archives, Worces-
4.7 Electrical stimulation ter, Mass. 166
From Aldini (1804); by courtesy of the Wellcome 6.11 Adolf Meyer, 1913
Trustees. 98 By courtesy of the Alan Mason Chesney Medicai
4.8 Johannes Mueller Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medicai Insti-
Lithograph by P. Rohrbach after S. Friedlaender; by tutions. 168
courtesy of the Wellcome Trustees. 99 6.12 John Watson, 1912
4.9 Hermann von Helmholtz By courtesy of the Ferdinand Hamburger Jr Archives,
From Koenigsberger (1906); by courtesy of the the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Mary
Wellcome Trustees. 100 land. 170
4.10 Ivan Sechenov
From Sechenov (1968). 105 Chapter 7
4.11 Emil du Bois-Reymond 7.1 Leonard Hobhouse
From Stirlíng (1902); by courtesy of the Wellcome By courtesy of the London School of Economics. 180
Trustees. 108 7.2 Wolfgang Koehler
By courtesy of the Archives of the History of American
Chapter 5 Psychology, University of Akron, Ohio. 186
5.1 Ivan Pavlov in Botkin's laboratory 7.3 Box stacking problem
From the Babkin Collection; by courtesy of the Osler From Koehler (1925). 187
Library, McGill University. 114 7.4 Grande and a four-storey construction
5.2 Sara and Ivan Pavlov From Koehler (1925). 188
From the Babkin Collection; by courtesy of the Osler 7.5 Double-stick problem
Library, McGill University. 115 From Koehler (1925). 189
5.3 Vertebrate digestive system 7.6 Varieties of detour problem 189
From Lewes (1855). 118 7.7 Perceptual re-organization 192
5.4 Pavlov with G. V. Anrep and B. Babkin 7.8 Pillar construction 193
By courtesy of the Wellcome Trustees. 123 7.9 Robert Yerkes with orang-utan
5.5 Vladimir Bechterev From the Yerkes Collection; by courtesy of Yale
From Bechterev (1932). 126 University Library. 196
5.6 Pavlov lecturing 7.10 Orang-utan and box stacking problem
From the Babkin Collection; by courtesy of the Osler From the Yerkes Collection; by courtesy of Yale
Library, McGill University. 131 University Library. 197
7.11 Estate worker with orang-utan
From the Yerkes Collection; by courtesy of Yale
Chapter 6 University Library. 198
6.1 Jacques Loeb 7.12 Robert Yerkes holding two chimpanzees, 1923
By courtesy of Philip Pauly. 139 From Yerkes (1925). 200
6.2 Apparatus for studying rat behaviour 7.13 Ladygin Kohts testing her chimpanzee
From Munn (1950). 145 From Yerkes (1925). 202
6.3 Rat and puzzle box
From Watson (1903). 146
6.4 Lawrence Cole with raccoon Chapter 8
From the Yerkes Collection; by courtesy of Yale 8.1 William McDougall as a student
University Library. 150 By courtesy of the University Archives, Duke Uni
6.5 Robert Yerkes c. 1908 versity, Durham, N.C. 207
List of illustrations xi
The opportunity to follow up a latent interest in the Finally, I would like to express my appreciation
history of psychology first arose during a year spent at for the help and support provided by various fellow
the Department of Psychology of Princeton Univer- members of the Laboratory of Experimental Psycho
sity. I am grateful to the members of this department, logy at Sussex. I am very grateful to Valerie Leroy,
partieularly Leon Kamin and Sam Glucksberg, for Stella Frost, Anne Doidge and Susanne Westgate for
providing this opportunity and to Julian Jaynes who typing various chapters. Writing a history of some
game me the initial encouragement to make the subject is, for me, of interest only if the subject is
interest a serious one. This turned out to involve far fascinating in its own right. In this respect the book
more work than I had anticipated and persisting with reflects the inspiration of the many friends who have
it has needed the combination of specific criticisms worked in animal psychology at Sussex, including Seb
and general enthusiasm that has been offered over the Halliday, who was to have been a co-author at one
years by Vin LoLordo, Fergus Lowe and David early stage, Tony Dickinson, Geoff Hall, Euan Mac-
Murray; the advice on what a non-psychologist might phail and Nick Mackintosh.
well find obscure or tedious given by John Mogg; the Some of the research for this book was supported
invaluable assistance and professional reassurance by a grant from the Royal Society. Permission was
contributed by Philip Pauly from the early days of the kindly given by the Adolf Meyer Archive (The Alan
project; and the devastatingly accurate evaluation of Mason Chesney Medicai Archives of the Johns
what was wrong with the early drafts of each chapter Hopkins Medicai Institutions) to quote excerpts from
ever cheerfuliy and promptly delivered by Mic Burton. the Watson/Meyer correspondence and to reproduce
It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the useful, Fig. 6.11; by Yale University Library to quote excerpts
lengthy and informative notes and evaluations of from the Watson/Yerkes correspondence and repro
individual chapters, provided by Fred Westbrook for duce Figs. 6.4, 6.5., 7.9, 7.10 and 7.11 from its Robert
Chs. 1 & 2; bv Bob Bolles for Ch. 3; by Bernard Singer M. Yerkes Papers; by the Wellcome Institute Library,
for Ch. 4; by Jeffrey Gray and Stephen Walker for Ch. London to reproduce Figs. 1.9, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 4.4, 4.5,
5; by Lexa Logue and Cedric Larson for Ch. 6; by the 4.8, 4.9 and 4.11; by the National Portrait Gallery,
late Hans-Lukas Teuber, Mary Henle and John Last for London to reproduce Figs. 1.3, 1.6 and 3.5; by the
Ch. 7; and by Bob Bolles, Steve Cross and Franz Osler Library, McGill University to reproduce Figs.
Samelson for Ch. 8. One of the many things I learned 5.1, 5.2 and 5.6 from its Babkin Collection; by the
in preparing this book was how lengthy a job it can be Syndics of Cambridge University Library to reproduce
to obtain suitable illustrations. This task would have Fig. 3.2; and by the other institutions indicated in the
been even more arduous without the help of a number List of Illustrations for single reproductions. This list
of people including Eliot Hearst, Dexter Gormley, also gives the names of various individuais who very
Bernard Singer, John Mollon, Marion Zunz and generously lent and allowed me to reproduce items
William Schupbach. I also very much appreciated the from their own private collections; 1 am partieularly
care and interest shown by Colin Atherton in the grateful for help in this respect to members of the
photographic work he did for this book. Morgan family, especially Mary Denniston.
Preface
My aim in this book has been to provide an account of detailed treatment that I found necessary for earlier
the study of animal behaviour and of various ideas studies.
during the period from around 1870 to 1930 as to what My final comments concern the decisions that had
kind of minds animais possess. I have emphasized to be made as to whether to concentrate on the work
those theories and discoveries which have most itself, on the people who had the ideas and put time
influenced the development of human psychology. and energy into their research, or on the intellectual
'Animal' is not used in the technical sense, but, and social context in which this took place. I found it
following normal colloquial usage, refers to mammals difficult to maintain any kind of general rule about
other than human beings, birds, reptiles and amphi- this. In asking myself such questions as 'Where did
bians. Except for a brief period at the beginning of this theory A come from?' 'Why did X choose to concen
century the study of invertebrate behaviour de- trate on P and not Q?' 'Why was idea, R, that had so
veloped independently and effectively had no in- much promise, not followed up?' and so on, I found
fluence on psychological thinking. that sometimes the answer was to be found mainly in
The detailed account begins around 1870 because the work itself, sometimes in what was happening in
this is when the behaviour of animais was first viewed that person's life and sometimes in terms of very
within the context of a well-developed and widely general changes in intellectual climate or in the
accepted theory of evolution. From this point one can institutions supporting such studies. Consequently
trace a continuous tradition which was often main- the book switches from one levei to another in a way
tained by personal contact between contributors from that may seem unpredictable, but not, I hope,
different generations in a way that had not happened confusing.
previously. My original plan had been to cover a full In the past, histories of psychology have concen-
century. However the increasingly narrow concentra- trated on general theories and large scale bodies of
tion on conditioning that occurred after 1930 meant research, adding items of biographical information,
that it would not be possible to discuss the work of the usually of a respectful kind, concerning a few major
next four decades without providing a full introduc- figures. In general they have refrained from discus-
tion to its theories and technical vocabulary. Up to this sing such mundane, yet often crucial, questions as, for
point it is feasible to attempt, as I have tried example, who paid for the animais, space, equipment
throughout the book, to describe what various animal and labour. Clearly such accounts provide a mislead-
psychologists did, using everyday English in a way ing view of Science, both by ignoring such pragmatic
that I hope will make the book comprehensible to a factors and by undervaluing the contributions made
reader for whom experimental psychology is com- by the many productive researchers who failed to
pletely unknown. acquire the status of a hero in psychology's list of
There was another reason why 1930 seemed a honour. The past few years have seen the entrance of
good point at which to stop. A dramatic increase in professional historians of Science into this area and
the scale of animal psychology occurred around this they have begun to unearth some fascinating archival
time. It was therefore impossible to give subse- material which bears on the various practical and
quent developments the same comprehensive and political constraints that operated upon some of the
Preface xiv
studies described in this book. I have been fortunate in beliefs - or challenges by critics - have impelled them
being able to benefit from this work. However, to to leave the domain of words and find out what an
concentrate on such factors and give only a passing animal does in some specific test, then very often the
glance to the content of the theories and research that result has been a surprising one: they have discovered
constitute a Science is also a mistake. I hope that something that drastically changes their own beliefs
something else which will emerge from the following and on some occasions such a discovery has had a
pages is that, when people have held strong beliefs profound effect on the way that a whole generation
about the nature of animais' minds and when these has viewed the human mind.
1
The high standard of our intellectual powers and Mental evolution
moral disposition is the greatest difficulty which
presents itself, after we have been driven to this
conclusion on the origin of man.
Charles Darwin: The Descent of Man (1871)
For millions of years man has regarded his fellow deserve the title of scientific psychology. These two
animais with great interest as sources of food, danger, developments soon became entwined, and one conse-
power, amusement or companionship. At various quence, nearly fifty years later, was the rise within
times and places he has also regarded them with more North American psychology of a movement known as
detached curiosity. Most often this curiosity has been behaviourism. This movement carne to dominate
directed towards the physical characteristics of anim American psychology for many decades. This domi-
ais. Over the centuries the increased understanding of nance persisted during a period in which psychology
the anatomy and physiology of non-human animais was regarded as a relatively minor subject - or better, a
produced by such curiosity has made an incomparable subject of dubious intellectual content - elsewhere in
contribution to our knowledge of the human body. the world. In our time behaviourism continues to
Less frequently this curiosity has been concerned with affect our world by directly influencing the way we
the way that other animais move within and act upon teach our children and treat those we consider
their worlds. Do animais have minds, as men have mentally disordered.
minds? Do they possess anything resembling human Beyond the specific effects of the behaviourist
intelligence: can individuais from species other than movement the century-old tradition of what may more
man learn from experience, think or communicate? generally be termed animal psychology has had a
Can they feel pain, or pleasure? Can any being, but a deeply pervasive effect on how we see our fellow men.
human being, act in ways that can be judged right or The general acceptance in our day of one theory of
wrong? Are some species more man-like, in ways evolution, that of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), has
other than physical resemblance, than are other been accompanied by less widespread acceptance of
species? his view that the differences between the psychology
Attempts to obtain answers to questions like of man and those of other animais are differences of
these have been made here and there over the degree, and not of kind. Whether this particular belief
centuries. Such attempts took on new importance in has been accepted or not, the general view of man as a
the middle of the nineteenth century, when theories part of nature implied by Darwin's theory has meant
concerned with the evolution of life on this planet that following his work the study of animais has had a
changed man's perception of the way he was related to new kind of relevance to the understanding of man.
other living things. Until then, interest in such The chapters that follow cover a period of sixty
questions had been sporadic and disconnected. But years. They describe the changes that occurred in the
from this time began a continuous tradition in the way animal behaviour was studied and in the kinds of
study of behaviour and the animal mind. question that were asked about the mental functions
The beginnings of this tradition in Victorian of non-human species. Some of these changes were
England of the 1870s coincided with the separate birth the results of new discoveries and techniques or of
of attempts to change the study of the human mind events in the lives of the people that pursued such
from its traditional position as a speculative sub- questions. Other changes reflected major shifts in
branch of philosophy into something that more closely attitudes towards the study of mind, in subjects only
resembled a natural Science, a subject which would indirectly related to psychology or in the social and
Mental evolution 2
institutional conditions in which psychological re- from his contributions as a prominent Darwinian.
search was carried out. Consequently we shall Nevertheless, Darwin's views on evolution pro-
sometimes be looking in detail at the lives and vided the most important starting point and the
outlooks of particular individuais and at other times at debates that followed were major elements of the
such events as the emergence of a new kind of intellectual environment in which animal psychology
university in North America or the way that the First developed. These are described in the foliowing
World War affected psychology, according to what- section, where Darwin's views would receive fuller
ever seems most illuminating in trying to understand discussion if these were not already so adequately
how and why various studies of animais were described elsewhere. In contrast, the contributions of
undertaken. the other men described in this chapter are less widely
During the period covered by this book there known.
were recurring clashes between two distinct scientific
traditions, the evolutionary and the physiological. For Charles Darwin and The Descent o f Man
almost twenty years before Darwin first published his In 1831, when HMS Beagle left Devonport in
theory of evolution, experimental physiologists, England to sail for South America and the Pacific
mainly working in German universities, had been Ocean, the physical extent of the earth and its present
making a series of important discoveries about the geography had in general terms been well charted.
nervous System. A general theoretical concept for The main purpose of the voyage was to provide more
much of this work was the idea of the reflex. detail about islands and coastlines on the other side of
Eventually this concept was extended in a way that the globe.
many hoped would provide a generally adequate The age of the earth, and the variety and origins of
explanation of why animais, and possibly people too, terrestrial life, were not understood. Since the begin
act in the way that they do. However, this did not have ning of the century the discovery of fossils and the
a major effect on the study of animal behaviour until study of geological strata had begun to extend man's
the beginning of the twentieth century and so temporal horizon. At least within scientific circles
discussion of the physiological tradition is postponed there was rapidly weakening belief in the estimate,
until the fourth chapter. derived from Biblical texts, that the earth had existed
The present chapter looks at some of the British in its present form for about four thousand years.
scientists and philosophers whose work contributed Attempts to reconcile the geological evidence with the
to the beginnings of animal psychology. Darwin account of the earth's origin found in the book of
himself was clearly the most important figure and the Genesis were of major concern to scientists of that era
publication of his book The Descent of Man in 1871 the and of considerable public interest.
most important point of departure. However, there Speculation on the past history of life on earth
were other important developments in the early 1870s posed even more of a threat to orthodox Christian
which did not arise at all directly from concern with belief. But the few theories of evolution that appeared
the problems of evolution. Interest in the nature of early in the nineteenth century received little public
learning processes carne mainly from philosophy, as debate.
seen in the work of Alexander Bain (1818-1903). It was Until the earth's physical history was better
also given major prominence in the second edition of understood there was no secure framework for such
Herbert Spencer's (1820-1903) influential Principies of theories. For the moment, increased understanding of
Psychology published in 1870. Animal psychology later the way that the structures and behaviour of living
carne to place overwhelming emphasis on ex organisms were so well adapted to their particular
perimental methods; the first use of an experimental environments provided further evidence for a divine
paradigm for studying animal behaviour that had any creator, the argument for God's existence based on the
continuity was by Douglas Spalding (c. 1840-1877), perfect design of nature. The most systematic attempt
who was much more concerned with the issues raised to describe and explain changes in species, that of Jean
by the philosopher-cum-psychologist Bain, than with Lamarck, was largely rejected in his na tive France and
the evolutionary questions to which Darwin's work in England, where it became widely known just be
was directed. Although Thomas Huxley (1825-1895), fore the Beagle set sail. As well as being seen as a
the final contributor discussed in this chapter, was a dangerously atheistic doctrine, it was considered
close friend and colleague of Darwin and for a time at scientifically unacceptable. Lamarck had died in
the centre of the debates on evolution, his subsequent poverty and scientific disrepute. At his funeral his
influence on animal psychology did not stem directly daughter is said to have cried out: 'My father, time will
Darwin and The Descent of Man 3
came to write on the evolution of the human mind and diluted generation by generation. In the absence of a
it affected what he had to say. theory of heredity it was not at all clear how to refute
For natural selection operating on small and such an argument.
occasional variations to produce the intricate forms of This example leads to a third major issue that was
life that exist now - the vertebrates, for example, with added to those of time and of heredity in the debates
their complex brains and sense organs - demands a on evolution preceding The Descent of Man: does the
vast amount of time. In 1859 Darwin was satisfied, principie of natural selection explain the evolution of
because of the geological evidence, that enough time man? Publication of The Origin of Species had been long
had been available. The evidence from nineteenth- delayed by Darwin's belief that the favourable recep-
century physics disputed this. Calculations based on tion of a revolutionary idea requires cautious prepara-
principies of thermodynamics whittled down the tion, and also, maybe, by a fear of possible persecution
duration of the period when the earth could have and distaste for the public controversy that he knew
supported life from the thousand million years would follow, given the religious beliefs of English
demanded by Darwin's 1859 theory to perhaps only society at that time. To prepare a theory then that
twenty or thirty million years. By 1870 the physicists' could be seen as encouraging the spread of atheism
estimates had become widely known and accepted. was perhaps equivalent to advocating a point of view
The temporal horizon that had receded for the first today that would encourage paedophilia. The arrival
half of the century now advanced, pressing biologists of Wallace's paper in 1858 had ended this delay, yet
to find more rapid processes of evolution. still there was no discussion of man. The Origin
Darwin needed no critics to point out another contained a single sentence referring to the question,
problem, the absence of any accompanying theory of which promised that the theory would shed light on
heredity. The occurrence of variation, slight dif- human origins. Although veiled, the implication that
ferences between parents and offspring, was man was as much the product of biological evolution
assumed, but not explained; no account was attemp- as any other species was immediately perceived and
ted of the much more salient aspect of heredity, the provided the basis for most of the hostility and the
similarities between parents and offspring and the intense public interest generated in the early 1860s.
stability of species. For a while it seemed, as Darwin This was fanned when the implication was stated
hoped, that one could understand evolution without openly in 1862 by Thomas Huxley, by then known as
making many assumptions about the process of Darwin's foremost Champion, in his book, Evidence as
inheritance. The more hostile reviews by fellow to Man's Place in Nature. In this book Huxley concen-
biologists immediately following the publication of trated on the anatomical similarities between the
The Origin of Species had in general increased Darwin's human brain and those of the great apes.
confidence that his theory was correct. But in 1869 Two years later Wallace published a paper that
there appeared a challenge to his ideas that he found applied the theory of natural selection to human
particularly perturbing. This was a review, by an evolution.8 Two of the problems he discussed sug-
engineer, not a biologist, that included both a dear gested a solution that emphasized the distinctiveness
presentation of the arguments from physics regarding of man. One was the intellectual chasm that, despite
the limited age of the earth and an essentially the physical similarities, appeared to divide man from
mathematical demonstration which, based on the the great apes. The other was the indication from the
current 'blending' view of heredity, showed that new limited amount of human fóssil evidence then
species could not arise by the continuai selection of available that man had existed in his present form for a
small variations.7One of the examples from this paper remarkably long time: these prehistoric ancestors who
described the chance arrival of a European on some had lived in the same world as the mammoth and
desert island where his particular characteristics other mammals now long extinct did not appear to
equipped him to survive much better than its original have been very different, in body or in size of brain,
inhabitants. Given that he exploited his superiority to from the Victorians who discovered their remains.
the full, it appeared to follow from Darwinian theory Wallace's explanation in 1864 was that natural selec
that eventually the island would be peopled by a new tion had first produced a series of physical changes
race with European characteristics. This was absurd; leading to the achievement of an upright posture by
the obvious outcome was that within a few genera- man's ancestors, and at that point a slow development
tions there would be little trace of his arrival, a process of his brain had taken place. Once this had reached a
of 'blending' would have taken place whereby the sufficient levei man's consequent control over his
favourable characteristics he possessed were steadily environment made him a species uniquely free from
Mental evolution 6
He first considered the objection that there is a the sense of skills in solving practical problems,
qualitative difference between man and other animais should be noted. As we have seen, other distin
that can be expressed by the statement that the guishing characteristics such as language and con
behaviour of other animais is entirely guided by science were seen as inevitable by-products of the
instinct, while that of man by reason. He argued first evolution of intelligence. But, to return to the problem
that in almost any species the behaviour of an that had caused Wallace's appeal to a higher intel
individual is in part instinctive and in part dependent ligence, how had this occurred? Darwin's answer was
on the individuaTs past experience. Furthermore, it to stress two mechanisms that had been given little
appeared that instinct and learning are not inversely prominence twelve years earlier. Both had the added
related across species: the beaver displays some of the attraction of facing the other two major objections to
most complex forms of instinctive behaviour of any his theories, those of time and of blending; in principie
mammal and is also quick to learn. It was clear to they made possible a greater rate of evolutionary
Darwin that there are gradations of intelligence be change, and also could prevent the rapid swamping of
tween different species and that in some, notably the a newly emerged and favourable variation by cross-
apes, behaviour occasionally demonstrates intelli breeding within the species.
gence of an almost human levei. As examples, he cited One mechanism was the Lamarckian principie.
various reports of chimpanzees and orang-utans Since his days on the Beagle Darwin seems never to
using tools such as stones to crack nuts and sticks used have seriously questioned his belief that the skills,
as levers. The human mind could be understood as a habits and ways of thinking which an individual
further step, even if a large one, in the evolutionary develops in his own lifetime are to some small degree
development of intellectual functions that could be passed on to his children, as part of their biological
observed in animais. inheritance. The impression made by Jeremy Button's
Another prominent objection was that based on rapid acquisition of European manners appears to
language. To some of Darwin's critics it was self- have left the conviction that mental evolution could be
evident that human language was so different from a rapid process. With circumstances favouring the
any form of animal communication that it could not be practice of intellectual skills, frequent usage of the
the result of evolution. Darwin's reply was to point out brain would produce cumulative changes over a
that several basic elements of language exist in the relatively small number of generations. Although
non-human world - the development of song in birds Fuegians might now be mentally inferior to any other
resulting from both learning and from an instinctive members of the human race, it was conceivable that
tendency, vocal mimicry in parrots and other birds, appropriate environmental changes could bring them
repertoires of calls in monkeys indicating various to the levei of Europeans in the not too distant future.
affective States - and that such elements, combined The second mechanism was that provided by
with a high development of mental powers, could well sexual selection. The last, and major, part of The
have led to the development of human language. The Descent of Man was devoted to this topic. It seemed to
parallels that seemed to exist between biological Darwin that many of the peculiarly human character
evolution and what was known then about the istics that perturbed Wallace might well have de-
historical development of languages added to his veloped in this manner. As well as the possible sexual
argument. advantages conveyed by intelligence, the strange
Finally, Darwin conceded that the most important human lack of much bodily hair could, for example,
distinguishing feature of the human mind was its have arisen in the same way as the exotic colouring or
moral sense, or conscience. He argued that the complex song of various birds, characteristics which
development of such a feature was the inevitable do not obviously ir.crease the chances of survival for
result, given the existence of certain basic instincts their individual possessor.
such as parental and filial affection, that followed from The importance assigned to acquired characteris
the evolution of intellectual powers and of language. tics and to sexual selection in the Descent marked a
'Conscience' was by no means some fixed mental change of emphasis from the Origin, but change
attribute, which was either possessed or not posses- through survival of the fittest remained the central
sed; he pointed to the changes that had occurred idea of Darwinian theory. In 1859 the aim had been to
recently in 'even the most civilized nations' in change man's view of nature from that of a harmo-
attitudes towards slavery, the status of women and nious world containing related, but distinct, forms of
indecency. life, forms that had been reached under the guidance
The central importance attached to intelligence, in of some predetermined purpose or goal, to one of
Mental evolution 8
continuous flux governed by laws of chance. This had argument that the process underlying this develop
involved breaking down the boundaries that appeared ment is the formation of associations between ideas,
to separate species from species. In 1871 the aim was to through the perception of related occurrences of
remove a further barrier, that between the human and events in the world. To these basic principies Mill
animal mind. For Lamarck the inheritance of acquired added the suggestion that a compound idea, formed
characteristics was guided by purpose; it aided ascent by the association of two simple ideas, might have
on the ladder of life, the scala naturae, stretching up different properties from those of its constituents, just
from the simplest organisms to man and beyond. For as common salt has properties entirely different from
Darwin there was no such scale; he cautioned himself those of its elements, sodium and chlorine. MilTs
against using 'higher' and 'lower', against the idea arguments on what carne to be called 'mental
that one species can be compared in 'degree of chemistry' encouraged animal psychologists later in
evolution' to some quite different species. Instead the century to retain a belief in the fundamental role of
there was the symbol of the irregularly branching tree associative processes and yet also, in a sometimes
of life. In his use of the Lamarckian principie the ill-defined way, a belief that the functions and
teleological element was absent. Any development of development of the human and animal mind have
the human mind that stemmed from what previous different degrees of complexity.
generations had learned was just as much the outcome Mill considered these issues from the familiar
of an entirely mechanistic interaction between an viewpoint of philosophy. But one of his closest
organism and its environment as the development of associates was a man who has been described as 'in a
any physical organ. certain sense the first psychologist'.2If Alexander Bain
The arguments for mental continuity between deserves the title, it is because he was the first person
man and other animais put forward in the Descent to devote almost his whole life to the study of the
were far from overwhelming. Reviewers were quick mind. The two books he wrote in the 1850s, The Senses
to point out the dubiously anecdotal nature of the and the Intellect in 1855 and The Emotions and the Will in
evidence. For Darwin, it was sufficient to conclude 1859, were the first systematic attempt to detach the
that 'the difference in mind between man and the study of psychological problems from its position as
higher animais, great as it is, certainly is one of degree one of the traditional concerns of philosophy and
and not of kind'. Yet his tone is not that of establish it as a natural Science.
pronouncing the final word on an old subject, but Physiological research over the previous decades
rather of pointing out the way that a new field of had begun to make the nervous System far less of a
enquiry might develop. mystery than it had been before the nineteenth
century. The principal theme of Bain's psychology
The Spencer-Bain principie was a detailed examination of the relationship be
One kind of criticism that greeted the publica- tween neural processes and psychological phe-
tion of Darwin's theory in 1859 was that it did not nomena. This examination began, as was still consi
conform to the standards of scientific explanation as dered necessary at that time, with discussion of proofs
conceived in current philosophies of Science.1 Such that the brain is the principal organ of mind. Mental
matters were one of the concerns of an intellectual and bodily events were held to occur in a completely
tradition distinct from that of the group of geologists parallel fashion, with no causai connection between
and naturalists to which Darwin belonged. This them. In his analysis of psychological processes Bain
philosophical tradition was vigorously represented by relied mainly on the kind of introspective evidence
a man only three years older than Darwin, John Stuart and associationist framework used by Mill. But, also
Mill (1806-1873). His System of Logic of 1843, with its like Mill, Bain advocated the use of experimental
analysis of induction and the logic of experimental methods in the study of mind. However he never
research, was later to have a great, but indirect, became an experimentalist himself and the real
influence on the study of animais. beginning of experimental psychology carne later in
A more immediate influence on animal psycho- Germany.
logy was the philosophy of mind developed by the The original contribution made by Bain which is
succession of empirical philosophers that had of most interest here stemmed from his attempt to
preceded Mill. The two most pertinent aspects of this understand the 'instinctive germ of volition', or - in
philosophy were its belief that the human mind more familiar terms - the origins of voluntary action.
develops from an initially unformed State - the tabula Since his solution for what he termed this 'grand
rasa - as a result of an individuaFs experience, and the difficulty' was to have a long and influential history,
The Spencer-Bain principie 9
vestiges of action for a purpose are to be discerned, training as a civil engineer over the next ten years
this link must be presumed to exist. Turn it over as we when he worked for various small railway companies.
may on every side, some such ultimate connexion In 1848, on the strength of a few published
between the two great primary manifestations of our articles, he went to London to work as a journalist,
nature - pleasure and pain, with active instrumen- first as sub-editor on The Economist and then, like Bain,
tality - must be assumed as the basis of our ability to as a free-lance. His interest and ideas on psychology
work out ends.'6 and on evolution were stimulated almost entirely by
These first two books were written by Bain during what he read. MilLs System of Logic was one important
the years when he worked as a free-lance journalist in book. As Spencer acknowledged, he was never prone
London and repeatedly failed to obtain any kind of to study human nature in the concrete as well as in the
university appointment. The rest of his life, before and abstract.
after this period, was spent in Aberdeen. As a child he A few intellectual friendships were also highly
seems to have been as precocious as Mill, whose early important. He became close friends with Huxley, who
educational attainments had amazed his father's served as a willing, but highly criticai, sounding board
associates. But Bain's situation was a very different for Spencer's ideas. Huxley commented that 'Spen-
one from the bookish atmosphere that Mill breathed cer's idea of a tragedy is a deduction killed by a fact'7
from birth. Bain was the son of a weaver and from an and continually advised the suspension of judgement
early age had to work at the loom to earn moncy for an in the absence of adequate evidence - advice rarely
irregular education. As a Scot he was fortunate to live heeded by Spencer, whose attitude towards empirical
in possibly the only country 150 years ago where a boy evidence is indicated by his comment that he studied
from this kind of background could obtain a university some topic so that 'I should be able to furnish myself
education without very much difficulty, providing with such detailed facts as were requisite for the
that he showed intellectual promise. After graduating setting forth of general conclusions'.8
he moved to London where he joined the circle around Other friends of Spencer's included George
Mill. In 1860, at the age of forty-two, he finally ob- Henry Lewes and Marian Evans. Lewes was a fellow
tained an academic post and returned as Professor of journalist with a remarkably wide range of activities
Logic to Aberdeen, where he remained for the rest of that encompassed literary criticism, writing biog-
a long life. raphies, acting and Science. He wrote a lively book
Bain shared with Mill a surprising lack of interest that summarized in a popular, but very informed, way
in the debates of the 1860s over evolution. The the discoveries in physiology from continental univer-
observations on the behaviour of newborn lambs were sities. As will be seen later, this book's influence
exceptional in that there are few other references to extended as far as Rússia. Evans was also a journalist
animais in Bain's two books. This is in complete at the time. But after Spencer had made it clear that his
contrast to another author of a book on psychology friendship for her could never be any more than an
that was also published in 1855. In the first edition intellectual one, he introduced her to Lewes and,
of his Principies of Psychology, Herbert Spencer pro- partly as a result of the relationship that subsequently
claimed that 'mind can be understood only by show- developed between them, she became George Eliot.
ing how mind is evolved'. Well before The Origin of Despite his own considerable achievements Lewes
Species appeared he had coined the phrase 'survival of has remained known primarily for the support that
the fittest' which was later adopted by Darwin. enabled Eliot to write her novels.9
Spencer's background was very different from From his voracious reading and the exchanges
that of either Bain or Darwin. As a boy he received an with his group of friends during the early 1850s
intermittent education from an uncle and from his Spencer acquired a general Vision of the world that
father, a school master in the industrial town of Derby. was to have a more pervasive effect on nineteenth-
From this education Spencer retained a life-long century thinking than that of any other philosopher of
interest in a variety of subjects, especially scientific his era. Much of what has since been called 'Social
and political ones, a tendency to form strong opinions Darwinism' and the beliefs about the human mind
guided more by independent judgement than by which, later in this book, are termed 'Psychological
custom or by careful study, and a criticai attitude Darwinism' could more appropriately be given the
towards orthodox beliefs. By 1837, when Spencer was title 'Spencerism'. The key idea in Spencer's vision
seventeen, the boom in railway building had begun in was that every aspect of the world is continuously
England. Spencer's childhood instruction in intellec changing and that the direction of this change is from
tual self-help was then followed by more formal simple to complex. An individual animal starts as an
The Spencer-Bain principie 11
the individual's descendants, might eventually attain development of the capacity for rationality in the
the status of a mere reflex. When first learning some human brain.17
piece of music on the piano, a beginner might In the 1850s Spencer's ideas evoked only limited
concentrate on every note. When more expert, the interest: partly because he failed to see that the
pianist might be just as able to carry on a conversa- 'survival of the fittest' could serve as a primary process
tion when playing the piece as when walking. And for evolutionary change and instead emphasized a
if the pianist and his offspring persist in such habits, Lamarckian viewpoint which was already familiar;
then musical ability might begin to run in the and partly because, as someone lacking in scientific
family.13 training and without the scientific reputation that
The above ideas make an interesting comparison Darwin first steadily acquired, his ideas on evolution
to those held by Darwin and Wallace. In The Origin of tended to be seen as idle speculation. His reaction to
Species Darwin was very concerned to show why a Darwin's detailed arguments for organic evolution in
Lamarckian principie of inheritance was wholly The Origin of Species was pleasure mixed with chagrin
inadequate as a basic mechanism of evolution and that he himself had failed to see the potential
assigned it a very minor role. As we ha ve seen, twelve importance of natural selection. Its publication created
years later in 1871, it was given much more importance an intellectual climate that was now much more
in The Descent of Man, where Darwin's discussion of receptive to his own more general ideas. People were
behaviour and of psychological issues became close to now eager to read about evolution.
that of Spencer. By this time Spencer had decided on his life's work,
In another respect too, Spencer was a Lamarckian to produce a comprehensive philosophy of Science
- characteristically Spencer's initial interest in the and of the human situation for this new age;
whole topic began when an authoritative dismissal of successive volumes would examine the problems of
Larmarck's theory persuaded him of its truth - in a biology, psychology, sociology, education and ethics
way that Darwin always rejected. For Spencer evolu within an overall framework constructed on the basic
tion was unidimensional; although he did not use the principies of what he termed his 'synthetic philo
term, the scala naturae, now the ladder of progress, lay sophy'. These volumes were to illustrate the global
beneath his whole approach. 'Evolution' meant 'pro nature of evolution whereby heterogeneity emerges
gress' and 'more evolved' meant 'more complicated' out of homogeneity.
and 'better.' He dealt with the evolution of the nervous The ambitious plan for a synthetic philosophy
System, not the various ways in which different forms became feasible in financial terms as a growing
of neural organization have evolved; and, in parallel readership for Spencer's work developed in the 1860s
with this, the evolution of the mind. Thus, for Spencer, in the United States as well as in Britain. His personal
'mental continuity' meant a single continuum from the habits also made the scheme possible. The impressive
conditioning of a simple reflex to human intelligence. output of many of his fellow Victorians suggests
For Darwin it had no such meaning: 'mental continui unquenchable energy and concentration, supported
ty' implied simply that there was no especially abrupt by wives and servants to minimize domestic distrac-
jump from the animal to the human mind and that at tions. But for sheer quantity of published words
least the rudiments of various human psychological Spencer had few rivais. As a young man he had
processes could be seen here and there on the avoided encumbering himself with such 'hostages to
surviving branches of the tree of life. fortune', as he put it,18 as a family and he remained
Unlike Wallace, Spencer did not see much throughout a long life a bachelor whose only passion
similarity in mental capacity between Europeans on was his philosophy. In addition, his productivity was
the one hand and primitive or prehistoric man on the increased by the then very unusual method of
other, nor later did he appreciate Wallace's point dictating most of his books. Thus he was able to make
about cultural evolution. With his single scale Spencer rapid progress with his grand scheme, reaching
showed no hesitation in attributing higher mental psychology in time to produce an extensively revised
qualities to the 'large brained European',14 while version of his earlier book, now appearing as the
claiming, for example, that 'amongst most of the fourth and fifth large volumes of the synthetic
lower races, acts of generosity or mercy are philosophy, for publication in 1870 and 1872. These
incomprehensible';15 he stated that differences be were largely dictated on a boat, in between vigorous
tween men and women were based on the degree of bouts of rowing on a lake in a London park.
organization of their brains;16 and that the history of The general theme of that part of the first edition
mathematics and astronomy directly reflects the concerned with mental evolution was at least simple
The Spencer-Bain principie 13
and coherent: a single process of learning, based on Bain felt that current knowledge about neural
the principie of association, which ensured develop- processes in the brain did not permit any useful
ment along a single route. In the second edition suggestion as to what physiological mechanisms
Spencer introduced a second kind of process to made his principie work. Spencer explained Bain's
explain how the behaviour of an organism adapts to its 'autonomous activity' as the result of 'a certain
environment, without explaining how this process diffused discharge to the muscle at large' from 'the
átted into the scheme already described. The process ganglionic plexuses', but his account of how a
was the one already described by Bain and, although successful autonomous action is learned was ambi-
unattributed, it seems very clear that Bain was guous. In one paragraph he stated that such learning
Spencer's source. depends on 'a consciousness sufficiently developed to
In the second edition Spencer followed Bain in perceive the connexion between a muscular act and its
discussing the topics of pleasure and pain, but from an immediate effect'. And yet in the next he provided a
evolutionarv point of view that now reflected the very different analysis, essentially the one set out
impact of Darwin's theory. Pleasure was defined as a clearly, thirty years later, by Thorndike, whereby the
State of consciousness that an animal seeks to prolong, pleasurable sensations that closely follow the success
and pain a feeling that an animal seeks to get out of ful action are accompanied by a 'large draught of
consciousness and to keep out.19 Pleasures are in nervous energy'; this in turn increases the permeabil-
general correlated with healthy activities and pains ity of the 'line of nervous communication', through
with biological injury. This was seen as an obvious which the diffused discharge had passed just pre-
consequence of natural selection, since species which viously to produce the action.23
persisted in pleasures that were uncorrelated with One hundred years later Spencer's books on
events of positive biological significance would tend psychology appear confused as well as barely
not to survive. However, although these correlations readable. Bain's are clear and sensible. One suspects
are likely to be very high in relatively undeveloped that their contemporaries shared this view. Darwin
species, in the higher animais and particularly in the and the biologists had little respect for Spencer's
case of man the natural connection between emotions judgement on subjects in which they were expert, but
and the biological utility of events that accompany were prepared to respect his opinions on topics that
them can become deranged. Spencer proposed that were unfamiliar. In one burst of enthusiasm Darwin
such derangements occur because of a long time lag wrote that he considered Spencer to rank with
from a change in a species' environment to an philosophers such as Leibnitz and Descartes: but then
appropriate corresponding adjustment in what is spoiled the compliment by admitting that he had read
inherently pleasant or painful for that species. Since nothing by either of these philosophers.24 Mill's circle
man's habitat has changed very rapidly and since seem to have held a similar opinion, in their case
human society has - in Spencer's view, very foolishly having least respect for his philosophical ideas.
- acted to resist the process of natural selection, the Nevertheless Spencer gained considerable support,
evolutionary connection between emotion and bio including indirect financial help, from a wide circle of
logical utility has become very distorted in man.20 intellectual acquaintances, which was based, one
What we enjoy is no longer necessarily good for the suspects, on widespread respect for his originality and
human race. the view that, even though most of his ideas might be
The final part of the 1870 volume began with the foolish or turn out to be wrong, he produced so many
statement that the earlier account of mental evolution, that some had to be right.
based on the law of repetition of experiences, was not Very few copies of Spencer's first edition or of
enough. Spencer decided that it still left open the Bain's books on psychology were sold. But by 1870
question: 'By what process is the organization of Spencer had acquired a considerable reputation and
experiences achieved?'21 The answer that he provided the second edition became one of the most influential
in terms of presumed processes in the nervous system and widely read books on psychology in English-
is hard to understand. But the key idea is that of Bain, speaking countries for at least twenty years. Conse-
now expressed as follows. 'On the recurrence of the quently Bain's idea concerning the basis of voluntary
circumstances, these muscular movements that were action, the increase in frequency of some movement
followed by success are likely to be repeated; what was that occurs when it has been followed by a pleasurable
at first an accidental combination of motions will now event, became widely known until 1911 as the
be a combination having considerable probability.'22 'Spencer-Bain principie'.
Mental evolution 14
a matter of principie, Lady Amberley took him to bed Thomas Huxley and animais as conscious
at intervals. Research was punctuated by winter automata
expeditions to the Mediterranean for reasons of There was one man of that era who shared very
health. An infection contracted on one such journey similar views, but held a very different social status, to
soon ended this era with the death of Lady Amberley. Spalding and who similarly felt no hesitation in
Two years later Lord Amberley died, designating expressing them. If some forthright statement of what
Spalding and another tutor as legal guardians to his he saw to be true was likely to cause bitter controversy,
two sons. The will was challenged by the grand- then Thomas Huxley positively relished the prospect.
parents, who had disapproved of Spalding from the And when such controversies died away Huxley
start and who wielded considerable power; Lord remained in a more unassailable position than ever
Amberley's father had twice been Prime Minister. before.
Spalding left England and a year or so later died in Almost paradoxically Huxley had become a pillar
France at the age of 37.3 of English society by the 1870s. His public reputation
If Spalding had been able to continue his work, he stemmed mainly from his vigorous attacks on some of
might well have become the founder of the twentieth- the beliefs most cherished by his generation. At the
century Science of ethology. The research he pub- same time he possessed, and was well-known to
lished was recognized as outstanding in its time and possess, the virtues most highly valued in the
later it received lengthy discussion in William James' mid-Victorian age: honesty, courage, intellectual bril-
highly influential psychology textbook of 1890. But, liance, mastery of written English and of public
with psychology's increasing preoccupation with the speaking, energetic involvement in public affairs and a
nature of learning, in the twentieth century his capacity for unremitting hard work. It was these
findings were forgotten and had to be rediscovered; virtues - together with additional ones of humour,
and his legacy, that of providing a starting point for an personal charm and political shrewdness- rather than
experimental approach to animal psychology bene- his beliefs or his considerable scientific achievements
fited the study of learned, and not innate, behaviour. that had gained for him a unique position.
Huxley and animais as conscious automata 17
Huxley wrote very little about the evolution of Huxley was surprised to discover that he was already
intelligence. He did not suggest any theory to explain well-known in scientific circles. His reports had made
the adaptiveness of behaviour. He did not perform a good impression and, furthermore, the ideas they
any notable experiments on the behaviour of animais. contained were of direct relevance to the question of
Nonetheless the voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, a crucial species. For the next four years Huxley wrote further
event in Huxley's life, was almost as important to the papers on marine anatomy that confirmed his reputa-
subsequent history of animal psychology as the earlier tion. Dismissal from the Navy was followed within a
voyage of HMS Beagle. Of Huxley's many and varied few months by a teaching appointment at the
contributions, two in particular are notable here. He Government School of Mines, where he remained for
was the main source, partly through his student Lloyd thirty-five years while this institution changed, partly
Morgan, for the very sceptical attitude which first as a result of Huxley's efforts, from being a small
carne to permeate animal psychology and then, via technical college to become the Imperial College of
the behaviourist movement, a great part of American Science and Technology. Membership of the Royal
psychology in the middle of the twentieth century. Society had followed soon after his early publications.
Referring to his first name he once wrote: 'Why I was Despite lack of wealth and of family influence, his
christened Thomas I do not know; but it is a curious personal qualities gained him election to exclusive
chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual London clubs, while his increasing effectiveness as a
denomination upon the name of that particular frequent public speaker at meetings of working men's
Apostle with whom I have always felt most societies made him one of the best known popular-
sympathy.'1In addition, Huxley was the first to point izers of contemporary scientific thought. By 1858,
out quite clearly the implication that seemed to follow when still a young man, he had become one of the
from believing, on the one hand, that non-human most eminent scientists in England and one of the best
animais are highly complex biological machines and, compara tive anatomists in the world.
on the other, that there is complete continuity It was natural for Darwin to include Huxley
between man and other animais. The logical conse- among the small group of people whose reaction to the
quence was, he argued, that 'we are conscious theory of natural selection was to be tested prior to any
2utomata', where the relation between consciousness publication. There was some trepidation on Darwin's
and the physical basis of mental processes is much the part. Darwin later claimed that in comparison with
same as the relation between the sound of a clock's bell Huxley he felt quite infantile in intellect, while Wallace
and the workings of its parts. commented that Huxley gave him a feeling of awe and
The conditions of Huxley's childhood were much inferiority which neither Darwin nor Lyell produced.
like those of Spencer and of Wallace. He too was the In addition to his intellectual prowess, his thorough
son of a schoolmaster. But as a young man, he saw knowledge of anatomy and his lack of sympathy for
more of the poverty and squalor of urban life in previous ideas about evolution, there was Huxley's
Victorian England than either of these two, or many of pugnacity. Darwin knew that Huxley could be
his future intellectual peers. The scenes he witnessed formidable in the role of critic and perhaps guessed
as apprentice to a doctor in the East End of London that he might be even more devastating in the role of
remained vivid throughout his life. supporter. To Darwin's relief Huxley showed a
Long hours of study in his spare time enabled him positive interest in natural selection and regarded it as
to win a scholarship to a London hospital, where in an interesting hypothesis that deserved encourage-
1845, now aged twenty, he passed the first part of the ment. It was only when Huxley carne to read The
medicai examination. Needing to earn a living, Huxley Origin of Species on its publication in 1859 that the full
managed to obtain an appointment as an assistant- force of the theory made its impact on him. 'How
surgeon in the Navy and was posted to HMS stupid not to have thought of that!'2he exclaimed, and
Rattlesnake, which set sail in 1846 to chart the coasts of joined Darwin's circle as an ally: 'And as to the curs
North-East Australia and of New Guinea. There he which will bark and yelp, you must recollect that some
used his time to study the anatomy of marine of your friends, at any rate, are endowed with an
organisms and packeted home to England the results amount of combativeness which (though you have
of his research. As he commented later, his approach often and justly rebuked it) may stand you in good
was not really that of a naturalist like Darwin, but was stead. I am sharpening up my claws and beak in
more akin to that of an engineer, asking of living readiness.'3
organisms what is the structure and how does it work. Despite the prominent intellectual and social
When the Rattlesnake returned four years later, position he had now earned, Huxley maintained his
Mental evolution 18
that the logical consequences of such applications are you like. But what determines your likings and
fatalism, materialism, and atheism - whereupon the dislikings? Did you make your own constitution? Is it
drums will beat the pas de charge. your contrivance that one thing is pleasant and
'One does not do battle with drummers; but I another is painful?'11
venture to offer a few remarks for the calm considera- If our actions are set by present circumstances and
tion of thoughtful persons. It is quite true that, to the desires shaped by past events, how can they be judged
best of my judgement, the argumentation which as good or evil? Huxley's reply was that a man's moral
applies to brutes holds equally good of men; and, responsibility for his acts has nothing to do with their
therefore, that all States of consciousness in us, as in causation, but depends on the frame of mind which
them, are immediately caused by molecular changes accompanies them. On what then are moral criteria
of the brain substance . . . We are conscious automata, based, whereby some actions, accompanied by certain
endowed with free will in the only intelligible sense of frames of mind, are approved, whereas others are
that much abused term - inasmuch as in many condemned? The answer given by Huxley must have
respects we are able to do as we like - but nonetheless surprised a public that saw him as the arch materialist
parts of the great series of causes and effects which, in and hardest-headed scientist of the time. It must have
unbroken continuity composes that which is, and has disappointed those, like Spencer, who were confident
been, and shall be - the sum of existence. in the deduction of ethical principies from evolution-
'As to the logical consequences of this conviction ary theory or those, like the utilitarian philosophers,
of mine, I may be permitted to remark that logical who attempted to provide a rational basis for ethics
consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the from consideration of the consequences of actions.
beacons of wise men. The only question which any 'Morality', answered Huxley, 'is based on feeling, not
wise man can ask himself, and which any honest man on reason; though reason alone is competent to trace
will ask himself, is whether a doctrine is true or false. out the effects of our actions and thereby dictate
Consequences will take care of themselves; at most conduct. Justice is founded on the love of one's
their importance can only justify us in testing with neighbour; and goodness is a kind of beauty. The
extra care the reasoning process from which they moral law, like the laws of physical nature, rests in the
result.' long run upon instinctive intuition, and is neither
The paper drew almost as sharp a public reaction more or less "innate" and "necessary" than they
of indignation as the publication of the Origin fifteen are.'12He went on to make clear that this did not mean
years earlier. But this time no full campaign followed that one man's moral intuitions are necessarily as good
the initial shock. Instead, two years later, Huxley as those of another. The failure by some to understand
included a longer discussion of his views on mental geometry does not diminish its value. And he
continuity and on free will in a restrained and suggested that, just as a few gifted individuais like
scholarly book that he had been invited to write as an Newton have had profound intuitions about physical
introduction to the philosophy of David Hume.9 laws, or in art and music, so equally there have been
At the end of the book Huxley examined the men of moral genius. He ended at this point, and did
question of what is meant by our belief that most of our not discuss the problem - one perhaps more obvious
actions are voluntary, if our actions and our mental now than one hundred years ago - that, whereas in
processes are completely determined by the past and Science there are fairly widely agreed criteria for
present state of our nervous System, and the question distinguishing the intuitions of a Newton from those
of moral responsibility for such actions. Basing his of a crank, in art and in ethics there can be considerable
argument on Hume, he suggested that 'volition is the disagreement.
impression which arises when the idea of a bodily or An earlier chapter of Huxley's Hume is entitled
mental action is accompanied by the desire that the 'Mental phenomena in animais'. Although this con-
action should be accomplished'.10Thus, it is desire that tains no explicit discussion of whether one can
distinguishes a voluntary action. But, since our desires distinguish voluntary from involuntary behaviour in
are also determined by past events, we have no more animais, the possibility of making this distinction
real choice over voluntary than over involuntary follows from its arguments, echoing those of the
actions. 'Half the controversies about the freedom of earlier Belfast address and quoting Hume in support,
the will. . . rest upon the absurd presumption that the for continuity between the mind of animais and of
proposition, "I can do as I like", is contradictory to the man. The implication is that, for animais too, a
doctrine of necessity. The answer is: nobody doubts voluntary action is one that is accompanied by desire
that, at any rate within certain limits, you can do as for that action. The troublesome problem of determin-
Summary 21
mg an animal's desire, in contrast with the easy task of first book on psychology published in 1855. In 1870,
recording its action, is not addressed. In its place when he published the first volume of a revised
Huxley repeats his arguments on the impossibility of version of the book, he had also accepted from Darwin
settling whether another creature is conscious or not, and Wallace the idea of natural selection as a
and on the irrelevance of the contents of conscious- mechanism of evolution. Furthermore, the serious
r.ess to understanding the machinery of the mind. attention to ideas on evolution and great public
As part of his case for mental continuity in the interest that had been won by Darwin ended Spen-
book on Hume, Huxley also found further support in cer's relative obscurity and led to his growing
evidence from the 'new Science of comparative influence. With Spencer's acceptance of natural selec
psychology'. 13 However, he did not go into the nature tion and Darwin's increasing reliance on Lamarckian
of this evidence and this was a Science to which he inheritance there were strong similarities in their
made no direct contribution. Some scientific work in views on mental evolution, but one important dif-
zoology was continued, along with lecturing, admi- ference remained. In Spencer's psychological theories
nistrative work, educational projects, textbooks and, the notion of evolution as a linear progression, with
now and then, a sharp public dispute. existing species and races providing living evidence of
His visits to Darwin had long become occasional. continuity, is never far away. Even in his treatment of
During Darwin's final illness in 1882 Huxley wrote to mental evolution Darwin usually managed to main-
offer medicai advice. To the note of thanks in reply, tain his view of evolution as an irregularly branching
Darwin added: 'I wish to God there were more process producing marked discontinuities in forms of
automata in the world like you.'14 life that have survived to the present day.
The views of Darwin and Spencer on the
Summary evolution of intelligence provided the main basis for
The idea of studying the behaviour of animais in the subsequent development of comparative psycho
order to understand the human mind and its evolution logy, which in tum served as the main route by which
was independently developed and propounded by evolutionary theory made its impact on psychology as
Darwin and by Spencer. Of these two Darwin was, at a whole. At the same time other issues were debated
least until well into the 1870s, by far the more which were to become prominent points of con-
influential. In developing his theory that the primary troversy during the growth of animal psychology and
cause of evolution is the wholly mechanistic process of the emergence of behaviourism.
natural selection, in The Origin of Species he merely A major factor in the Lamarckian emphasis given
hinted at his belief that the origin of the human race by Spencer and Darwin to their treatment of behaviour
was no exception. By 1872, when the reason for this was the resemblance they perceived between instincts
belief were spelled out in The Descent of Man, it was and learned actions that have become habitual. This
important for Darwin to make a strong case for mental resemblance is reflected in colloquial English even
continuity between man and other animais. today: we talk of someone's well-practised skill having
A central factor was the increasing theoretical become 'second nature' to him, or describe the driver
divergence between himself and Wallace. For Wallace of a car, reacting quickly in some emergency, as
natural selection remained the only process of evolu 'instinctively' changing gear. The task of distin-
tion and so, since he failed to see how various human guishing habit from instinct remained an important
characteristics - particularly the human mind - could one until the end of the century.
have evolved in such a fashion, he carne to believe that The early 1870s was a time when a strong
some non-natural influence had intervened in the environmentalist view on such matters was prevalent,
course of human evolution. This issue, together with mainly because of the influence of the philosophical
other problems that included those of heredity and of tradition represented by Mill and Bain. In succeeding
shorter estimates for the age of the earth, led Darwin decades, the general Outlook swung towards the
to place more emphasis on secondary mechanisms. other, hereditarian, extreme. One element that was to
One was sexual selection, which was treated at length contribute towards this swing was the research carried
in The Descent of Man. The other was the Lamarckian out by Spalding. Its importance lay in the example he
principie that the use or disuse by an individual of its set of using experimental methods to attack questions
organs, including its brain, affects their inheritance by concerning animal behaviour. The aspect of his
its offspring. findings of most interest to Spalding was the demon-
The Lamarckian principie had been a central stration that the extreme environmentalist claims of
concept in Spencer's early ideas as expressed in his Bain were wrong: no prior sensory experience was
Mental evolution 22
necessary for a chick to interact appropriately with subjective experience and discover its relation to the
some features of its environment. Other aspects of his workings of the brain. He firmly rejected the view of
results, those to do with 'imperfeet instincts', could his former student, Spalding, that a scientific study of
have been cited in partial support of Bain's argument mind should not, and cannot, concern itself with the
for the important and rapid effects of early experience. contents of consciousness, a view that was also given
However, no experimental studies directly concerned the weight of Huxley's authority. Whether animais
with the nature of learning in animais were performed 'possess consciousness', and if so, what means exist
at this time. for detecting it, became another central issue in
The lack of empirical work on learning was not comparative psychology.
due to an absence of theoretical ideas. In the first edi- Fifty years after the events described in this
tion of Spencer's Principies of Psychology the principie chapter a view of psychology similar to those held by
underlying the transition from reflex to instinct was Spalding and Huxley became the starting point of the
held to be a process of learning based on contiguity behaviourist movement. The view was that psycholo
and frequency: if one stimulus regularly and im- gy can make progress only if it restricts itself to the
mediately precedes another, then the first will come to study of behaviour; there is no way in which a true
elicit the reaction formerly evoked only by the second. Science can be based on the analysis of subjective
A second process of learning was also described, first experience. The objection was raised that, if animais
in 1855 by Bain and then in 1870 by Spencer. including man are to be treated as machines whose
According to the Spencer-Bain principie, any spon- behaviour is completely determined by past and
taneous action which is accidentally, but immediately, present events, then there is no sense in which a man's
followed by those changes in the State of the brain actions can be free, and no basis for morality. The
correlated with subjective feelings of pleasure, or of a same objection was raised in the 1870s, in reaction first
decrease in pain, thereafter becomes more likely to to The Descent of Man and then to Huxley's Belfast
recur. However, for the time, the statement of these address. Darwin was circumspect on such matters and
principies stimulated neither close attention to the Spencer obscure, but Huxley made his position clear:
differences between them nor empirical investigation. voluntary actions are as much determined by prior
The Spencer-Bain principie of learning arose in causes as any other event in nature; and, as for reasons
the context of Bain's analysis of voluntary action. In for judging an action to be good or evil, the methods of
Bain's philosophy physical events and mental events Science can no more establish these than they can
occur in parallel; the task of psychology is to study answer questions concerning consciousness.
2
Man's body may have been developed from that of Intelligence and instinct
a lower animal form under the law of natural
selection; but . . . we possess intellectual and moral
faculties that could not have been so developed,
but must have another origin.
Alfred Wallace: Darwinism (1889)
V_____________________________
Bv 1880 there was widespread acceptance of the (1852-1936) and Francis Galton (1822-1911). As with
general idea that life had evolved. To this extent the other evolutionists, their range of interests was broad,
arguments that Darwin had marshalled twenty years including geology, physiology and what would now
earlier had had their intended effect. There was, be called genetics. What distinguished Romanes and
however, considerable disagreement among those Morgan was that their main interest was in the minds
now known as the 'Darwinians' over the process or of animais. For both of them this interest developed
processes by which evolution had taken place. The because they wished to understand evolution. But a
purist position was that evolution was solely the result number of problems stood in the way. One was
of natural selection. This was Wallace's view, except methodological; for explanations of animal behaviour
that he appealed to supernatural intervention to the familiar ways of collecting, assessing and inter-
account for the human mind. Darwin himself believed preting evidence that had served for geology and
that all aspects of human evolution could be explained anatomy were applied, but began to seem inadequate.
in terms of the same processes that had led to the There was a further kind of problem that also did not
evolution of any other species, but attributed much arise in the case of the other natural Sciences related to
more importance to Lamarckian inheritance as a evolutionary theory: before any progress could be
means of accelerating evolution than when he had first made on the animal mind, the philosophical issues
written The Origin of Species. surrounding the concept of mind had to be faced. A
From around the time of Darwin's death in 1882 third preliminary task was that of clarifying the
such differences were much more openly debated, concepts of intelligence and of instinct. Both words
possibly because DarwhTs immense prestige had had rather different meanings to the ones they have
discouraged dissent, but more probably because there acquired over the past century. Intelligence was
was no longer any need for the evolutionists to present relatively straightforward. To refer to an action as
a United front to the outside world. Over the next intelligent was in general understood as indicating
twenty years the study of animal behaviour was that its performance showed some beneficiai effect of
largely inspired by disagreements over fundamental past experience. A generally accepted definition of
aspects of evolutionary theory and its development instinct was more difficult to find.
was particularly influenced by the split between those A central part of this third problem was the
agreeing with Darwin's later views and those agreeing continuing uncertainty over mechanisms of heredity.
with Wallace. Broadly speaking, in the 1880s animais Where this bore on human evolution, the heredity
were studied because of interest in the evolution of the issue was closely related to the question of the age of
human mind, while in the 1890s it became of key the earth. Wallace had been quick to accept the
theoretical importance to settle the question of physicists' arguments for limited geological time.
whether any behavioural tendency acquired by an Since he was prepared to appeal to supernatural
individual animal could be passed on genetically, or intervention in the origin of man, he did not need vast
by some other means, to its offspring. amounts of time. To the extent that orthodox Darwi
This chapter describes the work of three men, nians, resistant to Wallace's views on man, reluctantly
George Romanes (1848-1894), Conwy Lloyd Morgan accepted shorter estimates for the age of the earth, the
lntelligence and instinct 24
made it firm evidence; although even Romanes felt to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a
uncomfortable in accepting that snails possess the few men who, 1 feel sure, have often thus been
ability to communicate complex information to each deterred from experiment or observations which
other, he did so since an observation supporting this would have proved directly orindirectly serviceable.'10
claim was included by Darwin in The Descent of Man.4 This is another respect in which Romanes followed
Since the criterion of the writer's known competence Darwin.
allowed through only a small amount of evidence, Romanes' contribution lay in something more
Romanes also accepted reports that in his judgement than providing his successors with an approach that
were clearly based on careful observation and those they could vigorously reject. In many cases the
describing an ability in some particular species which observed behaviour was interesting and believable; it
had been noted by a number of independent was the observer's rich interpretation in terms of
observers.5 current ideas from human psychology that was wide
The text suggests that other factors also in- open to objection. Later animal psychologists rejected
fluenced his selection. There are some odd cases the interpretations, but mined Romanes' collection for
which were included, one can only judge, because the ideas to use in devising situations where the be
informant would have been offended by their omis- haviour of animais could be studied more carefully.
sion; for example, an anonymous young lady known His comments on the mechanical abilities of cats
to Romanes reported 'that her two younger sisters provided an important example, and so are worth
(children) are in the habit of feeding every morning quoting at length; 'In the understanding of mechanical
with sugar an earwig, which they call "Tom", and appliances, cats attain to a higher levei of intelligence
which crawls up a certain curtain regularly every day than any other animais, except monkeys, and perhaps
at the same hour, with the apparent expectation of elephants.' Having discussed the fact that he knew of
getting its breakfast'.6 A factor much more important only one report of a dog operating a latch, whereas he
than this appears to be the social status of the had received some half-dozen reports of cats doing so,
observer. An account of a tribunal of rooks, sitting in he continued by relating a typical instance. 'I may add
judgement of a jackdaw accused of some misde- that my own coachman once had a cat which, certainly
meanour, is reproduced when the informant is a without tuition, learnt thus to open a door that led into
bishop and a similar story is told by a major-general.7 the stables from a yard into which looked some of the
Romanes was no doubting Thomas. He showed Windows of the house. Standing at these Windows
little of Huxley's willingness to suspend belief, or the when the cat did not see me, I have many times
attitude of Spalding who had wryly noted that 'the witnessed her modus operandi. Walking up to the door
many extraordinary and exceptional feats of dogs and with a most matter-of-course kind of air, she used to
other animais seemed to be constantly falling under spring at the half-loop handle just below the thumb
the observation of everybody except the few that are latch. Holding on to the bottom of this half-loop with
interested in these matters'." The difference between one fore-paw, she then raised the other to the thumb
the believers and the sceptics was not confined to piece, and while depressing the latter, finally with her
matters of animal behaviour. The supernatural also hindlegs scratched and pushed the doorposts so as to
enjoyed a vogue at this time. It attracted the interested open the door. Precisely similar movements are
curiosity of Wallace, Spencer and, to some extent, described by my correspondents as having been
Darwin. When told of some message relayed from witnessed by them. Of course, in all such cases the cats
beyond the grave, Huxley merely commented that, if must have previously observed that the doors are
this were typical of conversation in the spiritual world, opened by persons placing their hands upon the
it provided another good argument against suicide;'* a handles and, having observed this, the animais
similar attitude, expressed in a different idiom, to that forthwith act by what may be strictly termed rational
of Groucho Marx's reply, when asked if he had any imitation.' He goes on to argue that the process of
questions for the Great Spirit beyond: 'Yeah, what's 'rational imitation' must involve understanding of the
the capital of North Dakota?' mechanical properties of the door and considerable
Darwin shared this lack of belief in the supernatu reasoning power."
ral, but he did not feel that a highly sceptical attitude Romanes believed that a Science contains two
was beneficiai for a man of Science. 'I am not very parts, which can be considered in isolation from each
sceptical', he once wrote, 'a frame of mind which I other: one part consisting of a body of factual
believe to be injurious to the progress of Science. A information; the other of principies deduced from
good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable these facts. His model for the Science of comparative
Romanes on mind, instinct and intelligence 27
psvchology was compara tive anatomy. The number of understanding of the mechanical principie of the
teeth possessed by a given animal, the shape of a skull screw.
or the length of a particular bone are indisputable The justification for inferring that animais possess
facts. From consideration of the anatomical resemb- such human-like emotions and intellectual abilities
iances between different species a theory of physical was discussed briefly in his introduction to Animal
evolution can be derived, and this provides the Intelligence, where Romanes explained what he meant
means for obtaining a true classification of anatomi by mind and what criterion he used for deciding that a
cal data. given type of animal possessed a mind. These issues
Animal Intelligence was intended as a compendium were treated at greater length in his second book,
of facts about the animal mind. Romanes suggested Mental Evolution in Animais of 1884, whose principal
that a theory of mental evolution would provide a aim was to develop a theory of mental evolution from
dassification scheme very different from one based on the factual basis laid down in Animal Intelligence. This
physical similarity. He was particularly impressed by theory and Romanes' more general ideas on animal
the wide variation in psychological abilities shown by psychology are discussed in the following section.
different species of rodents: 'In no other group do we
meet with nearly so striking an exemplification of the Romanes on mind, instinct and intelligence
truth that zoological or structural affinity is only How can we know whether a monkey ex-
related in a most loose or general way to psychological periences colours in the way that we do, whether a
or mental similarity'. 12 Nevertheless the organization dog dreams, whether a worm anticipates the conse-
of Animal Intelligence followed traditional zoological quences of its actions, or whether a jelly-fish feels
categories, starting with simple organisms and work- pain? The answer given by Romanes was that we have
íng through familiar orders, genus by genus and to make an inference from the creature's behaviour, in
species by species. Treatment of the mental life of just the same way as we infer from other people's
insects, particularly that of ants and bees, was detailed behaviour that they have subjective experiences like
and fairly restrained. A considerable amount of careful our own.
and intelligent experimental work on these animais In the introductions to both books he pointed out
had been recently performed, notably by Sir John that the word 'mind' is ambiguous. 'By Mind we may
Lubbock who was a close friend of Darwin and Huxley mean two different things, according as we contem
and managed in a relaxed manner to combine research pla te it in our own individual selves, oras manifested by
with a very active political career. Lubbock's fame other beings. For if I contemplate my own mind, I have
rested on an unlikely combination of contributions: an immediate cognizance of a certain flow of thoughts
research on insects and the introduction of the English and feelings, which are the most ultimate things - and,
Bank Holiday. In at least one respect Lubbock's work indeed, the only things - of which I am cognizant. But
made Romanes err on the side of caution. Lubbock if I contemplate Mind in other persons or organisms, I
had attempted to test a prevalent belief that a bee can can have no such immediate cognizance of their
indicate the location of a new source of food to other thoughts and feelings; I can only infer the existence of
members of the hive. He failed to obtain any evidence such thoughts and feelings from the activities of the
in support of this belief. Subsequent research has persons or organisms which appear to manifest them.
shown that Romanes' consequent decision - despite Thus it is that by Mind we may mean either that which
his generosity in the case of Darwin's snails - to is subjective or that which is objective.'1 Our subjective
reserve judgement on the possibility of communica- experience, 'consciousness', provides the only direct
tion between bees was unnecessary.13 way of understanding the workings of our own minds
Although ants and bees were given careful and the basis of our actions. When we perceive that
attention by Romanes, most non-mammalian species the activities of other people resemble what we do
were treated very briefly in Animal Intelligence. On ourselves, then, on the basis of analogy, we attribute
reaching mammals there was little restraint. Like to them minds like our own. And the same holds with
Darwin, Romanes was intrigued by accounts of the regard to animais: to the extent that their behaviour is
building of dams, canais and bridges by beavers. In analogous to ours, then they possess minds. But what
the case of dogs, and then of monkeys, Romanes had aspect of the activity of other beings leads us to believe
no hesitation in attributing to them a wide range of that they are conscious? Romanes suggested that the
complex mental processes, ranging from hypocrisy only firm criterion to be found was the presence of an
and deceit to the geometrical knowledge that the ability to make choices, and this was demonstrated if
chord of a circle is shorter than the arc and an an individual's action was influenced by previous
Intelligence and instinct 28
events in its life. Thus, the question of whether a to be superior to those of many fish and reptiles, fails
particular animal has a mind can be answered by to lift the category of insects and spiders above levei
determining whether modifications of its behaviour 20 .
occur as a result of its own past experience.2 Romanes These ascending scales are less reminiscent of
felt that this was probably too strict a criterion, and Darwin than of Spencer, who is cited frequently by
that many forms of life incapable of benefiting from Romanes. His whole approach to the animal mind is
experience might nonetheless possess a glimmer of not merely anthropomorphic, but also anthro-
consciousness. But he was unable to suggest any pocentric, in the sense that mental evolution is seen as
objective method for testing this possibility. an orderly progression leading towards its culmina-
In his choice of learning as the test for the tion in the human mind. As indicated in the third
presence of mind, Romanes rejected the Huxleyan column, the development of the human mind, from
notion of animais, and man, as automata, which, in ovum and spermatozoa to the baby of fifteen months,
any case, he believed 'can never be accepted by was viewed as retracing the history of mental
common sense'.3 Although not explicitly discussed, it evolution. At three weeks the baby's mental abilities
is clear that for Romanes machines cannot benefit from have reached the highest levei attainable by insect
experience. It was some decades before technology larvae, at four months that attainable by reptiles and at
produced counterexamples. fifteen months begin to excel those of the apes and the
Despite the clear opening statements on the dog. Unlike Darwin, Romanes had no hesitation in
ambiguity of the word 'mind' and its basic reference to using the terms 'higher' and Tower'.
subjective experience, the point of view pervading In another important aspect Romanes' steadfast
Romanes' books is that known, since the time of respect for Darwin failed to reflect the spirit of
Descartes, as dualism. 'Consciousness' has replaced Darwinian theory. The key ideas of natural selection
'soul' or 'spirit'. There are two kinds of events in the are the role of chance and the rejection of apparent
world, physical and mental. Whereas in the kind of purpose. Yet, in the whole collection of observations
parallelism adopted by Bain the two kinds of event do presented by Romanes, there is no suggestion that an
not interact, in Romanes' system the physical actions animal might, by chance, have happened to behave in
of our bodies can be directly governed by mental a manner appropriate to the situation, and every
processes. opportunity to assert that an action was accompanied
The evolution of mind could then, in principie, by conscious intent is taken. Similarly there is no
have taken a very different course from that of the reflection of Darwin's inherently historical approach;
evolution of bodily structures. And, indeed, this is Romanes showed little inclination to view the present
what Romanes decided. His theory of mental evolu behaviour of an animal as the outcome of develop-
tion, promised in Animal Intelligence, was summarized ments within its own past. Morgan was later to see
in the diagram that is reproduced in Figure 2.3. A large behaviour in this way and in doing so was more of a
part of Mental Evolution in Animais was devoted to Darwinian than Romanes.
explaining the meaning of this diagram which, he In some important respects, then, Romanes owed
claimed, 'is not so much a product of any individual less to Darwin, and probably more to Spencer, than at
imagination, as it is a summary of all the facts which first appears. Some of the findings from Romanes'
Science has been able so far to furnish upon the earlier physiological research had appeared to support
subject'.4 Spencer's speculations on the origin of nervous action.
Although this figure uses the Darwinian Symbol And Spencer's Principies of Psychology was for
of the irregularly branching tree, the usage is very Romanes the most important bctok on the subject.
different from that of Darwin. What appear on the Nevertheless Romanes differed sharply from Spencer
branches are not various orders and genera, but on two important issues. These were the distinction
psychological terms. These also appear in the column between reflex and instinct, and the origin of reason-
immediately to the right, while in the next column ing.
appear the names of different kinds of animais. This The notion of instinct common in the middle of
linear ordering seems a most inappropriate way of the nineteenth century was nicely expressed in a
representing the complexities discussed in Animal didactic, but very popular, children's book some
Intelligence. The wide range of mental abilities dis- thirteen years before The Origin of Species was pub-
played by different species of rodents appears to have lished. 'Instinct in animais, William, is a feeling which
been forgotten. The impressive evidence of learning compels them to perform certain acts without thought
abilities in bees, which in Animal Intelligence were seen or reflection; this instinct is in full force at the moment
Fig. 2.3. Romanes' tree of mental evolution with accompanying scales to illustrate the relative intelligence of different species and stages of mental development in
human beings
Intelligence and instinct 30
of their birth; it is the guidance of the Almighty's hand move in an appropriate direction towards the sound of
unseen; it was therefore perfect at the beginning, and an unseen mother hen, and can use their visual sense
has never varied. The swallow built her nest, the to avoid obstacles, indicated to him that perceptual
spider its web, the bee formed its comb, precisely in processes relating to the size and distance of objects
the same way four thousand years ago, as they do were involved. Hence Spalding was correct in describ-
now.'5 This passage in Marryat's Masterman Ready is ing the reactions as instinctive.
followed a few pages later by some conclusions A century later, 'instinctive' has come to be more
concerning the rela tive intelligence of different species or less synonymous with 'innate'. It is important to
which anticipate those reached by Romanes, but realize that this was not the usage suggested by
which are explained by appeal to religious rather than Romanes. In defining instinct as 'reflex plus con
evolutionary principies. 'Although the Almighty has sciousness' he was not employing the criterion of
thought it proper to vary the intellectual and the learning as an index of consciousness. Like Spalding,
reasoning powers of animais in the same way that he Romanes also included as instincts reactions whose
has varied the species and the forms, yet even in this emergence required the support of certain kinds of
arrangement he has not been unmindful of the interest events in the young animal's environment, and
and welfare of man. For you will observe that the similarly termed these 'imperfect instincts'. The
reasoning powers are chiefly, if not wholly, given to results from studies that, following Spalding, he had
those animais which man subjects to his Service and carried out on cross-species fostering in birds - a hen
for his use - the elephant, the horse and the dog; foster-mother given the eggs of a pea-fowl to hatch, for
thereby making these animais of more value, as the example - were important for his views on the
powers given to them are at the Service and under the plasticity of instincts.9Another topic discussed in this
control of man.'6 context was that of birdsong. Romanes regarded this
The idea of instinct as a mysterious feeling and as certainly instinctive. The extensive evidence on
source of Creative energy had been dismissed by birds learning the songs and calls of their species, or
Spencer. Instead Spencer had defined an instinct as a more unnatural sounds, was seen as illustrating the
'compounded reflex'; that is, an invariable sequence, modifiability of instincts. Romanes noted that, in the
or chain, of simple reflexes. On this view instinctive case of birds, the effects of learning by imitation are
behaviour is always automatically triggered by not so deeply engrained as those which are stamped in
appropriate events or objects in an animaTs surround- by heredity. In contrast he suggested that in mam-
ings. Spencer's definition ignores the possibility that mals, including the early years of human childhood,
whether some particular instinctive action occurs the faculty of imitation played a much more important
might depend on the internai State of the animal. part in the perfecting of instincts.10 In the same vein
Romanes decided that the idea of an instinct as a Romanes found it quite appropriate to discuss the
'compounded reflex' failed to take account of the 'instincts of a gentleman' as a set of imperfect human
complexity of instinctive behaviour; the examples of instincts requiring an appropriate environment for
instincts provided by Spencer were for Romanes too their proper development.11
simple to deserve the labei. The alternative definition Romanes was also very much concerned, like
offered by Romanes was that 'instinct is reflex action Darwin and Spencer, with the origins of instinctive
into which there is imparted the element of behaviour. As we have seen, Spencer viewed all
consciousness'.7 Its significance rested on the distinc- instincts as habits which over the course of genera-
tion he drew between a sensation and a perception: tions had become progressively more hereditary. In
sensation being the direct result of a simple change in his early writings on the subject Darwin had empha-
physical stimulation, whereas perception is produced sized the role of natural selection acting on behav-
by some process of inference acting upon sensation. ioural patterns that initially occurred on the basis of
Thus, if most members of a species react in certain chance; for him a key example telling against a purely
specific ways to a change in the levei of illumination, to Lamarckian theory of the origins of instincts was that
a sudden noise or to a tap on the knee, these are completely innate, but highly organized, behaviour
reflexes. On the other hand, if a reaction is affected by patterns are found in asexual members of certain kinds
the direction and distance of a stimulus source or of insect species, such as ants.
determined by specific objects, then it is an instinct. Romanes adopted an intermediate position by
Romanes' view of instinctive behaviour was very which natural selection and acquired characteristics
much influenced by Spalding's research.8The fact that were given equal weight. He illustrated his view by
young chicks, without prior sensory experience, can means of the curious diagram shown in Figure 2.4.
Romanes on mind, instinct and intelligence 31
was soon forgotten, it can be seen as foreshadowing a less impressed by the advances achieved by deduc-
later division. The primary instincts of the left-hand tions from data based on introspection.
side became the main preoccupation of what was later Another factor was his near devotional loyalty to
to become the European-based Science of ethology. Darwin, reflected in both the lack of scepticism with
The right-hand trunk, containing habits and the regard to informal evidence and his unquestioning
effects of experience, suggests the future emphasis acceptance of the Lamarckian principie. By the 1880s
given to learning by animal psychologists in North Wallace's opposing view, that the principie of natural
America. selection alone could explain all but human evolution,
At first it seems puzzling that an able scientist, was also very vigorously expressed by the German
who had performed excellent experimental work in biologist, August Weismann. The latter's 'germ'
physiology, did not make a more notable contribution theory of heredity, which ultimately led to the
to the study of the animal mind. It was a subject which development of modem genetics, became known
he considered to be of central importance and to which among British biologists at this time. Weismann was
he devoted a major part of his adult life. Yet those who highly criticai of any Lamarckian mechanism of
had been unimpressed by the evidence Darwin had evolution and his arguments were beginning to be
cited in support of the argument for mental continuity accepted by younger biologists, but not by Spencer
were unlikely to be convinced by Romanes' work. nor by Romanes. Presumably because the Lamarckian
And, independent of theories of evolution, it re- principie, as part of what had become orthodox
mained unclear in what direction animal psychology Darwinism, had become so integral a part of his own
might advance from the base described by Romanes, System, Romanes spent most of the energy that
beyond the further collection and more detailed ill-health allowed him in his last few years in
classification of anecdotal evidence. attempting to find evidence confirming the principie.
One answer to the puzzle lies in Romanes' doubt
about the relevance of the scientific methods familiar Lloyd Morgan and the cinnabar caterpillars
to him as a physiologist to problems of psychology. Romanes chose a successor, just as Romanes
On occasion he would undertake some semi- himself had been chosen by Darwin. And, as had
experimental work himself. The studies of young happened just a decade earlier with Darwin and
birds, inspired by Spalding, have already been Romanes, the relationship between Romanes and
mentioned. Another involved collecting a number of Conwy Lloyd Morgan began with a short note to the
cats from their homes on the periphery of Wimbledon journal Nature.
Common and driving them in his coach to the centre of In Animal Intelligence Romanes had cited some
the common. The cats were then released, while reports on the behaviour of scorpions that suggested a
Romanes, to the amazement of passers-by, stood on tendency for this animal to commit suicide under
the roof of his coach to watch whether they headed off conditions of severe stress.1 The note by Morgan, sent
in an appropriate direction. The cats did not display from South África, reported some experiments that
much understanding of what direction to take.13 No threw doubt - characteristically, it turned out later - on
mention of this occurs in his books where he discusses this particular suggestion by Romanes. By placing
the cat's sense of direction. Though he acquired a various noxious substances on a number of scorpions
monkey, as Darwin had suggested, the literally and observing their subsequent behaviour, Morgan
painful and time-consuming work of caring for it and carne to the conclusion that the movement of their tails
observing its behaviour was entrusted to his sister. But was a reflex action, normally serving to remove
he felt that in general the role for experimental sources of irritation, and not an attempt by the
verification of his analysis of the mind of animais and scorpions to sting themselves mortally. The latter
its evolution was very limited. 'In cases where such interpretation, one offered by his servant as well as by
verification is not attainable', he asked, 'what are we to Romanes' correspondents, was likely to occur only to
do?' His answer was that there was no alternative, an inexperienced and casual observer, Morgan
other than to abandon such study altogether, but to suggested.2
adopt the methods of human psychology: 'In the In his last years Romanes had come to consider
Science of psychology nearly all the considerable Morgan to be 'the shrewdest, as well as the most
advances which have been made, have been made, logical, critic that we have in the field of Darwinian
not by experiment, but by observing mental phe- speculation'.3 This opinion was largely based on a
nomena and reasoning from these phenomena book that Morgan had published in 1890, Animal Life
deductively.'14 Thirty years later his successors were and Intelligence. As its title suggests, this was con-
Morgan and cinnabar caterpillars 33
cemed with the same set of topics as Romanes' major case only four years younger, Morgan was summoned
works and in it Morgan paid tribute to Romanes' during Romanes' final illness and given instructions
pioneering contributions to comparative psychology. on various unpublished papers.11 These instructions
The book did not mark any great departure from were loyally carried out. However, for Morgan, warm
the lines laid out in Animal intelligence and Mental regard for a predecessor and friend did not have to
Evolution in Animais. Yet some points may have raised imply reverence for his work. The shrewdness and
misgivings in Romanes' mind about the direction his logical criticism led to an almost complete dismantling
successor might take. Already in 1890 Morgan dis- of Romanes' system.
played a very much more criticai attitude towards A major influence in Morgan's intellectual de-
anecdotal evidence than Romanes. He suggested that velopment was Huxley. Morgan's contact as a young
the human-like aspects of some of the behaviour man with Huxley carne about as an indirect result of
reported of pet animais threw a misleading glamour his father's financial incompetence. When Morgan
over what were not more than special tricks.4 What was a boy he lived with his family in a country village -
was needed 'is always to look narrowly at every now suburban Weybridge - on the outskirts of
anecdote of animal intelligence and emotion, and London. His father worked as a solicitor in the City.
endeavour to distinguish observed fact from observer's For generations Morgans were educated at Winches
mference'.5Turning, for an example, to one of the tests ter College and Oxford University before joining the
carried out on the monkey studied by Romanes' sister, family legal firm. The father differed from his
Morgan maintained that what the monkey discovered forebears in his enthusiasm for the Welsh origins of
was not, as Romanes claimed, 'the principie of the the family and his lack of caution. Morgan was
screw', but that the action of screwing produced the baptized as 'Conwy Lloyd' and continued to use the
results he desired - 'a very different matter!'6 signature 'Lloyd Morgan' throughout his life, even
Morgan was also criticai of Romanes' analysis of though the Welsh connection was remote.
instinctive behaviour. To employ as a defining The father's interest in investment in railway
criterion the presence of an element of consciousness expansion took him on a tour of England that ended
is unhelpful, Morgan suggested. What is required is with little remaining of the family's financial assets.
some objective criterion for deciding whether some Since there was no money left to pay for an education
reaction is to be classified as instinctive.7 And as for at Winchester and Oxford, Lloyd Morgan was sent to a
Romanes' analysis of emotions in animais: 'Through- local grammar school and from there, following the
out the sections of Mr Romanes' work which deal with aptitude he had shown for scientific subjects, to the
the emotions, I feel myself forced at almost every turn London School of Mines for training as a mining
to question the validity of his inferences'.8 engineer.12 He arrived there in 1869, during the period
What perhaps outweighed any possible misgiv when Huxley was transforming this institution from
ings, was the fact that Morgan, at this stage, endorsed one which offered purely technical training to one
a Lamarckian view of the inheritance of acquired providing a general education in contemporary
habits and dispositions. Yet, even on this point, Science that included highly innovative teaching in
Morgan's attitude was closer to a Huxleyan suspen- biology.
sion of judgement than Romanes' own fervent belief As an adolescent Morgan had been persuaded to
in the principie. Morgan discussed the familiar read Bishop Berkeley by a local clergyman. A develop-
example, provided by Spencer, of how, through ing interest in philosophy was added to his hobby of
constant extension over generations, the long neck of bird-watching. He was given an article by Herbert
the giraffe might have evolved. But he then pointed Spencer to read and was thrilled by its vision of
out that inordinately developed parts of the body can biological evolution as a key to the scientific under-
be similarly found in certain soldier ants, where standing of man. These interests were not displaced
inherited use can play no part in evolution since such by engineering and chemistry during his two-year
soldiers are sterile.9 However certain kinds of beha- course, but were further amplified by Huxley's
vioural evidence did appear to support the Lamarc lectures. When the course ended, instead of beginning
kian principie and Morgan decided that 'the balance of a professional career, he took on temporary employ-
probability is here on the side of some inheritance of ment as travelling companion to a family embarking
experience';10 further observation and discussion, and on a few months' tour of America. This journey was an
a receptive rather than dogmatic attitude, were important event in his life and allowed ample
needed. opportunity for reading Darwin for the first time.
And so, despite the fact that the heir was in this On returning to England he took up an offer
Intelligence and instinct 34
direct pecking responses at a wide range of small arbitrary associations might work in a natural environ-
objects and that this range became rapidly modified. If ment to produce adaptive behaviour, in the face of
the chick pecked its own excrement, then it would considerable changes in the ecological niche of a
subsequently attempt to wipe its bill and show other species, was illustrated by a study involving caterpil
signs of distaste; after one or two such experiences it lars. Having given some chicks the opportunity of
no longer pecked at its droppings. Morgan found that pecking at and consuming caterpillars of an edible
the accuracy of pecking was initially not nearly as fine species he called Toopers', Morgan introduced some
as he expected from his reading of Spalding. Also, he caterpillars of the cinnabar moth, which have striking
was surprised to find that there appeared to be no black and gold bands. These appeared to be distasteful
mnate recognition of water; incidental insertion of the to the chicks, evoking much the same reaction as
beak into water appeared to be necessary before a excrement; following just a few pecks at them, they
ihirsty, but inexperienced, chick or duckling would were afterwards consistently avoided.19
drink. Such observations were seen by Morgan as
Following Spalding's report of the instinctive examples of the Spencer-Bain principie, whereby
terror shown by young birds at the cry of a hawk, behaviour is modified by its immediate consequences.
Morgan tested the effects of various stimuli to find out His version of this principie was: 'What we term the
what kind would elicit signs of fear. He discovered control over our activities is gained in and through the
that any sudden, loud noise would do so, including a conscious reinforcement of those modes of response
sharp chord on the violin. And he doubted whether which are successful, and the inhibition of those
his chicks had any inherited acquaintance with modes of response which are unsuccessful. The
violins.16 successful response is repeated because of the satisfac-
One reason for some of the discrepancies between tion it gives; the unsuccessful response fails to give
these and Spalding's results appears to be that Morgan satisfaction, and is not repeated.' It is interesting that
was far less careful about completely restricting the observations on the effects of taste aversion learning in
sensory experience of his young birds before they chicks were important in the origin of reinforcement
were tested. In addition, he seems to have missed theories; seventy years later a revival of interest in
$palding's point that the reaction of an inexperienced this, by then neglected, topic again contributed to the
bird to a given stimulus can depend very critically on development of learning theory.
the length of time since it was hatched. We have seen Another observation provided Morgan with a
that Spalding obtained the 'following reaction', the more complex instance of what he now termed,
phenomenon of imprinting, in two- to three-day old following Bain, 'trial-and-error learning with
birds, but not in birds that were a few days older than accidental success'. He constructed in his study a
this. Thus, although Morgan found to his surprise that small pen with newspaper walls, insecurely propped
two ten-day old chicks were completely indifferent to against various objects, and placed a week-old
the clucking of a hen,17he might not have obtained the duckling in it. The duckling pecked at the walls, and
same result if he had tested them at an earlier age and then seized and pulled at a comer of one newspaper,
had ensured that they had had no prior exposure to thus making a breach through which he promptly
any sounds. More careful reading of Spalding would stepped out of the pen. When replaced in the pen, he
have revealed to Morgan that there was no reason to made for the same corner and quickly escaped again.20
be surprised. Twenty years earlier Spalding had also Morgan's reason for viewing this as a more complex
failed to obtain any reaction to the sounds made by a example of trial-and-error learning than that of the
hen from ten-day old chicks. cinnabar Caterpillar was because of the initial lack of
These criticisms do not, however, detract from any relationship between whatever it was that re-
the importance of his observations on the way early, leased the action of pecking and the consequence of
and often very arbitrary, events in the young birds' that action (the possibility of escape from the pen).
lives affected their behaviour. In one study the only This is an important distinction and is discussed more
access to water given to two ducklings was in a fully below.
shallow tin placed on a black tray, where they would All the more systematic studies undertaken by
drink and throw water over their backs. On the sixth Morgan employed young birds. But just as valuable to
day Morgan gave them the black tray and the tin, but him were the less formal observations he made of the
without water. They sat in the tin making exactly the behaviour of his pet fox terrier. This dog proved to be a
same sort of movements as before, though less useful inspiration for Morgan's revaluation of the
vigorously as time passed.18 The way that such evidence collected by Romanes.
Intelligence and instinct 36
Morgan on comparative psychology and and "automatic" as "having the power of moving
theories of learning itself". If now we lay stress on the self-moving, we have
The studies described above were reported in one sense in which the word is used. In this sense I am
-n Introduction to Comparative Psychology, which was quite prepared to regard myself and animais as
rublished in 1894, just after Romanes' death. The conscious automata. But if stress be laid on the machine
òook turned out to be the most widely cited of the then the word automatic acquires the connotation of
several that Morgan wrote, but is by no means the mechanical uniformity of action. In this sense I do not
nost readable. It was the only one in which a major regard myself and animais as automatic - the auto
meme was the mind-body issue and which attemp- matic act may be accompanied by consciousness, but the
ted, in the light of his views on this issue, to define the controlled act is guided by consciousness.'5He went on
nature of comparative psychology. to make clear that a 'controlled act' is one that reflects
In Animal Life and Intelligence of 1890 he was the influence of experience and to suggest that the
careful to distinguish between a dualistic view of mind objective processes accompanying such control are
ind matter, and his own position, which he termed a uniquely located in the cerebral hemispheres. Thus,
■nonistic one. Just as a curved surface can be convex the only vertebrate animais that may deserve the
from one point of view and concave from another, description 'automata' are those that have had their
rhenomena can have two aspects, the subjective and cerebral hemispheres removed.6
the objective. The idea that mind and matter refer to Morgan distinguished two kinds of psychology.
separate kinds of entities - implicit in much of One is based on introspection and the careful analysis
Romanes' early writing and explicit just before his of our subjective experience. The other, comparative
ieath - was firmly rejected.1 Morgan quoted with psychology, starts from objective observations,
ipproval two new terms suggested by Huxley, which whether of other animais or of other human beings. A
ire now used in a very different sense: 'neuroses', comparative psychologist is required to make two
reíerring to molecular events in the brain, and kinds of induction, where induction is seen as the
psychoses', referring to concomitant States of development of hypotheses on the basis of facts and
oonsciousness.2 According to monism a neurosis is an the testing of such hypotheses in the light of further
event described from an outer, objective view and the facts. One kind, and the most basic kind, for a
corresponding psychosis is the same event viewed psychologist, is to induce the laws of the mind from
3 om inner, subjective experience. introspection; the other is to derive theories for
Four years later the idea of monism was again objective data that are compatible with those based on
iiscussed, but now Morgan was more concerned to introspection.7Morgan noted that 'there are, I am well
iistinguish it from a purely materialistic view of mind. aware, many people who fancy that by the objective
He was still emphatic that 'man, as an organism is one study of animal life they can pass by direct induction to
and indivisible, no matter how many aspects he may conclusions concerning the psychical faculties of
rresent subjectively or objectively' and that 'mind is animais'; he wished it to be quite clear that this was an
not extra-natural or supra-natural, but one of the erroneous fancy and that a thorough understanding of
aspects of natural existence'.3 However, the Huxleyan subjective psychology was necessary for the compara
terminology was abandoned and the message of tive psychologist.8
Huxley's Belfast lecture that, in Morgan's words, 'the The distinction Morgan made between introspec-
body is the real substance, the mind being one of its tive and comparative psychology may be illustrated by
properties' was firmly rejected.4 an example he used to show that there is a delay
In An Introduction to Comparative Psychology the between an objective event and the corresponding
problem of whether animais are conscious automata is subjective experience. He described a sequence of
iiscussed at length. In deciding that they are not, stills from the pioneering work on high-speed photog-
Morgan carne to put much more weight on the raphy by Muybridge which showed one girl pouring
oriterion of learning than Romanes had done. He water over another girl sitting in a bath. In one frame
pointed out that the word 'automaton' is ambiguous the second girl is seen covered with iced water, but still
and argued that, in its interesting sense, an animal motionless. In a later frame the girl is seen leaping
that demonstrated the beneficiai effects of its past from the bath with an expression he described as
experience was therefore not an automaton. 'It is well appearing 'to be the index of somewhat forcible States
to bear in mind that the words "automaton" and of consciousness, the iced water being somewhat
automatic" are used in two different senses. An unexpected'.9 From Morgan's point of view the girTs
automaton" is defined as "a self-moving machine" behaviour is to be explained, not in terms of her
Intelligence and instinct 38
trial-and-error learning. The consequences of the animal was capable of making the kind of inference
iction have decreased the probability that the action needed in order to anticipate the result of an action,
will occur in the future. But in this particular case when the animal had never previously performed that
Morgan's explanation of why this occurs does not action in a similar situation. Thus, it would have been
make any assumption that the animal had learned a clearer to retain the terminology of pleasure and pain
connection between its behaviour and the conse- in describing the Spencer-Bain principie.
quence. Instead he assumed that the change in the The distinction between two kinds of trial-and-
chick's behaviour occurred as a result of the formation error learning was related to his evolutionary views on
oi a connection between neural centres representing learning. For Morgan instinct provided the outline
“■vo perceptual events, the visual appearance of the sketch of an animal's behaviour, while experience
Caterpillar and its taste. On the other hand, the kind of filled in the detail; high in the scale of mental evolution
nal-and-error learning exemplified by the duckling the original outline might become indistinguishable.
that escaped from the newspaper pen, or by the dog The model of Figure 2.7 indicates the first step by
:nat operated the latch of the garden gate, could not, it which individual experience carries on from the
í^emed, be explained as based simply on an associa- results of evolution. As suggested by Spalding's term
tton between two perceptual events. Morgan believed 'imperfect instincts', natural selection is assumed to
that in these cases it was necessary to assume the operate so as to produce increasing co-ordination of a
rormation of a connection between the neural repre- response system; but only as far as a stage where the
sentation of an action and that of the consequent environment of the young animal will normally bring
event.11 it to perfection. This perfection is achieved by an
The idea that there are at least two kinds of associative mechanism of the type previously illus-
trial-and-error learning appears to derive from the trated. At this stage the only flexibility, or intelligent
cistinction that Bain had first drawn, between innate capacity, present is the ability to form an association
responses for which some externai eliciting event can between two externai events occurring close together
be found and those which appear to be autonomous. in time in the animal's perceptual world. If the second
Morgan included a similar discussion in Animal Life event has innate properties of pleasure or pain, as a
:nd Intelligence,'2 although not in the Introduction to result of the evolutionary process suggested by
Comparative Psychology. In the case of the cinnabar Spencer, and if, in addition, there are innate connec-
Caterpillar, the object that elicits the pecking response tions between the neural structures underlying the
m the first place is the one in which the noxious perception of an emotional event and those involved
substance is located. In the case of escape from the in the organization of the instinctive response, then a
pen, pecking at the walls presumably first occurred great deal of adaptive behaviour can be explained.
for reasons that had nothing to do with escaping. The more complex cases of trial-and-error learn
An explanation of why the effective response is ing indicated to Morgan a further step of increasing
acquired in the second situation must contain, Morgan freedom from what later carne to be called biological
irgued, some form of knowledge that this particular constraints on learning. This step occurred when an
response is followed by its particular outcome. The animal was no longer confined to acquiring associa-
rrevious theory does not contain this element, but he tions between two externai events, but in addition
tailed to sketch a theory that might make the idea more could acquire associations between its own actions
specific. and the externai events that followed them.
In this context the use of the word 'successful', For Morgan, as for Romanes, it was quite
mstead of 'pleasant', in Morgan's version of the appropriate to talk of mental evolution as well as of
Spencer-Bain principie quoted above, is confusing. In organic evolution, but for him the two processes were
r ormal usage 'successful' denotes the realization of an completely interdependent. His monistic point of
outcome that is to some extent anticipated. If someone view led logically, he believed, to the view that, just as
takes up a floor board in order to get at some faulty in objective terms there had been evolution from
wiring and happens to find a ten pound note, the simple organization of matter to complex organic
result may be pleasure, but it is inappropriate to structures, there had been a parallel evolution of
describe the action as successful. On the other hand, it subjectivity. Morgan described mental evolution as
would be appropriate to use the word 'success' to progressing from 'metakinetic' aspects of inorganic
describe a subsequent tearing up of other boards matter, via 'infra-consciousness', to full human
which produced further notes. As related in the consciousness.13 In very Spencerian terms he wrote
íollowing section, Morgan doubted whether any that he conceived man 'to be the self-conscious
Intelligence and instinct 40
outcome of an activity, selective and synthetic, which The canon was stated at various places in the
is neither energy or consciousness, which had not book, the most common formulation being: 'In no case
been evolved, but through the action of which may we interpret an action as the outcome of the
evolution has been rendered possible; which is neither exercise of a higher psychical faculty, if it can be
object nor subject, but underlies and is common to interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one
both'.14 He expressed his strong antagonism to the which stands lower in the psychological scale.'5But he
idea that mind was a product of organic evolution. felt that process was probably a better term to use than
And, although laying such stress on the part played by faculty.6 The canon can be seen as simply the
learning in psychological development, Morgan application of the general law of parsimony to
wished it to be clear that he did not endorse the view of explanations of behaviour. Nevertheless, Morgan did
the 'Empiricists' who 'are apt to regard psychological not justify it on these terms, but on the grounds of
genesis as wholly the results of the conditioning evolutionary theory. If a particular process is sufficient
effects of the environment and to make the indi to allow the development in a given species of
vidual mind a mere puppet in the hands of circum- appropriately adaptive behaviour, then there is no
stances'. 15 selective pressure for the evolution of a more complex
In reaching these conclusions on the evolution of process. In cases where there was firm evidence from
mind Morgan was guided by the logic of his monistic one situation that a species possessed some complex
point of view, and appears to have been little process, Morgan was prepared to be generous in some
influenced by the problem of religious belief that was other situation where the behaviour of this species
so important for Romanes. Morgan's attitude to could be interpreted either in terms of the same
religion seems to have been similar to that of Spencer, process or in terms of a simpler one.7 Many later
who felt that there was no fundamental conflict applications of Morgan's canon were to be far less
between Science and religion and that they were generous. A common interpretation has been to view
ultimately compatible in the realm of 'the Unknow- it as a general rule of psychology that, even when an
able'; an attitude that has been compared to that of the appropriate complex process may be within the
husband proposing that, as a basis for future marital capacity of some animal, adaptive behaviour is likely
harmony, he should take the inside of the house, to be based on a simpler process, if this is sufficient for
while his wife took the outside.16 the occasion.
The canon's admonition is without value unless it
Morgan's canon, psychological complexity is accompanied by a description of 'the psychological
and instinct scale' and thus of what constitutes a relatively
The only feature of Morgan's Introduction to complex, and what a relatively simple, psychological
Comparative Psychology to be cited with regularity over process. The major theme of the Introduction to
the eighty years or so since it appeared has been the Comparative Psychology is to discuss in turn processes of
statement of a guideline for comparative psychology, increasing psychological complexity. The ordering
which he termed his canon. Over the preceding years more closely resembles the linear progression, de-
his sceptical attitude towards the kind of interpreta- veloped almost forty years earlier by Spencer, than
tion offered by Romanes' correspondents had de- Romanes' branching tree. The importance given by
veloped further and, aided by the kind of observation- Morgan to the perception of relations was directly
al study described earlier in this chapter, had changed derived from Spencer. Adhering rather rigidly to his
into a belief that the complexity of an animabs conception of comparative psychology, Morgan first
behaviour rarely, if ever, indicates psychological described a process on the basis of introspective
complexity. To his earlier reluctance to accept that evidence in one chapter, and in the next from the
Romanes' monkey understood the mechanical prin objective point of view gained from observing the
cipie of the screw was added rejection of claims that a behaviour of animais. Running throughout is discus-
horse, which was observed to take a zig-zag course up sion of a more philosophical nature, mainly related to
a steep hillside, thus demonstrated acquaintance with the mind-body issue, in what Morgan himself recog-
the principie of the inclined plane;1 that a dog, heading nized was probably a wearisome manner. In addition,
to cut off a rabbit scuttling in a circular path, there are side excursions to consider processes that
understood the chord of a circle to be shorter than the cannot be fitted into the main progression. Conse-
arc;2 that a hen bird's choice of the colourful male quently, although the psychological scale demanded
suitor shows an aesthetic sense;3 or that even dogs by the canon is provided by the book, it is not readily
demonstrate some understanding of moral laws.4 apparent. Morgan did not include a concise descrip-
Morgan's canon 41
bon for the convenience of the reader, nor a summary where the perception of relations had become inde-
iiagram of the kind produced by Romanes. pendent of particular instances. If Sally had shown an
The book deals first with simple associations, ability to count, not just straws, but any set of items,
iistinguishing - as already described - between those her mind would have been classified at this levei. Or,
jnvolving two sense impressions and the more to take examples from situations used more than forty
complex case of associations between actions and their years later, one might test whether an animal can
outcome. The development of associations, based on perceive abstract relationships by attempting to train it
correlations between events in the physical world, to select the middle-sized object from a set of three
makes possible a synthetic process whereby, for objects of different size, or to select that member of a
example, the perception of objects with shape and set of objects which matches some sample, under
iefinite locations comes to replace that of sensations. conditions where the set of objects used on each trial is
5o far these are all processes that animais also share. continually varied.
The next more complex process, involving the Morgan was very confident that no animal was
perception of relations, is similar to what Romanes capable of perceiving abstract relationships. It was this
called primitive reasoning. For Morgan, this set the peculiarly human ability that made possible concep-
áividing line between the animal and human mind. tual understanding and the phenomenon of insight:
Had his dog passed the test of getting the nine-inch 'when conceptual thought has been reached, when
long stick through the six-inch wide gap, in a way that systematic generalizations have taken form in the
could not have arisen from trial-and-error learning, mind, the significance of a situation, or given
mis performance would have ranked the dog's mind presentation in relation to the System, may arise as
at the 'rational' levei. As it was, Morgan could find no rapidly and directly as the meaning of a situation does
nrm evidence showing that any animal was capable of for sense-experience. Hence comes those flashes of
perceiving relationships. insight which are so difficult to explain on any
Romanes, late in his life, had carried out a study of psychology that is based merely on associationism'.10
a chimpanzee, Sally, at the London Zoo. With the aid The final levei of complexity was reached with the
; f a keeper, Romanes trained the animal to count out a concept of self. Morgan was not only clear that no
correct number of straws on demand, or at least to animal possessed such a concept, but was doubtful
perform at a levei that he judged satisfactorv. This whether self-consciousness could be found in more
.ould have indicated what Morgan meant by percep than a vague form even in schoolboys and peasants.
tion of relationships, but Morgan was distinctly Morgan also distinguished leveis of complexity in
_nimpressed on visits to watch this performance.8The other kinds of processes. In general two leveis were
:dea that systematic testing and objective recording of discussed: a simple form which could be found in
performance might help to settle such a difference of animais and did not involve the perception of
apinion was still not very common. relations, and a complex form which was restricted to
Despite the lack of convincing evidence favouring man and did involve the perception of relations. The
the perception of relationships by animais, Morgan topic of communication, mentioned above, provides
ieft open the possibility that it might be found by one example. Can animais communicate with each
ruture research, most likely if apes or monkeys served other? Morgan's answer was: yes, in the 'indicative'
as subjects. On the whole, though, he regarded this as sense of conveying their emotional State or suggesting
-mlikely, since the only function he saw for this kind of the presence of some object, but no, in the 'descrip
perception was in communication. He could find tive' sense of providing information about relation
nothing comparable to human language in animais ships between events.
other than indicative communication, which is pri- Another important example was memory. Can
marily suggestive of emotional States, and secondarily animais remember? In one sense he accepted the claim
and probably only incipiently) suggestive of particu supported by the weight of evidence gathered by
lar objects'. Since even primates did not appear to Romanes and others, and also by his own observa
possess the 'power of descriptive intercommunica- tions, that they do possess memories. Scores of re-
hon', they were probably incapable of perceiving ports indicated that in a wide range of species animais
relationships.9 showed signs of recognition of an object or person
The remaining stages were based on his under- that they could not have had any contact with for
standing of human psychology and were unin- many years; or performed an appropriate response in
fluenced by observations of animais. The next more a situation that had not been encountered for some
complex process involved abstract relationships, similarly long time. Reports about elephants and
Intelligence and instinct 42
Darwin's welcome on his retum from the five-year repeatedly and is unrelated to any other event.
voyage in the Beagle by his old dog were particularly Morgan never discussed this phenomenon. One can
popular examples." only guess that, from his point of view, it represented
This kind of memory was somewhat disparag- a decrease in consciousness; consequently it would be
ingly labelled 'desultory' by Lloyd Morgan. It would of little interest to the psychologist and its analysis
now be termed 'associa tive memory'. For him such better left to the physiologist. Whatever the reason,
reports simply indicated the relative permanence of animal psychologists neglected the phenomenon
associations. He compared this kind of memory in almost as completely as Morgan until very recently.
animais to that of a student, who can trot out the Another kind of learning, given some importance
answer '1596' to the question: 'When was Jonson's by Romanes and also discussed quite extensively by
play Every Man in his Humor written?', but is other writers of the time, was imitation.13 Rather
completely confused when asked whether curiously no discussion of this topic was included in
Shakespeare was still living or Cromwell dead. He An Introduction to Comparative Psychology. Two years
contrasted this with memory that involves the recall or later Morgan made up for the omission. The interest in
recognition of facts which have meaning with re- imitation was related to the development of his views
ference to a system of knowledge. He termed this on instinct and to his eventual rejection of any
'systematic memory'. Nowadays it would be termed Lamarckian inheritance of acquired behaviour. Early
'semantic memory'. A second student, who might be in 1896 Morgan received an invitation to visit North
unable to produce the answer '1596', but who could, America and give a series of lectures in Boston, New
on the basis of other knowledge about Jonson and the York and Chicago. This provided an opportunity to
late Elizabethan age, place the date to within a few present his current ideas on instinctive behaviour. The
years, would be demonstrating the possession of lectures were revised for publication later in the same
systematic memory.12 Morgan could find no evidence year in a book, Hahit and Instinct, in which imitation
that animais possessed memory in this second sense was now given an important place.
of the word; no indication in a non-human species of Six years earlier in Animal Life and Intelligence
any knowledge of the temporal relationship between Morgan had been inclined to reject the principie of use
past events. and disuse in the inheritance of bodily organs, but
He treated the questions of whether animais to accept - at least as a working hypothesis - a
experience emotions, or possess anything that might Lamarckian element in the origins of instinctive
be termed an aesthetic or moral sense in a similar behaviour. As described earlier, although he thus
manner. In each case two leveis were distinguished, endorsed Romanes' view on the dual origin of
and in each case possession of the more advanced instincts, he disagreed with Romanes' definition.
form, involving the perception of relations, was found Instead, Morgan defined an instinct in a way that was
to be confined to man. closer to Spencer's 'compounded reflex', as an 'orga-
The Introduction to Comparative Psychology was a nized train or sequence of co-ordinated activities by
pivotal book, marking the end of one era and the the individual in common with all members of the
beginning of another in the study of animal behaviour. same more or less restricted group'. 1,1 The definition
One important aspect was the emphasis on learning. was intended to cover three classes of instinctive
For several decades to come many of the topics that behaviour: perfect instincts, which appear at, or
Morgan discussed - for example, the analysis of shortly after birth; imperfect, or incomplete, instincts,
trial-and-error learning and the ability of animais to which require some 'self-suggested trial and practice'
perform appropriately on the basis of perceptual or - as in the newborn mammals which require some
abstract relationships - became central issues in the practice in the use of their limbs before they can walk
theoretical disputes accompanying the development or run; and deferred instincts, that emerge later in the
of animal psychology and of behaviourism. Equally life of an animal, as in the case of those involved in
interesting are examples of the modification of sexual behaviour.
behaviour by experience that receive no discussion in With regard to specific ideas on heredity Morgan
this book. had been very criticai in 1890 of a theory of inheritance
There is what seems today a glaring omission at by Darwin, known as 'pangenesis'. At the same time
the simple end of the main scale. The simplest, and he considered Weissmann's theory, with its strong
most widespread case of a change in behaviour is rejection of Lamarckian inheritance, to be a distinctly
habituation, a decrease in the intensity with which an retrograde step.15 Subsequently Morgan became
animal reacts to some event, when this occurs steadily more impressed by Weissmann's theory and
Morgan's canon 43
arguments. Also, his doubts about the inheritance of situations where only one particular response can be
icquired habits perhaps grew with his realization that effective, so that the process of trial-and-error engaged
:he quality of evidence in its favour was no better than in by each animal always produces the same result. An
that for higher mental processes in animais. What example he discussed was one that Darwin had
inally decided Morgan's opinion on this issue were provided over twenty years earlier. Darwin cited the
n e results he obtained in testing the reaction of young particularly efficient method used by bullfinches to
rirds to water. Since birds had been drinking water for extract néctar from primroses asa case of a Lamarckian
miüions of years and the appearance of water had instinct. Morgan argued that the structure of the
rresumably not changed during this time, an instinc primrose ensured that each bullfinch would eventual-
tive tendency to drink at the sight of water should ly acquire exactly the same pattern of behaviour.18 In
-ave become established - given that the Lamarckian this case, uniformity of behaviour in a species reflects
rrinciple is a factor in heredity, if only a very weak the special properties of its environment.
•>ne. Why then should a duckling not show any innate The second way depended on learning by
recognition, but have to depend on accidental contact imitation. To a degree, Morgan's treatment of imita-
between its beak and water? Morgan's answer was tion can be seen as the development of suggestions
:hat there was no pressure to select such an instinctive already made by Romanes. What made it much clearer
reaction; in the vast majority of cases the environment and more powerful was release from the Lamarckian
of young ducklings was such that accidental contact principie. A friend of Romanes had taught his cat to
with water was assured.1*’ beg and this cat had borne kittens, which adopted the
With the decision that natural selection could same habit without being trained. Perhaps forgetting
serve as the sole basis of instinct, Morgan formulated a what he had said elsewhere about the importance of
view of instinctive behaviour, and its relationship to imitative learning, Romanes cited this as another piece
acquired behaviour, that is essentially identical to one of evidence supporting belief in the hereditary
held very generally today. An instinct is behaviour transmission of habits.19 By 1896 Morgan interpreted
which is entirely determined by the congenital such anecdotes - to the extent that they could be
organization of the nervous system, being either trusted - as indicating the way in which imitation by
'connate' (performed at, or shortly after, birth) or the infant of the parents', or other conspecifics',
deferred. Whereas a reflex involves a restricted group actions could ensure that similar behaviour patterns
of muscles and is initiated by a simple externai appeared in generation after generation.
stimulus, instinctive reactions involve the whole An interesting comparison between the views of
organism, are elicited by more complex stimulus Romanes and Morgan is provided by the subject of
events and are sensitive to the internai State of the birdsong. The acquisition by imitation of unusual
organism.17 All that an individual animal can inherit in songs or calls was seen by Romanes as something that
addition to bodily organs are reflexes, instincts, the interfered with, or at least was superimposed upon,
capacity for forming associations - some more easily the instinct for the natural song. From his review of the
than others - and susceptibility to specific pleasures evidence on this matter, Morgan arrived at an account
and pains. based on a more subtle interaction between innate and
With the rejection of the Lamarckian relationship experiential factors. He concluded that in many
between habit and instinct, Morgan was faced with species of birds the characteristic song of the adult bird
the problem of explaining the kind of evidence that develops only if, during a criticai period of infancy, it
naturalists for decades - including Darwin, Romanes has heard songs of this kind.20 Since the mid-1950s a
and Morgan himself in earlier days - had seen as substantial amount of experimental work on the
supporting their belief in this relationship. The crucial European chaffinch and the American song-sparrow,
cases were those in which the same, highly specific generated by a renewed interest in birdsong, has
and adaptive behaviour could be observed in most verified Morgan's conclusion. The major point of this
members of a group of animais and in successive example is that forms of learning by imitation provide
generations, and yet it was very difficult to see how another means by which constancy of behaviour may
the behaviour could have arisen as a random varia tion be maintained. In this case behavioural uniformity in a
on which natural selection had operated. group of animais reflects the uniformity of the social
Morgan proposed that there were two ways in environment of the young.21
which such uniformity of behaviour could arise, even A chapter in Habit and Instinct was devoted to
though the behaviour had to be acquired by each imitation. As in his earlier discussions of communica-
individual member of a species. The first arises in tion and of memory, Morgan distinguished two
Intelligence and instinct 44
different forms. One he termed instinctive imitation. race had escaped from natural selection. Morgan's
This he considered to be simply instincts, in which the examples of tradition in animais - the persistence of
perceptual event that evoked the reaction happened to distinctive songs in birds or of specific food
resemble the action. Examples from his own studies preferences - were simpler than the skills of nest
included under this heading were: if one of a group of building considered by Wallace. Nonetheless they
chicks starts to drink from a tin, then the others, suggested to Morgan a way of viewing the human
without prior experience of drinking, run up and do mind that neither required Wallace's appeal to past
the same; tapping with the point of a pencil initiates spiritual intervention nor to the Lamarckian principie
pecking in chicks and young pheasants that are close of Darwin, Spencer and Romanes.
by; when one chick has learned not to peck at a Morgan discussed human evolution in the final
cinnabar Caterpillar, then other members of the brood chapter of Habitand Instinct. He was in agreement with
also avoid it; a danger note sounded by one chick Wallace's point about the special nature of human
tends to elicit a similar note in others. The behaviour in evolution and was criticai of the idea that various
these examples was 'objectively, but not subjectively, human mental faculties were very directly influenced
imitative'.22 by processes of natural selection. Such a view was
The other form of imitative behaviour was seen as most vigorously maintained by Francis Galton, whose
more complex and as involving learning, and thus main preoccupation for more than twenty-five years
consciousness. This Morgan termed 'intentional, or had been human heredity and whose influence was
conscious, imitation'.23 It applies when, in addition to rapidly climbing at the time when Habit and Instinct
an animal behaving in a way that resembles some was published. The next section describes Galton's life
action observed in another, there is evidence of an and work, before returning to the very different
attempt to reproduce the result of that action. This was position held by Morgan on the relationship between
regarded as less widespread than instinctive imita human psychology and heredity.
tion, but Morgan felt it to be an important factor, one
'scarcely open to question', in animal life, especially Mathematics, heredity and Francis Galton
among gregarious animais. This was one of the least From the vantage point of a century later a
guarded of Morgan's conclusions and one for which prominent aspect of the empirical work by Romanes
he had little direct evidence. The question of whether and Morgan is not so much the informality of their
animais can learn by a process of intentional imitation procedures, but the near absence of any kind of
became a very open one in the decade that followed. mathematical argument in their evaluation of
In 1865 Wallace argued thatonce the human mind evidence. This was not a matter of ignorance; Morgan,
had evolved to a certain levei, organic evolution by at least, had received training in mathematics in his
means of natural selection must have effectively years as an engineering student.
ceased to operate. The point of this argument was The lack of mathematics is found also in the work
obscured by its association with Wallace's subsequent of many other evolutionists who were not involved in
appeal to a supernatural origin of mind. The argument animal psychology. This was perhaps partly in
appears to have had little impact at first on those who fluenced by the conflict between the Darwinians and
sought to explain all aspects of evolution in terms of the physicists, and by the physicists' use of mathema
natural causes. The kind of direct analogy between tical deduction to dismiss natural selection because of
organic evolution and the development of societies inadequate time and inadequate hereditary mechan-
and cultures drawn by Spencer was far more influen- isms. In reponse to these criticisms Huxley expressed
tial. By the 1890s a number of biologists, including his opinion on the role of mathematics in a Science in
Huxley and many younger evolutionists such as Mark his usual vivid fashion. He stated that 'this seems to be
Baldwin in the United States, reacted to what they saw one of the many cases in which the admitted accuracy
as the distorted use of evolutionary theory to justify of mathematical processes is allowed to throw a
social and ethical values to which they were opposed. wholly inadmissible appearance of authority over the
In the arguments directed against what was now results obtained by them'; and went on to compare
known as 'Social Darwinism', the distinction between mathematics 'to a mill of exquisite workmanship,
organic evolution and cultural tradition became which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but,
crucial. nevertheless, what you get out depends on what you
Wallace did not develop the idea of cultural put in; and as the grandest mill in the world will not
transmission within groups of animais or explore its extract wheat-flour from peas-cod so pages of formu-
relationship to his earlier suggestion that the human lae will not get a definite result out of loose data'.1
Mathematics, heredity and Galton 45
Manv other biologists appear to have regarded involvement in theoretical problems of heredity and,
mathematics as a tool they might admire, but did not from this, to another important offspring of evolution-
rrust. ary theory, modem statistical analysis. In discussing
Huxley's opinion of mathematics was expressed the future for psychology he produced in 1879 an
m the course of an exchange with a man widely almost exact paraphrase of Kelvin: 'Until the phe-
regarded as the most eminent physicist of mid- nomena of any branch of knowledge have been
Victorian Britain, William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin. submitted to measurement and number, it cannot
The debate between them was one of the few that assume the status and dignity of a Science.'8
Huxley lost - or, rather, for the following twenty-five Galton was bom in 1822, which made him sixteen
vears was seen to have lost. Early in the 1860s Kelvin years younger than Mill, only twelve years younger
had questioned the claims of the geologists and than his cousin Darwin, and three years older than
evolutionists to essentially unlimited time. His cal- Huxley. However, the main effects of Galton's
rulations on the age of the earth had been emphasized influence were only felt long after the names, first of
by his friend and colleague, Jenkin, in the review of Mill, then of Darwin and Huxley, had become, if not
The Origin of Species that had particularly troubled universally venerated, at least universally known.
Darwin.2But at first Kelvin's conclusions had not been Galton published one of his most original and
widely accepted. After the debate with Huxley, important books when he was sixty-seven and Darwin
Kelvin's calculations were given increasing respect. had already been dead for seven years. Galton
Two years later at the time The Descent of Man was outlived almost all of his generation.
published, Darwin was referring to him as 'that odious He showed signs of unusual ability at an early
soectre'.3 Kelvin's original conclusion that the earth age, but then, while many of his contemporaries were
■as 100 million years old now gained widespread laying the basis of their subsequent renown, decades
acceptance by geologists and biologists, as over the passed for Galton with little intellectual achievement
iecades his own revisions produced still shorter to show for them. The precocious scholastic achieve-
estimates, tending towards a mere 20 million years.4 ments Galton displayed as a young child are reminis-
Also of increasing influence were Kelvin's views cent of Mill. Whereas the latter was to attribute these
m the role of mathematics in a Science. Another friend to the extraordinary education he received from his
and collaborator of Kelvin, Peter Tait, whose calcula- father,9Galton was later to see his own early command
tsons of the earth's age produced even smaller of the classics as due to good lineage. Early promise
numbers, condescendingly suggested that the limited was followed by early academic honours. At the age of
use of mathematics in subjects other than physics and sixteen Galton, like Huxley, began to study medicine.
chemistry reflected their failure to progress beyond He went directly to a London teaching hospital, rather
the 'beetle hunting' and 'crab catching' stage.5 One of than commencing with an apprenticeship, and won a
Nlorgan's first publications voiced a protest against the prize in the first part of the medicai examination.
precision Tait claimed for his conclusions and made an Medicai studies were then interrupted in order to go to
appeal to the use of biological evidence in decisions on Cambridge to study mathematics. These studies were
this question.6 Geology was the first subject to feel begun partly on the advice of Darwin and were ended
that, to mature, it had to quantify. But other subjects prematurely by a breakdown in Galton's health. All
as well began to take very seriously Kelvin's famous formal education ended when a large inheritance
dictum: 'When you can measure what you are removed any financial reason for resuming the study
speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know of medicine, or for pondering over alternative
something about it; but when you cannot measure it, professions.10
when you cannot express it in numbers, your For many young men of that age education was
knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind; it followed by foreign travei. Where Darwin, as natural-
may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have ist, and Huxley, as assistant surgeon, sailed with the
scarcely in your thoughts advanced it to the stage of navy to the other side of the world, Galton undertook
Science.'7 an aimless expedition to the Middle East inspired by
In the 1860s very few people were both ardent the idea of shooting a hippopotamus on the River
Darwinians and great respecters of numbers. One of Nile.11 A more serious expedition took place in 1850
these few was Francis Galton. In addition, he became when Galton and a fellow explorer spent two years
very much concerned with establishing psychology as mapping an area in South-West África. As happened
a Science. This combination of interests in an original with more than one pair of Victorian adventurers who
and lively mind led in the 1870s and 1880s to his deep set off together to map distant territory, that member
lntelligence and instinct 46
who happened to return first reaped the honour and aspect of class structure - of, perhaps, not being
glory. While his companion remained in África, socially related to the right people, rather than not
Galton presented papers to the Royal Geographical biologically related to them. After all, Galton argued,
Society in London about their traveis and was social barriers are far less rigid in North America, but it
awarded a gold medal. His first journey gave him was not apparent to him that there was a correspon-
respect for Muslim culture, but in general travei did dingly higher proportion of eminent men on the other
not seem to broaden his mind. His reports did not side of the Atlantic.15 When put together with
show a great deal of curiosity about anthropological or indications that the more talented married later and
biological questions. Apart from Arabs, contact with were more likely to be infertile than the less talented,
fellow human beings in exotic places only confirmed the implication for the future from his analysis was
early feelings of superiority towards those that were dire: the intellectual levei of society would inevitably
neither of his race nor of his social status.12 While decline, unless some positive measure was taken to
Huxley turned his cool intellect onto the set of avert this prospect. In the book Galton first suggested
prejudices he had absorbed from the cultural back- what was later to be known by his term 'eugenics':
ground of his youth - towards non-Europeans, society should positively encourage breeding among
towards Jews, and towards women - and progress- its talented members and discourage it among its
ively shed them,13 similar feelings became more 'idiots' and 'imbeciles'.16 This particular suggestion
deeply entrenched in Galton and his efforts turned aroused little interest or attention at the time, but the
increasingly towards justifying them. book as a whole was well received. Darwin, as ever
His commitment to study the differences between generous with praise for the work of friends or
individuais and to demonstrate the importance of relatives, had to stop reading after fifty pages to pen a
their basis in heredity was prompted by The Origin of letter of congratulations: 'I do not think I ever in all my
Species. To excitement over its contents was added life read anything more interesting and original . . .
family pride that it had been written by a cousin. You have made a convert of an opponent in one sense,
Galton published his own first major work, Hereditary for I have always maintained that, excepting fools,
Genius, ten years later in 1869. This presented men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and
collections of statistics on kinship relations between hard work; and I still think this is an eminently
men of achievement in various spheres - judges, for important difference'.17
example - as support for the claim that specific talents Hereditary Genius displayed Galton's interest in
are inherited. As he was to point out later, until that mathematics, but it was of a different kind from that of
time terms like heredity and inheritance had been many mathematicians; he attached unusual value to
used largely in a legal context. Only subsequently did counting. Three themes ran throughout his life;
they become familiar in biology. Later he regretted the ingenuity in devising inventions and gadgets, human
use of genius in the title, intending only to refer to heredity, and an obsession with numbers. When
people of unusual ability and not to evoke the further sitting for a portrait he counted the number of
connotations of this word. brushstrokes made by the artist and reported the total
The book appeared when Mill's influence, and in a letter published in the journal Nature. Later in life
general beliefs inclining towards the potential equal- he set forth to construct a 'beauty map' of the British
ity of human beings and the paramount importance of Isles by recording in each town he visited the number
individual experience were still strong. Galton ab- of women he passed whose appearance was above
ruptly rejected these beliefs. The truth of the book's average quality. In 1872 the results of a similar kind of
general claim that mental ability is almost entirely exercise brought him considerable publicity and
inherited was quite apparent to him. 'I have no classified him in the public mind as another militant
patience with the hypothesis occasionally expressed, free thinker like Huxley. Galton calculated the average
and often implied, especially in tales written to teach life spans of kings, clergymen and missionaries. He
children to be good, that babies are bom pretty much íound that these were no longer than those of
alike, and that the sole agencies in creating differences comparable groups such as lawyers, doctors, and
between boy and boy, and man and man, are steady other gentry, for whom God's blessing is far less
application and moral effort. It is in the most frequently invoked. Galton concluded that there is no
unqualified manner that I object to pretensions of scientific basis for belief in the efficacy of prayer.18 In
natural equality.'14 Galton did not believe that the Brighton that summer a session of the geographical
relative infrequency of outstanding accomplishments section of the British Association brought the name of
among the lower classes could be the result of some Galton to public attention for the second time within
Mathematics, heredity and Galton 47
was coloured. A related project was to investigate the for music or for drawing, is particularly revealing
kind of image certain people, especially those capable about his approach to psychological processes and
of rapid mental calculation, reported to be associated their inheritance. As in Romanes' treatment of the
with different numbers.22 animal mind, it assumes that some special skill or
All in all, the sum total of Galton's direct ability directly reflects the presence of the appropriate
investigations into intellectual processes was not 'faculty' in the mind. The absence of such skills or
large, given that a dominant interest for much of his abilities just as directly reflects the absence of the
life was in differences between the mental abilities of faculty. No justification for the assumptions that such
individuais, The reason for this was an unshakeable faculties are inherited is offered. Of the various human
belief that direct measurement of mental processing characteristics discussed in the book, an artistic
was unnecessary, since intellectual ability was closely tendency would seem most affected by environmental
related to sensory ability. And the latter could be influences. Galton did not give his reasons for, say,
measured very accurately with little trouble. Never discounting the effect that parental attitudes or the
one to be accused of keeping too open a mind, this general situation in a household might have on a
belief was not something that Galton chose to child's fondness for, or skill in, music. They were
investigate. He noted merely a surgeon's report that simply dismissed. 'A man must be very crotchety or
two idiot boys had felt no pain when their ingrowing very ignorant, who nowadays seriously doubts the
toe-nails were excised.21 The fact that piano-turners inheritance either of this or of any other faculty.'26
are predominantly male and, further, that only the Because of the dubious quality of the data, the
rare woman can distinguish the merits of various empirical conclusions of Natural Inheritance are sus-
wines, only provided confirmation of the view that pect. Yet the mathematics are impressive. To use
inferior discriminative ability indicates inferior intel Huxley's metaphor, it was as if Galton's continuing
lectual ability.24 attempts to obtain wheat-flour from peas-cod had led
Galton's statistical work on heredity continued to the invention of a new kind of mill. Galton was quite
throughout the 1880s. The results were reported in his clear as to the purpose of developing this mathematic-
next book, Natural Inheritance, published in 1889. This al machinery. In discussing the charm of statistics, he
was notably concise for a book of the period and proposed - with a slight change of metaphor - that
remarkably clear and readable, considering the tech- 'they are the only tools by which an opening can be cut
nical nature of much of its content. By this time Galton through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars
had almost abandoned belief in Lamarckian inheri the path of those who pursue the Science of man'.27
tance and his theoretical views on genetics had moved Natural Inheritance fired the enthusiasm of a
away from Darwin's pangenesis to a position more number of younger men with much greater mathe-
closely resembling that of Weismann. matical ability than Galton. By the turn of the century
The absence of any satisfactory genetic theory many of the standard statistical methods in common
was not seen by Galton as a serious obstacle in the way use today had been worked out by this group. The
of a statistical analysis of kinship relationships. outstanding member was Karl Pearson, to whom is
Starting with an account of the research on sweet peas, owed the term standard deviation, the extensive
the book then examines the way in which various development of Galton's ideas on correlation and
human characteristics reflect the influences of natural regression, and the chi-squared test.28
heredity. It examines in turn stature, eye colour, Pearson's continuation of the work in statistics
artistic tendency and disease. The human data used went with a wholehearted adoption of Galton's beliefs
for these analyses were considerably less extensive on heredity. In the early 1890s this was still not typical.
and less precise than those from sweet peas. They The reservations expressed by Galton and by Morgan
were obtained from 'Family Records' filled in by concerning Lamarckian inheritance were by no means
unknown correspondents hopeful of winning the generally accepted and the later views of Darwin,
money offered by Galton as prizes for the most together with those of Spencer and Romanes, were
satisfactory entries. Galton admitted that this method still very influential. Until people no longer believed
of collecting data was iikely to produce many errors. that mastiffs could acquire an instinctive fear of
Optimistically, he thought that they would probably butchers within a few decades or that only two or three
cancel each other out.25 generations of good breeding and education could
Galton's discussion of the characteristic he produce a gentleman, the force of Galton's convictions
termed the Artistic Faculty, grouping together in his was diluted. To the extent that a turning point can be
sample people showing aptitude, or special fondness, identified, this occurred in the summer of 1892. Once
Morgan, Galton and British ipsychology 49
again disagreement over the age of the earth had Morgan, Galton and British psychology
wide-ranging consequences. The year that Poulton re-asserted biology's
The occasion was the first meeting at Oxford of claim on time was also the year in which Morgan wrote
the British Association since the clash between Huxley Habit and lnstinct and finally rejected any Lamarckian
and Bishop Wilberforce of 1860. The presidential influence in the evolution of behaviour. As noted
address was given by the Marquis of Salisbury, earlier in this chapter, this led Morgan to emphasize
respected as an amateur scientist and former Prime the part played by early experience in producing
Minister. Invited to reply to the address were Huxley continuity in behaviour from generation to genera-
and Kelvin. It was Huxley's last public appearance. tion. His arguments and evidence were from the
Salisbury chose to review fundamental questions that behaviour of animais. But it was also clear to him that
Science, with all its achievements over the past the rejection of Lamarck undermined the basis for the
century, had still failed to answer. The final question view of man which had been dominant for the past
he considered was that of how evolution had occur- two decades.
red. Natural selection was rejected. Kelvin had Spencer is not mentioned by name. Nevertheless,
proved, so Salisbury claimed, that there was insuf- it is clearly his theory of human evolution that is
Scient time for evolution to have taken place in this attacked in the final chapter of Habit and lnstinct. The
tnanner.29 idea that the recent achievements of Victorian Science
The problem that had weighed on Darwinians for and enterprise reflected the superiority of the Vic
twenty-five years was thus again given prominence. torian mind, gained by the steady inheritance of
And presidential judgement was given against them. increments of improved mental function over the
This time Huxley politely expressed his protest at centuries, was no longer tenable. Morgan was inclined
Salisbury's verdict and the expected fierce rejoinder to believe that the average levei of innate ability during
vas not made. The reaction to Salisbury carne from Tudor times was, if anything, slightly higher than at
efsewhere. The address prompted another former the close of the nineteenth century. What he termed
issistant and collaborator of Kelvin to re-examine in a 'mental progress' was due to 'the handing on of the
thorough fashion the assumptions that Kelvin had results of human achievement by a vast extension of
made when first calculating the age of the earth. The that which we have seen to be a factor in animal life,
roundations for Kelvin's dogmatic conclusions began namely tradition'.1 Morgan saw human achievement
to look less secure. As controversy on this issue now progressing by leaps and bounds. The steady progress
spread among the physicists, the Darwinians began to of European Science and of sensibility in matters of
see time enlarging once more.30 In 1896 Lloyd religion and ethics, which was for Spencer indication
Slorgan's friend, the zoologist Edward Poulton, was of an improvement in man's biological inheritance,
president of the British Association. His address became for Morgan an example of an enriched cultural
challenged that of two years before, asserting that heritage. Each achievement can be stored in 'the social
biological evidence must take precedence in the environment to which each new generation adapts
evaluation of evolutionary theory: 'Natural selection itself, with no increased native power of adaptation'.2
will never be stifled in the Procrustean bed of One implication that can be seen in this final chapter -
msufficient geological time'.31 although never explicitly stated by Morgan - is that a
In fact the bed by then was no longer Procrustean. primary task for human psychology is to understand
In ignorance of the first discovery of radioactivity in how an individual adapts to and learns from his social
that same year, calculations based on familiar prin environment.
cipies now produced estimates exceeding Kelvin's After Habit and lnstinct Morgan's work had very
original 100 million years. The pressure that had little direct influence on animal psychology. In the
oersuaded Darwin, and hence Romanes, to rely on the same year he became principal of his college. The
Lamarckian principie as an accelerating factor in subsequent administrative tasks involved in its trans-
evolution was eased well before Curie and Laborde formation into Bristol University and his position as its
reported the release of heat from radium salts in 1903. first Vice-Chancellor occupied much of his time. In his
In 1904 Rutherford applied their discovery to the books he had written of the need to establish a
question of geological time, proposing that radioactiv- research institute for the study of comparative
:tv was the unknown source of energy that Kelvin had psychology. Once in a more favourable position he
oeen unable to foresee in the 1860s.32The public debate appears to have done nothing to implement such a
that Huxley had apparently lost in 1869 was finally plan.
settled in his favour. Even without the pressure of administrative
Intelligence and instinct 50
duties, Morgan's direct involvement in the study of British Science, and had been seen as one of their
animal behaviour may well have ended. His principal number. The impression made by Galton in the 1880s
arguments had been directed against the views of was recorded by a perceptive young lady, Beatrice
those claiming to find immediate relevance for the Webb, whose long friendship with Herbert Spencer
understanding of man in the study of animais. Major allowed her to meet most of the stars of mid-Victorian
themes in 1894 were the primacy of introspection over Science. She found Huxley a disturbing person, with a
comparative methods in psychology, and the simplic- strain of madness and haunted by melancholy:
ity of psychological processes in animais compared to 'Huxley, when not working, dreams strange things:
those in man. In 1896 the final argument in Habit and carries on lengthy conversations between unknown
Instinct was that, to a degree unrivalled in any other persons living within his brain'.5 But, of them all, the
animal, in man 'evolution has been transferred from the one who stayed in her mind as the ideal man of Science
organism to the environment'.3 It followed that to study was Francis Galton, with his 'perfect physical and
the behaviour of non-human animais was a very mental pose' and 'unique contribution of three
indirect way to understand the human mind or human separate and distinct processes of intellect': curiosity
evolution, despite the authoritative views of Darwin, and rapid apprehension of facts, the faculty for
Spencer and Romanes to the contrary. ingenious reasoning, and the 'capacity for correcting
Morgan's more general views were out of tune and verifying his own hypotheses, by the statistical
with the times. Within British universities psychology handling of masses of data'.6
remained at best a sub-discipline of philosophy; and For many years Galton had put forward his ideas
the kind of philosophy dominant in the final two on human heredity and his suggestions for a vigorous
decades of the nineteenth century was hostile to the policy to avert the catastrophic genetic future he
tradition of Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Mill and to the predicted for mankind. They were presented in a
essentially associationist psychology that Morgan forceful manner, a far cry from Morgan's careful,
advocated. When, just after the twentieth century qualified prose. Yet until the 1890s Galton's ideas on
began, G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell began to eugenics made little impact. By then statistics had
revive this earlier philosophical tradition, their in- taken great strides; the achievements of two decades
terests were mainly in ethics and logic, and not in of animal psychology were paltry in comparison. With
psychology. the decline of the Lamarckian principie, the distinction
Morgan's return to the evolutionary theory of between acquiring and inheriting mental abilities now
Wallace and early Darwin, with its sole emphasis on became stark. Galton's work enjoyed a currency it had
natural selection, was also premature. The discovery not achieved before. It was as if for a long while gas
of MendeFs work, the expansion of geological time, had been seeping into a building so slowly that no one
and the study of mutations led to rapid developments had noticed, until the moment when a light was
in the Science of genetics. However, for the next three struck.
decades these developments encouraged a view of As a man of independent means living in London,
organic evolution that was opposed to the gradual Galton could keep in close contact with the ideas and
process described by Darwin and Wallace. Also, intellectuai movements of the time. He had no formal
during these decades the Lamarckian principie was connections with any educational or scientific institu-
raised again at times, gaining an extra spurt of life at tion. However, Pearson was a professor of mathe-
the end in Stalinist Rússia. matics at University College, London. Together
Morgan was not the man to influence the Galton and Pearson established an institutional
intellectuai trends of his time. He was a professor at an framework, based on University College, for the
obscure, and new, provincial college. Despite a development of research and education in statistics,
fellowship of the Royal Society awarded in 1899, he human heredity and eugenics. In 1901 a professional
remained on the outer fringe of the scientific establish- journal, Biometrika, was started. In 1905 a research
ment of England. He was not an assertive man. An fellowship in eugenics was endowed, followed two
American friend, Mark Baldwin, on a visit to England years later by a research scholarship. Also in 1907 the
described Morgan as contemplatively combing a long Eugenics Education Society was founded. In 1909 a
beard that was as fine as his logic.4 The conclusions laboratory devoted to eugenics research was set up at
that Morgan drew from that logic were not expressed University College.
in clear, ringing tones. By this time Galton was one of the few remaining
The position of Francis Galton was very different. members of that illustrious band of men who began to
For decades he had mixed with the eminent men of possess the legendary character of the knights that
Summary 51
attended King Arthur's table.7 índeed, in 1909, Galton Other aspects changed. Romanes followed Dar
•vas granted a knighthood, an honour that neither win in treating very seriously the vast amount of loose,
Darwin, Wallace, Huxley, nor any other of their fellow informal data on animal behaviour that became
evolutionists had been offered. Survival was perhaps available by 1880. Morgan gave little weight to this
not quite enough. Spencer had perhaps as much right kind of evidence. Unless the contributor was skilled in
as Galton to be counted amongst the Darwinians, and the detached observation of behaviour, the data was
Spencer also lived long enough to see the twentieth regarded by him as almost inevitably, and hopelessly,
century. But even before his death in 1903, Spencer's contaminated by the observer's own preconceptions.
philosophy was out of fashion and his pacifist beliefs, Furthermore, persistent observation over a period of
producing a condemnation of Britain's conduct of the time was needed to obtain anything of value. Yet
Boer War, may have forfeited the chance of receiving Morgan did not go beyond this position to advocate a
an award of such distinction. fully experimental approach to the subject. His own
By the time Galton died in 1911 the kind of Science quasi-experimental work was not at all systematic
he had started was enjoying a vigorous life. The and, although modelled on that of Spalding, was in
rradition begun by Galton and Pearson maintained a some respects less elegant.
iominant influence within British psychology as this Decreasing tolerance for what could be classified
-lowly developed over the next thirty years. The result as respectable data went with a changing view of the
was that in the United Kingdom psychology retained nature of the subject. For Darwin and Romanes the
for many decades a highly mathematical and heredi- potential Science of animal behaviour was a form of
tarian emphasis. natural history, with methods and theories not very
In 1890 Morgan's Animal Life and Intelligence had different from those of mid-century anatomy or
earned a lengthy review in Nature from Wallace. Four geology. With Morgan it shifted towards becoming a
vears later the same journal devoted a single para- part of psychology. For both Romanes and Morgan,
graph to An lntroduction to Comparative Psychology in an understanding the mind of animais could be achieved
anonymous review that also examined three other only by making inferences based on analogies with the
books. One of these was Morgan's own Psychology for human mind. In the psychology of their day introspec-
Teachers; another was Wundt's Lectures on Human and tion was held almost universally to provide the sole
Animal Psychology, which is discussed in the next means for analysing mental processes. Thus, Morgan
chapter. In 1908 only sixteen copies of Habit and lnstind concluded that comparative psychology would inevi
were sold in the United Kingdom, although in North tably remain a junior partner to a human psychology
America the sales were more than double this figure. based on the analysis of subjective experience.
From the beginning of the century very few people in Although Romanes' early career was in physiology
the United Kingdom showed much interest in the and Morgan at times suggested ways in which
questions that had been central issues for Romanes psychological processes might be related to events in
and Morgan. Half the century passed before research the nervous system, neither advocated an alternative
on animal psychology occurred on any .scale in Britain, kind of partnership, between animal psychology and
and this was when the subject returned from the neurophysiology.
United States. Romanes believed that to ask whether a given
animal possessed a mind was the same as asking
Summary whether it was conscious. The only kind of objective
The progression from Darwin to Romanes and evidence he could envisage as relevant to this question
from Romanes to Morgan represented a continuous, was whether the animal displayed any capacity for
but evolving, tradition in the study of animais. Some choice. Choice occurred when behaviour was
themes remained constant throughout this progres observed to have been influenced by past experience.
sion. The aim of relating an understanding of the mind Yet Romanes paid little attention to the relationship
to general theories of evolution provides one example. between behaviour and experience.
Another, less obvious, was the continued emphasis Morgan adopted the same criterion for conscious-
on the behaviour of the individual and those of its ness and, in contrast to Romanes, was very much
actions which, in human terms, could be called concerned with processes of learning. His own
intelligent; alternatively, emphasis might have shifted observational work with animais convinced him that
to the social behaviour of animais or to issues that were all reliable evidence of intelligent behaviour could be
later labelled by the neologism motivation, but it did interpreted in terms of trial-and-error learning. Fur
not. thermore, in applying the Spencer-Bain principie,
Intelligence and instinct 52
Morgan distinguished two kinds of processes, both concern with processes of learning that carne from
associative in nature, but one more complex than the Bain. A third element, only partially absorbed, was the
other. notion from Spalding that questions about the be
His studies of the behaviour of newly hatched haviour of animais can be answered only by careful
birds also led Morgan to relinquish finally any belief in experimenta tion.
the Lamarckian principie of heredity. On Darwin's The changes that occurred during this period can
death Romanes remained the major proponent of the also be viewed as an interesting reversal: animal
principie. The ever decreasing estimates of the earth's psychology in Victorian England began as a reaction to
age obtained during his working life indicated to a certain set of views and in Morgan's hands ended,
Romanes that mental evolution had occurred rapidly twenty-five years later, by adopting almost all of them.
and that Lamarckian inheritance was a major factor. Darwin's ideas on animal behaviour and mental
This belief very much affected the account of instinct evolution, as expressed in The Descent of Man in 1871,
given by Romanes. It was probably not just by chance were explicitly opposed to the position Wallace had
that Morgan's break with Romanes on this issue recently reached on the evolution of mind. By 1896
coincided with a major revaluation of Kelvin's calcula- Morgan's main conclusions were essentially identical
tions with respect to geological time. to those of Wallace: the rejection of the Lamarckian
Once Morgan decided that no trace of the habits principie; the importance of early experience and
and associations acquired by an individual animal cultural tradition in maintaining uniformity of be
could be passed on in any biological way to its haviour; the immense gulf in intellectual capacities
progeny, he formulated a very much clearer idea of between man and other animais; and a view of man as
what is meant by instinctive behaviour. He examined the one species that has escaped from the pressure of
the behavioural evidence that once had seemed to natural selection. Morgan, in Wallace's words, placed
support the Lamarckian principie and decided that 'man apart, as not only the head and culminating
what much of this evidence really showed was point of the grand series of organic nature, but as in
transmission from one generation to another by some degree a new and distinct order of being'.1
means of tradition. Consequently he was led to The major difference between Morgan and Wal
emphasize a further type of learning, imitation. lace was the element that carne from Huxley: a
One further difference between Romanes and sceptical attitude and a willingness to suspend
Morgan foreshadowed a later division in the study of judgement. Because Morgan could not explain satis-
animais. Both were very much influenced by Spen- factorily the evolution of the human mind, he did not
cer's ideas on psychology. But Romanes differed from therefore, as Wallace had done, appeal to super-
Spencer on the subject of reasoning; he maintained natural intervention.
that this was a faculty that had evolved from the Wallace's views on mental evolution - caricatured
processes of perception. Morgan shared Spencer's as presenting man as God's domestic animal2- and his
view on this topic: as well as doubting whether any sympathetic attitude towards spiritualism had dimi-
animal possessed anything that could be called nished his scientific reputation among British biolo-
'reason', he was inclined to the view that the origins of gists after 1870. Morgan's acceptance of Wallace's
human reasoning were closely related to the develop- other views had little influence on British psychology
ment of language. as it developed after 1900. Much more important were
To a large extent the development of animal Galton's emphasis on biological, rather than cultural,
psychology during the 1880s and '90s can be seen as inheritance, and a methodology that, instead of
the absorption into a Darwinian mainstream of the concentrating on detailed observation of the indi
other elements discussed in the first chapter. Spen- vidual animal or human being, relied on brief tests,
cer's psychology was one element. Another was the large numbers and statistical analysis.
3
When we began our consideration of the mental life Experimental psychology
of animais, we condemned the tendency of animal
psychology to translate every manifestation of and habits
'intelligence' ínto an intellectual operation. The
same reproach could be made agaínst certain more
or less popular views of our own mentality. The old
metaphysical prejudice that man 'always thinks' has
not yet entirely disappeared. I myself am inclined
to hold that man really thinks very little and very
seldom.
Wilhelm Wundt: Lectures on Human and Animal
Psychology (1892)
V_____________________________________________
The task of obtaining unambiguous empirical As psychology grew, the range of questions to
evidence on some psychological issue is usually far which experimental methods were applied broadened
more difficult than it may seem at first glance. Many out from Wundt's initial emphasis on perception and
psychological phenomena are determined by a range reaction times to encompass such topics as memory
: i factors that interact with each other. Thus, whether and thinking. However, in Germany it was not
:r not some effect occurs can often depend on the extended to the study of animal psychology for many
rarticular context. The study of depth perception years. This was not because of a lack of general interest
rrovides an example that was of considerable interest in Darwinian theory of the kind that had stimulated
m the nineteenth century, in that our judgement of research on the mind of animais in England, since, as
'.ow far away some object lies can be based on a variety described below, the efforts of Emst Haeckel (1834-
:í different cues whose relative importance changes 1919) ensured that evolution was debated just as
rrom situation to situation. As a consequence of intensely in Germany.
irtempting to isolate and understand the variables Quantitative experimental methods were first
rperating in such cases a methodology has developed fully applied to the problems discussed by the British
which is to a large extent peculiar to the subject of evolutionists by Edward Thorndike (1874-1949).
psychology. The ideas, for example, of using tightly Thorndike's experiments were carried out in the
specified control conditions or of systematically man- United States within a university department of
rpulating one variable while keeping all others con- psychology where Thorndike was enrolled as a
síant, as well as the statistical methods that have been research student; the primary purpose of the work
developed for the analysis of this kind of experimenta- was to provide him with sufficient material for a
aon, are familiar ones now. They were not familiar a doctoral thesis. This represents a huge change from
nundred years ago, when the empirical methods used the context in which the ideas and research discussed
m other Sciences appeared to be of limited use in the in previous chapters were developed. Thorndike's
attempt to establish psychology as an experimental work was carried out during a period of extensive
Science. reform and expansion of the American university
In the middle of the nineteenth century one System. Departments as units of organization, the
guideline was provided by John Stuart MilTs discus- study of psychology within a university, and the
sion of the logical basis of induction from empirical awarding of doctoral degrees on the basis of ex
evidence. Another was the experience gained by perimental research were all very recent develop-
physiologists, particularly from experimental work ments.
designed to probe the workings of the nervous A large part of the research in animal psychology
System. The development of appropriate exper that followed Thorndike's pioneer experiments was
imental methods and the beginning of psychology as carried out in a similar setting. As with Thorndike
an academic subject occurred in Germany, where a himself, the way that his successors worked as
key role was played by Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920). scientists was very much influenced both by the
Experimental psychology and habits 54
institutional context in which their experiments were tory was opened at the University of Giessen. From
carried out and by the intellectual traditions that went then on a gradual expansion occurred, notably in
with this context. And so, before describing Thorn- chemistry and in physiology. The earlier reforms
dike's work, this chapter looks at the way ex turned out to have provided an excellent framework
perimental psychology grew within the German and for scientific research. A professor would both give
American university Systems. lectures and, in his role as director of an institute,
supervise the experimental work of students receiving
German Science and psychology their training in research methods. Thus, Science
In the nineteenth century Germany's scientific became both a group activity and a profession in a way
activity expanded and became organized in a way that that had not happened before.
had no previous parallel. A major factor in this growth Perhaps even more important than academic
was the reform of universities carried out early in the organization was the existence of a great number of
century, following Prussia's defeat at the hands of universities of comparable quality, competing with
Napoleon. In 1809 a new kind of university was each other to employ anyone with a good academic
founded in Berlin and this provided a model for higher reputation. Continued expansion of the universities
education elsewhere in the many German-speaking meant that, once a student had finished his research
States and principalities of Central Europe. training and had shown some promise, a variety of
The organization of German universities was academic positions were open which would allow him
guided by a particular set of beliefs about the general to continue with a scientific career.
function of university education. Many of these beliefs This situation in German-speaking countries was
were summed up by the phrase 'academic freedom'. in stark contrast to that in England where, until well
Those who taught in these institutions, the professors, into the nineteenth century, only two universities
were free to run their own affairs and decide what to existed and those served as a combination of finishing
teach, with a minimum of State or religious inter- schools for the upper class and training establish-
ference. Unlike their fellow citizens in many of the ments for the Church of England. To a very large
German States, they were guaranteed freedom of extent intellectual and scientific activity took place
speech. They were also free, and encouraged, to outside of the educational System. Until the 1880s a
engage in scholarly work, in addition to their relatively young Englishman could engage in scientific work
light teaching duties. For students, academic freedom only if, like Darwin, Romanes or Galton, he could
meant the opportunity to select lectures and courses afford such a hobby, or if he was prepared, like
and to transfer from one university to another. Wallace or Spalding, to face financial hardship in the
This new System was not planned to further the hope that eventuaily a scientific reputation might aid
development of empirical Science. The intention was the sale of books and indirectly provide a reasonable
that universities should provide a broad education, income. Where men like Huxley and Morgan held
whose various parts would be integrated by the kind academic posts research was not seen as part of their
of idealist philosophy, particularly that of Hegel and of duties, but was carried out despite teaching commit-
Fichte, then dominant in Prússia. In such a philosophy ments. There were many good scientists in mid-
the use of logical insight was not confined to the task of Victorian England, but little means for transmitting
formulating metaphysical principies. Explanations of their techniques and methods. Towards the end of the
natural phenomena were to be obtained either by century, and decades after this had occurred in
logical deduction from metaphysics or on the basis of Germany, English universities began to provide
intuitive knowledge. This tradition of Natürphilosophie instruction in Science and facilities for laboratory
was openly hostile to the outlook and the methods of research, and to accept that they should become
empirical Science. Within the new universities schol centres of intellectual activity. The change was as
arly work was to be concerned primarily with the much prompted by fears of the growing industrial and
study of cultural development. The idea that the military power of the newly United German empire as
purpose of a university should be as much the based on any new concept of the function of a
accumulation, as the transmission, of knowledge first university.1
bore fruit in the fields of history and in the compara- By 1871 Prússia had within a few years defeated
tive study of language. By 1830 the work of German first Áustria and then France. Military success and
historians and linguists was unrivalled. attendant economic growth were in part attributed to
In 1829 experimental Science first obtained a the merits of the Prussian educational system. Ger
foothold within the System when a chemistry labora- man universities continued to receive generous finan-
German science and psychology 55
=al support, while academic freedom and the emph- research assistant to Helmholtz and had carried out
asis on scientific training were maintained. By this some pioneer research on human reaction times; he
rme students from the rest of Europe and from North had become one of the foremost proponents of
-merica were arriving in increasing numbers to study 'physiological psychology', by which he meant the
ít one or another renowned German university. application of the experimental methods developed in
--ttraction was particularly strong in physiology, physiology to many of the psychological issues
here a series of important discoveries, many of them formerly regarded as solely within the domain of
do with the workings of the nervous system, had speculative philosophy. The unusual situation of a
r«en made since the 1830s in the new research man with these interests and with training in science
r-stitutes. occupying one of the most prestigious chairs of
Hostility towards the kind of speculative philo- philosophy in Germany provided a firm base for the
>sphy which had initially guided university develop- development of this new kind of psychology. With the
-tent was most pronounced among the physiologists. opening of a laboratory in 1879 students could receive
1- 1845 a group of young scientists who were later to training in psychological research at Leipzig, in the
nake outstanding contributions to the study of same way as elsewhere in Germany they could learn to
-■europhysiology and of the senses - including the be physiologists, chemists or physicists. The idealist
ziostbrilliantphysiologistof his generation, Hermann philosophy dominant a generation earlier enjoyed less
•on Helmholtz - solemnly pledged to keep their and less respect and Wundt's aim of re-establishing
-oence free from metaphysical speculation and swore philosophy as a science was in general regarded
xi uphold the principie that 'no other forces than sympathetically by his fellow academics.4
:ommon physical-chemical ones are active in the The growth of experimental psychology within
rganism'.2 In studying the physiological basis of the German university system coincided with the
—jman perception Science carne closest to intruding growth of Darwinism, but was surprisingly little
-pon the traditional domain of philosophers. The influenced by evolutionary ideas. The reasons for this
mimosity was mutual. As Helmholtz noted later, in seem to lie partly in the way that the new psychology
ciscussing Hegel: 'His system of nature seemed, at remained closely tied to the physiological study of
jeastto natural philosophers, absolutely crazy. . . The sensory processes from which it stemmed, and partly
rhilosophers accused the scientific men of narrow- in the way that Darwinian theory was absorbed into
ness; the scientific men retorted that the philosophers German intellectual traditions.
■■ere crazy. And so it carne about that men of science In promoting evolutionary theory in Germany the
began to lay some stress on the banishment of all part played by Ernst Haeckel was initially similar to
rnilosophic influences from their work.'3 that of Huxley in England.5 HaeckeFs scientific
By the 1860s there were a number of young reputation, like that of Huxley, was first based on
scientists concerned with the measurement of human work in marine biology. The book describing this work
sensory abilities and the problem of relating such data gained him in 1862 the chair of zoology at the
to ever increasing knowledge about the structure and University of Jena where he remained for the rest of
function of sense organs. Various methods for deter- his academic career. At about the time of this
mining, for example, what levei of intensity of a sound appointment he first read Darwin's The Origin of
could just be detected by the human ear or what was Species and became an instant convert. From 1863 he
ene minimum change that could be felt when pressure wrote a series of papers and books on evolution that
was applied to some area of the skin had been were extraordinarily popular and established Haeckel
svstematized by Gustav Fechner. Fechner had also as a leading evolutionist. His Natürliche Schõpfungsges-
introduced the term 'psychophysics' for the general chichte (Natural History of Creation) of 1868 became
approach of discovering the quantitative relationships one of the main sources of the world's knowledge of
netween perceptual phenomena and physical events. evolution. Its account of human descent, which
At the same time methods developed for measuring Haeckel regarded as central to evolutionary theory,
very precisely the speed of transmission of neural antedated Darwin's own discussion in The Descent of
events were first applied to the timing of mental Man by three years.
rrocesses. For Haeckel, Darwinian theory had very definite
A major step in the transformation of this cluster political implications. His work on marine biology had
?f intellectual interests into an academic discipline was taken him to Italy during the time of the liberation
the appointment of Wilhelm Wundt to the chair of movement. This inspired in him commitment to the
rhilosophy at Leipzig in 1875. Wundt had worked as a reform of political institutions and to the unification of
Experimental psychology and habits 56
Germany and evolutionary theory provided Haeckel S la tiitiib tftiiit de« \ lm u rttfit ny-tr
with a framework in which to develop his social and
political beliefs. As a young man he had regularly
attended church and shown devotion to orthodox
Christian beliefs and principies. As an evolutionist,
Haeckel expressed increasingly fierce hatred for
religion, which he identified as a major source of
political reaction. From the time he first embraced
Darwin's theory, Haeckel was as forthright about his
political views as his beliefs on human evolution:
evolutionary progress, he proclaimed, is 'a natural law
which no human power, neither the weapons of
tyrants nor the curses of priests, can ever succeed in
repressing'.6
The overtones of radical politics and anti-
clericalism added to Darwinian theory by Haeckel
repelled as many as they attracted. But they ensured v tu H H Io *?'V n m .i
that the question of evolution was not neglected. A
notable public clash between the champions and the l ru»U» <•«•<■»!
:< h o r tl n m r r
critics of Darwinism took place in Munich in 1877. The I*niM Ífn*r
on its rejection of Natürphilosophie, its specialization conclusion by informal testing of his pet dog, as well
and its insistence on rigour and on the primacy of as by a criticai reading of Romanes' evidence. Wundt
evidence obtained in the laboratory. Eventually it was too accepted the general belief that animais possess
Romanes' Animal Intelligence that prompted Wundt to some ability for learning by imitation. Where he
direct his attention to this topic. In his Lectures on differed from Morgan was in the absence of any
Animal and Human Psychology of 1892 Wundt remarked attempt to account for the evolution of mind and in his
that he was appalled by the lack of sophistication in complete acceptance of the Lamarckian principie for
Romanes' work, its simplistic 'popular psychology' the inheritance of previously acquired habits.13 And,
and the absence of any logical criticism. He suggested unlike Morgan, Wundt made no experimental
that this unfortunate situation had arisen because of observations of animais that might have led to a more
the unjustifiable neglect hitherto shown by psycholo- detailed development of suggestions such as: 'Intel-
gists towards the study of animal behaviour. ligence springs from association, and then tums
The views Wundt expressed in these lectures are round again to enrich it by new connections which will
strikingly similar to those that Morgan discussed at facilitate the employment of thought in the future.'14
greater length three years later. Wundt argued that, if There was no sudden beginning of animal
due attention is paid to the law of parsimony 'which psychology in Germany as a result of Wundt's
allows recourse to be had to complex principies of lectures. A young German scientist who wished to
explanation when the simpler ones have proved study such matters would have found it difficult to do
inadequate, it seems that the entire intellectual life of so. By 1892 the expansionary phase of the German
animais can be accounted for on the simple laws of universities had long been over and the opportunities
association'.12 Like Morgan, he was led to this for the growth of new research areas were now
Miskthrtr T||*J
icnited. Also, there were no longer many academic lighting. Although many colleges had long aban-
rests open to aspiring new graduates. This was not doned the idea that their principal purpose was to
rue in the United States where the system of higher train ministers of religion, most were still adminis-
education was changing and expanding. Ex- tered by governing bodies and by presidents whose
r-enmentai psychology had become firmiy established principal qualifications were theological. Instilling
•ithin this system in a way that is described in the next students with a strong sense of morality, in the sense
«ction. Many young Americans who had chosen a of Christian ethical principies, was understood to be a
ureer in psychology no longer went to Leipzig, but major purpose of college education. Postgraduate
-onetheless they still read Wundt's books with great education of a non-professional kind was almost
respect. unobtainable in the United States until a new
In England there had been considerable theoreti- university was founded in Baltimore in 1876.
3 I interest, but no institutional support for the study In the middle of the century one source of very
ef animal psychology. In Germany appropriate in- profitable investment was in railroads. And one rail
fdtutions existed and an appropriate methodology system that had an early financial success was the
•■as to hand, but there was insufficient interest. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. A portion of its profits
£rowth of academic psychology in America, together accrued to a Baltimore businessman, Johns Hopkins.
■«dth an intense concern with the psychological On his death he left an unprecedented sum of four and
mplications of Darwin's theory, turned out to provide a half million dollars for a university whose design was
excellent conditions for laying the foundations for handed over to the man selected as the first president,
jystematic research on the animal mind. Daniel Gilman.
Gilman was determined that this university
American university reform and Herbert would be a new kind of educational institution:
Spencer entirely secular, a centre of scholarship and research,
In the 1870s the mind was studied in a variety of and with a major emphasis on Science. He crossed the
ways by men in Germany and Britain, but by almost Atlantic to study the various university systems of
no one in North America. Yet within forty years there Europe. Like Matthew Arnold, who had made a
were more Americans counting psychology as their similar comparison a few years earlier, Gilman found
rrofession and more American publications on the that the English university had no Science, the French
subject than in any other country. A number of factors university no freedom, but the German university had
contributed to the rapid expansion of psychology both. He already knew that American colleges had
within North America. One was its early association neither.1
with a new form of university organization, first One of the problems faced by Gilman was to
mtroduced at the Johns Hopkins University in Balti- ensure that an institution which was devoted to the
more, Maryland. The success of this new university acquisition of knowledge and to the provision of
meant that many of its innovations were copied training in research for the few students likely to
widely during the expansion of American higher benefit, could also provide a satisfactory general
education that reached its peak just at the end of the education to the many with either no desire, or no
nineteenth century. ability, to extend the frontiers of knowledge. It was not
The end of the Civil War was the beginning of a clear that the German system had resolved this
neriod of rapid industrialization and of increasing problem. Academic freedom meant that a German
respect for scientific work, particularly for the technol- professor might lecture only on the highly particular
ogy that it might spawn. What little scientific research topic that happened to engage his interest at the time.
there was in America took place, as in England, A von Helmholtz might be an inspired and devoted
outside the educational system. Until the 1870s the teacher to the few students chosen to work in his
sole function of the American college was to teach. At laboratory, but he put little time or effort into general
most colleges the content of teaching was very lectures. The university education received by a
restricted and predominantly classical. The idea that a German student could be very general at first, but then
college teacher should devote some time to his own became increasingly narrow, even if there was no
scholarly interests was rarely entertained and, in most prospect of this specialized knowledge being of any
colleges, actively discouraged. Very few provided any subsequent use.
opportunity for a student to learn the scientific Gilman's solution to the problem was one that has
principies and skills that were producing the wonders subsequently become widespread throughout the
of the age: the telephone, photography, and electric English-speaking world. He created a two-tier system,
Experimental psychology and habits 60
whereby the essentials of the German university were were not well received. There were the first signs of
superimposed upon the traditional pattern of the future discord between the university and the city.
Anglo-American college. An undergraduate followed Despite its rich endowment, the Johns Hopkins
a general education and was awarded a bachelor's University depended on the goodwill of the citizens of
degree. Subsequent education could be either of a Maryland. It needed, for example, the fees paid by
professional kind, mainly in law or medicine, or these citizens for their offspring to obtain an under
further specialized academic work. The latter con- graduate education. Providing a general education
sisted of teaching by means of seminars, in the meant that teaching appointments could not be
German manner, and participation in research. The guided by research criteria alone. Philosophy was a
second degree, the doctorate in philosophy or Ph.D., particularly difficult problem. It was a subject that
was awarded for an original contribution to know- undergraduates wished to leam. And yet a vigorous,
ledge. scholarly pursuit of philosophical problems seemed
In order to ensure that there would be candidates much more likely to create antagonism in the city of
for this Ph.D. degree at Johns Hopkins, Gilman Baltimore than, say, research in chemistry.
established research fellowships. The advertisements For a few years this dilemma was resolved by
for this unprecedented offer of paying people to study employing a number of part-time lecturers in philo
what was of interest to them were received with near sophy. Then, in 1884, a small department of philo
unbelief. The response was so overwhelming and the sophy was started and one of these lecturers, G.
quality of applications so high that Gilman promptly Stanley Hall, was appointed as professor of psycho
doubled the original number of fellowships. logy and pedagogy. The reasons for Gilman's choice of
Another innovation at Johns Hopkins was its Hall were varied. Hall had studied at Harvard with
departmental system. In addition to a full professor, a William James and had then spent some time in
department also contained a number of university Germany. He had returned to America as an enthu-
teachers who were paid reasonable salaries and siastic propagandist for the new experimental
enjoyed fair security of tenure. Gilman may ha ve been psychology. Hall's interests could be seen perhaps as a
aware of the potential problems of the more despotic new kind of philosophy, scientific in spirit, yet not
German system. During its expansionary phase a necessarily threatening to religious belief. In addition,
young German scientist, whose ideas or personal Hall's personal life and attitude to religion were less
conduct had offended his professor, could easily move likely to cause offence than those of the other
to another university. When expansion ceased, the candidates. Finally, his interest in applying psycholo
same professor might wield for decades immense gy to educational issues might be useful in demon-
power over those that studied with him, controlling strating to Baltimore the advantage of having a major
their livelihood, the allocation of research facilities and university in its midst.2
often the opportunity to publish their work. Hall proved to be very energetic. He set up a
A student of psychology at Leipzig almost psychological laboratory, in which he carried out a
inevitably became a Wundtian. The departmental number of collaborative studies with his graduate
system of Johns Hopkins meant that a Ph.D. student students. These were concerned with much the same
might be strongly influenced by any of a number of kind of problem as Wundt assigned his students in
more sênior members of his department, or by none of Leipzig. For example, one student, Henry Donaldson,
them. The tradition was soon established that, in discovered the separation of warm and cold receptors
general, a student benefited most if he studied for a in the skin and Hall later took part in this work.3 In
Ph.D. at some university other than the one where he 1887 Hall founded the first professional journal of
had obtained a B.A. This also ensured a cross- psychology outside of Europe, the American Journal of
fertilization of ideas that was rare elsewhere. Psychology.4 By this time Hall had gained wide respect
The Johns Hopkins University was opened in in academic rirdes, although Gilman was less impres-
1876. As a Symbol of its secular nature and its devotion sed. When plans were made for a new university in
to scientific knowledge - and as a tribute to his work Worcester, Massachusetts to be named 'Clark' after its
on behalf of English education - Thomas Huxley was benefactor, Hall was invited to become president.
invited as a principal speaker at the opening cere- Gilman made no great effort to deter Hall from leaving
mony. His speech was unobjectionable. But it was Johns Hopkins. Its philosophy department, together
only two years since his Belfast address and in the local with the psychological laboratory, were wound down
Christian community Huxley's presence at the after Hall's departure.
celebration, and the absence of a religious Service, By the time Clark University opened in 1889, Hall
American university reform and Spencer 61
Hall." A major theme in Hall's work, as in that of ate competition, and its peremptory rejection of
Preyer, was HaeckeEs biogenetical principie: with failure, post-bellum America was like a vast human
reference to psychology, the idea that the mind of the caricature of the Darwinian struggle for existence'.9
child passes through various stages that closely North America also differed from England in the
correspond to the developmental history of mental variety of its social conditions. In the summer of 1876
functions in evolution. The incorporation of this idea Huxley arrived in New York, on his way to the
into Romanes' theory of mental evolution, which was opening of Johns Hopkins University, and when
contemporary with Preyer's book, was noted in the viewing the harbour felt so exuberant over the scenes
previous chapter. of bustling, modern life that he exclaimed: Tf I were
An evolutionary view of psychology was already not a man, 1 think I should like tobe a tug'.10Just a few
very familiar in America from the volumes of Herbert months earlier and two hundred miles up the coast,
Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy. The introduetion of the operation of a telephone system had been
psychology at Johns Hopkins was one reason for the demonstrated for the first time in Boston. And yet,
subsequent growth of the subject in the United States; during Huxley's visit, two thousand miles westward a
Spencer's work was a further major factor. During the combined force of Sioux and Comanche Indians
period of rapid change that followed the Civil War, his defeated the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn
books were bought by the thousands. His philosophy River. It was the last major check to complete
of progress appeared to provide a much needed guide domination of the continent by peoples of European
to the age, and an important part of this philosophy descent. Although Spencer personally abhorred
was faith in the benefits to be derived from advances in violence, his philosophy could be used to justify the
the social Sciences. Hall can be seen as making more decimation of one race and culture by another, as well
specific Spencer's general claims about the utility of as unrestricted competition between individuais.
psychology. With the Civil War in progress, no The widespread acceptance of Spencer did not
equivalent to the encounter between Huxley and marka totally new departure. The extreme individual-
Bishop Wilberforce could have attracted public atten- ism fitted in with what was already a well-established
tion to the issue of evolution in the years immediately national tradition. The progressive outlook, the belief
following Darwin's publication of The Origin ofSpecies. in a glorious future to be reached with the aid of
When, in the 1870s, general interest turned to such Science, also suited another national tradition. And as
matters, it was Spencer's view of evolution rather than for the strong religious elements of American life,
Darwin's that generated most excitement. His books Spencer's philosophy was conveniently ambiguous.
enjoyed extraordinary popularity both among the elite By the 1880s his form of evolutionary theory had been
of that society, the philosopher as well as the endorsed by most religious leaders. American scien-
industrial baron, and among the thousands of people, tists, especially the biologists, might be persuaded by
scattered among the countless small towns of Amer Huxley's blunt, uncompromising arguments, but
ica, who thought seriously about their lives, but were most people concerned with the implications of
no longer so content with the answers provided by evolutionary theory read Spencer.
their religion. Spencer became 'the metaphysician of The vogue for Spencer's books lasted for twenty
the homemade intellectual and the prophet of the years or more. The inevitable reaction occurred in a
cracker-barrel agnostic'.7 variety of contexts. There was increasing labour
Although Spencer's books were also very popular unrest. An early event was a strike by employees of
in Britain, his influence on social and political opinion the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which hurt the
was not as strong as in America.8 Industrialization in fortunes of the Johns Hopkins University. A working
Britain had already advanced to the stage where the man's doubts as to whether to join in a strike for the
social evils created by the form of unbridled laissez-faire sake of other workers at some time in the future, and at
system that Spencer advocated were already appa- the immediate cost of prolonged hardship for himself
rent. To a large extent he was preaching a gospel that and his family, were not easily solved by turning to
had already been íound wanting. In the United States traditional principies. Spencer's answer, that the
rapid industrialization on a large scale was a more well-being of the individual and of his immediate
recentphenomenon. Spencer's slogan, 'thesurvivalof relatives should be the principal criterion in reaching
the fittest', was eagerly accepted by business, where it such a decision, increasingly appeared to represent an
was quite clear that fitness was to be measured in ethical system that favoured only the rich.
terms of wealth. As a historian has noted: 'with its Concern with such ethical problems became part
rapid expansion, its exploitative methods, its desper- of a movement in American philosophy known as
William james 63
courses, electives, in new subjects like psychology. In 1876 James' position at Harvard became firmly
Initially the time available for electives was small in established when he was appointed as an assistant
comparison to that devoted to the required courses for professor in the philosophy department. A sign of the
a bachelor's degree. But the degree of choice steadily approval for psychology won by James was the
increased and other American universities followed university's allocation of space and money for setting
Harvard's lead, thus producing what today is the most up a small laboratory to be used for experimental
marked distinction between higher education in demonstrations. James became a leading figure in the
America and in Europe. An American bachelor's intellectual life of Cambridge and Boston. Wider fame
degree is awarded upon the accumulation of a developed from a series of papers on psychology that
specified number of units, obtained from a series of he began at this time and continued throughout the
self-contained courses. Within certain constraints, the 1880s. Many of these papers became incorporated as
combination of courses taken by individual students chapters in his two volume book, Principies of Psycho
varies widely. This contrasts with the situation logy, which was eventually published in 1890. This
common in European universities where the degree of was James' major contribution to psychology.
specialization is much greater and the degree of choice The book succeeded brilliantly in achieving a
open to a student is much more limited. synthesis of three different approaches to the study of
As a result of the elective system, justification for the mind. One was an analytic approach in the
the existence of a psychology laboratory within an tradition of British empirical philosophy. As is often
American philosophy department, and later for the the case, those predecessors receiving the most
independent existence of a psychology department, criticism were the most important influences. James
could be based simply on the argument that students rejected many of Spencer's ideas and also, in a more
wanted, and should be able, to study psychology careful and respectful manner, detailed what he saw
during their undergraduate years. The much longer, was wrong with the analysis of mental processes
and sometimes unsuccessful, struggles of the social provided by Bain and earlier British associationists. In
Sciences to establish themselves within the less flexible particular, he criticized the idea that subjective
System of European universities depended on the experience could be decomposed into discrete mental
more highly resistible argument that they should be atoms, 'ideas', and substituted an emphasis on
regarded on an equal footing with disciplines already continuity, introducing the term, the 'stream of
well established. consciousness'.3James also dismissed what he saw as
The elective course in psychology given by James the misguided environmentalism of empiricist philo
proved very popular. In addition to the attraction of sophy. Concepts of time and of space could not be
his style of lecturing, there was considerable interest based on experience alone. And, citing Romanes,
stemming from his use of Spencer's Principies of Spalding and Preyer, a chapter was devoted to the
Psychology as a text. The course began just after important part played by instinct in human beha viour.
Huxley's visit, which had further fuelled interest in Compared to that of Morgan, James' concept of
Darwinism in North America. For discussion of instinct seems a very muddled one. His examples
evolutionary theory to be included within a university ranged from the relatively simple - sneezing, coughing,
course was still very much a novelty. Years earlier keeping time to music - to traits that are arguably direct
James had been 'carried away with enthusiasm by the reflections of James' specific cultural heritage. Thus, to
intellectual perspectives' that Spencer's philosophy imitation, anger, fear, curiosity, sympathy and love are
had seemed to open.1Well before teaching at Harvard added secretiveness - 'there is unquestionably a native
James had become increasingly repelled by it. Later he impulse in everyone to conceal love affairs' - acquisi-
was to comment that Spencer's name was 'linked to tiveness, cleanliness, modesty and an 'anti-sexual in
one virtue and a thousand crimes': the virtue was stinct': 'the instinct of personal isolation, the actual
Spencer's belief in the universality of evolution, while repulsiveness to us of the idea of intimate contact with
the thousand crimes were 'his 5000 pages of absolute most of the persons we meet, especially those of our
incompetence to work it out in detaiT. Spencer's own sex'.4 Nevertheless, despite this nativismand the
philosophy was, James carne to decide, 'almost a stream of consciousness, the basis of James' psycho
museum of blundering reasoning'.2 Yet for twenty logy clearly owes most to Spencer and to Bain.
years Spencer's Psychology remained the main text for The second major element in James' Principies was
James' course and, although the book served mainly its clear account of various current developments in
as an intellectual punch bag, it profoundly affected European psychology. James' linguistic ability and
his views. wide scholarship enabled him to present the best of
William James 65
disagrees, because there is no other for which we are much in agreement with Wundt. He might State that
fitted, and it is too late to begin again. It keeps different 'perception and thinking are only there for be-
social strata from mixing . . . You see the little lines of haviour's sake' and add that 'this result is one of the
cleavage running in the character, the tricks of fundamental conclusions to which the entire drift of
thought, the prejudices . . . from which a man can modem physiological investigation sweeps us';13 and
by-and-by no more escape than his coat-sleeve can yet he was quite adamant that the way we see the
suddenly fali into a new set of folds. On the whole it is world is quite apart from that of any other animal and
best he should not escape. It is well for the world that true thought a unique characteristic of the human
in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set soul. Like Wundt, but without the disparaging
like plaster, and will never soften again.'9 comments on amateurs, James set out to show 'by
Habits, James argued, are also central to the moral taking the best stories of animal sagacity, that the
life of an individual. We should 'make our nervous mental processes involved may as a rule be perfectly
system our ally instead of our enemy . . . For this we accounted for by mere contiguous association, based
must make automatic and habitual, as early as on experience'.14 Like Morgan, although without the
possible, as many useful actions as we can'. It is a latter's detail, James considered it 'proven that the
miserable human being who deliberates over 'the most elementary single difference between the human
lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the mind and that of brutes lies in this deficiency on the
time of rising and going to bed every day, and the brute's part to associate ideas by similarity',15where by
beginning of every bit of work'.10Half such a person's 'similarity' James meant much the same as Morgan did
life is wasted over deciding, or regretting, such by 'perception of relations'.
matters. For James there was 'no more contemptible James' views on the mind-body problem were
type of human character than that of the nerveless uncertain and to some extent inconsistent. In early
sentimentalist and dreamer, who spends his life in a years he had accepted the arguments for viewing man
weltering sea of sensibility and emotion, but who and other animais as 'conscious automata'. His theory
never does a manly concrete deed'.11 of emotion can be seen as a reflection of this youthful
This stress on action and on the importance of belief. But during his depressive illness James, with
habits based on neural connections foreshadowed the his new belief in free will, carne to reject the idea that
pre-occupations of later animal psychologists in the thoughts and feelings of which we are conscious
America. It is also seen in one of James' most original can never affect our actions, and that they have an
contributions, his theory of emotion. Emotions do not elusive character that prevents the application of
act as causes. We do not strike out because we are scientific methods. The pain from a swollen foot is just
angry, blush because we feel shame, or flee because we as real, if not more so, than the shoe that encases it.16
are afraid. Rather, James claimed, certain situations The overall philosophy of mind in the Principies
directly elicit certain specific and powerful reactions, was in general a dualistic one. James' dismissal of
made up of abrupt changes in our outward behaviour, automaton theory took the form of pointing out the
in our expressions and in our bodily State. It is these weaknesses of previous arguments in its support. On
reactions that give rise to our subjective experience of mental continuity, James opposed the kind of argu-
emotion. 'Commonsense says, we lose our fortune, ment put forward by Huxley in the Belfast address,
are sorry and weep; we meet a bear, are frightened and and suggested that instead one could justifiably infer
run; we are insulted by a rival, are angry and strike . . . from human experience that an animal's behaviour
The more rational statement is that we feel sorry was influenced by purely mental events. This was just
because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid as logical as the claim that, because in principie what
because we tremble.'12 In essence, James is agreeing, an animal does can be explained entirely with
in the case of emotion, with Huxley's view of reference to physical events in its brain, a Science of
consciousness as an epiphenomenon. human behaviour must adopt the same stance. On the
As with later behaviourists, stress on action and difficulty of conceiving how purely mental events
habit was accompanied by a tendency to underesti- could act as causes of material changes, James simply
mate the complexities of perception. In contrast, say, pointed out that the nature of physical causation was
to Romanes, James argued against the view proposed equally hard to understand. 'As in the night all cats are
by Helmholtz and adopted by Wundt, that perception grey, so in the darkness of metaphysical criticism all
involves unconscious processes of inference analo- causes are obscure.'17
gous to those employed in conscious reasoning. The adoption of a dualist position and the
On the subject of the animal mind James was very rejection of a materialistic one was provisional. For the
William James 67
-ement psychology should remain metaphysically work with Wundt. In the face of the Leipzig insistence
•arve and employ the language of commonsense. on studying general psychological phenomena, Cat-
ies saw a future need for some kind of 'metaphys- tell's research there was concerned with psychological
csi reconstruction', but, until that was achieved, 'to differences between individuais. This interest was
.ríe the automaton theory upon us, as it is now strengthened when, after his studies in Germany,
-rzed, on purely a priori and quasi metaphysical Cattell visited England and met Galton. Cattell was
—uunds, is an unwarrantable impertinence in the greatly impressed and carne to regard Galton as the
mssent State of psychology'.18 world's greatest psychologist. On returning to Amer
James' Principies of Psychology greatly helped the ica, Cattell founded a psychological laboratory first at
i 'e r a l status of this new discipline and persuaded the University of Pennsylvania and then, in 1891, at
r^anv students to devote themselves to its study. But Columbia University in New York. He turned out to
rv the time it appeared in 1890 there were already a possess a considerable organizational ability and his
-izmber of established American psychologists and in arrival at Columbia was timely. This was anotherolder
n e main they were disappointed by James' two institution where extensive reforms were being intro-
umes. Brilliantly written, but impressionistic; not a duced and very considerable expansion was taking
sabdly scientific work; these were common reactions. place. By the time Hall's editorial appeared, Cattell
7 d men busy at their various universities in searching had created a large and energetic department at
r r money, space and approval for new laboratories of Columbia and had firmly established in North Amer
. chology, James' sceptical and almost disdainful ica a Galtonian tradition that stressed mental measure-
.tude towards much of the recent experimental ment, the use of statistics and a highly hereditarian
- :rk in psychology must have seemed close to attitude towards human differences.20
■«botage. The dualism, the discussion of the human Another angry objection to Hall's editorial carne
soul, the interest in spiritualism and the stress on the from James Mark Baldwin. Like Cattell, Baldwin had
rroblems of establishing a firm conceptual basis for also spent his year at Germany, had come into contact
rsychology were not what was expected from a with Wundt and the new psychology, and on his
euding figure of a thrustful new Science. return to North America had founded psychological
James himself had no desire to lead American laboratories, first at Toronto, and then in 1893, at his
pçvchology. After the Principies was finished, his main alma maler, Princeton. Baldwin was much more of a
rterests became philosophy and the nature of theorist, and less of an experimenter, than Cattell. In
reügious belief. The change was marked by the his general outlook on psychology he was very close to
reversion of his academic title from professor of James, and in his involvement in evolutionary theory
rsvchology to professor of philosophy. close to Morgan. Baldwin was not interested in
The other early pioneer of American psychology, measuring individual differences. He was far less of a
G Stanley Hall, very much desired to be seen as its hereditarian than Cattell and shared Morgan's interest
eading figure. The research on child development in the cultural transmission of psychological abilities.
that Hall encouraged was attractive in its promise of His major interest in psychology was child develop
lemonstrating the utility of psychology, where James ment, a study that Baldwin regarded as having been
those to say very little about the applications of perverted by the theories and methods of Stanley
psychological research. Yet Hall's methods and Hall.21
'eories were distressingly loose and vague for most These two men, Cattell and Baldwin, had been in
of his fellow psychologists. Moreover, Hall generated conflict with Hall a year or so before the exchange over
a great deal of distrust, while on personal grounds Hall's editorial. The American Journal of Psychology,
umes was universally admired. with Hall as its founder and only editor, had remained
In October 1895, Hall published an extraordinary for many years the only American joumal devoted to
editorial in the American Journal of Psychology which set psychology. By the early 1890s psychologists who
out his claim to be personally responsible for almost were not former students of Hall or members of Clark
every institutional development in American psycho- University felt that editorial policy grossly favoured
jogy over the previous fourteen years. A speedy and those who were. Outside of Clark, there was general
ãerce reaction carne from a number of younger approval when in 1894 Cattell and Baldwin became
psychologists, who pointed out the variety of factual joint founders of a second American joumal, the
errors in Hall's editorial.19 Psychological Review. This rapidly became the most
Two men were particularly angry. One was James prestigious psychological joumal in the world, a status
Cattell. Cattell had been the first American student to it has maintained ever since.
Experimental psychology and habits 68
There were many young Americans who received obtained a general education at a small college where
their bachelor's degree in the summer of 1895 and their religious belief was replaced by a passion for
who, upon reading James' Principies as undergradu- Science.
ates, had decided that they wished to become As an undergraduate at Wesleyan, Thorndike
psychologists. Research degrees could now be was taught some psychology, read a great deal of
obtained from a variety of universities and many of Spencer and became inspired by James' Principies. He
these contained active laboratories of psychology. entered Harvard as a graduate student in the autumn
There was also no need for these young men to be of 1895, at the age of twenty-one, with little clear idea
wealthy. Most universities now followed Johns Hop- of what he wanted from the future except to learn
kins' lead in providing fellowships for students with more about psychology. In his first year Thorndike
likely research ability. And, if they completed suf- took an advanced psychology course taught by James
ficient research of an adequate standard to obtain a and based on Wundt's Lectures on Human and Animal
Ph.D., there were now two journals in which they Psychology. Within a few months Morgan arrived to
might hope to publish an account of their work. deliver the series of lectures in nearby Boston, which
One such young man was Edward Thorndike. were later to form the basis of his book, Habit and
During his four years as an undergraduate, James' Instinct. Whether Thorndike attended these lectures or
Principies was the only book, apart from a few required had any direct contact with Morgan is not known.
texts, that he ever bought. In 1895, his final year at Somewhat curiously Thorndike never made any
college, he successfully applied for entrance to comment about Morgan's visit. But, in any case,
Harvard, choosing to remain in New England and to shortly afterwards Thorndike was reading about
study with James, rather than to work with Cattell at animal intelligence and starting experiments with
Columbia, with Baldwin at Princeton, or in the other chickens that were intended to test for the Lamarckian
comparable laboratories now spread across the inheritance of habits.1It seems that Morgan's lectures
continent. carne just at the time when Thorndike was searching
for a research topic. Morgan's criticai attitude
Edward Thorndike's puzzle boxes and doctoral appealed to Thorndike's own iconoclastic feelings
thesis towards any approach that was not strictly scientific.
Edward Thorndike's father was a Methodist The only recorded comment Thorndike ever gave on
minister, who moved every two or three years from his reasons for choosing this topic was made years
one small New England town to another, as was the later: 'My first research was in animal psychology, not
custom in this church. Methodism was on the because I knew animais or cared much for them, but
defensive in this part of America. The size of his because I thought I could do better than had been
congregations in the area around Boston declined over done'.2 His first studies were also partly prompted by
the years as the population became steadily more failing to obtain permission for a study on children
Catholic. In reaction Methodism became increasingly that he had planned.
austere, displaying a pinched moralism suspicious of As first Spalding, then Romanes and Morgan had
any form of pleasure. Thorndike's mother regarded done, Thorndike began by working with newly
such things as dancing and Sunday newspapers as hatched chicks. Although he had settled on a research
wicked, and even felt that her husband's ability to topic, there were still practical problems to solve.
enjoy a bali game was unworthy. One should be Psychology departments had not quite reached the
diligent and serious, avoiding lightness and gaiety. stage of encouraging experiments with animais and
Edward Thorndike was diligent and serious, and the only space available to Thorndike was the cellar of
very studious. He was an academic success at William James' house. Harvard also had little financial
Wesleyan College, the Progressive Methodist institu- support to provide for penniless graduate students. In
tion to which he had been sent, but there he lost his his second year there, Thorndike successfully applied
faith in religion. It was replaced by devotion to a for a fellowship at Columbia University, which
scientific Outlook that rejected the beliefs and the involved teaching duties at Teachers College, the
emotionality of his parents' Methodism, but retained division of the university concerned with graduate
many of its other features. Thorndike's Science was a training in education. So, in the autumn of 1897, he
sober, demanding and methodical activity. His back- moved to New York, carrying with him a basket
ground was not unusual. A large number of American containing some of his prize chickens only to discover
scientists grew up in a clergyman's household during that the ample laboratory space he thought he had
the last part of the nineteenth century and then been promised did not exist. He soon found an attic on
Thorndike's puzzle boxes and doctoral thesis 69
Fig. 3.8. Four of the puzzle boxes used by Thorndike in the research for his doctoral thesis
movement which opened the door. By plotting the latency and so confirmed experimentally the belief
response latency on each trial as a function of the trial Morgan had based on informal evidence, that associa-
number, he provided a graphical representation of the tive learning of this kind is not subject to very much
results for each animal, the first of a multitude of forgetting.
learning curves to come. Some examples are shown in The overall shape of a learning curve could be
Figure 3.9. used as a measure of speed of learning, and this
The initial achievement of the work was to show allowed comparisons to be made between cats and
that Morgan's observations could be readily replicated dogs. At first rather tentatively, Thorndike suggested
in a standardized situation and with a wide variety of that this could serve as a direct index of animal
responses. In each case there was the same progres- intelligence, both within and across species. This was
sion from the initial trials, in which an animal made a never a very promising idea. The comparison between
long series of varied movements ending with the cats and dogs showed that the speed with which they
apparently chance production of the appropriate solved a problem was not a direct measure of some
response, to trials in which the animal consistently underlying associative process, but was greatly
made the appropriate response in a smooth and rapid affected by a range of factors. For example, during
manner. The graphs in Figure 3.9 also show the results early stages of training the cats reacted far more
of the 'memory tests', obtained by replacingan animal vigorously than the dogs, clawing frantically at and by
in the same box after many days had intervened since the door, when placed in a puzzle box. Consequently,
the last training trial. Thorndike noted that a con- cats learned much faster than dogs to operate a device
siderable lapse of time produced little increase in placed close to the door, but much more slowly a
Thorndike's puzzle boxes and doctoral thesis 71
impoverished understanding of its world. Neverthe- that 'when one says language has been the cause of the
less, in addition to the precise results reported in the change from brute to man, . . . he is talking as
thesis, a host of informal observations from the long foolishly as one who would say that a proboscis added
hours of experimental work had also convinced to a cow would make it an elephant'.5The provocative
Thorndike that this was a correct view of the mind of presentation was a deliberate attempt to generate a
animais, at least of those less complicated than reaction. Thorndike admitted that his theory seemed
primates. By watching for some time, he explained, 'even to me, too radical, too novel'. He cordially
one gets 'a fairly definite idea of what the intellectual invited denial of the theory - as long as the criticism
life of a cat or dog feels like. It is most like what we feel was constructive and accompanied by further ex
when consciousness contains little thought about perimental evidence.
anything, when we feel the sense-impulses in their The immediate public response by other psycho-
first intention, so to speak, when we feel our own logists was one of dismay and rejection. Thorndike
body, and the impulses we give to it. Sometimes we was taken to task for confining his animais within
get this animal consciousness while in swimming, for small boxes and for keeping them in a State of 'utter
example. One feels the water, the sky, the birds above, hunger', a term whose use he later regretted since it
but with no thoughts about them or memories of how suggested near starvation, whereas in fact the condi-
they looked at other times, or aesthetic judgements tion had been far less drastic than this. His test
about their beauty; one feels no ideas about what situations were rejected as being unnatural and
movements he will make, but feels himself to make therefore producing misleading results which totally
them, feels his body throughout. Self-consciousness underestimated the intellectual capacities of cats and
dies away. Social consciousness dies away. The dogs. A few of those who could not believe his
meanings, and values, and connections of things die conclusions reacted in the way that he had hoped.
away. One feels sense-impressions, has impulses, They attempted to devise testing methods which they
feels the movements he makes; that is all.'3 felt would be much more likely to show that animais
By the end of February 1898 his experiments were could learn by imitation or from passive tuition, could
finished and the same energy and long hours were solve problems in a manner that indicated some
devoted to the writing of his thesis. Thorndike could understanding of the situation and could associate an
now challenge established views on the nature of action with its consequences.
animal psychology, as well as castigate all previous
investigators for their failure to use proper ex The Law of Effect and S-R bonds
perimental methods. He described the situation and By the summer of 1898 Thorndike's student
his attitude in a letter to his fiancée: 'On the floor and days were over and he needed a job. He was lucky to
the book-case are lots of little piles of thesis. On my find a position at a small college in Ohio, where he was
chair is also thesis. I walk and sit on thesis. 1 haven't required to teach pedagogy. There were no facilities
yet reached the stage when the bed has also to serve, for studying animais and no opportunity for any kind
but expect by next week to sleep on thesis. It is fun to of research. Within his first year he was persuaded to
write all the stuff up and smite all the hoary scientists return to Columbia University as a faculty member,
hip and thigh. I shall be jumped on unmercifully when not of the psychology department, but of Teachers
the thing gets printed, if 1 ever raise the cash to print College.
it.'4 He had always been an ambitious and highly
Within ten months Thorndike was awarded his competitive man. The success of his thesis simply
doctorate and the thesis was published in the increased his confidence. Tve decided to get to the top
Psychological Review. Thorndike was 'jumped on', as he of the psychology heap in five years, teach ten more
had expected. The whole tone of his paper, that of the and then quit', he announced to his fiancée at the time
cocksure youngster challenging his elders, guaran- of his return to New York. Later, just before their
teed this. Where Morgan had shown sympathy, as marriage, he wrote: T can go ahead and do something
well as polite scepticism, towards Romanes, Thorn in the world now and you will find looking after me
dike substituted cheerful insults. For example, he and the world of Science lots more worthwhile than
compared the efforts of the 'anecdotalist school', to anything else you could do'.1 The route to the top
someone trying to base the study of anatomy on appeared to be via educational psychology, and not by
dime-show freaks. Even Morgan received this treat- way of further research on animais. In the United
ment at times, as, when commenting on Morgan's States school teaching was being turned into a
suggestions about language, Thorndike suggested professional activity; teachers were to be viewed as
The Law of Effect and S-R bonds 73
reople possessing special skills and methods that had monkeys had been more encouraging, it is doubtful
:een scientifically proven. The nature of training whether Thorndike would have continued with such
: xirses for teachers was being changed and Teachers research. He continued to carry out some ex
lollege at Columbia attempted to lead these reforms. perimental work with human subjects. One study,
—r.omdike became deeply involved in a wide variety performed in collaboration with a colleague, was a
c topics related to education. particularly influential one for educational policy in
For a short period Thorndike decided to work the United States. They trained people extensively on
■'th monkeys again. At the time of writing his thesis one particular kind of learning task and tested to see
“homdike believed that monkeys and apes were whether this produced any beneficiai effect when a
lapable of learning in a more sophisticated fashion second, very different, task had to be learned. No such
~an other animais and that it should be possible to beneficiai effect was found. This nega tive result was
iemonstrate that they possessed at least a seen as counting against the belief that a thorough
--dimentary form of the human capacity for 'free education in some subject such as mathematics or
deas'. Unfortunately the monkey he had kept as a classical languages builds up intellectual muscles
---ident had been hopeless. He now acquired three which can then cope with any other kind of learning.3
Cebus monkeys - the species, as he explained, Most of Thorndike's time, once lectures were out
rxnmonly associated with organ grinders - and of the way, was spent on writing textbooks, which
iiapted his puzzle box methods in a suitable fashion. were largely based on these lectures. Also, under
"his time he found it more convenient to place the CattelFs influence, he became more and more in-
vxxi inside the box and leave the monkey outside. The terested in mental measurement and statistics. He
jéaming curves he obtained were in general much published an introductory textbook on the subject in
^ieeper than those from cats and dogs and often 1904 and began to take a direct interest in the
cisplayed the abrupt decreases in latency that had development of psychological tests. Increasing num-
reen rare before. He was unsure how to interpret bers of his students needed, or at least wanted, to gain
t^ese findings. In his thesis research the gradual slope expertise in this area for the sake of their future
:í the learning curves had implied for him the absence profession as school administrators. As with Cattell
i reasoning and had seemed to 'represent the and Galton, Thorndike's interest in testing went hand
•earing smooth of a path in the brain'. The abrupt in hand with an increasingly hereditarian attitude,
rjrves obtained from monkeys might therefore indi- which was reflected in his undertaking the first major
cate the presence of reasoning. Thorndike preferred to study of twins, and with a highly respectful attitude
~ee them as indicating the rapid establishment of S-R towards mathematics. As illustrated in the following
connections in the monkey brain. quotation, this respectfulness is in striking contrast to
He also repeated with the monkeys the tests of the earlier iconoclasm of his thesis: 'Tables of correla-
rmitation and passive learning. Occasionally there tion seem dull, dry, unimpressive things besides the
were what seemed to be positive results, but the insight of poets and proverb-makers - byt only to
monkeys were difficult to work with and Thorndike those who miss their meaning. In the end they will
as dissatisfied with the whole project. In the report contribute tenfold more to man's mastery of himself.
on this work his comment that 'the results are as a History records no career, war or revolution that can
whole on their face value a trifle ambiguous' was an compare in significance with the fact that the correla-
-nderstatement. Exasperated by the three monkeys tion between intellect and morality is approximately
he decided nonetheless that 'given ten or twenty 0.3, a fact to which perhaps a fourth of the world's
monkeys that can be handled without difficulty and it progress is due.'4 This confidence about applying
could be settled within a month'.2 It turned out to be a numbers to concepts such as morality and progress, as
much more lengthy business than he anticipated to well as intellect, recalls that of Galton.
settle the issues that he had raised. The new interest in mental measurement and in
Over thirty years passed before Thorndike the influence of heredity was not as inconsistent with
oecame directly involved again in animal psychology. his earlier work on learning as it might at first seem. In
A student who was to continue the work with cats and 1898 he lay emphasis on the gulf between the animal
dogs never did so. The puzzle boxes were put on the mind and the human mind. The only forms of animal
shelf and no laboratory for the study of animal intelligence, and the only process by which experience
behaviour was established at Columbia University for could modify an animaTs behaviour, consisted of the
many years. development of S-R connections. At best one could
Even if the results of these experiments with find slight traces of 'free ideas' in the animal kingdom.
Experimental psychology and habits 74
In contrast, it was quite clear to Thorndike that, by the now has been called here the 'Spencer-Bain' principie
age of three, children were capable of reasoning. In his and for the use of a new labei, which the principie has
thesis he compared the way his subjects learned to retained ever since: the Law of Effect. In a section
open the doors of puzzle boxes with the development entitled 'Provisional laws of acquired behaviour and
of human skills such as swimming, playing tennis or learning' he stated two primarv laws of psychology.
biiliards, or juggling, and suggested that S-R connec- The first, familiar for some time in discussions on habit
tions might form the substrate of human mental life. in human psychology, was termed the Law of
However, in general, since human intelligence was Exercise. The second was the Law of Effect and is
seen as very different from animal intelligence, there worth quoting here in full:
was no reason to study it in anything like the same 'Of several responses made to the same situation,
manner or from the same theoretical standpoint. those which are accompanied or closely followed by
As the years passed he began to show a renewed satisfaction to the animal will, other things being
interest in the theory of S-R connections. The report on equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so
the experiments with monkeys of 1901 included the that, when it recurs, thev will be more likely to rccur;
argument that current views of human psychology be those which are accompanied or closely followed by
turned upside down and that the study of habit discomfort to the animal will, other things being
formation should become the central issue. Only then equal, hjve their connections with that situation
would psychological theories begin to be explanatory weakened, so that, when it recurs, they will be less
and would it become possible to relate them to the likely to occur. The greater the satisfaction or discom
physiology of the brain 'without arousing a sneer from fort, the greater the strengthening or weakening of the
the logician or a grin from the neurologist'.5 Various bond.'6
studies of rote learning by human subjects that were Although very similar in many ways to the
carried out for reasons to do with educational issues statements made by Spencer and then by Morgan,
appear to have convinced him that the principies of which were described in the previous chapter, it
S-R learning were of much greater importance for deserves some comment.
understanding the human mind than he had sug Morgan had distinguished between a set of
gested in 1898. empirical observations, which he had termed 'trial-
It was perhaps this growing conviction that led and-error' learning with accidental success, and
Thorndike in 1911 to publish yet a further book. In possible explanations of these observations, for which
Animal Intelligence he put together the various papers he suggested there might be two different kinds of
on animal psychology that he had written over ten associative learning involved. In his statement of the
years earlier and added two fresh chapters. There was Law of Effect, Thorndike obscured this distinction by
no strong tradition in this period for authors of books mixing together a number of empirical generalizations
bearing titles such as 'Animal Intelligence’ or 'Com- and a theoretical statement about the basis of these
parative Psychology' to feel obliged to present a generalizations. Regarded as a set of empirical laws, it
scholarly review of evidence, or of theories, on the contains three parts. The positive part - that responses
topic designated by the title. Instead they tended to air become more probable in a situation if they are
their own viewpoint and describe in detail only the immediately followed by a satisfying event, or positive
relevant evidence that they themselves had collected, reinforcement, in that situation - was supported by a
mentioning in passing or in footnotes evidence great deal of evidence by 1911. The negative part,
collected by others, and in detail only rival theories describing the outcome of what became known as a
that they wished to rebut. The books by Morgan, and punishment procedure - that responses become less
those by Hobhouse and by Koehler discussed in a later probable if they are immediately followed by a
chapter, were like this. In the case of Animal Intelligence discomforting, or aversive, event - could have been
Thorndike did not even include footnotes to indicate based only on Morgan's work with cinnabar caterpil-
that there had been several experiments reported in lars and the research by Yerkes, described in a later
the intervening period, which, as he had originally chapter, which had been carried out shortly before
invited, were concerned with the issues raised by his Thorndike published his book. It is not clear on what
1898 paper. he based the third empirical claim, that expressed in
The tone of the established professor is much the final sentence of the statement: the effect of the
more dogmatic than that of the anti-establishment magnitude of reinforcement on learning was not
young man. Animal Intelligence is notable chiefly for its seriously investigated until very much later.
restatement in one of the new chapters of what up to The theory of learning contained within Thorn-
The Law of Effect nnd S-R bonds 75
hedonic value of events following the response had not an event is reinforcing to an animal in a given State
little immediate influence. S-R theories became very is to be determined only by behavioural criteria.
popular, but for many years they did not incorporate The first major statement of the behaviourist
Thorndike's reinforcement principie. position was made only two years after Animal
Although the idea of an S-R bond might be Intelligence was published. In a number of ways
acceptably scientific, the behaviourists who followed Thorndike was obviously the behaviourists' most
Thorndike could not see that it made sense to imply important predecessor. His influence persisted
that nerve cells experience satisfaction and discom- throughout the long era, when psychology was
fort. How do we know whether a particular event is dominated by a conceptual approach based on S-R
satisfying to an animal? It seemed that either one had associations, in a major way that has been generally
to decide this by extrapolating from human experience recognized and also in more minor ones that are less
in the fashion of Romanes, or conclude that the Law of familiar. His comments on language learning pro
Effect is circular. In Thorndike's statement, and in all vided the first statement of an important attempt to
'weak' versions of the Law of Effect, the meaning of understand the acquisition of language by a child.11
'satisfying event', or of 'reinforcement', is given by the When in the mid-1960s the Gardners set out for the
Law itself. Such weak versions appear to be empty of first time to teach a chimpanzee sign language, they
any explanatory or predictive power and thus merely initially strongly resisted the suggestion that tuition
tautologous: a response increases in probability if it is based on passive movement of the animaLs hands be
immediately followed by positive reinforcement, and employed. The reason appears to come from Thorn-
positive reinforcement is an event that increases the dike's failure seventy years earlier to obtain any
probability of a response that immediately precedes positive results from using this method. The Gardners
it. subsequently found it to be highly effective.12
It was some years before a clear argument was Nevertheless the early behaviourists did not
presented that the circularity of the weak law does not consider Thorndike to be a fellow spirit. To a large
necessarily imply that it is empty.9 The circularity is degree they found the same faults in him that he had
the same as that of, say, Newton's second law, Force = found in Morgan. Although Thorndike had no
Mass x Acceleration, where the meaning of 'Mass' sympathy for Morgan's belief that the single ultimate
obtains from the law and has no externai reference. goal of psychology was the analysis of human
What gave empirical substance to Newton's law was consciousness, he was content that psychology
the assumption that the mass of an object remains should be the study both of behaviour and of
constant in any situation. In a similar manner the subjective experience: as a matter of personal taste he
substance of a weak version of the Law of Effect comes was happier in studying behaviour. He had no
from the assumed 'trans-situational' property of hesitation in deciding whether or not his animal
reinforcement, whereby, if some event is found to be subjects were aware of some stimulus or of having
an effective reinforcer in one situation, the same event made some impulsive action. Just as he had pointed at
is assumed to act as a reinforcer when it follows a Morgan's discussion of memory and imitation, so his
different event in some other situation.10 own use of terms like 'attention' was found unaccep-
This appears to be how Thorndike understood the tably lax by his successors. Allowing the effectiveness
matter - he had provided evidence for the trans- of a satisfying event to depend on an animaLs levei of
situational assumption by demonstrating the effec- attention appeared to add another unsatisfactory
tiveness of a given reinforcer with a wide range of feature to the Law of Effect.
responses - but he never clearly answered his critics Following the publication of Animal Intelligence
with such an argument. He was very explicit about the Thorndike continued with his work in educational
improbability of a strong version of the Law of Effect, psychology and two years later produced a three
one in which, for example, reinforcement was defined volume textbook on the subject. By the 1920s he was
in terms of events of direct biological significance to widely regarded as the most important American
the animal. Following Spencer, Thorndike argued psychologist. According to his own lights, he could be
that, through evolution, reinforcers would in general said to have realized his earlier ambition and reached
be events favourable or unfavourable to the life of the the top of the heap, although it took more than the five
individual or of the species, but that, for example, years of his original estimate. His career was start-
there are obvious examples of positive reinforcement lingly successful in financial terms. He must have been
which are injurious and, possibly, beneficiai events the first person to make a fortune from being a
which do not function as reinforcement. Whether or psychologist. In 1924, for example, his total income
The Law of Effect and S-R bonds 77
from salary, lectures and, above all, royalties from his 'free ideas'; in doing so he carne very close to using
òooks and his mental tests was $68 000.13 what subsequently became known as a sensory
Thomdike left himself little time to enjoy his pre-conditioning procedure. For example, suppose we
•vealth. He continued to work long hours and to carry wish to discover whether a dog can learn that a light is
out empirical work throughout an uninterruptedly always followed by a certain sound, even if neither of
rroductive life. He retained the attitudes of his youth: these events is related to food reward or anything else
the scientist's scepticism towards accepted opinion of much significance. One solution is to arrange that
and the faith in objective data obtained by using the animal experiences appropriate pairings of the two
ivstematic experimental methods. In these respects he events and afterwards to teach the animal to make a
was, as he prided himself, 'a scientist'. For Thomdike specific response to the sound so that we can then test
science consisted of the industrious accumulation of whether the same response is made to the light.
empirical facts, a 'coral reef' - as one critic put it - Thomdike carried out an experiment like this which
which is built up little bit by little bit by little bit'.14The was not designed correctly. Although he subse
whole enterprise was somehow very organized and quently realized how it should have been done, he did
rusiness-like in marked contrast, for example, to that not try again.17
of Morgan. The insistence on empirical fact and on A final example comes from a problem that was
straightforward S-R bonds had a solid, no-nonsense first explored in Thorndike's animal studies, and also
air, with the implication that more complex forms of later in his work with human subjects, that of transfer
speculation are indulgently aery-faery. of training. In some experiments his cats and dogs
What impressed later animal psychologists was showed considerable positive transfer. For example, a
the fertility of Thorndike's ideas. As well as the cat first learned to open the door of one puzzle box by
experimental work described in the previous section, pulling a small loop covered with bluish thread, which
his thesis contained a number of other intriguing ideas hung close to the door. Subsequently the cat was
and observations, which, however, were not taken placed in a second box where a much larger loop
any further. It is worth looking briefly at some of those covered with a black rubber compound hung at the
which are both interesting in their own right and back. The cat learned to open the door of this second
which later became central issues in the development box much more rapidly than any cat without previous
of theories of learning. training. Such positive transfer may be viewed as an
One such issue is whether all types of behaviour instance of what was later termed the principie of
are equally sensitive to reinforcement. The range of stimulus generalization: once an animal has learned to
responses Thomdike used in the early puzzle box make a response to some specific stimulus, then the
experiments included grooming activitíes. The door same response will also tend to occur to similar
was opened if the cat licked itself, or, in another case, stimuli. What is more interesting than the observa-
scratched itself. Thomdike found that in some res tion, is the explanation that Thomdike proposed. This
pects these responses were learned in a different was very different from that adopted a few years later
manner from those that involved the manipulation of by Pavlov, who investigated this kind of phenonemon
some object in the externai environment. He found it much more thoroughly. Thomdike emphasized that
curious and stopped using grooming responses. He these results did not demonstrate that the animal had
did not enquire whether there might be classes of perceived the similarity of the two situations. He
responses that are differentially affected by a given argued that such stimulus generalization, or positive
form of reinforcement.15 transfer, indicated that the cat failed to discriminate
Another issue is concerned with how animais the difference between the two loops and that various
leam to discriminate between two similar events. In details of the first situation had not become associated
the first and very informal experiment of this kind, with the response. The result suggested to Thomdike
Thomdike trained his cats to climb up some wire that the cat's perception of the situation was as
netting to receive a fish when he said: 'I must feed ill-defined as the sea to a man who is thrown into it
those cats', but they received no reward when he said: half-asleep.18
'I will not feed those cats'. He later tried out a more These four examples alone could have provided
complicated form of discrimination training with the the basis for a rich programme of experimental work,
monkeys.16 But the work remained fragmentary. but it was a long time before there was very much
At one time during his thesis research Thomdike research within Western psychology on such prob-
attempted to devise a direct test of whether his lems as constraints on response learning or sensory
animais were capable of forming associations between preconditioning. As we have seen, Thorndike's
Experimental psychology and habits 78
professional situation after he had obtained his Ph.D. rather than Leipzig, that the first application of
did not make it easy for him to continue with animal sophisticated methods to the study of animal be
research. Even if he had really wished to develop the haviour was carried out.
ideas for research contained in his thesis, or inspire Just after 1900 increasingly frequent reporte
students to do so, it would have been very difficult to appeared in the Berlin press of a horse which could
solve the practical problems that stood in the way. By perform calculations, read and spell, and understand
1900 psychology had become established in North musical intervals. The horse's means of replying to its
America to an extent which gave Thorndike a much questioners was to tap with a hoof a number of times
better opportunity to study animais than that of his or to point with its head towards an appropriate object
British predecessors. Nevertheless the resources for or card. This attracted intense professional, as well as
research at the possible disposal of a psychologist of public, interest. An African explorer, initially scepti-
that generation who wished to study animal be- cal, became convinced that it was no fraud and made
haviour - in terms of time, money, housing for the interest respectable. In September 1904 a report
animais, equipment, and research assistants - were was issued by a commission of thirteen men that in-
still negligible. cluded a circus manager, professional horse trainers,
The study of how people learn and recall lists of Dr Heinroth, who was Director of the Berlin Zoo, an-
words is relatively inexpensive and far less demand- other zoologist, and Professor Stumpf, Director of the
ing of time and effort than the study of animal Psychological Insitute at the University of Berlin. The
behaviour. Add to this advantage a belief that work on commission's careful examination strongly suggested
human memory is more likely to be of direct help in that the performance of the horse, now widely known
the solution of the urgent problems of education and it as 'Clever Hans', did not depend on intentional help
is easy to understand why Thorndike did not produce from his questioner. The commission also could not
a solid body of experiments in animal psychology. The discern, despite most attentive observation, any form
surprise that remains is that the first doctoral thesis in of involuntary cueing. The horse was found to answer
psychology to report research on the animal mind correctly to a number of relatively unfamiliar ques
should have been so original and so immensely tioners, and not just to its owner, Herr von Osten.
influential. There were some cases of correct replies when the
questioner himself did not know the correct solution
Oskar Pfungst and Clever Hans or was mistaken about it.
In terms of method Thorndike's work with Perhaps Clever Hans would provide an under-
puzzle boxes marked a considerable improvement standing of the apparent missing links of mental
over the studies of animal behaviour that have been evolution. By no means everyone felt as sceptical as
described in the first two chapters. He used compar- Morgan towards Romanes' claim of having taught a
atively large numbers of subjects, attempted to chimpanzee to count. Romanes had spent a relatively
standardize the conditions of testing, employed brief time with the chimpanzee, while von Osten had
quantitative measures of performance and made devoted considerable effort over a period of years to
systematic comparisons between subjects given diffe- the education of his horse. Professor Stumpf sug
rent kinds of training. The experiments were impres- gested that one of his students, Oskar Pfungst, work
sive and innovative, but not elegant. Compared to the with him on the problem. The series of tests that
techniques being used at the time in some of the Pfungst devised read, even now, like a textbook
research on human psychology, Thorndike's work illustration of how to apply experimental methods to a
was very crude. psychological problem.
As described earlier in this chapter, experimental Having first established the reality of the phe-
methods appropriate to psychology were initially nomenon by systematically checking that Hans could
devised for the study of perceptual phenomena and perform at a high levei even in the absence of von
were developed primarily in Wundt's laboratory at Osten, Pfungst carried out properly the crucial test of
Leipzig. Subsequently their use was extended to such intermixing trials in which the questioner knew the
topics in human psychology as the study of reaction answer - the 'with knowledge' condition - and trials in
times, decision processes, and memory. With the which he did not - the 'without knowledge' condition.
spread of psychology to other German universities, Hans was found to answer correctly to over ninety per
the pre-eminence of Leipzig was, by the turn of the cent of the questions in the 'with knowledge' condi
century, being challenged, especially by the psycho tion, but at most ten per cent of the questions in the
logy laboratory at Berlin University. It was in Berlin, 'without knowledge' condition. Thus, in some man-
Pfungst and Clever Hans 79
Fig. 3.11. Testing Clever Hans: Herr von Osten is on the right of the four men in the background
-er the horse was gaining information about the right of about 0.3 s, which was comparable to a person's
mswer from his questioner. From that point it was reaction time in a similar situation.
. ear that Hans had no knowledge of German, let By making the crucial movements intentionally
alone of mathematics or music. The manner in which Pfungst was able to get a more precise idea of the
his behaviour was guided by signals from the criticai stimuli for eliciting a back step'. As well as
questioner was still a mystery. upward movements of the questioner's head or trunk,
The next experiment established that the signals minimal movements of the eye-brows or even dilation
ere transmitted while Hans was replying and not of the nostrils were found to be effective. In a
hile being questioned. Subsequently, it was found parametric study Pfungst systematically varied the
nat the signals must be primarily visual ones and angle of inclination of his body and found that the rate
dvat auditory stimuli, to von Osten's amazement, of tapping increased with this angle. Previously the
•ere relatively unimportant. At this point Pfungst tendency of Hans to tap rapidly when the answer was
-oticed what appeared to be the crucial events: von a large number had been seen as additional evidence
Jsten would make a barely discriminable downward of his remarkable intelligence. A further set of
movement when the horse began tapping and an experiments showed that Hans' ability to reply to
equally small upward jerk when the correct number non-numerical questions by moving his head towards
•ad been reached. When this last movement occurred, an appropriate position was similarly controlled by
rie horse returned its hoof to the resting position, unintentional and barely discriminable movements on
naking what Pfungst called the 'back step' response. the part of his questioner.
Lndependent timing of the two events showed that the Following this experimental analysis, the case
head-jerks almost always preceded the back step was made conclusive by the demonstration that the
-esponse by a small, and relatively constant, interval effect could be synthesized in a laboratory situation,
Experimental psychology and habits 80
with Pfungst playing the role of horse. The subjects to solve with his laboratory experiments. The solution
were of a variety of ages and nationalities. They had very important implications, which Pfungst
included a psychologist trained in introspection and a himself did not emphasize. These experiments appear
student of psychology named Kurt Koffka. In one to be the first direct study of what later carne to be
study, a subject was simply to think of a number on termed 'conditioning without awareness'.
each trial and then Pfungst would tap with his hand Hans' way of providing the answers 'No' or 'Zero'
until he saw the kind of signal that he had found was to move his head first to the left and then to the
Hans to use. The laboratory situation made it right. The stimuli controlling this response pattern
possible to monitor the head-movements and brea- were not the small 'natural' movements that most
thing rates of subjects and thus obtain objective unfamiliar questioners would make when expecting
measurements of the signals. It proved to be a very such an answer. It appeared that with experienced
effective mind reading technique and, just as with the questioners of Hans the natural movements had been
commission of thirteen that had examined Hans, no displaced by others that were effective in controlling
subject was at all aware of the way in which he the horse's reaction. Pfungst tried to discover if a
signalled the answers. Many were convinced that they similar phenomenon could be reproduced in an
were witnessing a demonstration of telepathy. experimental situation. Giving a fictitious reason for
Herr von Osten, a retired schoolmaster, had the procedure, he instructed a subject to think of 'left'
begun the training of his horse asa way of demonstrat- and 'right' in any order, while Pfungst tried to guess
ing his own, very environmentalist, belief that the the content of the subject's mind, without uttering a
reason why the intelligence of animais appeared to be word. If Pfungst thought that the subject was thinking
so inferior to that of human beings is because animais 'right', then Pfungst lowered his arm; if 'left', then
rarely receive an appropriate education. From the Pfungst raised his arm.
account of Hans' training that he provided, it was For the first few trials Pfungst could base his
possible to make a plausible reconstruction of the guesses on whether the subject was thinking of 'left' or
development of Hans' abilities entirely in terms of 'right' by whether the subject's eyes made a slight
reinforcement principies. Unwittingly, it appeared, movement to left or to right. After six or seven trials
his trainer had established a chain of stimuli and the subject's sideways eye-movements began to be
responses of the kind that both James and Thorndike replaced by a regular upward eye-movement at the
had described. If, when von Osten leaned forward, thought of 'left' and a downward one for 'right'. It
Hans began to tap, and subsequently if, when von seemed that the up- or downwards movements that
Osten's back-jerk occurred, Hans then made the back had previously occurred as responses to Pfungst's
step response, the horse would be rewarded with a gestures were now occurring in anticipation of a
piece of carrot or a lump of sugar. The fact that the specific gesture; when the subject was thinking 'left', it
majority of questioners made the same movements was as if he now unconsciously predicted that Pfungst
allowed Hans to give correct replies to questioners would move his hand upwards and, as a result, his
other than von Osten. eyes started to move in this direction.
As training was continued von Osten no longer Similar results were obtained from further experi
gave Hans a reward for each correct reply, but for a ments in which subjects were instructed to think about
gradually decreasing proportion of correct replies. one or other of a pair of objects. For example, Pfungst
Pfungst did not pay much attention to this. It was over might raise his hand if be believed a subject to be
thirty years later before research began on partial thinking of a carriage, and lower his hand for a bowl of
reinforcement effects, that is, on the consequences of fruit. Once again Pfungst could guess with con-
providing a reward on only a proportion of the siderable accuracy on the basis of vertical eye move
occasions on which a response or chain of responses is ments made by a subject. Afterwards the people
made. Such studies have shown that, if reward is taking part in these experiments reported that they
made gradually more intermittent, an animal may had simply tried to imagine the objects; they claimed
continue to perform some response in a prompt and that they never thought about the related arm
vigorous manner even when the response is rewarded movement of the experimenter and were completely
very infrequently. It seems that this is what happened unaware of the changes that had occurred in their own
in von Osten's training programme. That Hans behaviour.
received a reward only occasionally must have added The study of Clever Hans demonstrated that a
to the mystification felt by the commission. highly complex performance could be the unwitting
There was one final puzzle that Pfungst managed results of the conditioning of specific responses to
Concluding discussion 81
Fig. 3.12 An admirer of von Osten, KarI Krall, who remained unconvinced by Pfungst's evidence, training a
successor to Clever Hans
stimuli, which even the most criticai and observant who was to contribute to the development of animal
among Hans' questioners were unaware of produc- psychology.
ing. It also showed that the human interrogators' own
behaviour was conditioned by that of the horse, again Concluding discussion
without any realization on their part. Pfungst's series As psychology developed within the German
of analytic and synthetic experiments provided university system it acquired many of the features that
graphic support for Morgan's speculations about the had already become common throughout the German
counting abilities of chimpanzees and for comments scientific tradition and that were particularly strong in
Thorndike had made in passing on a counting horse at physiology. A highly empirical outlook, which stres-
a circus, whose performance had been nowhere as sed the value of the results from well-controlled
impressive as that of Clever Hans. experiments and viewed other sorts of evidence with
The intrinsic interest of the case, the elegance of suspicion, had its origins in the conflict between
Pfungst's work and the obvious implications for laboratory science and idealist philosophy earlier in
claims supporting the existence of various psychic the century. It was seen later in the unreceptive
phenomena attracted wide interest to the report that attitude towards Darwinian theory. Another feature
Stumpf and Pfungst issued in December 1904. The was the deliberate emphasis on pure science, a
report was very favourably reviewed by a young disinclination to study problems because of their
instructor at the University of Chicago, John Watson.1 practical relevance or their bearing on everyday life.
This was followed by publication of the first English After all, chemistry had not sought to be an applied
translation in 1911, which inspired a number of Science and yet the search after knowledge for its own
investigations of mind reading in the United States. sake in this subject had happened to convey enormous
One of the first of these studies included, as a advantages to the German Chemical industry; argu-
collaborator, Edward Tolman, another psychologist ably more so than if the university chemists had aimed
Experimental psychology and habits 82
directly, say, at the goal of synthesizing a range of and evolutionary thought began to combine. The
dyes. questions addressed by his thesis work were all
It is curious that the two Americans who first grounded in evolutionary theory, reflecting the gen
publicized the new psychology and initiated a similar eral background provided by Spencer and the more
growth within their own university system had little immediate stimulus of James, Romanes and Morgan.
sympathy for these aspects of German science. Both Yet Thorndike's sceptical attitude and refusal to accept
G. Stanley Hall and William James were enthusiastic anything but quantitative experimental evidence as
evolutionists, liked theory and were impatient with contributing towards adequate answers to these
the drudgery and detail of experimental work. James questions was more in the German tradition.
somehow managed to convey both an exciting account Although Thorndike's choice of a thesis topic was
of the experimental approach in psychology and a in no way affected by any consideration of possible
disdainful attitude to what he viewed as an obsession practical consequences, once he had obtained his
with experimental method; he would have enjoyed doctorate there were strong pressures upon him to do
the comparison, suggested later, between the work of an applied kind. Together with the lack of
method-centred scientist and a drunk searching for a suitable facilities for animal work, these pressures,
lost wallet, not where he left it, but under the Street and enticements, led him to confine his subsequent
lamp, because the light was better there.1 James was research to human psychology. Unlike Hall, Thorn-
very much in favour of the development of psycho dike believed that psychology could both remain a
logy as a natural Science, but did not believe that its laboratory-based Science and make direct and immedi
scope should be restricted to topics in which experi- ate contributions to the world outside. This belief
ments were viable. could be maintained only by assuming that the really
Hall paid lip-service to the virtues of laboratory important factors in, for example, the functioning of a
work and for a while was marginally involved in the school classroom were the same, straightforward ones
research he had helped to launch at Johns Hopkins. that could be manipulated within a psychological
But when, a few years later, he criticized James' Prin laboratory.
cipies for its disrespectful attitude towards experimen There were two further ways in which Thorn-
tal methodology, this was pure hypocrisy. Hall him- dike's psychology seems distinctly un-German. One is
self had already abandoned such an approach since its quasi-religious tone. Many young Americans
he could find no way of fulfilling the promise he had began to hope that psychology might provide answers
made that the new psychology would be useful, to practical questions because they had a decreasing
unless it left the laboratory and tolerated the deploy- faith that religion could do so. Evolutionary theory
ment of evidence of a much more ambiguous nature. had weakened traditional beliefs and the authority of
America encouraged the growth of experimental traditional rules of conduct. For some, Science became
psychology, but did not expect it to remain a purely a substitute for religion. Thorndike provides a particu-
academic exercise. Spencer's call for the development larly good example of a man whose system of beliefs
of social Sciences was based on the promise that they changed from traditional Christianity to empirical
would make a major contribution to solving the ills of Science, while most other aspects of his outlook on life
society. Obvious areas in which it seemed psychology remained unchanged. There was a very strong
could be usefully employed were those of child puritanism in his insistence on clean experimental
development and of education. The problem was that method and the identification of Science with hard
psychological research of that time still seemed far work. His attacks on Romanes and the anecdotalist
away from spinning off a technology in the way that school were like a distorted reflection of the conflict
chemistry had done a generation earlier. between the Methodism of Thorndike's father and the
When he published the Principies in 1890 James Catholic encroachment into New England.
had not yet become interested in the application of The other un-German characteristic of Thorn-
psychology to problems of society. He was, however, dike's work is its stress on action. He paid little
very much concerned with its pertinence to the more attention to the many complex and subtle mental
private aspects of life. As we have seen, his emphasis processes discussed in James' Principies, but was
on the force of habit stemmed largely from the moral enormously impressed by the importance James
considerations that this appeared to involve. attached to habit and the moral virtues attributed to
Thorndike's work represents the point in psycho action, so unexpectedly from a writer leading an
logy when the German physiological tradition and the exclusively cerebral and sedentary life. One major
Anglo-American mixture of associationist philosophy reason for the appeal and long influence of Thorn-
Concluding discussion 83
's 'S-R' theory of learning was that it provided a become even more convinced of the importance of
ple solution to what later became known as the habits in human affairs. Consequently the ways in
Tormance problem': if, as everyone up until which his cats and dogs had learned to escape from his
mdike assumed, an animal can learn an associa- puzzle boxes over ten years earlier now seemed of
between a response and its outcome, one still considerable interest to the study of human learn
is to explain how such learning is translated into ing.
performance. No such problem exists if, as in Animal psychology, that began as an attempt to
Thomdike's theory, the only function of a reward is to understand mental evolution and was changed by
'síamp in' a connection between an S and an R, since Morgan into a de-mystification of the animal mind,
S»e occurrence of the appropriate stimulus or situation now became a way of removing the mystery from the
ürectly calls up the connected response. human mind. If Thorndike was at all right, the
With Thorndike the purpose, as well as the experimental study of principies of reinforcement
raethods, for studying animal psychology began to should enable psychology to deliver the practical
ôiange. His work as a student in the 1890s was benefits which were expected of it; in particular to help
inspired by the same general questions about the teachers to teach more effectively.
evolution of the human mind that Spencer and The results that carne from Pfungst's study of
Romanes had discussed. Because of the unexpected Clever Hans were consistent with Thorndike's claim.
tailure to find much sign of imitation or passive There were two main messages. The obvious, and
learning among the cats, dogs and monkeys that he well-remembered, one was that apparently complex
lested, by the time his thesis was completed Thorn- behaviour may have a very simple basis - and that it
díke suggested an even wider separation between may sometimes require a great deal of careful
human and animal intelligence than Wundt or observation to show that this is so. The much less
Morgan had proposed. The implication was that such obvious one was that a human being's behaviour may
research was unlikely to enlarge our understanding of change in a manner of which he is completely
mental evolution. By 1911, when Thorndike carne to unaware: introspective reports of conscious ex-
publish a collection of his old papers as a book, he had perience may be irrelevant, or may even hinder, an
towered his estimation of human intelligence and understanding of how habits are acquired.
r
V _____________________ J
The theories and research discussed in previous whose application to specific issues could then be
chapters took very little account of the nervous worked out in detail. It was a momentous departure to
system. The subject of this chapter is a scientific apply this new world view to living systems. A major
tradition concerned with understanding how the event in this development was Harvey's discovery of
human body functions, and some of the attempts the circulation of blood; principies of mechanics and
within this tradition to explain the actions of living hydraulics obtained from the study of inorganic
creatures in terms of neural processes. Towards the matter and of man's own artefacts were now success-
end of the nineteenth century experiments on learning fully applied to understanding so symbolic an organ as
arose from the study of the neural control of certain the heart. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was one of the
bodily functions. The general approach of those people who appreciated the full significance of such
carrying out this research was different in many discoveries and became a leading proponent of the
respects from that of Thorndike and his predecessors view that an understanding of nature would come
such as Morgan. In comparison with that of the only through application of the laws of physics.
evolutionists, this tradition had been aggressively Descartes has had an enormous influence on our
experimental for many decades, was entirely con views of the mind in two different ways that ultimately
cerned with mechanism and immediate causes, and carne into conflict. One was the absolute distinction he
was supported by an institutional structure whose made between the human mind and the body; his
main justification was to provide training for medicai doctrine of dualism claimed that the body alone was
practitioners. It took the reflex as its basic conceptual subject to the natural laws of matter. With this went a
unit for understanding behaviour. second, and equallv ciear-cut distinction: between the
Until the beginning of the modem era in Science activities of human beings, which could be guided by
the vast majority of Europeans, and probably most an immaterial mind, and the activities of animais
members of all other cultures, explained many aspects which, being mindless, could be explained in terms of
of the world around them in an animistic way. The principies gained from the study of the non-living
kind of sensitivity and desires experienced by human world. Descartes also suggested a general approach to
beings were attributed to all things that move, provide such an explanation, one that has become
non-living as well as living. Even in the late 1500s known as the concept of reflex action.
when magnetism, for example, was first studied, it The influence of Descartes' ideas on animal
was common to describe magnets as moving together movement was for a long time largely confined to the
in 'voluntary union' and terms like 'attraction' and study of physiology. Although the specific sugges-
'repulsion' were not intended merely as colourful tions he made about the way that nerve fibres function
metaphors. and the nervous svstem is organized were later
Early in the seventeenth century this general rejected, the general idea of reflex action became
Outlook was challenged by a new, mechanistic view of incorporated within an increasingly experimental
the world. This first sought to abolish animistic tradition of neurophvsiology.
explanations of inorganic phenomena and to substi- There were developments of Descartes' general
tute for them the search for universal laws of nature views. A notable one was the extension by Julien
Descartes and the beast-machine 85
machines bearing the image of our bodies, and capable great deal of respect for experimental work and most
of imitating our actions as far as it is morally possible, of his ideas on physiology were based on his own
there would still remain two most certain tests experience from many years of dissecting various
whereby to know that they were not therefore realiy bodily organs. Following his discussion on animais in
men'. These two tests provided the empirical justifica- the fifth part of the Discourse, the next and final part is
tion for deciding that man, but neither any animal nor concerned with the practical advantages of Science
the most human-like robot, possesses a mind: one was and the need for experimentation.
the use of language and the other the ability to act It begins by explaining why, despite the recent
rationally in a new situation. Meaning by 'language' a condemnation of Galileo for his heretical views and
use of spoken words, or of other kinds of sign, that the possibility of valid disagreement with the conclu-
allows one individual to convey his thoughts to sions reached in the Discourse, Descartes had nonethe-
another, Descartes pointed out that 'even men of the less decided to make his ideas public. To have kept
lowest grade of intellect' can speak, whereas there was silent would have been to offend against the principie
no evidence for language in any kind of animal, not by which useful knowledge should be made available
even in those, like the parrot, capable of vocal to all, a principie which was to become a major part of
mimicry. He wrote very little about the second test, the scientific ethic, but which in the seventeenth
that of adaptive action in a new environment, but century was not commonly held. Thus, for example,
simply indicated that he wished to distinguish within the Hermetic tradition, which had flourished in
between 'acting from knowledge' and acting 'solely the 1500s and to which Descartes was bitterly
from a disposition of parts'. Nevertheless, it seems opposed, scientific knowledge was regarded in a
likely that the kind of problem-solving experiment comparable manner to the rituais and symbols of a
devised early in the twentieth century to assess the secret society and so to be made accessible only to the
intelligence of apes illustrates what Descartes meant initiated. Descartes was very definite about why his
by his second test. The absence of even the most ideas should become known: 'I believed that I could
fragmentary study of this kind in the 1600s and the not keep them concealed without sinning grievously
near complete ignorance on communication among against the law by which we are bound to promote, as
apes did not lead Descartes to suspend judgement on far as in us lies, the general good of mankind. For by
such matters: failure on these two tests, he asserted, them I perceived it to be possible to arrive at
'proves not only that the brutes have less reason than knowledge highly useful in life . . . and thus render
man, but that they have none at all'.2 ourselves the lords and possessors of nature. And this
Descartes gave strong ethical, if not empirical, is a result to be desired, not only in order to promote
reasons for refusing to attribute a mind or soul to any the invention of an infinity of arts, by which we might
animal. To accept continuity between animais and be enabled to enjoy without any trouble the fruits of
man could lead directly to the belief that the only the earth, and all its comforts, but also, and especially,
rational basis for human conduct was that of seeking for the preservation of health, which is without doubt,
worldly pleasures. Why should we lead a good life to of all the blessings of this life, the first and fun
attain Heaven, if it can also be reached by other damental one.'4
creatures who are far less capable of truly virtuous Descartes believed that the medicai knowledge of
behaviour? For Descartes such a belief was almost as his time was of little practical value. An enormous
evil as atheism: 'For after the error of those who deny amount of careful and laborious experimental work
the existence of God . . . there is none that is more would be needed before men became 'lords and
powerful in leading feeble minds astray from the possessors of nature' so that they were no longer the
straight path of virtue than the supposition that the helpless victims of disease and ill-health. He knew the
soul of the brutes is of the same nature with our own; difficulties of carrying out satisfactory research and
and consequently that after this life we have nothing stressed the need, which was only recognized widely
to hope for or fear, more than flies and ants.'3 two hundred years later, for society to support
Another ethical reason for viewing animais as medicai Science in a generous fashion if it wished to
simply machines was that it sanctioned the use of obtain improvements in the practice of medicine: 'If
animais in experiments. Descartes is regarded as the there existed anyone whom we assuredly knew to be
founder of the rationalist tradition in analysing the capable of making discoveries of the highest kind, and
foundations of knowledge because of his method of of the greatest possible utility to the public; and if all
doubt and his belief in the self-evident truth of certain other men were therefore eager by all means to assist
mathematical statements. Nevertheless, he held a him in successfullv presenting his designs, I do not see
The Cartesian reflex 87
rvat they could do aught else for him beyond ous to publish. The part of The World concerned mainly
.ontributing to defray the expenses of the experiments with human physiology finally appeared only after his
nat might be necessary; and for the rest, prevent him death under the title Treatise on Man. In this work
reing deprived of his leisure by the unseasonable Descartes suggested a general principie by which both
nterruptions of any one.'5 the involuntary actions of man and the entire
There is a dilemma facing medicai research of a behaviour of animais might be understood, namely,
.•and that does not arise in the physical Sciences. As the principie of the reflex. This idea represented the
Descartes argued, to decide between equally plausible very first attempt to comprehend in specific, physical
theories requires careful experimentation before terms how it was that living beings moved. More than
knowledge relevant to human health can advance; two centuries passed before there was any develop-
md yet very often a direct test requires experiments on ment of the general concept.
-uman beings that are unacceptable by almost any set Animated statues in the gardens of the palace at St
:: ethical standards. A possible solution in such Germain served as the inspiration for Descartes'
r.tuations is to take the less direct route of experiment- notion of reflex action. These ingenious contrivances
mg upon animais. However, if one believes in a worked by hydraulic action, and their movements
: mtinuum of organic life, then the dilemma remains, were triggered, for example, by some inadvertent
m that knowledge of a kind most useful for the pressure on a panei concealed in a pathway, which
promotion of human health is likely to be obtained would open a valve, thus releasing a flow of water and
from those animais that most resemble human beings. causing the statue to move. A bathing Diana would,
Descartes' dualism removes this dilemma: if even the when approached, hide in the rosebushes and, if the
mosthuman-like ape is a mere machine, a physiologist visitor tried to follow, this would cause Neptune to
need not hesitate to wield his scalpel in whatever way appear, threatening with his trident.
~eems most effective in promoting an understanding Instead of pipes and water, Descartes suggested
of how the organs of some animal function. A beast that in the body nerves and 'animal spirits' fulfil
might seem to suffer excruciating pain during a comparable functions. As these spirits 'enter more or
vivisection experiment of the days before ar.aes- less into this or that nerve they have the power of
thetics, but this would be a false impression; it might changing the form of the muscle into which the nerve
well respond in a manner that resembled the human is inserted and by this means making the limb move.
experience of pain, but it did so without experiencing You may have seen in the grottoes and fountains
pain, since it had no mind and was not conscious in which are in our royal gardens that the simple force
the way that a man is conscious. with which the water moves in issuing from its source
More than three hundred years later Descartes' is sufficient to put into motion various machines . . .
dualism with respect to man's body and soul still And, indeed, one may very well compare the nerves of
appears to be pervasive, and yet there is deep unease the machine which I am describing with the tubes of
about his dualism with respect to animal and man. the machines of these fountains.'1As illustrated in the
Even after repeated experience very few people would famous diagram of the kneeling man, shown in Figure
feel no more hesitation in cutting up an alive, yet 4.2, Descartes' idea was that when some sensory
helpless, monkey than in taking apart some mechan- organ is excited by some externai stimulus - as the skin
ical gadget. And yet there are very few who, when receptors in the foot, B, by heat from the fire, A -
seriously ill, are not reassured to learn that the delicate threads contained within the nerves are
diagnosis is based on extensive medicai knowledge, moved. The threads are attached to valves within the
derived as much from research on animais as from brain and such movement leads to the release of
clinicai experience, and that the medication has been animal spirits, which pass through the nerves to
extensively tested on beasts. appropriate muscles.
In withdrawing a hand from the fire or in fleeing
The Cartesian reflex from some frightening sight the body performs,
Descartes' opinions concerning the nature of speedily and automatically, actions which the mind
animais as presented in the Discourse on Method could well have chosen. A further example of reflex
summarized a more detailed discussion that should action provided by Descartes is one where the body's
have appeared some years earlier. It was to have been reaction is not consistent with the mind's understand
included in a book, The World, which he had almost ing of the situation: 'If someone suddenly places his
completed when he learned of Galileo's treatment by hand before our eyes, as if to strike us, even though we
the Inquisition and decided that it would be danger- know him to be our friend, that he does it only in jest,
Reflex action and the nervous system 88
ance 'in the society of the unintelligent, the mind experience, that religion does not imply exact honesty,
çrows rusfy for lack of exerrise, as at tennis a baJl that we are authorized by the same reasons to think that
s served badJy is badly returned'. From our social atheism does not exclude it'.9
esr.-ironment 'we catch everything from those with Descartes' idea of the beast as a reflex machine
* * o m we come in contact; their gestures, their accent, had been inspired, as we have seen, by moving statues
« t : just as the eyelid is instinctively lowered when a operated by hydraulic action. These were crude in
bfctv is foreseen, or as (for the same reason) the body comparison to later mechanical contrivances pro-
:r the spectator mechanically imitates, in spite of duced for the French court. One man in particular,
himself, all the motions of a good mimic'.6 Thus, Jacques de Vaucanson, appears to have been a genius
ãccording to la Mettrie, learning, even learning by in producing life-like figures; his flute-player and a
ímitation, could be as involuntary and unconscious as duck that could swim, eat and digest were renowned.
the kind of reflexive movement discussed by Thus, by the time of la Mettrie, such devices had
Descartes. become even more plausible as models of living
Pre-linguistic man differed from the ape only in organisms and, for la Mettrie, of man's behaviour as
that he looked wiser; in no sense was he king over the well.
other animais. But once language had been invented, The image of the clock had become more
and education ensured that it continued from genera- appealing than ever: 'Man is to the ape, and to the
tion to generation, man's pre-eminence was estab- most intelligent animais, as the planetary pendulum
Hshed. It followed that, despite Descartes' claims to of Huyghens is to a watch of Julien Leroy. More
the contrary, an ape should be able to acquire a instruments, more wheels and more springs were
language and, having done so, become capable of necessary to mark the movements of the planets than
solving problems in a way that would overcome the to mark or strike the hours; and Vaucanson, who
second barrier erected by Descartes between animais needed more skill for making his flute-player than for
and man. La Mettrie wrote that because of the making his duck, would have needed still more to
structural similarities of the ape to man he had 'very make a talking man.'10 But la Mettrie's view of the
little doubt that if this animal were properly trained he world was no cold, cruel cynicism; his mechanistic
might at last be taught to pronounce, and conse- outlook was combined with an almost mystical respect
quently to know, a language. Then he would no for nature. He saw belief in the uniqueness of man as a
longer be a wild man, nor a defective man, but would primary source of evil; to admit our ignorance, to
be a perfect man, a little gentleman, with as much accept that we, like animais, are machines, will reunite
matter or muscle as we have for thinking and profiting us with nature and make a degree of happiness
by his education.'7 possible that is not to be attained in a society based on
The third and final theme of Man a Machine religion and dualism. 'The materialist, convinced that
concerned morality and religious belief. Here again, he is but a machine or an animal, will not maltreat his
la Mettrie implied that philosophers who stay in bed kind, for he will know too well the nature of these
and shun society see too little of the seamier side of actions, whose humanity is always in proportion to
Hfe. Better acquaintance with cases of cannibalism, the degree of analogy proved above between human
infanticide and wars, in which 'our compatriots fight, beings and other animais; and, following the natural
Swiss against Swiss, brother against brother, recog- law given to all animais, he will not wish to do to them
nize each other, and yet capture and kill each other what he would not wish them to do to him.'11
without remorse, because a prince pays for the The climate of opinion in Holland of 1748 was not
murder', would shake their confidence that man so enlightened as to tolerate such near-blatant advo-
possesses a unique capacity for distinguishing be cacy of atheism. As expressed in a eulogy by la
tween good and evil. If only man can feel remorse for Mettrie's next, and final, patron, Frederick the Great
his actions, and if remorse is so strong a force, why is of Prússia: 'Calvinists, Catholics and Lutherans forgot
the threat of hell-fire needed to deter man from sin? A for the time that consubstantiation, free will, mass for
dear comparison between human behaviour and that the dead, and the infallibility of the Pope, divided
of animais shows that 'man is not moulded from a them: they all united again to persecute a philosopher
costlier clay; nature has used but one dough, has who had the additional misfortune of being French, at
merely varied the leaven'.8 As for conventional a time when that monarchy was waging a successful
religious belief, la Mettrie considered the existence of war against their High Powers'.12 La Mettrie was
a supreme being to be a 'theoretic truth with little forced again into flight, this time to Berlin where, as a
practical value . . . since we may say, after such long member of the Royal Academy of Science, he resumed
Reflex action and the nervous system 92
his work on medicai topics, writing on dysentery and Huxley paid full tribute to Descartes, to the latter's
on asthma. In less than four years he was dead, at the method of doubt and to his hypothesis that animais
early age of forty-nine. According to the official are automata, but in modifying Descartes' doctrine,
eulogy, he died of a fever which, like that at the siege Huxley was unaware that almost exactly the same
of Freiburg, attacked his brain. In private, Frederick arguments had been made by la Mettrie. Perhaps
the Great admitted the truth of the popular legend more striking is the way that la Mettrie's beliefs in
that la Mettrie died of indigestion caused by over- the continuity between animal and man and in the
indulgence in a pasty of pheasant and truffles. A power of 'education', plus the conviction that wide-
theological issue of great interest at the time was spread adoption of these beliefs will reduce human
whether an atheist could die in peace. The circum- misery, anticipate behaviourism; but the early Ameri
stances of la Mettrie's death seemed fitting for can behaviourists also knew nothing about his
someone so impious.13 work.
La Mettrie was a brave man, fully aware of the The tradition which remembered La Mettrie was
danger of writing honestly about what he believed. In that of physiologists concerned to improve upon the
introducing a collection of his essays he advised: 'So picture of the body's machinerv which Descartes had
write as if thou wert alone in the universe, and hadst proposed.
nothing to fear from the jealousy and prejudices of
men, or - thou wilt fail thy end'.14He wrote in praise of David Hartley's 'Observations'
sensual pleasure and discussed sexual matters in an For all the emphasis he laid on physiology, on
explicit manner. His publications on such subjects, the need for a philosopher of mind to have a good
seen by many as cynically justifying lust; the scandal understanding of scientific knowledge, la Mettrie
surrounding his major work - the very title, Man a said almost nothing in detail about how the nervous
Machine, was enough to offend deeply; the legend of system might work or about what kind of machine
his death; all of these combined to provide him with a man might be. There was compensation for this
monstrous reputation. Although la Mettrie appears neglect by two books that appeared shortly afterMan a
to have made a great impression on many writers of Machine.
the late eighteenth century, his works were almost In 1749, David Hartlev published his Observations
never cited and his name rarely mentioned. on Man, his Frame, his Duty and his Expectations. It mixed
The ideas on equality and on the importance of an together scientific ardour with religious certainty in a
individuaFs physical and social environment became way that was much more common in England than in
commonplace among the philosophers of the French continental Europe. Hartlev was the son of a clergy-
Enlightenment. In France they grew to inspire and man and had completed his training as a minister in
then decline with the revolution. Before that occurred the Church of England before turning to the study of
these ideas had crossed the Atlantic and taken a deep medicine.1 Where la Mettrie, the atheist, defended
hold in the minds of many young Americans, like the the value of worldly pleasures and saw the search for
backwoods lawyer, Thomas Jefferson, in Virgínia. The scientific knowledge as a way of escaping fetters of
way that human skills, knowledge and institutions prejudice imposed by institutional religion, Hartley
were beginning to flourish in the novel surroundings believed that the deep purpose of attempting to
provided by the thirteen colonies brought strong understand natural rnenomena was to increase one's
conviction to such beliefs. Jeffersòn had probably faith in God. One of the two main points that Hartley
never heard of la Mettrie nor read about the system of wished to emphastze in the Preface to his book was
ethics described in la Mettrie's Discourse on Happiness. that its ultimate aim was to deter from wickedness: 'I
In Jefferson's Declaration of lndependence of 1776 the do most firmlv believe upon the authority of the
appeal to self-evident truths looks back to Descartes. scriptures, that the future punishment of the wicked
But, the inclusion as one of those truths that all men will be exceedinglv great both in degree and duration
are created equal owes more to la Mettrie, as does the . . . And were I abfe to urge anvthing upon a profane
claim that one of the unalienable rights which a careless world, whidi might convince them of the
government has the duty to safeguard is the pursuit of infinite hazard to which they expose themselves, I
happiness.15 would not fail to dc :: - La Mettrie and Hartley were
Man a Machine seems to have been equally opposites in general outiook and in personality -
unknown to the English evolutionists who discussed Hartley was a caitr complacent man; assured,
similar issues over a century later. As was described in benevolent and toãerant - and vet their views on the
an earlier chapter, in his Belfast address of 1874, mind were renmiaMv’ similar. This is seen very
Hartley’s Observations 93
voluntary, as well as involuntary, actions and made to read the complete work, including the lengthy
explicit Descartes' hint that learned habits - or theological section, took a great deal of determination.
'automatic motions of the secondary kind' as Hartley As the above quotations may suggest, the style
termed them - might have the same physiological compares very unfavourably with the powerful,
basis as an inborn reflex. In doing so he briefly elegant way in which Descartes wrote, or with the
described what was to become known as the condi- spontaneity and liveliness of la Mettrie. In Man a
tioned reflex.4 Machine there is a sense of urgency and transience; a
Hartley wanted to show how voluntary be- feeling that, unless the work is brisk and to the point, a
haviour could develop from automatic or reflexive cannon bali, angry mob or pheasant pasty might
behaviour. He gave the example of the grasping reflex prevent its completion. Hartley's presentation of his
in a young child. Initially, a child doses its fists to grip thoughts was as unexciting as his life; an honest,
an object only when the object actually makes contact comfortable life of a Yorkshireman who had early
with its palm. Hartley supposed this to occur because decided to devote his leisure to philosophical enquiry
of vibrations transmitted along sensory nerves from and who, upon a second marriage to a wife with a
palm to brain, which then pass to 'motory' nerves and respectable income, succeeded in finding a good share
cause the contraction of specific muscles. When a of leisure in the pleasant town of Bath.
favourite plaything is repeatedly given to the child, a The main impact of Hartley's work carne many
vibratiuncle is generated which corresponds to the years later, after James Mill had made his young son
sight of the plaything and this becomes linked with the study very carefully what to the father was the
vibratiuncle corresponding to pressure on the palm. 'master-production in the philosophy of mind'. The
Consequently, the child will start to close its fist at the Observations made a deep and lasting impression on
sight of the toy. 'By pursuing the same method of John Stuart Mill. Later, as a young man developing his
reasoning we may see how, after a sufficient repetiti- own philosophy of mind, with his friends he pored
ton of the proper associations, the sound of the words once again over Hartley's detailed claims.7
grasp, take, hold, etc., the sight of the nurse's hand in a
State of contraction, the idea of a hand, and particu- The spinal cord and nervous energy
larly of the child's own hand, in that State, and By the 1750s purely speculative accounts of
innumerable other associated circumstances, i.e. nervous action evoked little respect from the leaders of
sensations, ideas, and motions, will put the child the various medicai schools of Europe. To an increas-
upon grasping, till, at last, that idea, or state of mind ing extent a person's views on such matters required
which we may call the will to grasp, is generated, and support from the authority conferred by personal
sufficiently associated with the action to produce it experience of appropriate experimental work. Hart-
instantaneously. It is therefore perfectly voluntary in ley's interest in the nervous system did not extend to
this case.'5 the testing of his theories. However, at the same time
Hartley went on to outline how such a process as he was writing the Observations in Bath, a physiol-
could account for the manner in which we learn to ogist in Edinburgh named Robert Whytt was carrying
speak. He also claimed that it applied to the develop- out a series of experiments that produced the most
ment of powerful voluntary control over actions such substantial increase in empirical knowledge of the
as 'swallowing, breathing, coughing and expelling the nervous system since the time of Descartes. Whytt's
urine and faeces', as well as the 'feeble and imperfect results were first extensively reported in the Essay on
power over sneezing, hiccoughing and vomiting'. He the Vital and other Involuntary Motions of Animais of 1751,
was modest and undogmatic about his analysis of just two years after Hartley's book. His work belonged
voluntary and involuntary actions. This section of his to what was now a thriving tradition of physiological
book ended simply with the conclusion that 'thus, we studies with bases throughout Western Europe.
are enabled to account for all the motions of the human As noted earlier, one of the problems ignored in
body, upon principies which, tho' they may be Descartes' description of the nervous system was that
fictitious, are, at least, clear and intelligible'.6 movements can occur in animais that have been
The Observations presented a major theory of beheaded. In his account the spinal cord is viewed
mind and the first comprehensive attempt to explain simply as a large cable conveying nerves to the brain.
mental events in terms of natural principies. Unfortu- The movements of decerebrate animais suggested to
nately, the book was as ponderous as its full title and it many that the spinal cord might be more complicated
was not widely read. Many of the ideas it contained than represented by Descartes. A major problem in
were presented in an obsessively exhaustive manner; neurophysiology until well into the nineteenth cen-
The spinal cord and nervous energy 95
tury was that of understanding the functions of the plausible ideas about what kind of energy it
spinal cord. was.
It is interesting that Hartley in his Observations We have seen that Descartes' view of a nerve was
already describes connections between 'sensory' and that it contained two major elements: fibres that
'motory' nerves occurring in the spinal cord. He was connected sensory receptors to the brain, and a hollow
probably familiar with the experiments some twenty tube allowing the passage of animal spirits to the
vears earlier of the Rev. Stephen Hales, one of those muscles. By the end of the eighteenth century this
amazing eighteenth-century clergymen who must view had been long abandoned and it had become
have been the despair of their parishioners. Hales common to distinguish, as Hartley did, between
decapitated frogs and found that reactions could still different kinds of peripheral nerves: sensory ones
be obtained to various kinds of stimulation as long as whose specialized function was to convey information
the spinal marrow was not destroyed. This finding to the central nervous system, and motor ones that
was confirmed and extended in a careful and syste- served primarily to activate the muscles and glands.
matic series of experiments by Whytt. For example, he Together with the idea of reflex action, this distinction
showed that in special cases only a small segment of suggests what is termed the 'sensori-motor' theory of
the spinal cord needed to remain intact in order for a the nervous system: the principie that every part of the
specific reflex to function.1 nervous system can be categorized as being either
Whytt identified a whole number of involuntary sensory or motor in function.
functions as being based on reflexive action. These This sensori-motor view is an ancient one.
included digestion, coughing, sneezing, erection of Although it was held by some physiologists at the
the penis, the pupillary reaction and the secretion of beginning of the nineteenth century, it was widely
saliva. His Essay of 1751 also included a discussion of regarded as overly speculative and by no means
psychological issues that was very close to that of universally accepted. Then some experiments were
Hartley. Without attempting to tie his ideas on actions carried out which were seen as providing such
into a general theory of mind as Hartley had done, important support for the sensori-motor view that the
Whytt nonetheless made very similar suggestions findings were elevated to the status of a 'law'. In 1811
about the relationship between innate reflexes, volun- Charles Bell in London reported what he considered
tary actions and habits. He was also just as explicit the most important discovery in the history of
about the possibility of stimuli acquiring the ability to neuro-anatomy. It had been known for at least sixty
elicit a reflex action; using what was to be the highly years that where the peripheral nerves, consisting of
significant example of salivation: 'Thus, the sight, or bundles of hundreds of individual nerve fibres, join
even the recalled idea of grateful food, causes an the spinal cord they divide in two, so that a double
uncommon flow of spittle into the mouth of a hungry connection is made: for each nerve an anterior and a
person; and the seeing of a lemon cut produces the posterior root. Bell opened up the spine of stunned
same effect in many people'.2 rabbits and found that when he pricked the anterior
The combination of Hartley's philosophy with its roots convulsive movements occurred, but he
principie of association and the detailed physiological obtained no effect at all from pricking the posterior
discoveries of Whytt provided a system of con- roots. He was convinced that the posterior roots
siderable power for understanding the activity of contained only sensory nerves, but he had no direct
animais. However, the full significance of such a evidence for this. Despite his belief in the importance
combination was not recognized until over a century of this finding, he circulated his report only among
later when in 1855 Herbert Spencer used the reflex as friends. As a surgeon and anatomist skilled in the
basic unit in his evolutionary theory of mind, as dissection of dead tissue, Bell had little taste for
described in an earlier chapter.3 The delay was partly experiments involving vivisection and never pursued
due to the unappealing way in which Hartley's ideas this research further.
were presented; another reason was that the impor- Eleven years later Francois Magendie undertook
tance of studies like those of Whytt was masked by the the same kind of study and carried it through in a more
continued failure to understand how nerves function. complete fashion. Magendie succeeded in keeping a
Whytt was convinced that all muscular action was due six-weeks-old puppy alive following exposure of its
to a 'power or influence lodged in the brain, spinal spinal cord; after repeating Bell's discovery that
marrow and nerves', but he did not understand the stimulation of the anterior roots produced specific
nature of this influence. He referred to it as the vis movements, he found that severing the anterior roots
nervosa and was very candid about his lack of any left intact sensitivity to stimulation of the appropriate
Reflex action and the nervous System 96
part of the skin. He was therefore able to conclude that Having turned down all previous suggestions as to the
the posterior roots contained the sensory nerves. This nature of the vis nervosa, the physiologists could now
joint discovery was seen as a solid, factual demonstra- find no new theory to take their place. The break-
tion that the distinction between sensory and motor through eventually carne from the work of a number of
was a fundamental principie on which the organiza- scientists in Northern Italy.
tion of the nervous System was based. It was termed By 1780 Luigi Galvani had begun experiments in
the Bell-Magendie Law.4 Bologna with frogs and electrostatic machines which
By the time that Magendie had settled the convinced him of the reality of 'animal electricity', the
question of the spinal roots in 1822 a little progress had idea that electrical energy was generated within the
at last been made in understanding how nerves nervous system of all living creatures. Since none of
function. Electrical phenomena had been of great his published work actually demonstrated this, his
interest throughout the eighteenth century. In 1751, conclusions were justifiably challenged by Alessandro
the same year as Whytt's Essay, the remarkable Volta of Pavia who, on repeating the experiments,
Benjamin Franklin produced an account of the decided that they demonstrated only 'metallic electric
experiments and observations he had made in Phi- ity' . The bitter arguments turned out to be enormously
ladelphia on static electricity, condensers and electri productive ones, leading on the one hand to an
cal discharges; his book was at first widely regarded as understanding of bimetallic electricity and the de-
a hoax - since it was not believed that anyone outside velopment of Voltaic piles and batteries, and on the
of Western Europe could have any understanding of other, to the beginning of electrophysiology.6
such matters, let alone display such scientific original- Galvani's work was mainly continued by his
ity - but then Franklin's explanation of lightning and nephew, Giovanni Aldini, who mixed serious re-
the introduction of lightning conductors was appreci- search with showmanship. One of the more gruesome
ated as a striking illustration of the experimental route of Aldini's displays, designed to emphasize the
to an understanding and control of even the more effectiveness of electrical stimulation for obtaining
frightening and hitherto unpredictable of natural spasmodic movements from muscles, involved using
events.5 the recently severed heads of two criminais, as shown
General interest in electricity was also stimulated in Figure 4.7. Despite such publicity most research on
by theatrical demonstrations of the conduction of electricity followed Volta's lead. This led to the
electricity over the surface of the human body. By the development of various kinds of apparatus, including
middle of the century most of the royal courts of galvanometers which could be used to measure
Europe had witnessed the way that electricity, relatively small amounts of electricity. When interest
generated by friction in an 'electrical machine', could returned to animal electricity in the 1830s, technical
pass from the feet of a page-boy suspended on ropes to innovations in the generation and measurement of
activate an electroscope held close to his nose. The electrical energy made it possible to employ new
kind of arrangement used is shown by the contempor- methods of stimulating and recording from live tissue.
ary illustration in Figure 4.6. The lead in this work was at first taken by Cario
Earlier in the century Hales had suggested that Matteucci who, starting in Florence in 1834, concen-
electricity might be the elusive form of energy trated on electrical activity accompanying muscular
responsible for nervous action. However, there contractions in frogs' legs. There was still no under
appeared to be incontrovertible reasons for rejecting standing, even in very general terms, of the nature of
this idea. The major one was the problem of electrical activity in the body. Even though Matteucci
insulation: it was known that electricity could be gave wrong and inconsistent interpretations to many
conducted from one end of a metal wire to the other, of the effects he detected, his findings were a
say, only as long as the wire was well insulated along considerable step towards discovering what were later
its length. No appropriate insulation seemed to be termed 'action potentials'.7
present in the nervous System. To the contrary, the Electrical instruments were just some of the many
wet tissues inside a living organism appeared to technical developments in the first half of the
provide optimal conditions for immediately dissipat- nineteenth century that accelerated the study of the
ing any electrical charge that might be generated. Even nervous system and gave birth to what is now termed
towards the end of the eighteenth century the grounds 'neuroscience'. Other developments included the use
for rejecting an electrical hypothesis were seen to be of anaesthetics like ether for vivisection experiments;
just as strong as those for rejecting any other theory, the compound microscope, which provided much
including Descartes' spirits and Hartley's vibrations. greater resolving power than previous optical instru-
The spinal cord and nervous energy 97
ments; and various techniques for staining nervous death at the age of fifty-seven. Quantity did not
tissues in a way that made structures visible. The displace quality; many of these papers reported major
consequent advances in histology made it possible to experimental findings. He also wrote a definitive
learn about the fine anatomical detail of the nervous textbook on human physiology which remained a
system.8 major influence for at least thirty years. Nevertheless,
Institutional changes were at least as important. his major role in developing German physiology, his
Neuroscience became established at any early date considerable scientific achievement and his textbook
within the reformed university system of Germany are not remembered as well as his abilities as a teacher.
which, as described in the previous chapter, made In a way that is not well understood, he managed to
possible a new kind of professional Science and a inspire a large number of students who became
continuity of research traditions. There was a succes- outstanding scientists themselves. Mueller's students
sion of notable French physiologists working in the included Hermann von Helmholtz, Rudolf Virchow,
academies of Paris throughout the century, but from Theodor Schwann, Emil du Bois-Reymond, Ernst von
the 1830s most of the major discoveries about the Bruecke, and Carl Ludwig.9
nervous system for at least fifty years were made in the The first of these men to make a major contribu-
research institutes of German universities. tion to the understanding of nervous function was du
A key event in German physiology was the Bois-Reymond. In 1841 he was working as a research
appointment of Johannes Mueller as professor of assistant to Mueller when the latter gave him a copy of
physiology at the University of Berlin in 1833. Mueller Matteucci's book. Du Bois-Reymond became fascin-
was a man of wide interests in medicine and biology. ated by the topic of animal electricity, began his own
He was phenomenally productive; it has been calcu- experiments and seven years later, published his own
lated that on average he published a scientific paper first volume on the subject. The preface to this volume
every seven weeks from the age of nineteen until his contained a scathing criticism of Matteucci's ideas and
Reflex action and the nervous system 98
/■/J
Fig. 4.7. Various examples of eiectrical stimulation of the human body carried out by Giovanni Aldini
work, and marked the transference from Italy to on the now familiar grounds that resistance of a nerve
Germany of the lead in electrophysiological research. was too great and its insulation too poor for it to act as a
The way that nervous conduction occurs is very good conductor.10
complicated indeed and there is nothing in the Like many scientists of his time, Ludwig could
inorganic world that is at all similar. Since the degree think of eiectrical transmission only in terms of a flow
of understanding of electricity in the middle of the of current through a conductor. The speed of such
century was still quite limited and the apparatus transmission is very close to that of light. Our
available for experiments still very crude, it is not everyday experience suggests that transmission in the
surprising that progress in identifying the eiectrical nervous system is just as immediate; we are not aware
nature of nervous action remained slow. Matteucci of any delay between the decision to wiggle a toe and
discovered eiectrical activity only in muscles. In his the time that the toe begins to move, despite the metre
textbook, Mueller firmly rejected the idea that electric or so of nervous tissue between the brain and the
ity was the elusive vis nervosa. Contrary to his master's muscles that move the toe. Whatever the nature of
conclusion, du Bois-Reymond gathered increasing nervous action, Mueller was certain that the speed of
evidence for the eiectrical basis of neural action and transmission was far too rapid for it ever to be
reached the crucial insight that every bit of nervous measured. This tumed out to be another case in which
tissue contains an electromotive force or 'resting one of Mueller's pupils was to prove his judgement to
potential'. Even then, another of Mueller's students, be mistaken. The experimenter who solved this
Carl Ludwig, continued strenuously to reject the idea problem was Helmholtz.
99
the starting point for two different lines of outstanding The major pioneer in biology, Johannes Mueller,
research on reflex activity that flowered outside was no exception. As noted earlier, Mueller's re
Germany some fifty years later. search, textbooks and, above all, his students made
In 1845 a crucial observation was made by him the dominant influence in German experimental
Edouard Weber at the University of Leipzig: he found physiology. His doctoral dissertation had been very
that stimulating a frog's vagus nerve, a major nerve mystical in its approach, but later his outlook changed
trunk linking the brain to various internai organs, and in old age he tried to destroy every copy of his
made its heart beat more slowly. It was the first case of youthful work that he could find. Yet, throughout his
inhibition to be reported whereby increased activity in life he continued to believe a special Creative force to be
one part of the neuromuscular system produces the essential condition of life. Unlike earlier forms of
decreased activity in some other part. This kind of effect vitalism, Mueller's did not regard this force as
later became central to the study of the mammalian identical to that of a conscious soul. His outlook was
brain and spinal cord which for a few decades after much more like that of Aristotle: all life depends on a
1875 became almost the preserve of British physiolo- Creative 'vital' force, but only the higher animais
gists, and which culminated in the superb work of possess the further non-material quality of
Charles Sherrington in showing how individual spinal consciousness.1
reflexes become integrated into adaptive patterns of One consequence of this outlook was that,
action. The other tradition in which inhibition became despite his early research on reflexes, Mueller viewed
a central concept was Russian physiology; the remain- the movements of animais in a different way from
der of this chapter describes how this happened Descartes. The Cartesian view holds that for every
largely as a result of the work of Ivan Sechenov. action that an animal performs, there must be some
An important element in Sechenov's outlook, and immediate cause in the form of a triggering event
in that of the subsequent tradition of Russian psycho- outside the nervous system; in nineteenth-century
logy that he inspired, was rejection of the possibility terminology, for every response there must be a
that some aspects of an animaTs activity might occur in stimulus. In opposing this view, Mueller maintained
a spontaneous fashion. This has remained a feature that even in quite simple animais movements could be
which distinguishes Russian analyses of behaviour autonomous, occurring in the absence of any externai
from major theories in Western psychology. Most stimulation.
Western learning theorists have proposed some Within German physiology, belief in autonomous
interpretation of the Law of Effect - the empirical activity continued to be seen as a vitalist doctrine. This
principie that a rewarded response subsequently was by no means inevitable, as is shown by the
increases in frequency - which assumes that actions example of the British tradition of psychology where,
may occur even when there is no immediately because of the work of Alexander Bain, the idea of
preceding event that can be identified as the stimulus spontaneity shed its more mystical aspects.
for that action. The assumption has always been It seems quite certain that Bain picked up from an
rejected by Russian psychologists. This difference in English translation of Mueller's textbook the idea that
attitudes towards spontaneity has interesting origins activity could be spontaneously generated by the
in German physiology. nervous system.2 Bain's friend, John Stuart Mill, may
The central doctrine of vitalism is that living also have been interested, since one of his main
matter contains some special Creative force and that objections to the associationist doctrines of his father
the principies underlying the properties of inert and Hartley was that they allowed no place for
matter are not enough to explain life. Ever since the spontaneity of ideas or creativity of thought. As
late 1600s vitalism has represented an alternative to described earlier, Bain combined the ideas of spon
Descartes' explanation of the movement of animais. taneous activity with assumptions about the selective
The philosophical climate of idealism pervading effects of pleasure and pain to produce an explanation
Germany of the early 1800s made this a period and a of voluntary action which was first known as the
place where vitalism was even more widely held than Spencer-Bain principie and later christened by Thorn-
ever. The way German Science developed within the dike the 'Law of Effect'.
university system was as a reaction to idealist Bain made the idea of spontaneous activity the
philosophy in general and to vitalism in particular. basis of a theory of learning. In contrast, the vitalist
Nevertheless, many of the pioneers of nineteenth- belief that life is the result of some special form of
century German Science were deeply influenced by energy is usually accompanied by the view that the
vitalist ideas. behaviour of animais is not greatly modified by their
Reflex action and the nervous System 102
environment and that their skills are inborn rather healing people than, say, supervised clinicai ex-
than learned. This was Mueller's attitude. He claimed perience, but simply because of the scientific prestige
that 'all the ideas of animais, which are induced by generated by discoveries in physiology.5
instinct, are innate and immediate; something The close ties with professional medicine reduced
presented to the mind, a desire to attain which is at the the diversity of problems studied by German physi-
same time given'. He then continued with an example ologists. Many of the topics Mueller had included
that may well have induced young Bain to accompany within the scope of physiology in the 1830s were
a shepherd and watch the first few hours in the life of a excluded twenty years later. The goal of physiological
lamb: 'The new-born lamb and foal', stated Mueller, research became that of obtaining knowledge that
'have such innate ideas which lead them to follow would ultimately aid in restoring health to the sick.
their mother and suck the teats'.3 While accepting Although Helmholtz's work on Vision and hearing
spontaneous movement, Bain decided on the basis of and that of du Bois-Reymond on neural transmission
his own observations that Mueller had a mistakenly did not have any immediate target of understanding
exaggerated view of the power of instinct. some specific disease or disorder, it was clear that their
Many of Mueller's students regarded the idea of research would have medicai application in the long
spontaneous activity as one of the many relics of run. On the other hand, better understanding of some
vitalism that physiology needed to shed. One of their of the other problems that had interested Mueller, and
striking achievements was Carl Ludwig's account in were to become central issues for the early advocates
1842 of the formation of urine in a way that provided of Darwinism, like Ernst Haeckel- issues that arose in
the first detailed and comprehensive account of a studying evolution, embryology or heredity - were far
complex physiological process to be based entirely on less likely to be of benefit in caring for the sick.
known physical and Chemical principies.4Three years The change of emphasis within German physio
later Ludwig and three former students of Mueller - logy may have been one reason that Weber's discovery
Helmholtz, du Bois-Reymond and Bruecke - made of inhibitory action made less of an impact than it
their pledge to rid biology of all explanations that deserved. The reduction in heart rate that occurred
appealed to anything but the laws of physics and when he stimulated the vagai nerve carne as a
chemistry. The 'organic Creative forces' of Mueller complete surprise to Weber. He was fully aware of the
were no longer to be allowed within physiology. importance of his finding, stating in his report that
These four men, and their later associates, became 'this kind of effect of a nerve upon muscular organs,
known as the Berlin School. whereby movements which occur independentlv are
As their fame grew, the four radicais became the inhibited rather than stimulated, or even prevented
pillars of German Science. Within physiology there completely, is new and startling'.6 The discovery
was a shift in interests with the growth of its prestige quickly became well-known, but there appears to have
and with its movement towards a central position in been no appreciation for some time of the possibility of
the thriving business of medicai education. Those using inhibition to develop more powerful theories of
involved in physiological research during the second reflex action than that of Descartes.
half of the century acquired much more responsibility One person who decided to extend Weber's work
than their predecessors for educating the future was Edouard Pflueger. He was one of a number of
medicai practitioners of Germany. German physiologists who explicitly dissociated
In 1845 a university degree in medicine had themselves from the Berlin group. Although he had
uncertain status and declining appeal. Over the next studied with du Bois-Revmond, Pflueger would have
seven years most of the German States enacted laws preferred to be known as a student of Mueller. He
that gave university-trained physicians a monopoly continued Mueller's earlier work on reflexive action in
over medicai care that they had not previously even the frog. In 1853 he put forward in a deliberately
approached. The increased financial value and social provocative fashion his reasons for believing that the
status of a medicai degree reversed the decline in laws of physics and chemistry were inadequate to
numbers of medicai students attending German explain the behaviour of even a decerebrate animal.
universities and ensured a steady growth throughout He explained how the high degree of co-ordination
the 1850s and 1860s. At the same time, the study of and adaptiveness found in the behaviour of a
physiology based on experimental research was beheaded frog meant that some part of the frog's soul
accepted more and more as the most important part of must reside in its spinal cord.7
a medicai student's training. This was not because of One of the more dramatic findings that Pflueger
any evidence that such study made him better at cited in support of his argument was as follows. A
Sechenov and inhibition 103
frog's brain was removed and, when the animal had topics. Thus, attendance at du Bois-Reymond's course
recovered from the effects of ether used as anaesthetic on the physiology of nerves and muscles was not
in the operation, a spot of acetic acid was placed on its required of medicai students and Sechenov that year
thigh. This caused the foot of the stimulated leg to was puzzled to find that there were only six other
move towards, and rub at, the spot of acid. This was students —and one of these, like himself, newly
then repeated with another frog in which the foot was arrived from Rússia —listening to du Bois-Reymond's
cut off from the leg that was to be irritated. At first the well-prepared lectures on what seemed one of the
stump moved to and fro, as if in an unsuccessful most exciting developments in contemporary Science.
attempt to remove the acid. This stopped and then, By the 1870s a considerable contrast developed
after a period of general restlessness, the other leg between the well-financed, medically-oriented and
bent towards the spot and the remaining foot rubbed experimentally-bound Science of physiology and the
at the acid. It appeared that the spinal frog possessed a other biological Sciences studied at German
number of plans for action and, when one failed, it universities.1 There was also a marked difference
could choose another. Pflueger concluded that be- between the status of experimental physiology in
haviour like this could be explained only in terms of Germany and its status in Rússia, where it was still
some non-material influence that partly resided in the viewed with considerable suspicion. In later years
spine.8 Russian medicai training was reformed in a way that
Four years later, Pflueger reported the first closely followed the German model and gave ex
extension of Weber's discovery of inhibition; it was perimental physiology pride of place; the other
found that stimulation of a nerve could inhibit activity Russian to attend du Bois-Reymond's course, Sergei
in a frog's intestine.9 Yet, although he was so Botkin, had a great deal to do with these reforms.
intimately familiar with inhibitory action, he failed to However, during the 1860s and 1870s the position of
see that this provided the key to understanding physiology in Rússia was very insecure, which partly
co-ordination of movements in a way that made no reflected the State of Russian society. Sechenov's
appeal to a spinal soul. At this point there was no career was very much affected by the major social and
strong reason to believe that stimulating a nerve could political changes occurring during his lifetime. The
reduce activity in another nerve, as well as in muscle way in which he became a physiologist in the first
tissue. place is illuminating about life in Rússia at that time.
At about the time Pflueger's report on inhibition As a boy Sechenov lived in the country on his
appeared, his earlier paper on spinal reflexes in frogs father's small estate. An early stroke of good fortune
was being carefully studied by a young Russian, Ivan which was to influence his adult life was to have a
Sechenov, who had just arrived in Berlin and wished governess who gave him unusually effective instruc-
to carry out an experiment in what was for him the tion in French and German. When he was ten years
entirely novel topic of electrophysiology. Using an eel old his father died. At the age of fourteen he was sent
Sechenov repeated some early experiments on reflex to a college of military engineering at St Petersburg,
action that Pflueger had carried out.10Subsequently he since this was known as an inexpensive way of
was the first to appreciate the general significance of obtaining an education. Sechenov got on well in
inhibitory action. mathematics and physics, but was bored by instruc-
tion on methods of fortification. In his fourth year he
Ivan Sechenov and inhibition managed to fali foul of the college authorities and left
Sechenov's life is worth recounting in con- with an unfairly low grade. Because of this he was
siderable detail, since it illustrates the State of given the unattractive posting of field engineer in a
biological Sciences in Rússia in the middle of the regiment stationed near Kiev.
nineteenth century and the way in which Russian The turning point of Sechenov's life carne in 1849
physiology was influenced by earlier developments in when, at the age of twenty, he fell in love for the first
Germany. Sechenov carne to Berlin just as a new era time. He had become acquainted with a cultivated
was starting in German physiology. 1856 was the last family of Polish origin living in Kiev and began to visit
year before Mueller retired from the chair of physio them regularly in the company of a fellow engineering
logy at Berlin, and du Bois-Reymond enjoyed only the officer. His 'benefactress', as he later called her, was
insecure position of professor extraordinarius. The also twenty and had been widowed six months before
recent medicai reforms had begun to increase the their meeting. She had 'serious attitudes towards vital
number of students studying physiology, but still very questions', knew about writers in France and Ger
few were interested in studying specialized research many, and objected passionately to the constraints
Reflex action and the nervous system 104
Russian society placed on women. Her great respect translations of antiquated German texts. Mueller's
for university education went with little respect for the textbook, written twenty years earlier, was still not
army. The intellectual evenings with his benefactress available. However, Sechenov managed to find out
became the central events of Sechenov's life. Gaúche, that this was a key work for physiological research
with a Tartar-like appearance and disfigured by despite the barriers against contact with the outside
smallpox in his childhood, he had far too little world. In his final year at the university Sechenov's
confidence to reveal his feelings either to her or to the mother died and he renounced any further claim to a
small circle of mutual friends. In fact the girl and the share in the family inheritance in return for the sum of
friends were fully aware of his infatuation, while he six thousand rubles from his brothers. This money,
was totally unaware that she was being courted by his and the relaxation of restrictions on foreign travei
fellow engineer. When this friend married the girl a which followed the death of Czar Nicholas, allowed
year later, the shock was so great that Sechenov Sechenov to proceed with his plan of studying
resigned from the army and decided to study physiology in Berlin with Mueller. Just before he left,
medicine. He managed to borrow a little money and the celebrations announcing the coronation of Czar
set off for Moscow. Alexander II marked the end of an era of severe
In his old age Sechenov wrote about his benefac repression and intellectual stagnation in Rússia.
tress: T went to her house as a youth, up to this time Germany was at first a bitter disappointment. In
swimming inertly in the channel into which fate had Rússia Sechenov had been unaware that Mueller had
thrown me, without any clear awareness of where it long ago given up the study of physiology after
might lead me; but I left her house with my life's plan finishing his textbook on the subject. Mueller's
prepared, knowing where to go and what to do'.2 lectures in 1856 were solely on the comparative
However, the commitment that she had instilled to anatomy of vertebrate genitals. He was a tired, sick
study medicine and help his fellow man was shaken man. Few of the other professors were any more
considerably once he arrived in Moscow. inspiring.
The standard of teaching was appallingly low. Sechenov was, however, impressed by du Bois-
Apart from anatomy lectures, most instruction con- Reymond and he decided to learn first-hand about
sisted of tedious recitation, often in Latin, of how to electrophysiological research. At the time du Bois-
classify illnesses and what remedies should be given. Reymond had only a small room in which to perform
No explanation of any disease or disorder was ever his experiments and no facilities for an assistant.
offered and no justification for a particular treatment Sechenov had to be content with a bench in the
ever given. Few of the professors betrayed signs of corridor outside, where he was able to repeat
interest in such theoretical matters. An exception was Pflueger's experiment. He received little guidance
a professor who lectured on physiology. His lectures from du Bois-Reymond who remained coolly distant.
made no mention of any of the recent findings made in In one of his lectures the latter suggested that 'the
France and Germany, of Weber's discovery of inhibi- long-headed race possess all kinds of talents, but the
tion or of Helmholtz' measurement of transmission short-headed, in the best instance, only imitation'. It
speed in a nerve. But they were stimulating enough to was an interestingly phrenological remark from
persuade Sechenov that physiological research was someone who on purely scientific grounds would
where his future lay, just as his experience of clinicai have been dismissive of phrenology; the suggestion
treatment convinced him that he could never be a may have been intended to dissuade the two short-
good physician. headed Russian members of his small audience from
In 1850, when Sechenov began his medicai any attempt at original scientific work.
training, student numbers at Moscow University were Electrophysiology was only one of Sechenov's
being reduced. This was part of a deliberate policy by interests. During this first trip abroad, and throughout
Czar Nicholas to prevent the spread of Western ideas. his life, the other topic he concentrated upon was the
It did not matter that Russians were kept in ignorance absorption by the blood of various substances. From
of technological developments elsewhere, as long as Berlin his joint interests took him first to Leipzig and
they were also isolated from the pernicious doctrines then, after a further year of research, to Vienna. Here
that had prompted the revolutions of 1848 in many of he settled upon the topic for his doctoral dissertation,
Russia's western neighbours. Science was believed to the absorption of alcohol by the blood, and established
be as much a threat as any other foreign import to the a life-long friendship with Carl Ludwig. Ludwig was
stability of Russian society and to traditional religious an incomparable teacher and later, after moving to
beliefs.3 The books for Sechenov's courses were Leipzig, acquired enormous international influence by
Spontaneous activity 105
water and blotting paper. He found that he could a technical work of no general interest. The new title
depress reflex withdrawal of the foot by stimulating was a misleading one, since the article ranged almost
certain central structures of the frog's brain, but not by as widely as, for example, Hartley's Observations and,
stimulation of either the surface of the cerebral although on a much smaller scale, similarly attempted
hemispheres or the top of the spinal cord. For to show the way in which all psychological phe-
example, quick reactions by the leg would slow down nomena might be explained in terms of physiology.
when the salt was applied to points on the thalamus Nevertheless it contains little detailed physiology and
and become rapid again when the salt was removed. the term 'reflex' is used in only the very general sense
The results provided the first demonstration of the of indicating the principie that for every movement of
inhibition of neural as well as muscular activity, the a muscle there is some immediately preceding event
first experimental evidence that inhibitory effects which has acted as the stimulus for that movement.
could arise within the brain itself, and confirmation of Mueller and his notion of autonomous activity are
Weber's suggestion that such a process could mod- never named. However, it is quite clear that Seche-
ulate spinal reflexes.7 nov's principie of the reflex signifies a firm rejection of
Mueller's idea that actions can be spontaneous. Even
Sechenov's extension of physiology to mental when a thought appears to come from nowhere, there
processes is always an immediate cause to be found, as Sechenov
Justifiably pleased with his discovery and the illustrates with an example of thinking about a political
outcomes of the further control experiments he ran, figure who - no doubt for the sake of the censor - is
Sechenov quickly wrote a paper describing the described as the Emperor of China. 'I devote my
research and travelled in Germany to discuss it with daytime to physiology; but in the evening, while going
Bruecke, Ludwig and du Bois-Reymond, before to bed, it is my habit to think of politics. It happens, of
heading homewards to St Petersburg once again. One course, that among other political matters I sometimes
aspect that excited Sechenov was its general implica- think of the Emperor of China. This acoustic trace
tion for psychology: it was now possible to begin the becomes associated with the various sensations
analysis of mental processes in terms of specific (muscular, tactile, thermic, etc.) which I experience
physiological mechanisms. He saw the concept of when lying in bed. It may happen one day, that owing
inhibitory action within the central nervous system as to fatigue or to the absence of work I lie down on my
a means of removing a major objection to an analysis bed in the daytime; and lo! all of a sudden I notice that I
of all behaviour in terms of reflex action. am thinking of the Emperor of China. People usually
Despite the moving statues in the gardens of St say that there is no particular cause for such a
Germain-en-Laye that had provided Descartes' orig visitation; but we see that in the given case it was
inal inspiration, it had been generally understood over called forth by the sensations of lying in bed.'1
the next two hundred years that reflex action included A number of aspects of Sechenov's concept of
as a necessary feature a relationship between the reflex action are particularly interesting. The first is the
intensity of a stimulus and the intensity of the reaction shift away from reflexes as 'reflections' and back to the
it produces; for example, a sudden ear-splitting crash idea of the stimulus as a trigger requiring little force
normally produces a much more pronounced startle compared to the reaction it releases. Sechenov analy-
reaction than a softer sound. However, many other ses emotions in such terms, using as a model a
aspects of behaviour do not show such a close nineteenth-century version of Descartes' statues,
relationship between the intensity of the perceived namely the operation by a puff of air of a mercury
event and the reaction that immediately follows. We switch, which in turn activates an electromagnet
may think about and subsequently remember some powerful enough to move a huge mass of iron.2 The
violent event which at the time produced in us no second kind of mismatch between stimulus and
discernible response; on the other hand some very response intensity is when contemplative inaction
slight event, difficult to distinguish, may produce occurs, instead of impulsive response to some impor-
extremes of terror. tant event, or silent endurance, instead of frantic
Sechenov's ideas on such issues were expressed movement to some severe pain. This is where
in a long article written soon after his return. This was Sechenov believed inhibition to play a major role. He
originally titled An Attempt to Bring Physiological Bases saw the slow establishment of inhibitory control as a
into Mental Processes, but, on the instructions of the St major aspect of human development; a very simple
Petersburg censor, appeared as Reflexes of the Brain. case would be the ability to move the little finger
The change was intended to convey the impression of without moving the others. In very general terms he
Sechenov‘s extension of physiology 107
claimed that inhibition was also crucial in explaining since it was not strictly illegai to teach materialism, as
the adaptive nature of actions seen in quite simple long as Christianity and the Penal Code were not
creatures; one example he gave was Pflueger's study explicitly criticized; and in any case the ban would
of decerebrate frogs.3 simply direct further attention towards the book.7
Inhibition was the major new principie discussed The book could not have appeared any later, for in
in Reflexes of the Brain. Almost as novel was the close that same year a new Minister of Education was
relationship Sechenov proposed between a physiolo- appointed, Count Tolstoy, who has been described as
gical approach to psychology and a view of the human one of the most bigoted and influential reactionaries of
mind that was very environmentalist and based on the the nineteenth century.* His position gave him control
laws of association. Hartley had described a similar over censorship and his policy for higher education
combination, but few others had done so in the was one of emphasizing studies of Roman and Greek
hundred years that followed. Hartley was unknown to history at the expense of Science. Elsewhere in Europe
Sechenov. Instead he learned his psychology from the and North America university instruction in Science
philosophers of the French Enlightenment who had became firmly established and a scientific Outlook,
followed la Mettrie.4 Towards the end of Reflexes of the even one that maintained an appropriately ambiguous
Brain there is a distinct echo of la Mettrie in the belief form of evolutionary theory, became very respectable
that 'by bringing up a dever Negro, Lapp or Bashkir in by the latter part of the century. In Rússia autocratic
European society and in the European fashion, a insistence on the classics inevitably aroused antagon-
person will be produced whose mentality hardly ism and among the more disaffected intellectuals
differs from that of an educated European'. The contempt for any kind of humanitarian study was
sentiment is a long way from that of Sechenov's accompanied by an increasing worship of Science.9
English contemporary, Francis Galton, as is Seche- The different status of Science in Czarist Rússia
nov's estimate that 'in the majority of cases 999 and Imperial Germany of the 1870s may be one reason
thousandths of the contents of the mind depend on for the divergence that appeared between Sechenov's
education in the broadest sense of the word, and only attitude to psychology and that of the Berlin physi-
one thousandth depends on individuality'.5 ologists. Du Bois-Reymond now occupied a central
In Czarist Rússia, even of the early 1860s, the position in the German scientific establishment in his
political implications of such beliefs could be judged capacity as secretary to the Academy of Science. One
subversive. Only by good fortune of its timing was of his duties was to deliver an annual lecture on a
Reflexes ofthe Brain published at all. Although for a long theme of general interest. The lecture for 1872 was one
time Russian universities had been greatly influenced of the most notable out of an interesting series. It was
by the German system, the latter's concept of called 'On the limits of natural Science'.10 Its main
academic freedom appeared only faintly and for just a argument was that there are not only many mysteries
brief period on Russian soil. When permission to of which Science can at present only admit its
publish Reflexes of the Brain in a specialized medicai ignorance, but there are also problems which scientific
journal was given in 1863, it was only three years since method can in principie never solve, the two major
lectures on any philosophical topic had again been problems being the ultimate structure of matter and
allowed. In 1866 Reflexes ofthe Brain was reprinted as a the nature of consciousness. The lecture may have
small book. There was a great deal of interest in its been partly a reaction to the heated, but unprofitable,
contents among the intelligentsia of St Petersburg and controversy over the 'spinal soul' that had raged ever
Moscow, many of whom no doubt had only a slight since Pflueger's report had appeared. It was certainly
interest in strictly physiological matters. The book's directed at Haeckel and his followers with their claims
scientific and, by contemporary standards, frank that a scientific understanding of evolutionary prin
approach to sexual behaviour, and its account in reflex cipies offered a key to all the mysteries of life. Haeckel
terminology of the transformation of transient sexual was enraged by the lecture, particularly by its keynote
craving into loving friendship, must have added to the ignorabimus - 'we shall never know' - which he viewed
excitement it created. The St Petersburg Committee of as an assertion of political conservatism, as well as an
Censorship attempted to ban it on the grounds that attack on his own scientific credentials. The lecture can
Sechenov's 'materialistic theory . . . militates against also be read as a warning to German physiologists to
the view of Christianity and the claims of the Penal stay clear of the troubled waters in which Sechenov
Code; consequently it leads to the corruption of had entered.
morais'.6 The move was blocked by the Attorney- At the time of the ignorabimus lecture Sechenov
General who advised that no action should be taken was working at Odessa University. Developments in
Reflex action and the nervous system 108
explained in terms of laws derived from the study of been a particularly noteworthy figure in this history if
inorganic nature and, unlike Mueller himself, adopted it were not for a further important contribution. This
the Cartesian view that all the motions that an animal was to establish as a central idea within Russian
makes are based on reflex action. They were also physiology the extension of experimental physiology
deeply committed to the view that a firm understand- into the domain of psychology.
ing of the body's function can come only from Even though his professional career was so
appropriate experiments; and, as Descartes had said it unsettled and much of his own research had little to do
should, society generously supported them and with the nervous system, Sechenov's integrity, enthu-
provided conditions in which they could pursue their siasm and personal charm deeply influenced the next
research. After all, the society in which they lived generation of neurophysiologists in Rússia and en-
shared their faith that this was a most productive way sured that the study of reflexes was one of their central
to increase the effectiveness of medicai treatment. concerns. According to Sechenov, the new physiolo
The Berlin physiologists knew a great deal more gical kind of psychology should take the reflex as its
about the nervous system than Descartes. They knew central concept. By this he meant more than 'reflex' in
about the fundamental division into sensory and the Cartesian sense, since in the analysis of mental
motor components, about reflex ares within the spinal processes the inhibitory action of higher parts of the
cord, about the electrical basis of nervous action and brain would play a central part. In some contexts the
even the speed of nervous conduction. But at a general appeal to the reflex simply reflected a general
levei their concept of how this system produces commitment, one shared with the Berlin physio
behaviour was really no different from that of logists, to reject any idea of spontaneous action; it
Descartes. This was one of the main points of Thomas indicated the assumption that for any kind of event to
Huxley's address at the Belfast meeting of 1874 to a occur within the nervous system there must be an
British audience who knew considerably less than he immediate cause to be found outside the system, even
did about recent German research on neurophysio- if many times this may be a source of stimulation of
logy; Huxley argued that recent research fully sup which the person concerned is completely unaware.
ported what he described as Descartes' 'attempt to The quotation at the beginning of this chapter
reduce the endless complexities of animal motion and represents a novel attitude to animais. Descartes had
feeling to law and order' using the reflex as its basic said that we should experiment upon the bodies of
principie. animais in order to understand our own bodies;
What Huxley failed to point out to his audience Sechenov's contemporaries in England suggested that
was that the largest part of the nervous system of any studying the behaviour of animais would help in the
vertebrate, the brain, remained a physiological mys- understanding of evolution; but Sechenov argued that
tery. Descartes' suggestions on this subject had been we should experiment upon animais in order to
discarded, but there was little to substitute for them. understand our own minds.
Furthermore, no one had managed to be very clear Again Sechenov did not himself carry out any
about how adaptive behaviour, even of the kind research of this kind, but in the long run he became
displayed by Pflueger's decerebrate frog, could be responsible for a Russian approach to psychology
explained on the basis of Cartesian reflexes alone. And that, in addition to preferring explanations in terms of
as for any idea of how the nervous system might physiological concepts, has emphasized the role of
aequire new reactions, there was only Hartley's experimental work with animais. It has also been
disregarded theory and no firm physiology at all. highly environmentalist in outlook. Despite Seche-
It took some time before the significance of nov's youthful dedication to medicine, the primary
inhibitory action within the nervous system was purpose of the kind of psychology he wished to
widely appreciated. Sechenov made one of the key inspire was not that of bringing improvement to the
initial discoveries and also was the first to realize the care of the sick. For Sechenov the general point of such
power of a system that allows interactions between studies resembled the concerns of the French philo-
excitatory and inhibitory effects. Unlike a Cartesian sophers of the eighteenth century more than those of
reflex relying only upon excitatory action, one that the German physiologists of the nineteenth, more
also includes inhibition might account in a mechanistic those of Julien de la Mettrie than those of Emil du
fashion for those integrated and apparently purpose- Bois-Reymond: Sechenov believed that a clear under
ful actions that had led others to believe in a spinal standing of man's behaviour and potential would
soul. Since, however, Sechenov never demonstrated release him from the mental bonds that allowed a
in detail how this could be done, he would not have stiflingly repressive form of society to continue.
r
The integrity both of the individual and of its
species is ensured first of all by the simplest
5
unconditional reflexes, as well as by the most
complex ones which are usually known as instincts
Conditioned reflexes
. . . But the equilibrium attained by these reflexes is
complete only when there is an absolute constancy
of the externai environment. Since the latter, being
highly varied, is always fluctuating, the
unconditional, or constant, connections are not
sufficient; they must be supplemented by
conditional reflexes, or temporary connections . . .
The temporary nervous connection is the most
universal physiological phenomenon both in the
animal world and in ourselves.
Ivan Pavlov, (1934): Big Medicai Encyclopedia
V_____ ________ J
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) has become almost as famous me as an unskilled conjecture; I handed it on as
as Darwin. It is very widely known that he performed Science .'1
experiments showing that dogs salivated to a bell Unlike the old man in the forest Pavlov never
which was regularly sounded just before they were claimed as his discovery the fact that a hungry dog
given food; and that he called this reaction a produces spittle in anticipation of food; as noted
'conditioned reflex'. Nevertheless, most people would earlier this had been general knowledge since at least
find it much harder to say anything about the the time of Robert Whytt. Moreover Pavlov did not see
significance of Pavlov's research or the general nature his experimental work as a process for transforming
of its findings than about Darwin's achievements. In what is already known to babes into a firm body of
fact, many have felt that Pavlov's reputation has been scientific facts. His contribution began with the
completely undeserved; one person, for example, realization that a commonplace observation, and one
who was particularly derisive about Pavlov was that had already been familiar within his own
George Bernard Shaw. laboratory for some years, namely that a dog will
In 1932 Shaw wrote a story called The Black Girl in salivate when given a signal that food is imminent,
Search of God. As the black girl traveis through the could provide the basis for studying two fundamental
African forest she meets a number of odd characters. problems. As he hesitantly suggested in his first paper
One of them is a very shortsighted old man in on conditioning, it seemed possible to devise from this
spectacles, sitting on what appears to be a log. He observation a tool for examining the 'seeming chãos of
explains that in responding, as she had just done, with relations' with which the behaviour of an animal
terror to the sound of a lion's roar she was acting on a comes to adapt to its world and for identifying general
conditioned reflex. 'This remarkable discovery cost me laws that govem changes in behaviour.2Such research
twenty-five years of devoted research, during which I would also grapple with the second problem, that of
cut out the brains of innumerable dogs, and observed understanding the basis of such laws in terms of the
their spittle by making holes in their cheeks for them to functioning of the brain. Now, half a century since
salivate through instead of through their tongues. The Pavlov died, the brain mechanisms responsible for
whole scientific world is prostrate at my feet in learning remain as mysterious as ever; although he
admiration of this colossal achievement and gratitude always insisted on calling himself a physiologist,3
for the light it has shed on the great problems of Pavlov's major achievement was in the realm of
human conduct.' psychology, that of discovering many of the basic
'Why didn't you ask me?' said the black girl, 'I principies of learning.
could have told you in twenty-five seconds without Pavlov had an enormous effect on both Russian
hurting those poor dogs.' physiology and Western psychology because he
'Your ignorance and presumption are un- completely changed general beliefs about the scope of
speakable', said the old myop. 'The fact was known of physiological ideas and methods and about the
course to every child; but it had never been proved appropriate wav to study psychological issues.
experimentally in the laboratory; and therefore Although a change of this kind had been advocated by
it was not scientifically known at all. It reached others, many of whom have been discussed in
Conditioned reflexes 111
previous chapters, Pavlov was the first major scientist psychology the concept of the conditioned reflex and a
both to argue for the extension of experimental host of important facts about conditioning, Pavlov also
physiology into psychology and actually to demons- provided a powerful model of what it is to be a
trate on a grand scale how it could be done. successful scientist. Few of his successors have come
Pavlov's career is remarkable for the late age at close to imitating his career, but since Pavlov there
which he began to study conditioning; his pro- have been many students of conditioning who have to
fessional interest in psychological issues did not begin some extent adopted a similar style of science, one that
until he was already fifty years old. Up to this point involves complete dedication, unrelenting regularity,
Pavlov had spent twenty-five years on physiological wariness with respect to theory and confidence in the
work that concentrated on traditional problems. It was productiveness of experimental work so long as it is
also highly productive and widely esteemed. This skilfully and thoroughly carried out. These character-
makes it all the more unusual that the whole direction istics developed during Pa vlov's early work in conven-
of his research should have shifted dramatically, so tional physiology. Before describing this, some discus-
that the problems investigated in his laboratory began sion is appropriate of his place in the intellectual
to lie well outside what for many decades had been currents of late nineteenth-century Rússia.
regarded as the bounds of physiology. The fact that his Pavlov is easily seen as a direct successor to
interest in psychology did not develop early in his Sechenov and as a central figure within the radical
career was a crucial ingredient of his success, since the tradition which produced a materialist science and the
work on conditioning would have made little progress 1917 revolution. Indeed in his old age this is how
without the assets he already possessed: prestige, Pavlov was regarded in Soviet Rússia; in 1921 Lenin
ample funding, technical facilities, a stream of eager arranged special privileges for him and later Pavlov
co-workers and superb judgement in planning and was proclaimed a Hero of the Revolution. In a very real
supervising experiments. sense Pavlov's work on conditioning represents the
It has become commonplace in recent years to extension of physiology into psychological issues in
distinguish between two kinds of scientific activity: just the way Sechenov said it should happen, even if
normal Science and revolutionary Science. According Sechenov himself was not specific about what particu
to a standard version of this distinction, normal lar issue physiologists should study or what particular
Science consists of work which proceeds within a methods they might employ. Thus, it seems quite
stable conceptual framework widely held by people appropriate to view Pavlov as a follower of Sechenov,
active in the particular field of study. This kind of even if he was a little slow in developing his interest in
activity is occasionally interrupted by an abrupt psychology. But if the interests and Outlook of
change in fundamentais, which occurs as the result of scientists like Sechenov within the radical tradition are
the efforts of young rebels within the field and is examined more closely, Pavlov's position becomes
usually bitterly resisted by their older and better less obvious.
established colleagues. This kind of change has been Sechenov had been a leading figure among the
called a 'paradigm shift' by Kuhn.4 young scientists and writers who had been inspired by
One assumption inherent in this point of view is the reforms and the new intellectual currents of the
that scientists are very conservative with respect to 1860s. As the century went by, various forms of
their basic beliefs. In general this appears to be true. government oppression steadily increased opposition
Despite a commitment to scepticism, to maintaining to the Czarist system among the intelligentsia.
an open mind and to grounding beliefs on empirical Hostility towards political and bureaucratic organiza-
evidence, early in their careers most scientists adopt tions went with a rejection of other aspects of Russian
ways of thinking about their subject, beliefs about culture and with a readiness to embrace Western
appropriate methodology and judgements about the ideas. Sechenov's belief in the liberating influence of
relative importance of various problems, all of which modern science was widespread among his contem-
remain immune to even major discoveries and poraries and an enthusiasm for experimental physio
theoretical developments within their field. Signifi- logy was surpassed only by the degree of interest
cant changes in someone's scientific approach usually young Russians showed in theories of evolution.
occur only when there has been a very major shift in As in Western Europe and America the works of
their interests; and where this does happen it seems to Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer were immensely
require a complete change of discipline. popular. Three independent translations into Russian
Pavlov's career provides a striking exception to of Darwin's Descettt of Man appeared within a year of
this general rule. Moreover, as well as giving animal its publication in England and the other major books
Conditioned reflexes 112
by Darwin, and by Spencer too, were translated laboratories of the German universities; to this was
almost as promptly.5 To disaffected young Russians added generous helpings of the author's own theories
Darwinism was a new revelation, establishing mater- and philosophy, plus engaging comments on every-
ialist faith ever more securely. Its reception made day life.
Dostoyevsky angrily remark that what others regard An unusual aspect of Lewes's book is the
as plausible speculation becomes indisputable dogma emphasis placed on food and digestion. The book
in Rússia.6 Sechenov was certainly an ardent Dar- appeared in two volumes; while the second of these
winian; he was responsible for one of the three largely contains a lively and accurate account of the
transiations of the Descent of Man. nervous System, the first volume is almost completely
There was not the same conflict between Darwin devoted to various aspects of feeding. The subject was
ism and traditional religion in Rússia as there was of great significance for Lewes. 'Hunger is indeed the
elsewhere. The Russian Orthodox Church with its very fire of life, underlying all impulses to labour', he
greater emphasis on ritual and mysticism and smaller wrote, 'Look where we may, we see it as a motive
concern with theology than other varieties of Christ- power that sets the vast machinery in action . . .
ianity saw little threat from either evolutionary theory Hunger is the invisible overseer of the men who are
or the general spread of a scientific Outlook.7 So, erecting palaces, prison houses, barracks and villas.
although the radical intelligentsia tended to be both Hunger sits at the loom . . . Hunger labours at the
devotees of Darwin and critics of the Orthodox furnace and the plough coercing the native indolence
Church, the latter attitude mainly reflected a general of men into strenuous and incessant activity. Let food
desire to reform Russian society. be abundant and easy to access, and civilization
Pavlov does not fit easily into this pattern. His becomes impossible; so indissolubly dependent are
social background was much closer to the peasantry our higher efforts on our lower impulses.'10
than that of most of the academics, writers and The scientific tradition to which Pavlov kept
scientists of his time. In his childhood he was steeped throughout his career was that of German ex
in Orthodox traditions and, although he lost his faith perimental physiology, whose early achievements
in God, he always retained a sympathetic attitude were so ably summarized by Lewes. Furthermore the
towards the church. He could praise at times the focus of much of Pavlov's research reflects Lewes'
energy or the efficiency of the Anglo-Saxons, but he interest in food. Except for one early period, all of the
was never pro-Western in his general sentiments. On many hundreds of experiments carried out by Pavlov
the contrary he displayed an intense form of national- and his co-workers measured what was happening at
ism which seems to have been the main factor one point or another along the digestive tract.
governing his political beliefs; so that, for example, If in 1900 a gypsy with a crystal bali had told
one of his more severe criticisms of the Czarist regime Pavlov that before his death he would become world
was for the humiliation it had led Rússia to suffer in famous as a scientific revolutionary and be acclaimed a
the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5.8 hero of a new communist society, his scorn would
Pavlov did share with his contemporaries an have been exceeded onlv by that of his colleagues at
interest in evolution. As a boy he was excited by the University of St Petersburg. At that point the kind
popular accounts of Darwin's theories and later he of experimental physiology he pursued so energeti-
became a great admirer of Spencer. But there is little in cally had been entirelv within the mainstream of his
his work that shows even an indirect effect of time; and outside the laboratory his behaviour and
evolutionary ideas. What made a more specific and attitudes could be characterized as a cautious, unin-
lasting impression on Pavlov was the translation of an volved conservatism. which was remarkable only
English book written at the same time as The Origin of because of the time and place in which he lived. The
Species, but which hardly even mentions evolution. beginnings of research on conditioning are interesting
The book was George H. Lewes' Physiology ofCommon in terms of the preconceptions most people hold about
Life. Pavlov read it first in his teens and as an old man the age and character of those responsible for a new
could still quote long sections from it.9 scientific paradigm quite apart from their importance
In this book Lewes gave the general English in the developmer.t of animal psychology.
reader of the 1860s with an interest in physiology what
thirty years later William James was to provide for the Pavlov's early career
American reader interested in psychology: an intelli- As a child Pavlov iived in Ryazan, a small town
gent, detailed and very readable review of recent some two hundred and fiftv miles to the south-east of
experimental work, mainly that from the research Moscow, where his father was a parish priest. A
Pavlov's early career 113
Russian priest enjoyed a humbler social position than international reputation and an inspiring lecturer.
his Western equivalents and was expected to be more Unfortunately a large number of his colleagues
or less self-supporting by tilling his land like a peasant. resented the way in which he had been appointed and
Only the exceptional priest had time and inclination his unpleasant personality subsequently offended
for intellectual work as well. Pavlov's father was one many more. A merciless attitude towards students
such exception and he succeeded in inspiring at least who did poorly in his examinations helped to spread
three of his sons with a love of learning and his unpopularity. Four years after Pavlov's arrival
determination to obtain a university education. From Cyon failed so large a proportion of the students
his father Pavlov also acquired a lifelong love of taking the course in physiology that there was a riot
gardening and of hard physical exercise. and this set in train a series of events leading to his
At the age of nine Pavlov suffered severely from a resignation and departure from Rússia.2
fali off a wall and as a consequence there was a delay of Unlike many of his fellow students Pavlov carne
two years before he entered the local school. During to respect Cyon highly and by his third year his
this period he spent a large amount of time with his childhood interest in physiology had turned into a
godfather who was abbot of a monastery near Ryazan. decision to devote his life to research in the subject.
The abbot was as influential a figure in Pavlov's Under Cyon's supervision he began an experimental
childhood as his father. He led a simple, spartan study of the pancreas which delayed his graduation by
existence and devoted himself unceasingly to his a year, but enabled him to start to acquire the delicate
monastic duties and studies. As an adult Pavlov and rapid surgical techniques that became a key
believed in Science instead of God, but otherwise the ingredient of his later success. The project also gained
way of life he later adopted was very much like that of him a gold medal and a four year scholarship for
the abbot: simple, regular to an unusually precise post-graduate study.
degree and displaying an other-worldly lack of Cyon must have been equally impressed by
concern for anything but his work. Pavlov. He offered the young man a research
Pavlov's formal education began at the local assistantship when he graduated. This would have
Ecclesiastical High School in 1860 and a few years later provided an excellent supplement to Pavlov's modest
continued at the Ryazan Theological Seminary. By scholarship, and made for a convenient arrangement
then the exciting new ideas and discussions frothing by which Pavlov could both continue to gain training
in Moscow and St Petersburg of the early 1860s had in research and to keep to his decision to study for a
even reached theological seminaries in towns such as second degree in medicine. However, with Cyon's
Ryazan. In 1866 a new climate of reaction was departure from St Petersburg, Pavlov had to look for
triggered by an attempt to assassinate Alexander II another post.
and this reaction quickly began to affect education. He eventually found an assistantship in the
Count Tolstoy, the Minister of Education, introduced Veterinary Institute. Here his research switched to the
into the State high schools a much more rigid study of blood circulation and of the innervation of the
curriculum that excluded the teaching of Science. heart; these remained his main interests for the next
However, as a result of attending a religious institu- twelve years. Meanwhile his medicai studies gained
tion, Pavlov was able to gain a progressive and him his second degree in 1879. By this time Pavlov had
stimulating education, in which there was plenty of come into contact with the final major figure of his
opportunity for him to follow his own intellectual student years, Sergei Botkin.3
inclinations and to learn a good deal of Science, when It was Botkin who had attended du Bois-
this had become impossible in the harshly disciplined Reymond's lectures of 1856 in Berlin with Sechenov.
setting of the secular high schools.1 Over the next twenty years Botkin had become one of
Pavlov left Ryazan for good at the age of the most influential men in Russian medicine, having
twenty-one to study natural Sciences at the University been largely responsible for making experimental
of St Petersburg, where he was to spend almost all of physiology as central a part of the training of
his life. He walked the whole way, a distance of many physicians in Rússia as it had been for some time in
hundreds of miles. His arrival in 1870 coincided with Germany. This was particularly the case for students
Sechenov's departure and so Pavlov's first formal in St Petersburg where Botkin had become the
introduction to physiology carne from the lectures professor of clinicai medicine at the Military-Medical
of Sechenov's successor to the chair of physiology, Academy. In keeping with the doctrine of 'ex-
Ilya Cyon. perimentalism' that he preached, Botkin maintained
Cyon was a fine surgeon, a researcher with an an animal laboratory which, however, consisted of
Conditioned reflexes 114
Fig. 5.1. Botkin's laboratory. Pavlov is second from the right with his hand resting on the dog. The dog's harness
shown here is essentially identical to that used in Pavlov's conditioning experiments, even though this photograph
was taken almost twenty years before Pavlov became interested in the conditioned reflex
little more than a wooden shed in the garden of his activity not explicitly organized by the authorities.
clinic. His administrative, teaching and clinicai com- From 1870 onwards research projects became a much
mitments left Botkin no time to become closely more important element of a first degree in Science in
involved in research. In 1878 he needed a new director Rússia than elsewhere.4
for his small laboratory. Pavlov was highly recom- One consequence of this policy was that a
mended and, although relatively young and unqual- scientist without the financial means to.hire assistants
ified, was appointed. could nonetheless remain highly productive as long as
The new post provided an unusual degree of he could first attract and then rapidly train sufficient
independence for someone still enrolled as a student. unpaid labour from students anxious to complete a
It also offered plenty of opportunity for learning how satisfactory project. Students would compete to work
to direct other people's research, since Pavlov had to in the laboratory of anyone with a reputation for
spend a great deal of time and effort, which brought providing an interesting topic for a project, for giving
him no immediate gain, in advising the many fellow adequate guidance in how to carry out and report an
students who were carrying out research projects experiment and, most importantly, for essentially
under Botkin's nominal supervision. One of the guaranteeing that this particular requirement for the
earliest changes imposed upon the universities by degree would be completed in time. Pavlov later
Count Tolstoy was an increase in the importance of acquired just such a reputation among the medicai
direct experience of research. Professors of natural students of St Petersburg and the bulk of his research
Science were strongly encouraged to involve their carne to be based on student projects. This reputation
students in experimental projects since, as a highly was well deserved; his effectiveness in supervising
time-consuming kínd of work, such participation such work clearlv owed a lot to his early experience of
would make a student less likely to engage in 'illegal helping fellow students who had signed up to work
extracurricular activities', a labei given to any group for Botkin.
Pavlov's early career 115
lack of money, the child fell sick and died within a physiologists. But at forty years of age he still had no
year. stable position with a respectable salary. His various
What sustained Sara was belief in her husband's fellowships and appointments brought him prestige,
genius and in the supreme value of his work. In the but little money. A reputation for being outspoken
early years of marriage they agreed upon a pact which about the lack of scientific merit and reliability of even
both were to keep for the rest of their long life those in important places and an unwillingness to
together. If she was to devote herself entirely to his compromise did not help his applications for the few
welfare so that there would be nothing to distract him permanent academic posts that became available.
from his scientific work, then he was to regulate his life Pavlov's situation was symptomatic of a crisis in
accordingly; she made him promise to abstain from all higher education in Rússia of the 1880s. Some of the
forms of alcohol, to avoid card games and to restrict problems were as elsewhere; the end of the expansion-
social events to visits from friends on Saturday ary period of the sixties and early seventies left a large
evenings and entertainment, in the form of concerts or number of able young Russian scientists eyeing
the theatre, to Sunday evenings. His life was to be as academic positions likely to be occupied for a very long
ascetic as that of his uncle. time by men only a few years older than themselves
During the 1880s Sara's belief in her husband's and in many cases far less distinguished.7
future success began to be confirmed, as he continued This also happened in Germany, but the position
as a full-time researcher, working partly as director of of Science in Russian universities was made much
Botkin's laboratory and partly on his own projects. worse by special political factors. The authorities
The results from his medicai degree examinations continued to regard Science with ambivalence. It was
earned him a second gold medal and a further small appreciated that research based in the universities
fellowship. In 1883 he submitted a dissertation on the played a vital role in the necessary modernization of
innervation of the heart and gained his Doctorate of the economy; and the material benefits proferred by
Medicine. This was shortly followed by his appoint- applied Science were much enjoyed. But the criticai
ment as a lecturer in physiology at the Military- attitudes that arose with the spread of a scientific
Medical Academy. A further fellowship enabled him Outlook were highly suspect; they were seen as
to study abroad. important in the growing resistance to the autocratic
Within a year of Sara's miscarriage Pavlov system. In justifying the elimination of science from
departed alone to work in Germany for two years. the high school curriculum Count Tolstoy had written:
Some of this time he spent, like a large number of the 'In the study of ancient languages - and sometimes in
physiologists of his generation, at Carl Ludwig's the study of mathematics - all knowledge imparted to
laboratory in Leipzig. The remainder was spent with the students is under constant and nearly errorless
Rudolf Heidenhain, the professor of physiology at control, which discourages the formation of indepen-
Breslau, whom Pavlov had visited for a couple of dent opinions. In all other subjects, particularly in the
months some years earlier. Heidenhain shared Pav- natural Sciences, the student's interpretation of the
lov's interests in both the heart and the digestive knowledge he acquires is beyond the teacher's
System, was an expert on glandular secretion and was control. For this reason these subjects may engender
famous for his surgical skills. personal opinions and differing views.'8
In subsequent years Pavlov said little about his In 1884 direct government control of the univer
experience abroad. He appears to have regarded these sities was re-imposed and any remaining elements of
two years simply as an opportunity to learn more academic freedom were abolished. The Czar's
physiology and improve his experimental techniques. bureaucracy took all decisions on appointments,
It certainly did not leave him with any special love of curricula and examinations. In doing so the role of the
Germany or of foreign travei. His nationalism was university as a centre of research was usually ignored.
unusual for a scientist of that era. He never became Subsequent decrees restricted access to education to
fluent in any language but Russian. It is said that in old various social classes; thus, in what became notorious
age, whenever he returned from a scientific trip as the 'Cooks letter', Tolstoy's successor at the
abroad, he would bow down to kiss his native soil; and Ministry of Education ruled that 'the sons of coach-
that when he needed to undergo a serious operation men, servants, cooks, laundresses and small shop-
he insisted that it be carried out by a Russian surgeon keepers' should not be allowed to enrol in State
and not by a foreign specialist. schools.9
By the end of the 1880s Pavlov had become widely These developments produced a general decline
known as one of Russia's most distinguished young in the number of students attending university which
Wolfsohn; Snarsky; Tolochinov; Pavlov, Babkin 117
was particularly severe in the medicai faculties. In 1880 primary allegiance to, the institute which, as well as
medicai students formed just under a half of the providing ample space and facilities, gave him
student body at the University of St Petersburg; by considerable independence from the university and its
1899 this proportion had decreased to less than a internai politics. With his odd ways, uncompromising
quarter.10 integrity and insistence on wearing civilian clothes
Earlier in the century the new German univer- Pavlov was an unconventional figure at the Military-
sities had promoted scholarship and research on the Medical Academy and was detested by its rector.
grounds that an effective teacher needs to be an active Pavlov's success in attracting students needing project
participant in his subject. Later it became clear that supervision and in ensuring that most finished in time
finding and maintaining the right balance between did not endear him to many colleagues in this era of
teaching and research is not an easy matter. A heavy dwindling student numbers. The rector did what he
emphasis on research can produce inadequate could to impede Pavlov's research by withholding
teaching, just as too much time spent on teaching and normal professorial privileges; no research assistants
administration can impoverish research. were assigned to him and permission to travei abroad
By the end of the 1880s a number of influential was blocked for Pavlov and for anyone who worked
Russians had become extremely concerned about the for him.12
future of Science in their country. The solution that Apart from improvement in his personal
they found was one that led to a larger degree of finances, the major benefit conferred by Pavlov's
separation between research and university educa- continued links with the academy, first as professor of
tion. The efforts of the Academy of Science and of pharmacology and then as professor of physiology,
some wealthy individuais led to the establishment of was the constant flow of eager student labour. In
research institutes that had only tenuous links with return he gave regular series of lectures, but this was
the local university. This solution was also adopted in about all; he was never very much involved in either
Germany and elsewhere in Central and Eastern the academy or university affairs in general. The
Europe. It has persisted ever since in these countries Institute of Experimental Medicine insulated him from
where much more research takes place in institutions the turmoil that almost tore apart Russian society and
which play no part in undergraduate education than is its universities over the next three decades, and
the case in North America, for example, where the provided a setting in which the study of conditioning
kind of two-tier university introduced by Gilman at could begin without serious intrusions from the world
Johns Hopkins has in the main served to keep a large outside.13
proportion of research within a university context.
One of the earliest and most richly endowed of How Wolfsohn, Snarsky, Tolochinov, Pavlov
the new institutes in Rússia concerned with medicai and Babkin began to experiment upon condi-
research was the Institute of Experimental Medicine. tional reflexes
This was founded in St Petersburg by a rich aristocrat, A complicated illustration of the digestive tract
Prince Oldenburgski, who had been inspired by in a mammal, which Lewes included in The Physiology
Pasteur's work in Paris and wished to see a Russian ofCommon Life, had caught Pavlov's imagination at an
equivalent of the Pasteur Institute. The research it early age; it is reproduced here in Figure 5.3. He
supported was intended to be directly concerned with became fascinated with the problem of discovering the
the causes of diseases such as cholera and the plague.11 operating principies of such an intricate system which
In 1890 Pavlov's situation was changed quite he liked to compare to a complex Chemical factory.
abruptly. The day after the offer of a chair at a Siberian How is it that just the right amount of the right kind of
university he was elected professor of pharmacology Chemical is released at exactly the time it is needed as a
at the Military-Medical Academy and so could stay in particular foodstuff passes down the gut? The ex-
St Petersburg. Less than a year later he added to this quisite integration of processes involved in digestion
chair the post of director of the Physiology Depart must depend on an interlocking set of reflexes; what
ment at OldenburgskPs Institute of Experimental are these components and how are they integrated?
Medicine. Here he was able to undertake on a Early in his scientific training Pavlov rejected the
generous scale the work on digestive processes that he then prevalent technique of using 'acute' preparations
had started a few years earlier, even though this did to study physiological problems; that is, to carry out
not have as direct a relationship to disease as the operations that allow the study of some particular part
founder might have liked. of the body only in the short while before death
Pavlov carne to spend most of his time at, and owe occurs. Pavlov regarded such an approach, which he
Conditioned reflexes 118
outside the body from a dog's esophagus so that, one o'clock in the morning. This schedule was
when required, 'sham feeding' could take place maintained until the summer, when he would go to
whereby any food taken by the dog into its mouth the country for three months to spend his time on
subsequently dropped out through the fistula before gardening, cycling and reading novels; physiology or
reaching the stomach. The second operatiôn was to any matter to do with Science rarely intruded.6
insert into the stomach a second tube which could Although a very regular routine is an essential
then be used to collect gastric juice. This preparation ingredient of work with animais, no one else engaged
was initialiy devised to study the effects of oral in such research has ever imposed so precise and
stimulation on gastric secretion without allowing food ordered a pattern upon their whole life. It was
to enter the gut.4 It was subsequently important for obsessional to a degree that would be considered
both financial and intellectual reasons. deranged in any context but that of Science or religion.
For some years gastric juice became very popular Pavlov insisted that military punctuality be shown by
around St Petersburg as a remedy for certain stomach all members of the laboratory, at least during their
complaints. As Pavlov was able to supply gastric juice working hours. Years later an assistant was ten
in relatively large quantities and of a particularly pure minutes late for the beginning of an experiment and
quality by using the sham feeding preparation, the explained that he had been delayed by the revolution
proceeds from its sale became considerable, to the that was erupting in the streets outside; Pavlov's reply
extent of almost doubling the laboratory's income was: 'What difference does a revolution make when
when this already far surpassed that of any compar- you have work in the laboratory to do?'7
able Russian laboratory.5 Pavlov may have seemed uncomfortably strange
The other reason sham feeding became significant and remote to his colleagues and peers, but he was
was that it turned a phenomenon whose existence had highly popular with students. He was far from being
hitherto been controversial into an everyday event. It the traditionally authoritarian professor; his lectures
soon became well-known to everyone in the labora were among the few in which students were encour-
tory that a dog would secrete gastric juice as a aged to interrupt when they did not fully understand
response, not just to the presence of food in its mouth, some point. The demonstrations that formed a crucial
but also to the sight of food; or, for that matter, to the part of these lectures were prepared with great care.
sight of anyone who regularly carne to feed him. Since Science was presented as a collaborative enterprise in
the effect was held to be caused by the dog's which mutual trust should extend even to the newest
psychological State of expecting food, it was labelled a member. Pavlov's laboratory was renowned for its
'psychic secretion' and considered to be quite different atmosphere of friendly cooperation and for the
from the physiological secretions routinely studied in amount of attention Pavlov himself would give even to
the laboratory. Until the end of the 1890s little serious a new student spending just a few months there.
attention was paid to the phenomenon. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he opened his
Meanwhile research proceeded in a steady, laboratory to both women and Jewish students. He
productive fashion. By this time Pavlov had adopted could be irritable and explode with anger over a
the routine he was to keep for the rest of his life. From mistake; yet the most junior member knew that he
the beginning of September until the end of May he could approach Pavlov at almost any time for help or
would spend all seven days of the week at work. Every advice on an experiment, or even to ask him to take it
day at the Institute started at nine o'clock with a over for a while so that the student could take a break.8
precision that allowed clocks to be set by his arrival Compared to an equivalent of today, Pavlov
and ended equally punctually at six in the evening. A remained remarkably free from the various commit-
day's duties consisted of some mixture of surgery, ments that can compete strongly with active involve-
supervision of the several current experiments, ment in the work of a laboratory. None of his time was
administrative jobs to do with the laboratory and some spent on writing grant proposals or reviewing those of
paperwork; it was interrupted only by the half-hour he others. He did not serve on committees, help edit
allowed himself for lunch which he took alone. On journals or organize scientific conferences. He was a
returning home he would dine with his family and poor correspondent; in comparison both to the typical
afterwards sleep from seven until nine o'clock. Then, eminent scientist of later generations and, for ex-
with the possible exceptions at the week-end allowed ample, to the British evolutionists of a generation
in the agreement with Sara, an hour of further social earlier, Pavlov wrote very few letters to scientific
intercourse with the family over cups of tea would be colleagues. He did not even devote much time to
followed by further work in his study from eleven to writing reports of his research; most of the experi-
Conditioned reflexes 120
ments were described only in the dissertation of the sensitive to differences in oral stimulation. Thus, the
student who carried them out in the first place, quantity and constitution of spittle varies widely
although with considerable guidance from Pavlov according to what has been placed in the mouth. Dry
where necessary. Frequently no other form of detailed food will induce the flow of a large quantity of
report was ever published. particularly watery saliva, as will the insertion of some
This reluctance to make public his research is also dilute acid or a handful of sand. In contrast, small
seen in the only two books he ever produced, which stones and most wet foods produce very little
were both rewritten versions of a set of lectures. The salivation, while certain foods cause the glands to
first of these appeared during the calmly productive produce saliva containing a high concentration of
era of the 1890s. This was the Work of the Principal mucous. In every case investigated it turned out that
Digestive Glands of 1897. It described in a general way the salivary response obtained was beautifully
the findings that had been obtained in his laboratory adapted either towards the digestion of the particular
over the previous nine years. It contained a passing foodstuff or towards the elimination of a potentially
reference to psychic secretion, but there was no hint harmful irritant.
that this was later to provide the central focus of Wolfsohn next started to measure the salivary
Pavlov's research. response obtained when a dog was simply shown
It was a number of years before this remarkable various things, and discovered that it was equally
shift of interest and Outlook was complete. Two sensitive to appropriate visual stimuli. Thus, when
phases can be discerned. The first involved the sand had been repeatedly inserted into its mouth, a
discovery that methods routinely employed in physio- dog would start to salivate at the sight of sand and the
logical experiments could equally well be used to secretion would have the same characteristics as that
study psychological phenomena; in this phase some of produced by sand-in-the-mouth. This secretion was
his students seem to have anticipated Pavlov's regarded as a psychic secretion like the one seen with
interest. The second phase led to the conclusion that the gastric juice preparation. It seemed clear to
psychological phenomena have to be described and Wolfsohn and to everyone else in the laboratory that it
explained in physiological terms or else they cannot be was caused by the dog learning to expect that sand
understood. It ended with a decision to devote the would shortly enter its mouth; that is, it involved
resources of the laboratory to this task. The transition mental, and non-physiological, processes.
from a dualist to a materialist position involved in this This was very much the view of Anton Snarsky,
second phase made it the more dramatic and painful of the next student who began to work on this problem; it
the two. But somehow this change was made more seems that he did so without a great deal of
rapidly by the fifty-year-old scientist who for decades encouragement from Pavlov. Snarsky's main con-
had kept to a very fixed outlook on his Science and on tribution was to show that apparently arbitrary signals
life, and had done so profitably, than by many of the could be as effective as the normal appearance of some
much younger students and co-workers around substance in eliciting psychic secretion. One of his
him.’ experiments can be seen as the first deliberate attempt
The study of psychic reflexes began in 1897, the to produce a psychic reflex. He coloured some acid
year that Pavlov's book on digestion was published, black before introducing it into a dog's mouth and
when a student named Stefan Wolfsohn carried out found that after a few repetitions profuse salivation
experiments on the first glands in the digestive tract, would also occur to water that was coloured black or to
namely, the salivary glands. Some three years earlier a the sight of any bottle containing black liquid.
technique for inserting a fistula that made possible the For a while arbitrary stimuli, such as the black
measurement and extraction for analysis of saliva had colouring used by Snarsky, were termed 'artificial'
been developed by one of Pavlov's assistants. By a stimuli in Pavlov's laboratory, while those of the kind
striking coincidence this crucial first step in the study investigated by Wolfsohn - for example, the normal
of conditioning in Rússia occurred at exactly the same appearance of some substance - were termed 'natural'
time as Thorndike at Columbia University in New stimuli. Snarsky also showed that some apparently
York began to test his dogs and cats in puzzle boxes; natural stimuli need to acquire their effectiveness in
later Wolfsohn and Thorndike both submitted their eliciting salivation. Thus, it turned out that a dog
dissertations in the same year, 1898. would initially show no salivary reaction at all to the
Initially Wolfsohn simply checked out in a smell of aniseed; but once aniseed oil had been placed
systematic way a claim, made by Claude Bernard, that in its mouth a few times, then its odour alone became
the set of reflexes involved in salivation is highly an effective stimulus for the secretion of saliva. Later
Wolfsolm; Snarsky; Tolochinov; Pavlov; Babkin 121
experiments by one of Snarksy's successors showed the food, but not allowed to consume it, then the
that a dog hitherto fed only on milk similarly displayed salivary reaction disappeared.
no reaction to the smell of meat until it had The fact that our mouths, or those of dogs, water
experienced meat-in-the-mouth. at the sight, or even the thought, of something
Snarsky must have been an independent-minded appetizing was in no sense discovered by Pavlov and
and stubborn young man. In trying to make sense of his colleagues. However, that such effects persist only
his results he decided on a particular account of the if certain specifiable conditions hold was indeed a new
dog's thoughts, feelings and desires during the course contribution from his laboratory.
of its experimental trials and stuck to the account even Conditioning was still a side issue and most of the
though Pavlov favoured another. Their arguments experiments in the laboratory were concerned with
became heated, while their differences remained much more familiar kinds of process further down the
puzzlingly unresolved. As Pavlov wrote many years digestive tract. It was in this context that the
later, it was 'an incident which had no precedent in disturbing preliminary report of an experiment carried
our laboratory. We considerably diverged in our out in England by two physiologists, Bayliss and
interpretation of this internai world; further attempts Starling, became known early in 1902. This shook the
failed to bring us to a common conclusion, contrary to nervist foundations on which Pavlov's studies of
the usual laboratory practice, according to which new digestion had been based.
experiments undertaken by mutual agreement gener- Pavlov's fundamental assumption was that the
ally led to the settlement of all differences and integrated activity of the digestive System is based
disputes. Snarsky clung to his subjective interpreta exclusively on the transmission of information via
tion of the phenomena, while I, astonished at the reflex ares from sensors at one point in the tract to
bizarre character and scientific barrenness of this glands lower down. Thus, receptors in the mouth
approach to the problem, began to seek for another sensitive to taste, volume, texture and so on can give
way out from this difficult situation.'10 advance warnings of the arrival of a certain substance
By 1902 when Snarsky was at last allowed to to various gastric glands by means of neural impulses;
submit his dissertation, Pavlov had begun to find a these impulses stimulate the glands to produce the
way out. Since no empirical means were available for appropriate Chemical environment by the time the
resolving discrepancies between theories based on substance has descended to the stomach. The signi-
subjective processes, the solution was to reject all such ficant aspect of the experiment by Bayliss and Starling
theories. 'After persistent deliberation, after a con- was to show that advance information may also be
siderable mental conflict, I decided finally in regard to conveyed by Chemical signals, or hormones. It turned
so-called psychical stimulation to remain in the role of out that the pancreas was at least partially under
a pure physiologist, that is, an objective observer and humoural control; under certain conditions the intes-
experimenter.'" Pavlov rarely referred to Snarsky tines release a hormone, pancreatic secretin, which
afterwards and, when he did, it was with a degree of triggers secretion from the pancreas.
anger that seems accountable only if Snarsky had At first Pavlov did not accept the evidence. Then in
become a Symbol for the set of beliefs that Pavlov the Autumn of 1902, when Bayliss and Starling's full
himself had previously held and only with great report was published, he asked one of his assistants to
difficulty relinquished. repeat their experiment. The whole staff of the
About a year before the final break with Snarsky, laboratory gathered to watch in silence as the
Pavlov had been joined by a co-worker who became a replication was performed. The effect of secretin soon
close friend, but who was no more sympathetic than became obvious. Pavlov disappeared into his office.
Snarsky towards the attempt to find a new way of He returned a half hour later, simply saying: 'Of
understanding psychic reflexes. Ivan Tolochinov course they are right. We cannot aspire to a monopoly
collaborated with Pavlov on the first experimental of discovering new facts'.12 From that point on the
study of the phenomenon that carne to be known as amount of laboratory activity devoted to the digestive
extinction. They found that the reactions to visual System declined, while that to conditioning in-
stimuli described by Wolfsohn depended on the creased.
continued application of the 'physiological' stimulus. The international reputation earned by Pavlov's
For example, the sight of some familiar food would book of 1897 began to produce invitations to give
continue to evoke the appropriate kind of salivation lectures at prestigious conferences abroad. In April
only as long as its appearance was usually followed by 1903 he attended the International Congress of
its ingestion; if, instead, a dog was repeatedly shown Medicine in Madrid. Instead of discussing his work on
Conditioned reflexes 122
digestion he chose to deliver the first public report of cal problems. On the other hand, in Pavlov's labora
experiments on conditioning.13 tory concentration on phenomena related to extinction
In Madrid Pavlov still used the term 'psychical marked the pioneer experiments described here and
reflex' and had not yet made a full commitment to an continued throughout his lifetime. Correspondingly
entirely physiological account of conditioning. By that little experimental or theoretical effort went into the
time he had been joined by a young researcher, B. P. study of acquisition.
Babkin, whose results were finally to persuade Pavlov The immediate effect of Babkin's discoveries was
that nothing was to be gained from trying to explain to confirm Pavlov in his conviction that explanations
the phenomena of conditioning in subjective terms. in terms of commonly available psychological con-
As a student in 1902 Babkin first carried out a cepts were useless. All attempts by himself, and by
dissertation project on the pancreas. Afterwards he others whom he questioned about these issues, to
became a full-time assistant in the laboratory and explain spontaneous recovery and disinhibition by
began to follow up Tolochinov's experiments on appealing to the dog's beliefs and to changes in its
extinction. awareness of the stimuli seemed ludicrously
Babkin discovered two further effects. One was inadequate.15 He stopped using the term 'psychic
spontaneous recovery. A hungry dog was repeatedly reflex' and, since the reactions he was investigating
shown at intervals of a minute or two a dish containing seemed to differ from more familiar reflexes only in
meat powder that he was prevented from eating. Once that certain conditions had to be met for them to
the salivary response had died away nothing hap- become established and be maintained, he started to
pened for a few hours and then the dish was again call them 'conditional reflexes'. Later the Russian
presented. Babkin found that the salivary response word was mistranslated into English as 'conditioned'
now occurred once more and at almost full strength. and it has stayed this way ever since.16
The second effect was also a form of recovery from By the time an account of Babkin's research was
extinction and became known asdisinhibition. Once he published in 1904, Pavlov knew that he was to be the
had extinguished the salivary response to the sight of first physiologist and the first Russian scientist to
meat powder- again by displaying it without allowing receive the Nobel Prize. This was for his work on
a dog any opportunity to eat - Babkin found that he digestion, but, rather than incline him to return to this
could also restore the response by interpolating some field, it helped provide the confidence needed to
other strong, although irrelevant, stimulus. In the continue with conditioning. The reaction of his fellow
initial experiments this was achieved by using another physiologists to the new direction he had taken
salivary reflex, that elicited by inserting a few drops of ranged from alarm to complete dismay. Many advised
dilute acid into the mouth; a few minutes later the him to 'drop that fad'. Even in its early days the Nobel
sight of meat produced as great a flow of saliva as ever. Prize conferred such distinction that its recipients
Later experiments showed that any kind of intense needed no longer be too concerned with the opinions
stimulation would have the same disinhibitory effect. of their scientific peers. It provided a licence to ex
For example, if the sudden slam of a door or the burst plore areas considered by general consensus to be too
of an unfamiliar light occurs shortly before, or even treacherous for lesser mortais.
during, the presentation of a stimulus that has just The new field continued to prove very fertile as
been extinguished, the latter's ability to elicit a many further discoveries were made and the power of
response is temporarily restored.14 conditioning procedures became more apparent. The
This work provides an interesting contrast to the distinction between natural and artificial conditioned
concerns of the British evolutionists and early Amer reflexes was now abandoned, since it seemed that
ican animal psychologists of this era. In trying to even the most unlikely form of stimulation could
understand how behaviour can be adaptive it is clearly become as effective a signal, or conditioned stimulus, as
as important to find out how and why reactions that the smell or appearance of some very familiar food.
are no longer appropriate to a certain situation For example, even though an event such as briefly
disappear as to explain how they become established cooling a small and arbitrary area of the skin had
in the first place. An emphasis on intelligence and on presumablv never been remotely connected with
the solving of problems made Western psychologists feeding behaviour in the whole lifetime of a dog or, for
concentrate almost exclusively on the acquisition of that matter, during the evolutionary history of the
new patterns of behaviour. It was many decades species, it could easilv be endowed with the property
before they paid very much attention to extinction, of eliciting sali%'a. All that was needed was a number of
which then turned out to present enormous theoreti- trials in which cooling was shortly followed by the
Bechterev and Objective Psychology 123
Fig. 5.4. Ivan Pavlov with B. Babkin, on the right, and G. V. Anrep, in the middle
arrival of meat powder. Examples like this persuaded Descartes' lords and masters of creation, Pavlov went
Pavlov and many later students of conditioning that on to suggest the advantages stemming from an
there was normally little to be gained from looking at understanding of the brain. The conquest which
the natural history of the animal used in their physiology has yet to make consists for the most part
experiments. of the actual solution of those questions which
The final point in Pavlov's steady change of hitherto have vexed and perplexed humanity. Man-
Outlook was reached by 1906. He moved beyond the kind will possess incalculable advantages and extra-
belief that to understand conditioning a physiological, ordinary control over human behaviour when the
not psychological, approach was needed to the much scientific investigator will be able to subject his fellow
more ambitious view that a physiological analysis of men to the same externai analysis as he would employ
conditioning provided a means, and the only scientific for any natural object, and when the human mind will
means, of understanding the brain. On October lsto f contemplate itself not from within but from without.'18
that year he gave the Thomas Huxley Memorial Science had not yet been put to the kind of use that
Lecture at the Charing Cross Hospital in London.17 would make a reader from later in the century sense
After a brief survey of his general ideas on condition the cold chili in such a message.
ing and of recent experimental data he ended with the
following comments on the relationship between Vladimir Bechterev and Objective Psychology
physiology and psychology. The investigation of The study of conditioning began during a period
conditioned reflexes is of even greater importance for of dramatic political developments in Rússia. When
the physiology of the highest parts of the nervous the new Czar, Nicholas II, began his reign in 1894
system. Hitherto this department of physiology, there was widespread hope that he would end the
throughout most of its extent, has been cluttered with long era of repression and revive the reforms of the
foreign ideas, borrowed from psychology, but now 1860s. He did nothing to encourage such hope. On the
there is a possibility of its being liberated from such contrary the government began to react in a heavy-
harmful dependence.' As an unconscious echo of handed manner even to suggestions for minor
Conditioned reflexes 124
changes in the political System or for minimal legislative powers, and the manifesto promised major
increases in personal freedom. As a result, opposition changes in the laws on civil rights.
to the Czar's authority became deeper and more The educational and other reforms enacted dur-
extensive than ever. In 1901 the first mass demonstra- ing the 1905 Revolution were later gradually eroded.
tions by students took place in the streets of St The Czar's manifesto divided opposition to the
Petersburg. In 1903 the first general strike was staged government and from early in 1906 the Czar steadily
by industrial workers in the south. A year later the regained his power. Within three years measures such
series of Russian withdrawals in the face of the as the ban on any kind of student society, the
Japanese armies marked the first major military defeat exclusion of women from universities and restricted
of a European by a non-European nation in many quotas for Jewish students had been brought back. By
centuries; faith in the Czarist system ebbed further. In 1911 it became common for Wholesale expulsions of
1905 a revolt by the peasants broke out on a scale not students from the universities to be carried out and for
seen in Rússia for over a century.1 uniformed police or detectives to attend most lectures.
Early in January, 1905, a deputation of unarmed But before the heavy and inept hand of repression
workers wishing to present a petition to the Czar was descended there was for a while an air of excitement
fired upon by troops. The day became known as and confidence in the future like that of the sixties
Bloody Sunday and these killings triggered the further when Sechenov had published his Reflexes of the
series of upheavals - strikes, demonstrations and Brain.
mutinies within the armed forces - that has since been Pavlov was no political radical like Sechenov. The
known as the 1905 Revolution. The Czar's ministers sole extent of Pavlov's participation in the events
uncertainly mixed efforts to put down the rebellion by leading up to the 1905 Revolution appears to have
force with the granting of some reforms. Thus, in April been the addition of his signature along with those of
a degree of religious toleration was allowed whereby a forty-two other scientists to a memorandum of 1900
Russian subject might leave the Orthodox Church for enumerating the defects of a secondary education
some other variety of the Christian faith without biased strongly towards the classics.4Yet, as a scientist
incurring any penalty. searching for a consistent framework for the new
The universities were at the centre of this political study of conditioning, Pavlov eventually adopted a
strife. The lives of almost all academics and scientists materialist outlook identical to the one advocated by
were affected to some degree by a general belief that Sechenov forty years earlier. By that time Sechenov
profound changes in Russian society both were was dead.
needed and were about to happen. At the 1904 As a young man Pavlov had read Sechenov's
congress of the country's leading medicai society, for Reflexes of the Brain and as an old man he admitted that
example, it was resolved that the fight against diseases he may have been unconsciously, but nonetheless
could only be generally successful 'under conditions strongly, influenced by the book. However, there is no
guaranteeing the broad spread of information about indication that Pavlov made any effort to study
their causes and prevention and, for this, full freedom Sechenov's work or even to meet him.5 One suspects
of person, speech, press and assembly are necessary that until his interest in conditioning was fully
prerequisites'.2This Pirogov Society, whose meetings developed Pavlov's attitude towards Sechenov may
Pavlov attended, had developed its own plans for well have been a mixture of respect for the very early
combating an outbreak of cholera in Southern Rússia, work on inhibition and regret that this had not
but these had been blocked by the government.3 developed into a steady and substantial body of
In August, 1905, the universities were given back experimental data, due to Sechenov's unfortunate
the autonomy that had been taken from them in 1884. interest in philosophical issues and his tendency to
They became the scenes of mass meetings that could involve himself in political affairs.
now be held without interference from the police. A contemporary of Pavlov, Vladimir Bechterev,
From such meetings in the University of St Petersburg was in many respects more like Sechenov. Bechterev
emerged the first workers' council, or soviet, of which shared Sechenov's interest in a broad range of
one prominent member was Leon Trotsky. This began scientific subjects and similarly participated in life
to act as an alternative government for a large part of outside the laboratory. Pavlov disapproved of Bech
the city. In October a general strike forced the Czar to terev, and one of the reasons that Pavlov found the
make a further crucial concession: a government shift to a physiological analysis of psychological
manifesto announced that a representative assembly, phenomena so painful may well have been because
the Duma, would be established and given some this meant the adoption of a point of view already
Bechterev and Objective Psychology 125
identified with Bechterev. Pavlov viewed Bechterev's dogs to perform tricks such as begging, making
work as chaotic and careless to an extent that debased dancing movements or offering a forepaw and then
Science, so that it must have been difficult to make determining in which areas of the brain a surgical
what was in effect a public admission within the lesion abolished such skills.6
medicai world of St Petersburg that he, Pavlov, now In 1893 Bechterev returned to St Petersburg as
agreed with Bechterev on this matter. professor of psychiatry at the Military-Medical
Bechterev was almost eight years younger than Academy. He continued to be as busy an organizer as
Pavlov, but had made much quicker progress up the ever; he set up new clinics and laboratories, extended
educational ladder. He entered the Military-Medical the work on neurological diseases at the hospital
Academy at the age of sixteen and obtained a first attached to the academy, founded a 'Society for
degree in medicine in 1878, one year earlier than Normal and Pathological Psychology' and started a
Pavlov, who had been older when he first entered journal that published papers in psychiatry, neuro-
university and had obtained a natural Science degree logy and experimental psychology. His involvement
before beginning medicai studies. In contrast to was not confined to founding and editing the journal:
Pavlov's student involvement in experimental phy- he was the author of fifteen out of the forty-five papers
siology, Bechterev developed an interest in psychi- in its first volume, and continued to maintain this
atry. He spent three years training in a hospital proportion over the next few years.7In many ways his
specializing in mental and nervous diseases, which activities mirrored those of his nearest American
ended when he submitted a doctoral dissertation on equivalent, G. Stanley Hall.
body temperature in certain forms of mental ill- His research associates and the many students
ness. who chose to carry out experiments in his laboratories
From 1881 Bechterev studied abroad, visiting the saw little of him. Consultation about an experiment
laboratories of a range of famous physiologists and that he had first suggested took place on the run, if it
psychologists. These included du Bois-Reymond in occurred at all. Although able to work for eighteen
Berlin, Charcot in Paris, where a new approach to the hours each day, his commitments would always
study and treatment of neuroses was arousing wide overflow. He needed at most five hours of sleep, so
interest, and Wundt, whose laboratory of ex that consultations with colleagues or patients could be
perimental psychology in Leipzig was still very new. made for after midnight and many of his papers were
Bechterev spent most of his time in Leipzig, but in the written as he sat in bed with his wife sleeping beside
laboratory of Flechsig, a leading neuro-anatomist. him. And yet everything was still done in a great
Within four years Bechterev's papers on topics in both rush.8 A new student was given a bewildering degree
psychiatry and neuro-anatomy had made him famous of freedom, in complete contrast to Pavlov's labora
enough to be invited to return to Rússia and become tory where it was insisted that a student first repeat an
professor of psychic diseases at the University of experiment already carried out at least once in the
Kazan. This was a remarkable tribute in an age of laboratory - which served both to train the student
university recession. and to check on the replicability of earlier data - before
At Kazan Bechterev was enormously energetic. starting a more original piece of work whose aims and
He set up a department for the study of mental details were usually quite closely specified in discus-
disease, was involved in the founding of a new sion with Pavlov.9
psychiatric hospital and began the first Russian Pavlov and Bechterev were colleagues who carne
laboratory of experimental psychology. He also man- to share the view that the study of conditioned reflexes
aged to complete a scholarly book on the anatomy of - 'association reflexes' was the term strongly preferred
the nervous system which became a standard hand- by Bechterev - was central to a scientific study of the
book in Rússia. mind and both were unrelentingly energetic in their
While still in Kazan Bechterev began to develop devotion to Science. In all other respects they differed
ideas about a new approach to psychological phe- greatly.
nomena. One aspect of this appeared in his clinicai Bechterev was an inspired innovator, a genius at
work. He carne to the conclusion that much more was initiating all kinds of projects, but not as good at
to be gained from studying in an objective manner the carrying things through to completion. He clearly had
changes that occurred in a neurotic patient's life than little taste for the repetitive tedium and thoroughness
from attempts to analyse his subjective experience. demanded for most experiments. When Pavlov
The second aspect was related to his studies of brain warned his students against spending too much time
function. Some of his experiments involved training reading and advised that it was usually fatal for a
Conditioned reflexes 126
laboratory. In 1908 Protopopov worked out a conve- stimulating book which showed the authoFs famili-
nient method for studying dogs which could also be arity and understanding of an impressive range of
applied in experiments with human subjects. contemporary research. It should have added greatlv
The situation used by Protopopov was one in to Bechterev's reputation. Unforunately by the time it
which a dog stood with one paw resting on a metal appeared the inevitable confrontation with Pavlov had
plate; a voltage could be applied to the plate of just occurred.
sufficient intensity to make the dog's leg flex. The Bechterev had made two particular claims on the
standard procedure was to switch on a light, a sound, basis of his students' work which Pavlov did not
or both together, at the same time as shock was believe. One was in the area of perception, and the
delivered to the dog's paw. After repeating this for a other was to do with brain localization. Some
number of trials one of the stimuli was presented alone experiments in Bechterev's laboratory showed that,
and, all being well, was found to elicit flexion of the leg after exposure to a procedure involving lights varying
in the absence of any shock. No surgery was needed, in colour, a dog's conditioned response to one light
nor special expertise. With near identical equipment could be distinguished from the response to another.
one could study the conditioning of a leg movement or Bechterev took this result to mean that dogs can
the jerk of a finger in a human subject.14 distinguish between different colours.15 In Pavlov's
For Pavlov the study of conditioning provided a opinion the possible importance of intensity dif-
major insight into the brain's basic functions. Bech- ferences, which would give rise to variations in
terev's interest was somewhat different. He was much perceived brightness, had not been adequately con-
more committed than Pavlov to the view that the trolled. Experiments in his own laboratory gave no
brain's various activities can be precisely localized, sign of any canine perception of colour. No one
and consequently a major question for him was often decisive study resolved the issue, but general opinion
where in the brain does such-and-such occur. The early then, as ever since, held that Pavlov was correct.
research in Kazan on brain lesions that would abolish The other major controversy began earlier and
trained movements was an attempt to locate the new carne to a dramatic climax in 1909. Some of Bechterev's
neural connections that must underlie some acquired early research, begun when he was still in Kazan, had
skill such as begging or offering the paw. Condition been on areas of the cerebral cortex that can be
ing appeared to offer a promising new technique for stimulated to produce some salivary secretion, and
answering such old questions; set up a well-defined hence were termed 'salivary centres'. Prompted by the
conditioned reflex and then determine where in the new work in Pavlov's laboratory, Bechterev's interest
brain lesions will cause it to disappear. returned to these centres and in 1906 one of his
Conditioning also offered a means of keeping the students, named Belitsky, claimed that removal of the
promises made for objective psychology. A critic cortex in this area abolished conditioned salivary
might scoff at the idea of studying perception other reflexes.
than by using human observers to report their This claim was challenged by results obtained by a
perceptual experience; Bechterev would show that the number of Pavlov's co-workers. They found that after
perceptual world of a dog could be perfectly well apparently similar cortical ablations reflexes that had
explored in an objective manner by means of condi been conditioned prior to surgery remained and new
tioning. After first establishing some specific event - ones could still be established. Pavlov seized on this
for example, a tone of fixed intensity and precise discrepancy as an opportunity to show up the low
frequency - one could vary some parameter of the quality of work in Bechterev's laboratory. He discus-
stimulus by small degrees - change just its intensity, sed the issue in public at a meeting of the Russian
for example - and look for a corresponding change in Society of Physicians in 1907 where, to the embarrass-
the intensity of the conditioned response. Such a ment of his students, he ended by appealing to the
change would indicate that the animal had perceived authority of his own reputation, proudly quoting from
the difference in the stimulus. Sechenov's autobiography a brief comment that
A description of Protopopov's procedure and a Pavlov was believed to be the most skilful surgeon in
discussion of the importance of conditioning was Europe.
included in a book which Bechterev published in 1910. The controversy became increasingly bitter.
Objective Psychology expanded on the arguments he Further papers reporting experimental results from
had put forward six years earlier in his paper of the Bechterev's laboratory that supported Belitsky's ori
same title, and added new material on conditioning ginal claim were challenged by contrarv results
and animal behaviour. It was a clear, systematic and obtained by Pavlov's students. After two further
Conditioned reflexes 128
meetings of the society that were marked by pro- reliability of some aspect of the results, then the
longed and heated argument, Bechterev and his experiment might be repeated in another animal or
associates remained silent at subsequent meetings two. As we have seen, it was routine in Pavlov's
whenever an experiment from Pavlov's laboratory laboratory for the first task given to a new student to be
was reported or discussed. that of attempting to reproduce in a new dog the
Finally, Bechterev entrusted a further student, results obtained by one of his predecessors.
named Spirtov, with the task of repeating one of the When Pavlov shifted his research from conven
apparently crucial experiments carried out by Pavlov's tional physiology to conditioning he retained his
workers. Spirtov obligingly showed that the claims commitment to the study of individual animais. No
made by Pavlov's group were wrong and those made other approach could have been so productive during
by Bechterev were right: in two dogs with appropriate the early years following the shift. Within an amaz-
cortical ablations conditioned reflexes established ingly brief period Pavlov's experiments had unco-
before surgery were lost, and Spirtov was unable to vered a whole range of important phenomena; hardly
establish any new reflexes. Bechterev decided on a a salient characteristic of conditioning was left for
public demonstration and took the two dogs to the subsequent workers to discover. But, after entering a
next meeting of the society. Spirtov tested them in full new field and locating most of the highly robust and
view of the audience which could see for itself that a general effects, what comes next? One possibility is to
visual stimulus that had previously served as a devise a systematic theory that covers the known
conditioned stimulus now no longer elicited a drop of phenomena and then to test its implications. Another
saliva. is to continue in an exploratory vein with imprecise
At the end of this demonstration Pavlov carne up and largely implicit theories as a guide, but with the
to the front and, despite protests from Bechterev and problem that the phenomena now become more
Spirtov, insisted on testing the dogs himself then and elusive and variable. Under these conditions it can be
there. He simply poured a little dilute acid from a test dangerous to draw general conclusions from results
tube into the dogs' mouths a number of times and obtained from just one or two animais.
showed that subsequently the sight or sound of the The dispute with Bechterev appears to have
acid splashing in the tube was sufficient to elicit diverted Pavlov from such issues. It was acceptable to
salivation. This impressive demonstration of expertise use very few animais in the research on the effect of
left the crowded room in no doubt as to who was the brain lesions, which was undertaken mainly for the
superior scientist; it was much more effective than the purpose of refuting Bechterev's claims. Similarly, a
appeal to Sechenov two years earlier. Pavlov was now limited number of subjects was satisfactory in the
not just Russia's only Nobel prize winner; he had perceptual studies carried out during this era, which
publicly triumphed over the only other major scien- also reflect Bechterev's influence.
tists with a comparable reputation in Russian From about 1910 onwards the problem of varia-
neuroscience.16 bility kept on intruding. It occurred, for example, in
Following this encounter and the publication of some phenomena Pavlov termed 'induction' and
Objective Psychology Bechterev's involvement in animal 'irradiation' effects; they could be clearly obtained in
research declined rapidly. Conditioning studies using some dogs, less so in others.1 There was also the
human subjects continued in his laboratory, but a new problem of sleep: from the early experiments onwards
interest in child development and a renewed interest it was found that many dogs became quite drowsy and
in psychiatric issues became his main preoccupations. unresponsive in the experimental situation, which
was, after all, designed to be as lacking as possible in
Pavlov's later work all stimulation except what was occasionally provided
The conventional experimental approach in by the experimenter; some animais proved to be
nineteenth-century physiology was based on the impossible to use as experimental subjects for this
intensive study of a few individual subjects. To reason.2
answer a question about the function of some organ In 1911 a particularly interesting experiment was
one set out to obtain a suitable 'preparation'. A carried out by one of Pavlov's students named
considerable number of animais might be used in the Erofeyeva; the situation she used turned out to be one
course of developing appropriate surgical techniques, in which dogs varied considerably in the way they
for example, but once an effective method had been reacted. Erofeyeva used a mild electric shock applied
developed the organ could be studied in a single to the dog's skin as a stimulus that preceded the
animal. If there were any doubt surrounding the delivery of food. She found that the defensive
Pavlov's later work 129
movements and signs of distress her dogs initially terev was the major Russian figure. For the first time
made in reaction to the shock disappeared, and Pavlov also began to suggest in public some possible
instead the shock came to elicit calm salivation. This implications of conditioning for matters of very
effect was subsequently termed counter-conditioning; it general human interest. On learning of Erofeyeva's
seemed to show that conditioning methods could be experiments on a visit to St Petersburg the English
powerful enough to neutralize an aversive event and physiologist, Charles Sherrington, lightly commented
even tum it into an attractive one. It seems, however, that now he understood the psychology of martyrs.7
that later attempts to replicate Erofeyeva's specific Pavlov made such remarks with a good deal more
results were not always successful.3 seriousness. He started to discuss the 'reflex of
Two or three decades later it became common for purpose' and that of 'freedom'. Ready physiological
researchers faced with such unexplained variability to Solutions were produced for complex psychological
use experimental designs employing groups of ani problems; for example, he suggested that 'the
mais which could be compared with appropriate tragedy of the suicide lies in the fact that he has an
control groups in order to isolate the causes of inhibition, as we physiologists would call it, of the
variability. Pavlov employed such an approach very reflex of purpose - most often a momentary and only
rarely and then only towards the end of his life.4 rarely a continued inhibition'.8
Instead he tended to fali back upon an appeal to Bechterev was scornful of Pavlov's ventures into
possible difference in his subjects' temperaments and human psychology and at the same time feared for the
inherited dispositions to explain variability. In later effect they might have on his own attempt to found a
years distinguishing different 'types' of dogs in a psychology based on the concept of the reflex; he felt
systematic fashion became one of his major enthu- that 'the adversaries of the objective method in its
siasms. application to the investigation of human personality
The counter-conditioning study by Erofeyeva is are given a weapon' by the simplistic nature of
interesting for another reason. Seeing the potential of Pavlov's claims.9In connection with some speculation
her techniques outside the laboratory she became an by Pavlov on the inheritance of a servile attitude,
early proponent of natural childbirth methods.5 This Bechterev wrote as follows. 'History shows that a
marks the first attempt to develop applications of the slave's child, when educated in a family of free
study of conditioning. Pavlov himself did not discuss citizens, becomes just as freedom loving as his fellow
this particular by-product, but about this time he citizens and does not betray any sign of inherited
began to develop an interest in neurosis. In certain slavery. All these facts are universally known to an
studies some dogs would remain in a distressed State extent which would make it unnecessary to mention
for some time after an experimental session. They them here, if this problem had not been recently
could perhaps be loosely described as having been touched upon by the authoritative physiologist,
made neurotic by the experiment. Treatment with Professor I. Pavlov, who, disregarding the long and
bromide was very often followed by the dog's return instructive history of this important problem, solves it
to a normal State. Pavlov became a great believer in negatively. Professor Pavlov bases his conclusion
this particular therapy.6 solely on his observations of one lively dog, with
The evidence supporting such beliefs was slight abundant and spontaneous salivation . . . The data
and unsystematic. The occasional abnormal State of a which he cites in favour of the existence of an innate
dog could have occurred for a number of reasons ''freedom reflex" and a "slavery reflex" in dogs are
besides the one preferred by Pavlov, that it was due to absolutely inadequate; we have still less reason for
the exposure of a certain type of nervous system to a extending these conclusions to man who according to
particular experimental procedure. Similarly, recov- Pavlov's statement, also possesses an innate "freedom
ery following bromide treatment did not mean a great reflex".'10
deal in the absence of systematic comparison with A new public controversy between the two men
recovery rates when no bromide was given. This over issues more philosophical than in the earlier
general kind of weakness arising from the study of disputes was prevented by the occurrence of the 1917
individual subjects can often be overcome by repeat- Revolution. Bechterev was highly sympathetic to
ing experimental manipulations a number of times in wards the new government and for some years
the same animal, but this is hard to do with something represented university students on the local Workers
like 'neurosis'. and Peasants' Soviet. His general political Outlook, as
Pavlov's interest in problems of clinicai psycho- indicated, for example, by the quotation above,
logy was an excursion into territory in which Bech- should have further endeared him to the communist
Conditioned reflexes 130
party. In contrast, Pavlov was often quite outspoken begun to follow up his interest in human mental
in criticizing aspects of the new regime. However, by disorders. In the summer of 1918, instead of his usual
now Pavlov had an unrivalled international reputa- holiday, he worked in a psychiatric hospital where his
tion, whereas Bechterev's was in decline. contact with patients confirmed him in his view that
The scorn Bechterev felt for Pavlov's views on their disabilities could be explained in terms of the
human behaviour had been expressed in a large, derangement of inhibitory processes in the brain.12
rambling and barely readable book which had Occasional examples of 'experimental neurosis' in
appeared just before the Revolution and was titled dogs continued to occur, as, for example, in some
General Principies of Human Reflexology. One important replications of Erofeyeva's counter-conditioning
reason for the subsequent lack of interest in Bechterev study and also in some situations where a very fine
among English-speaking psychologists has no doubt perceptual discrimination was required. Particularly
been because this was his only book to be translated striking effects of this kind developed in an experi-
into English. Contemporaries have noted that he ment in which food followed the presentation of a
appeared to age rapidly over his last ten years or so of circle, but not that of an ellipse with almost equal
life. After the Revolution his Psycho-neurological ratios. In September of 1924 a severe flood in
Institute was renamed the V. M. Bechterev Institute Leningrad reached the area where Pavlov's animais
for Brain Research and its funding was continued by were housed and there was great difficulty in rescuing
the communist government. But after he died in 1927 them. Subsequently many dogs reacted in a very
at the age of seventy he was quickly forgotten." irregular fashion in their experiments; this was
Pavlov lived on. Perhaps it was his strong belief in attributed to the effect of the traumatic experience on
physical exercise, the extreme regularity of his life, or 'weak' nervous Systems.13
his abstinence from potentially debilitating activities, There were also some entirely new departures. As
but, whatever the reason, he continued to direct his elsewhere, Lamarckian inheritance had been widely
now several laboratories and to broaden his interests accepted by Russian biologists during the nineteenth
in as energetic a fashion as ever. The Great War, the and well into the twentieth century. Pavlov was no
Revolution itself and the extreme rigours caused by exception, as one might expect for someone so greatly
the economic upheaval and civil war that followed had influenced by Herbert Spencer. But the issue became a
never quite halted his research, even though there live one again in the 1920s and Pavlov, as a committed
were periods when there was scarcely enough food for experimentalist, decided to test his belief. He tried to
himself and his family, let alone the dogs, and even detect the possible effects of establishing conditioned
though most of his previous assistants and would-be reflexes in one generation of mice on their descen-
students were tending the wounded and dying on one dants; the choice of animal reflected the speed with
front or another. which Lamarckian inheritance was commonly
In 1921 Lenin decreed that Pavlov, now 72 years believed to operate, as had Thorndike's choice of
old, was to receive exceptional treatment from the chicks to look at the same problem over twenty years
local soviet. The compatibility between Pavlov's earlier. At first some positive signs were obtained, but
Science and Lenin's philosophy, together with the eventually Pavlov decided that his data did not
desire to demonstrate to the rest of the world that the indicate any genetic effect of an animaPs conditioning
work of a prominent scientist could flourish within a history.14 This displayed an ability to question a
communist society, made Pavlov's own political long-held belief that would be creditable in someone
outlook of little import. He was provided with new of half Pavlov's age and authority. Another departure
facilities, new physiological institutes were opened that also involved the use of a new kind of ex
and now there were more co-workers than at any perimental animal was to study the problem-solving
previous time. So generous was his funding that by abilities of chimpanzees in order to test claims being
1930 his criticai attitude towards the Soviet govern made for these animais by some researchers in
ment had very much softened. American and German laboratories.
His extensive resources allowed Pavlov to pursue Despite its huge quantity the work carried out in
all of his varied interests. Basic studies of conditioning Pavlov's laboratory after the Revolution had a fairly
were continued by many of his students, but the topics limited impact outside the Soviet Union. The evidence
that Pavlov chose to talk about in the many addresses he gave in support of his various claims was never
he was now invited to give were usually mental very substantial or conclusive. Moreover there was no
illness, sleep or personality. Even in this difficult easy way of finding out in more detail about the
period immediately following the Revolution he had research since it continued to be reported only in brief,
Pavlov's later work 131
non-technical papers. Pavlov once explained that he as a method for studying the brain. Pavlov saw this
had intended to prepare a systematic presentation of failure as reflecting philosophical cowardice, as cling-
his work, but then the revolution had occurred. In ing to the idea that the mind should be left alone and as
1924 he gave a series of lectures in Leningrad that fear of the thorough-going materialism that Pavlov
formed the basis for a book, Conditioned Reflexes, which himself had adopted. From the perspective of post-
provides the only overall account of his ideas and revolutionary Rússia it seemed that scientists still
which, after its translation into English in 1927, has living in capitalist societies, which were rigidly
provided the primary means by which his work has divided into a ruling class that took decisions and a
become known outside Rússia. However, even this proletariat that provided physical labour, might well
book failed to contain the detailed exposition which find it very difficult to escape from making an
would have allowed serious assessment of his re- equivalent distinction between mind and body.
search. Pavlov never seems to have felt that the work Whatever the truth of such a view there was
had reached a ripe stage for taking stock. As he another more prosaic reason why neurophysiology in
commented in Conditioned Reflexes, 'new problems are general was little affected by Pavlov's work. The brain
perpetually arising, and at the same time an equally processes that Pavlov invoked to explain condition
large number of questions are still left unsettled. We ing, neurosis or differences in personality made little
often feel compelled to turn our attention from sense to most physiologists from the 1920s onwards.
problems which directly confront us to some un- For someone dedicated to understanding the brain
expected new phenomenon which introduces fresh Pavlov remained singularly uninterested in its ana-
problems or which necessitates a revision of old points tomy or in the fundamental changes in neuroscience
of view.'15 that began around the time he started the study of
Pavlov believed himself to be a pioneer extending conditioning; namely, general acceptance that the
the domain of physiology beyond the limits set for it nervous system is composed of individual nerve cells
by the Berlin school. Yet very few physiologists separated by synapses and that neural action consists
outside Rússia followed his lead in using conditioning of the transmission along the axones of nerve cells of
Conditioned reflexes 132
brief States of depolarization of the cell membrane, or ever, to convince neurophysiologists and psycholog
'spikes', which produce interactions at synaptic ists of the general importance of his ideas Pavlov
junctions. It was difficult to interpret Pavlov's re- needed in the long run to test them out across a broad
ferences to 'waves' of excitation or inhibition, to spectrum of behaviour.
'weak' nervous Systems or to the production of This latest interest in the analysis of instrumental
neurosis by the 'clash of the two antagonistic ner conditioning was not at all typical. There is little
vous processes' in terms of contemporary views of discussion in Pavlov's published work of such fun
the nervous system. This problem was of major con- damental conceptual questions as the conditions
cern to one of Pavlov's most ardent admirers out- which lead to the development of conditioned reflexes
side the Soviet Union, the Polish scientist, Jerzy or the form which they take. The phenomenon of
Konorski.16 overshadowing provides a useful example to illustrate
Another problem which also perturbed Konorski this point.
was later very prominent in debates over conditioning Most of the theoretical statements in Pavlov's
among Western psychologists. Many aspects of an books on conditioning imply that temporal contiguity
animaPs behaviour are profoundly affected by the past and repetition are sufficient conditions for the forma-
consequences of its behaviour; this is particularly true tion of a conditioned reflex; that is, if a neutral signal
for skeletal activity or 'motor movements', but may repeatedly occurs just before an unconditioned stimu-
not be true at all for the kind of glandular secretion that lus such as food, the signal will inevitably come to
Pavlov studied. As discussed in earlier chapters, the elicit a conditioned response. Overshadowing
Spencer-Bain principie was introduced to explain appears to provide an important counterexample to
such learning and the development of motor habits as this assumption. In at least two independent studies
a result of past successes; following Morgan and carried out by Pavlov's students it was found that a
Thorndike, animal psychology in North America signal of a kind that could become an effective
concentrated upon this kind of issue. In complete conditioned stimulus when presented on its own
ignorance of this tradition Konorski and his friend, remained ineffective if it was always presented in
Stefan Miller, who were medicai students together in compound with some other stimulus.19 Thus, to take
Warsaw of the late 1920s, were thrilled by Pavlov's one of these experiments, a set of lights in front of a
work, but did not believe that his theory could be dog was regularly switched on just before food was
extended to what is now known as instrumental delivered and soon carne to evoke salivation; with
conditioning. They carried out a number of experi- other subjects the same visual stimulus was always
ments which involved the use of a dog’s leg movement combined during training with a muffled sound to one
as a response as well as the Pavlovian measure of side of the dogs and in a subsequent test, when the
salivation. The results suggested the conclusion that lights were presented on their own for the first time,
there are two distinct forms of conditioning, thus surprisingly they had no effect, whereas these sub
anticipating by a few years the outcome of debates jects salivated to the auditory stimulus when this was
among American psychologists as to whether Pavlov's presented alone. The presence of the auditory stimu
conditioned reflexes could provide the basis of motor lus and its effectiveness as a signal for food had in
habits.17 some way overshadowed the lights.
Pavlov rejected the criticisms made by Miller and If temporal contiguity between a conditioned and
Konorski, but was sufficiently interested, impressed an unconditioned stimulus is all that is needed for
and generous to invite them to work in one of his conditioning to take place, why should the presence of
laboratories. Some of his own students studied this another signal matter? The brief remarks Pavlov made
problem and, following their work, Pavlov suggested about overshadowing show that he appreciated its
a way in which his theory could explain why, when potential importance, yet he did not develop a theory
the delivery of a reward depends on the occurrence of explicit enough to make its significance clear. Over
a certain response, the response often occurs more shadowing is an interesting example because when,
frequently. The suggestion was sketchy and un- over forty years later, it was at last studied intensively
convincing.18But what is relevant here is the way this it became one of a small set of phenomena that were
issue of instrumental conditioning illustrates the very central to the development of new theories of
narrow empirical base for many of Pavlov's general conditioning.20
claims. The almost exclusive concentration on the It would be silly to fault Pavlov for not providing
measurement of saliva for over thirty years was an theories of the kind now current; and that is not the
excellent research strategy in many respects. How- intention. The point is that Pavlov did not develop
Concluding discussion 133
anything like an explicit and coherent system, despite of way. It had also occasionally been regarded as an
the impression he conveyed at times and despite the important one, as in David Hartley's suggestion on
way his work was often regarded later, both by its relationship both to general functions of the
Western psychologists and even more by scientists nervous system and to speculative analyses of the
within the Soviet Union.21 It was not the kind of thing association of ideas in the human mind. Likewise,
that Pavlov liked or was good at. His skills were partly nearly a century after Hartley's ideas were published,
the technical ones needed in his kind of experimental Herbert Spencer gave conditioning a prominent place
work, but above all that of sensing what is an in his first sketch of mental evolution. Yet no one
important question and knowing how to devise a looked at the phenomenon closely until Pavlov and
suitable experiment to answer it. It is an ability that is that is the first reason why he occupies an important
easy to underestimate; often, after the event, it seems place in the present history.
all too obvious that some particular study was an The above description of classical conditioning is
appropriate one to carry out, but few people in deliberately neutral. It is not the way it has usually
psychology have ever showed the consistency in been described in textbooks of psychology. With some
producing fruitful empirical work that Pavlov dis- few exceptions conditioning has been viewed for over
played for so many years. This is what continued to seventy years from the perspective provided by
give him delight. He once commented to Babkin: 'Of Pavlov, that of the 'conditioned reflex'. This chapter
course we strive to reach the highest goals in Science has recounted in some detail how the first experiments
. . . but do you not agree that what impeis us to work on conditioning were carried out as a peripheral result
in the laboratory is the satisfaction we get from our of the large scale study of digestive processes carried
work'.22 out in Pavlov's laboratory during the 1890s. It has
By the mid-1920s experiments were proceeding discussed the various factors, ranging from the
on such a scale that Pavlov organized a weekly discovery of secretin to the revolutionary climate of
conference in order to keep in touch with the work of those years, that played a part in the slow double shift
his students and associates. These became famous as of the focus of research in Pavlov's laboratory from
his 'Wednesdays'. Age, power and fame now sepa- digestion to conditioning and of his philosophical
rated him from his colleagues. He still commanded Outlook towards a materialist position on psychology.
unbounded respect, but now considerable deference In view of the widespread extension of experimental
too. Although a brash young outsider like Konorski methods to various aspects of the life Sciences which
could argue his case with Pavlov, from the published took place around the turn of the century, it is not
records of 'Wednesdays' held in the early 1930s it surprising that the first experiments on conditioning
appears that his own students and co-workers now also date from this period. But this still leaves such
considered it unwise to disagree with Pavlov over questions as why they took place in Rússia, why the
important matters.23 There was no longer a fine for results were interpreted in terms of reflex action and
using the word 'consciousness' in his presence, but not in terms of the animal's understanding of its
the atmosphere of friendly co-operation that had environment, and why extinction and inhibition were
distinguished his laboratory ín pre-revolutionary days regarded as central problems.
had also gone. The vast hierarchical system he now One of the reasons why this kind of experiment
headed was like a model of the autocratic government started in Rússia is that Pavlov's laboratory could
of Czarist days. provide more appropriate facilities than almost any-
Active and involved in research to the very end, where else in the world. Pavlov's experiments were
Pavlov died in February, 1936 at the age of 86. not the kind that anyone with sufficient ingenuity and
spare time can carry out with some string and wax.
Concluding discussion Like most subsequent studies of conditioning they
In simple terms the phenomenon now known as took a good deal of time, were labour intensive and
Pavlovian, or classical, conditioning can be described required an expensively high standard of animal
as a change in an animal's behaviour that results from housing and maintenance. Furthermore, the topic was
a temporal relationship between two events; such sufficiently unconventional and the theoretical
a behavioural change is most marked when the first framework so distasteful to many physiologists that
event is at first of little interest to the animal, but the research might well have been dismissed or
it shortly precedes another event that is of consider ignored if carried out by anyone commanding less
able significance. As noted in earlier chapters, this prestige than Pavlov. In this context it is interesting
phenomenon had long been known in a general kind that very few people at the time, and only a handful of
Conditioned reflexcs 134
scholarly books since, paid any attention to the report different form, for which the only obvious inspiration
in 1902 by a little known American scientist named was not some Christian martyr, but his uncle, the
Twitmyer on the conditioning of a knee-jerk reaction abbot. In a monastery the austerity and rigid
in human subjects.1 adherence to a fixed sequence of daily rituais function
Another factor was the turbulent State of Rússia to strengthen belief; in a scientific laboratory equally
and the identification of even medicai Science with regular routines can be employed to test beliefs and
opposition to prevailing laws and social institutions. establish new ones. Pavlov's late commitment to the
This was a country with huge and increasingly view that the mind can be explained only in physio
developed resources, with scientists, writers and logical terms reflected the unusual extent to which he
musicians the equal of any in the world, and yet with was willing to change his outlook to one wholly
the kind of political system that had disappeared long consistent with his experimental findings. At a time of
ago from other European nations. In the land of the life when most people rest content with the philo-
Czars the basic scientific Outlook of questioning sophy they have arrived at, and when many scientists
authority and of testing belief was itself a revolution- may first begin to show some tolerance for more
ary attitude. The previous chapter pointed out the subjective points of view or other metaphysics, Pavlov
contrast between Sechenov's place in Russian society moved in the opposite direction.
and that of his teachers, particularly the Berlin Pavlov's research was not impelled by a search for
physiologists, in Germany. Sechenov helped to pre discoveries that could be directly beneficiai to man-
pare an intellectual climate which made the extension kind. Even though his career was sustained by the
of physiological method into psychology more accep- institutional framework of professional medicine
table to scientists in Rússia than to those elsewhere. It which provided the resources for his work, he was not
was Sechenov too who ensured that early Russian verv interested in questions concerning the cure or
research on conditioning paid a great deal of attention prevention of illness. Throughout his studies of the
to inhibitory effects. heart and the digestive system of the 1880s and 1890s
This returns us to the nagging problem that and during the first decade of research on condition
Sechenov's programme for psychology was begun by ing his only concern was with the question of how the
Pavlov, who of all the leading Russian physiologists at system normally functions.
the end of the nineteenth centurv had probably the His studies might well have carried on in this
least in common with Sechenov. Many of Sechenov's manner and continued to focus upon the central
students became productive scientists and held lead phenomena of conditioning for the last twenty-five
ing positions in the Russian medicai world by the years of his life. A major factor that led Pavlov to
1890s. Yet none of them studied the brain or made a explore the wider implications of his research was his
contribution to psychology. conflict with Vladimir Bechterev. Even before hearing
The solution to this problem is to be found in the of the early work on conditioning in Pavlov’s labora
intensity of Pavlov's belief in Science. Although more tory, Bechterev had begun to develop ideas about a
cautious and conservative in general outlook than new, objective kind of psychology that would work in
Sechenov and many of the latter's students, Pavlov's close partnership with the neurosciences and would
faith in the enlightening effect upon society of the apply itself to problems in the real world, notably
spread of scientific knowledge was as strong as theirs. those related to mental illness. After severely bruising
Moreover, Pavlov's dedication to a scientific point of Bechterev's reputation, Pavlov started to expand his
view was so complete that, if experimental results own interests beyond central questions on the nature
challenged even the most cherished and long-held of conditioning into topics which Bechterev had
belief, then he would not hesitate to change the belief. previouslv studied, such as neurosis, as well as new
The religious quality of Pavlov's dedication to ones, such as the basis of individual differences.
Science is seen both in the integrity with which he The old man whom Shaw's black girl met in the
applied the scientific method and also in the other- forest was proud of the light he had shed 'on the great
wordly, utterly regular pattern of his daily life. Many problems of human conduct'. Pavlov's claims about
young Russians of that era, often students who had sleep, personalitv and experimental neurosis ensured
been expelled from a university after some distur- that his conditioned reflex attracted a great deal of
bance or another, were prepared to sacrifice their lives attention. In recent years these claims have not been
in an attempt to assassinate a Czarist minister. The widely respected; most have seemed either too
commitment to Science shown by Pavlov took a simplistic or inadequately supported by convincing
Concluding discussion 135
evidence. Pavlov's lasting achievement for psycho- Wolfsohn first discovered that the kind of spittle a dog
logy has been the enormous amount of basic Informa produced at the sight of a handful of sand was
tion on the nature of conditioning in animais that was identical to the spittle released when the sand was
gathered in his laboratory for nearly forty years, after placed in its mouth.
Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely
objective, experimental branch of natural Science
which needs introspection as little as do the
Sciences of chemistry and physics. It is granted that
Comparative psychology
the behavior of animais can be investigated
without appeal to consciousness. Heretofore the
and the beginning of
viewpoint has been that such data have value only
in so far as they can be interpreted by analogy in
behaviourism
terms of consciousness. The position taken here is
that the behavior of man and the behavior of
animais must be considered on the same plane; as
being equally essential to a general understanding
of behavior. It can dispense with consciousness in
a psychological sense.
John Watson, Behavior: An Introduction to
Comparative Psychology (1914)
American psychology expanded rapidly around the colour vision, American investigators asked the same
turn of the century, becoming a prominent aspect of question of rats, raccoons and monkeys.
the general growth of higher education and scientific Studies of the sensory abilities of animais were
research. The study of animal psychology at first carried out in Germany as well as in America and
occupied a relatively minor position; experiments Rússia. A debate over the appropriate kind of
involving animais were carried out in just a few of the terminology to use in such work, and in studies of
new psychology laboratories, many of which were, invertebrate behaviour, first arose in Germany and
however, among the most influential centres. then in France. In 1899 Beer, Bethe and von Uexkuell
For the first decade or so of the twentieth century advocated the use of an entirely objective terminology
animal psychologists in America pursued their re in describing and reporting the results of such
search interests in a self-contained way, being mainly research. Words like 'see' or 'explore' were to be
concerned with specific issues and little with general banned because of their subjective overtones. Instead,
implications. The early experimenters were young descriptions should be limited to a technical vocabu-
people either in the process of completing their lary which could be defined in terms of physical
doctoral dissertations or holding relatively junior concepts only.1
positions within a department. Thorndike had stop- American researchers by and large agreed that the
ped working with animais soon after completing possible advantages from a new kind of objectivist
his thesis and there was no major figure in Ameri terminology for behavioural experiments were not
can psychology with an active interest in the sub- worth the cost of clumsy circumlocutions and of an
ject. ugly and forbidding jargon. However, there were
The experiments were on a small scale. There was large differences over the conceptual issue that the
little financial support even for buying and feeding suggestion about terminology reflected. Is the be
animais and no ready-made technology. A good deal haviour of an animal to be used as the one way of
of technical ingenuity was required and being a skilful discovering what its subjective experience is like, as
handyman was a considerable asset. The situation was Morgan's version of comparative psychology argued?
quite different from the one that Pavlov and his Or is it to be studied for its own sake? And to repeat
associates by now enjoyed in Rússia. again the question that Romanes had been so
The empirical questions addressed by the Amer concerned with over twenty years earlier, how do we
ican researchers were well-defined and experimen- tell whether a given species 'possesses conscious
tally tractable. Some of the studies were directly ness'? As the years went by this kind of question
inspired by Thorndike's paper of 1898; the question of remained as unsettled as ever, yet strangely this
whether animais can learn by imitation was particu- seemed to make no difference to progress in settling
larly popular. The major new development was of specific empirical issues.
precise methods for studying the senses of an animal This realization had far-reaching consequences
and these involved various forms of discrimination outside animal psychology. Whereas in Germany
training. For example, just as Bechterev and Pavlov work on the sensory abilities of animais was catego-
argued in St Petersburg over whether dogs have rized as physiology, in the United States the same kind
Loeb, Jennings and lower organisms 137
of research was carried out within psychology labor- many looked to provide a lead, and James Mark
atories and generally published in standard psycho- Baldwin, one of the younger would-be leaders, were
logical journals, side-by-side with papers on reaction as content to be regarded as philosophers as psycho
times, child development, schizophrenia or the nature logists.
of human consciousness. By 1910 two of the leading The major topics in this chapter are Watson's own
figures involved in animal work were becoming career up to 1913 and the cross-currents of research
widely known within professional psychology. Both and ideas within animal psychology from which
Robert Yerkes (1876-1956) and John Watson (1878- behaviourism emerged. The two universities which
1958) were busily involved in a variety of professional employed Watson, Chicago and Johns Hopkins, were
activities, giving Watson in particular a prominence as lively as any place in the world. One of the many
that was only partly based on his specific research burning issues at the turn of the century occurred in
achievements. Nevertheless it meant both that there the context of a topic which has rarely impinged upon
was increasing pressure on them to explain the point psychology, the behaviour of very simple organisms.
of including animal work within departments of A controversy in this field foreshadowed in an
philosophy and psychology, and that their opinions interesting way many of the debates that subsequently
on such matters would be listened to. The two men surrounded behaviourism. Watson carne to know
were friends who, although separated geographically, both of the major American protagonists in this
closely collaborated on a number of projects. Their controversy very well; one was Jacques Loeb (1859-
general views on psychology were at first quite 1924), who was at Chicago when Watson arrived as a
similar, but later began to diverge. graduate student, and the other was Herbert Spencer
Yerkes continued the evolutionary tradition de- Jennings (1868-1947), who was later one of Watson's
scribed in earlier chapters. His research increasingly colleagues at Johns Hopkins. This chapter starts with
concentrated on the problem of comparing the an account of their disagreement.
learning or problem-solving abilities of different
species. The aim was to detect different kinds of Jacques Loeb, Herbert Jennings and lower
psychological complexity, ways in which animais organisms
behave that reflect more than just the acquisition and The new forms of life revealed by the increas
performance of habits; and ultimately, by progressing ingly powerful microscopes of nineteenth-century
towards the 'higher' end of the scale, to understand biology were of great interest for a variety of reasons.
the ways in which the human mind shares some Above all there was the connection between these
mental processes with other animais and the ways it micro-organisms and disease. But also an understand-
does not. The style of research was entirely different ing of these creatures might bear upon more abstract
from that of Romanes, but the general conception was issues. Many of the scientists of the 1880s who, like
very similar. George Romanes, were concerned with the evolution
Watson developed in a different direction. As one of mind were cautious about extending the possession
of the first to decide that animal research could make of psychical properties too far. However, many others
much better progress by putting aside questions were not. A book appeared in 1889 which was called
concerning the subjects' inner mental lives and The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms and proposed that
concentrating on their behaviour, Watson later pro- single-celled animais, the protozoa, can perceive
posed that the same would hold true for human objects, discriminate between them, and display
psychology. He presented this point of view in 1913 in purposive action. The author was a French psycho-
a paper that provided the opening manifesto for the logist, Alfred Binet, who later became better known
behaviourist movement. for his invention of the intelligence test.
Considerable interest was shown in Watson's Binet's ideas were similar to those advocated by
general ideas on psychology. One reason was wide- the German evolutionist, Ernst Haeckel, whereby any
spread recognition that American psychology was in a form of life was conceived as having both a physical
very unsatisfactory State. Its rapid growth had taken and a psychical aspect. Indeed, Haeckebs view that 'all
place in the absence of agreement on the intellectual nature is ensoulled' was one that extended psychical
directions it should take. Most psychologists believed properties to plants. It was a belief that Romanes
that their subject was, or should be, a Science, but himself adopted later in life and shared with many
continuing debate over questions to do with the other evolutionists. As late as 1908 Francis Darwin, a
mind-body problem made psychology seem still more son of Charles Darwin and an eminent botanist in his
like a branch of philosophy. William James, to whom own right, gave a presidential address on conscious-
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 138
ness in plants to the British Association. But by this example of a simple heliotropism, whereby an animal
time most biologists had come to reject any but purely moves either to or from a light. Initially, when the light
mechanistic explanations for the reactions of both first appears, the animal is likely to be at an angle to it
plants and simple animais. They were persuaded to do and thus the light shines unequally on the two sides of
so largely as a result of the work of Jacques Loeb. any bilaterally symmetrical animal. The photosensi-
Loeb was bom in 1859 in the Rhine Valley. Both tive areas on the side receiving more light release more
his father - a merchant with intellectual interests who energy than those on the other side. This difference
liked France better than Prússia - and his mother died produces an uneven reaction of whatever locomotor
while Loeb was still in his teens. They left him with apparatus the animal possesses, causing it to rotate
enough wealth to gain an education and consider a like a tank with one track moving faster than the other.
university career. He studied medicine in Berlin, When the animal is lined up with the light source,
Munich and then Strasbourg. His first experimental stimulation to the two sides is equated and, given a
work was concerned with the effects of certain brain tendency to move, the animal ends up moving either
lesions on the behaviour of dogs. This was supervised directly towards or directly away from the source of
by Friedrich Goltz, who was a major opponent of light.
theories of brain function that stressed the specific These notions and Loeb's earlier work on brain
localization of various psychological processes. In lesions had already aroused considerable interest
1885 Loeb obtained an assistantship in Berlin that among American biologists when, in 1891, the scarcity
allowed him to continue this work, but a year later he of jobs in Germany and the barriers to employment
abandoned it, mainly because his distaste for inflicting arising from his Jewish origins caused Loeb to
brain damage on dogs had grown too strong. He now emigrate to the United States. Within a year he had
took up another assistantship in Wuerzburg, retaining obtained an appointment at the brand new University
his general interest in the relationship between of Chicago. The study of tropisms became a very
physiological and psychological processes and in popular topic and quite reasonably concentrated upon
experimental research, but felt no commitment to any much simpler forms of life than the creatures with
particular problem or outlook. which Loeb had begun. A considerable number of
A colleague in Berlin had been very much experiments were carried out during the 1890s in
interested in horses, and in the effects of exercise and several institutions, notably at Chicago and also at
other factors upon their fitness. One of the other Harvard, where there was a lively group of young
factors was light; a question of social, as well as experimentalists.
academic, interest in that era was whether light The aim of most of these experiments was to
promotes health and efficiency and, if it does, by what record movements to systematic changes in various
means. Loeb began to take part in experiments that forms of stimulation, including Chemicals, electricity
examined changes in the reactions of simple animais and temperature, as well as light and gravity. The
to light. He also became intrigued by the study of experiments were cheap and easy to run; results were
movement in plants. In contrast to work on this topic more or less guaranteed. For many American biolo
by Charles and Francis Darwin, the plant physiolo- gists of the time they provided an excellent introduc-
gists at Wuerzburg believed that the tropistic motions tion to experimental methods and design. At the same
of plants, their tendencies to move in certain direc- time, if Loeb were correct, the research would lead to
tions with respect to light, gravity or moisture, could the discovery of general principies for explaining
be entirely explained in terms of familiar physical and behaviour along purely mechanistic lines.
Chemical forces acting locally within the symmetrical Although some of the work oij tropisms in plants
structure of a plant. Loeb extended these ideas in had involved fairly detailed explanations in terms of
experiments on the reactions of fly larvae, cockroaches physical chemistry, Loeb's promise that a moth's
and caterpillars to light and gravity. He proposed his attraction by a candle could be similarly analysed,
general theory of animal tropisms in 1889, the year without any appeal to insectival curiosity, remained
Binet's book was published. rhetoric. Even in the work with simple organisms
In later years the theory of tropisms became there was rarely any attempt to get at the underlying
complicated, especially where it had to deal with physics or chemistry of a particular reaction. It was
reactions to changes in stimulation in cases where enough to conceive of doing so. In fact, by the time he
steady stimulation produced no effect. Nevertheless reached Chicago Loeb himself had moved away from
the general idea behind Loeb's early work was the reductionist viewpoint with which he had become
straightforward enough. It can be illustrated by the strongly identified. In its place he began to develop a
Loeb, Jennings and lower organisms 139
through college by working during semesters as an animais. This had led him to the general conclusion
assistant in biology courses and in vacations for the that the principies underlying behaviour are very
Michigan Fish Commission and for surveys of the complicated even at this levei. With Loeb clearly one of
natural history of the Great Lakes. the authors he had in mind, Jennings wrote of
Apart from confirming his enthusiasm and ex- tropisms and reflexes that 'there are some accounts of
tending his knowledge of biology, the major impact behavior in which only these definite reaction forms
from his undergraduate education carne from a course are described and only those conditions are dealt with
in philosophy given by John Dewey. This presented a in which these appear in the typical way. Such
detailed critique of the work of Herbert Spencer. accounts have given rise to a widespread impression
Jennings could now look detachedly on the beliefs he that behavior in the lower animais differs from that of
had acquired almost as long ago as the name that went higher forms in that it is of a fixed, stereotyped
with it. He wrote that Dewey 'set one free from my character, occurring invariably in the same way under
heretofore compelled adherence to such doctrines, a the same externai conditions. This impression is in a
change which though the process was painful, as all high degree erroneous.'3
upheavals of established principies must be, was very Jennings' experience had also made him very
welcome. I was left again in the condition of suspense sensitive to the diversity of behavioural mechanisms.
of judgement; the great questions were entirely Thus, even when different creatures behave in a very
reopened.'2 similar sort of way to a certain kind of stimulation, he
From Michigan Jennings went to Harvard for had found that this does not by any means guarantee
graduate studies. He knew the kind of research he that a single general principie is to be found. He was
wanted to do and already had a considerable amount particularly struck by the example of reactions to
of material. His dissertation on the early embryology gravity; the same basic movements, moving either up
of a freshwater invertebrate, the rotifer Asplancha, or down, were the effects of a variety of different
earned him a doctorate within the short time of two causes in different species. He was scathing about
years. He had also learned a great deal about marine claims to the contrary. 'We have been assured by
invertebrates during a summer spent in Newport, various writers that the reaction to gravity must be
Rhode Island. Although the empirical work for his explained in the same way in all cases, but this is
thesis was of an observational kind, his contact with evidently said rather in the capacity of a seer or
two of the younger faculty members of the Harvard prophet than in the capacity of a man of Science whose
biology department, who were studying tropisms, conclusions are inductions from observations and
had convinced him of the value of the experimental experiment.'4
approach before his travei fellowship took him to Tropism theory was based on two assumptions
Germany and to Verworn's laboratory in Jena. which Jennings considered false. One was that an
By the late 1890s the job market in America was organism is passive, remaining quiescent until some
again very poor for the many well qualified biologists form of stimulation impinges upon it; he pointed out
seeking some form of permanent employment. On his that even as simple a creature as an amoeba can
return from the year with Verworn, Jennings man- display a great deal of varied activity in a totally
aged to obtain a succession of temporary teaching and invariant environment. The other assumption was
research appointments over a number of years. Many that the reaction to a stimulus can be understood
of these allowed him to continue the work on without taking into account the State of the organism.
paramecia, which was partly stimulated by the attacks The claim that living organisms are inherently
by Loeb's students who regarded his ideas as a active is one that has been discussed here earlier,
disguised form of vitalism. In 1906 he published a notably in contrasting the views of Johannes Mueller
book, The Behavior ofLower Organisms, which reviewed and those of his students of the Berlin school.
twenty years of research on protozoa and simple Jennings' second main point, that a theory of beha
multi-celled animais and expressed his own ideas on viour has to explain the state-dependent nature of
behaviour. It has deservedly been considered a classic reactions to externai events, was intriguingly novel.
work ever since. For example, in terms of their routine experimental
A major difference between Loeb and Jennings procedures Pavlov and his students knew full well
lay in the extent to which they had observed that a dog would not produce spittle to the sight of
behaviour. In comparison to Loeb's limited involve- meat powder or some conditioned stimulus unless
ment in research of this kind, Jennings had spent previously deprived of food. Similarly, Thorndike
many years studying a wide variety of primitive knew that his cats and dogs would not learn to escape
Loeb, Jennings and lower organisms 141
from his puzzle boxes unless in a 'state of utter an organism be considered as a set of Systems whose
hunger'. Yet neither in Pavlov's nor in Thorndike's function is to maintain a constant internai environ-
account of behaviour is there more than passing ment; from this point of view behaviour is seen as an
attention to the point Jennings considered to be so extension of bodily mechanisms that work to ensure
central, namely that changes in an animaLs condition that the balances of temperature, water, energy,
can produce wide variation in reaction. oxygen, minerais and other substances are all kept
According to Jennings, changes in an animal's within tight bounds. Swimming away from some
State could take a number of different forms. The Chemical will usually be a much more effective means
simplest is where a stimulus is just repeated a number by which an amoeba can keep its body chemistry
of times; what is most frequently observed is merely unchanged than any internai process.
that the initial response becomes progressively The stress on complexity, on diversity of mechan-
weaker- the phenomenon is now termed habituation - ism, on the spontaneity of much behaviour and on its
although sometimes an entirely new response may regulatory function divided Jennings from Loeb.
begin to appear as the first weakens. In either case it However, there were many beliefs that they shared.
means that prior stimulation has caused some rela- For one thing they both held that a great deal could be
tively long-lasting internai change so that, when the learned about the behaviour of complex organisms
stimulus is repeated, the reaction is now altered. from the study of the very simple. Also, like Loeb,
Another case discussed by Jennings is where a Jennings argued strongly against the view that the
reaction to one form of stimulation depends on what possession of a nervous System transforms an animal.
other stimulation is also present. Thus, the reactions A central theme in The Behavior of Lower Organisms is
of a paramecium to a touch from the slender tip of a that a detailed comparison between single-celled
glass rod depend on the temperature and Chemical animais and those with primitive nervous Systems
composition of the liquid around it and to a major reveals only similarities.
degree on whether it is swimming freely or in contact Moreoever, although this was less obvious, they
with some object. agreed about the importance of experimental work
Finally, in certain cases the variability in the and of describing and analysing behaviour in wholly
behaviour of lower organisms appears to be due to objective terms. Jennings paid tribute to Loeb in this
changes in internai States comparable to those which respect. In replying to accusations that his book
in more complex animais might be labelled 'hunger' or marked a retreat from the objective approach, Jen
'satiation'. Even in a single-celled creature like the nings said that when writing it he had considered that
paramecium lack of food or of sodium can produce 'the battle against psychic explanations had already
some changes in its behaviour. Jennings quoted more been won' and that 'everyone must recognise the
dramatic examples from the coelenterates, the group tremendous Service done by Loeb in championing
of multi-celled organisms with simple nervous Sys through thick and thin the necessity for the use of
tems that includes hydra, sea anemones and jelly-fish. objective, experimental factors in the analysis of
When the tentacle of a hydra comes into contact with behavior'.5
food-like objects it can discharge nematocysts, spiked The descriptive language Jennings employed
particles which can pierce the skin of an insect larva, made it easy to mistake his approach for a less
but will do so only if the hydra has been without food thorough-going objective one than Loeb's. There had
for some time. The food reaction of a sea anemone, been a proliferation of technical terms during the brief
which serves to bring objects grasped by its tentacles period since researçh of this kind had begun, and
into the mouth, is triggered by a much wider variety of Jennings did not feel that this had been helpful. 'To the
solid bodies if the animal has been without food for present writer, after a long-continued attempt to use
some time; whereas, if recently fed, the animal reacts some of the Systems of nomenclature devised, de-
in a languid fashion even to pieces of crab meat. scriptions of the facts of behavior in the simplest
Jennings argued that, like a general theory based language possible seems a great gain for clear thinking
on tropisms, one based on reflexes also has difficulty and unambiguous expression . . . Less attention to
in accommodating what would now be called 'motiva- nomenclature and definitions and more to the study of
tional' factors. He did not use this particular term; organisms as units, in relation to the environment, is
'motivation' was still a new word, not yet in wide at the present time the great need in the study of
circulation. Instead Jennings talked about the 'regula- behavior of lower organisms.'6 Jennings was not
tory' function of behaviour in a way that reflects the perturbed by the connotations that descriptions in the
ideas of Claude Bernard. Bernard had suggested that 'simplest language' usually bring with them. Thus,
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 142
the behaviour of a starfish placed on its back is referred further. The point is interesting in that the most
to in terms of the creature 'trying' to right itself; fundamental difference between Loeb and Jennings
Jennings implied by this only that the situation evokes lay not in their beliefs about behaviour, but in their
a series of different reactions which terminates when attitude to Science. Loeb held that rapid progress, as
the starfish turns itself the right way up. indicated by success in controlling natural processes,
There was a further, more subtle reason for using depends on isolating principies of wide generality;
the kind of term that would usually be reserved for Jennings believed that living organisms are extraordi-
much larger animais. Jennings' descriptions were in- narily complex and that any kind of real understand-
tended to convey the complexity of the activities of ing would take a long time. He admitted that 'to
paramecia, hydra and the like. Towards the end of the demonstrate the complexity and difficulty of a field of
book the question is raised of whether consciousness work is not an achievement to be compared in value
exists in such lowly creatures, and it is promptly dis- with the demonstration that this field is simple and
missed for the reason that no statement concerning easily explicable on a few known principies. I am
consciousness is open to verification or refutation. under no illusion in regard to this. The clear-cut,
Nevertheless Jennings goes on to consider why we narrow tropism theory would be of infinitely greater
tend to attribute consciousness to some animais. He value for predicting and controlling the behavior of
explained that he had become 'thoroughly convinced animais than anything I have offered, if only it were
. . . that if Amoeba were a large animal, so as to come true.'8 Loeb himself, concentrating more and more on
within the everyday experience of human beings, its embryological research, predicted that 'if the com
behavior would at once call forth the attribution to it of parative physiologists follow Jennings there will never
States of pleasure and pain, of hunger, desire and the be a comparative physiology'.9 And in a way he was
like, on precisely the same basis as we attribute these right. Interest in the behaviour of micro-organisms
things to the dog . . . If it were as large as a whale, it is quickly died away.
quite conceivable that the attribution to it of the After he arrived in Baltimore Jennings began
elemental States of consciousness might save the work on genetics. Mendebs work on inheritance in
unsophisticated human being from the destruction the pea had been rediscovered in 1900. This had
that would result from the lack of such attribution'.7 prompted a flurry of studies which set out to see
In places Jennings strains to convince the reader whether the same principies and simple ratios could
of the mammal-like qualities of his microscopic be observed in a variety of other animais and plants.
creatures. This stands out particularly in his treatment By the time Jennings began to work within this field it
of their ability to learn. There was still little evidence at had become clear that Mendebs laws were of con-
all of learning even in coelenterates, and yet there is a siderable generality. This outcome encouraged the
good deal of discussion of this topic. The treatment is view that progress in biology comes from concentrat
almost direct from Herbert Spencer, although clearer. ing upon an appropriately representa tive organism. In
Like Spencer, Jennings includes both the idea of his genetics research Jennings continued to work with
conditioned reflex - Jennings had no knowledge of the paramecium he now knew so well. With hindsight
Pavlov's work on this topic - and that of instrumental this can be seen as an unfortunate decision. Two years
conditioning, caused by the differential consequences later Thomas Morgan began to work with fruit flies
of a series of movements, and he fails to distinguish and this turned out to be a much better choice.
between them. Jennings joined the Johns Hopkins biology de-
The Behavior of Lower Organisms was published in partment just two years after James Mark Baldwin had
the summer of 1906 which Jennings spent in Califór been appointed to revive psychology there. Some of
nia, just before taking up the permanent post he had at Jennings' ideas on evolution were based on the
last obtained at Johns Hopkins University. During that 'principie of organic selection' that Baldwin, together
summer he carried out a study of learning in starfish; with Lloyd Morgan, had proposed in the 1890s.10
he was fully aware of the weak empirical basis for the Baldwin welcomed the new arrival. With their com-
claims his book made on this topic. It was his last piece mon interest in genetics and animal behaviour it made
of behavioural research. great sense, since Jennings was now fully involved in
Some of Loeb's students criticized the book on the genetics research and Baldwin no longer ran experi-
general grounds that it is better to have a well-defined, ments, to try to attract to the psychology department
if limited, theory that stimulates research than an someone with an active research interest in behaviour;
ill-defined, albeit more comprehensive, account that preferably someone who was trained as a psycholo-
leaves it completely unclear how to proceed any gist, rather than like Jennings as a biologist, and who
The laboratory rat and Watson 143
worked with subjects a little closer to man than the used in studies of breeding. This provides the first
paramecium; perhaps a psychologist who studied the example of a species being domesticated for entirely
new kind of rat that was becoming so popular. scientific purposes.1
The arrival of the laboratory rat in North America
The laboratory rat and John Watson's early and its immediate appearance in psychology labor-
career atories was partly due to a young scientist from
The study of animal behaviour was in a curious Switzerland named Adolf Meyer. Meyer had obtained
situation at the turn of the century. It still attracted a medicai degree and written a dissertation on the
wide interest, particularly in North America, for the reptile brain at the University of Zurich. A year spent
light it might shed on mental evolution and yet, with in England, where he became familiar with the work of
the notable exception of Thorndike's research, syste- Hughlings Jackson and of Huxley, had inspired him
matic, experimental studies of behaviour were limited with respect for what he was later to term 'Anglo-
to relatively mindless creatures, such as the simple Saxon Science'. Hearing of the new universities in the
organisms discussed in the previous section and United States and of the exodus of biologists from
various species of insect. Clark to Chicago, he emigrated in 1892 at the age of
One reason for the lack of knowledge about twenty-six to contact Henry Donaldson in Chicago. It
mammals was the practical one that to sustain seems that the first laboratory rats to reach North
behavioural research with animais like cats, dogs or America may have been sent to him shortly after this.
monkeys in an effective way requires the kind of Within a few months of arriving in Chicago Meyer
space, labour and money that only Pavlov com- found employment as a pathologist at a State hospital
manded at that time. Consequently the arrival of the sixty miles away and held an honorary teaching
laboratory rat in North America was very timely, since appointment at the university. By the time he left he
it was found to be easy to house and study even when had persuaded Donaldson of the advantages of the rat
resources were limited. Its various advantages as a in studies of the nervous system. Donaldson later
subject for behavioural studies eventually made it by started a rat colony with animais given to him by
far the most widely used animal in the psychology Meyer.2
laboratory. In 1895 Meyer was appointed to the Worcester
The wild rat comes in two main varieties, both of State Hospital in Massachusetts and again immedi-
them relative newcomers to Europe and the Américas. ately became associated with the local university,
The black, ship or Alexandrine rat, rattus rattus, began Clark. Stanley Hall invited him to give regular courses
its major invasion of Europe towards the end of the of lectures in clinicai and abnormal psychology. Soon
twelfth century at the time of the crusades. It was after Meyer's arrival laboratory rats were being used
responsible for the spread of the Black Death and was by a biologist at Clark, who in 1897 advised a
involved in most subsequent major European pla- psychology instructor there, Linus Kline, that labora
gues. Early in the eighteenth century it was followed tory rats 'are small, cheap, easily fed and cared for; and
from Asia by its cousin, the brown, Hanoverian or best of all, when placed in revolving cages, they spend
Norwegian rat, rattus Norwegicus. Hordes of brown most of their time, when not eating or sleeping, in
rats crossed the Volga around 1727 and migrated running'.3 Kline began to use rats in his laboratory
westwards. Except in warm climates or in environ- course in comparative psychology and later super-
ments requiring especially skilled climbing, the brown vised the work of a graduate student, Willard Small,
rat rapidly displaced its cousin. who decided to study associative processes in this
Human domestication of the brown rat began in species.
the 1800s when rat baiting was developed as a sport. Kline had been convinced of the importance of
Albino individuais were occasionally observed and animal research in psychology from his reading of
sometimes they were isolated for show or breeding Lloyd Morgan and Wundt. He had gone to Clark with
purposes. It is quite probable that the less aggressive the sole purpose of studying animais. In this he had
animais tended to be selected. In any case it was found been somewhat deflected by criticism from Hall, who,
that the rat is not necessarily the vicious, loathsome though continuing as president of Clark, maintained
creature of legend and that, if properly gentled in close contact with the activities of the psychological
infancy, that is, given regular and gentle human laboratory, and it is Small who has been remembered
handling, even an adult male can be as tame as a cat as carrying out the first psychology experiments with
or dog. By 1860 the rat had begun its career as a rats. These studies at Clark took place independently
laboratory animal in France, where it was occasionally of those of Thorndike and must have started at about
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 144
the time Thorndike was completing his descriptions of Carolina. Where most of his subsequent teachers and
the behaviour of cats and dogs in puzzle boxes. Unlike colleagues were the sons of ministers or doctors, and
Thorndike, Kline and Small were concerned to study generally were from comfortable and educated, even if
learning in situations that seemed to them as natural - like that of Jennings - sometimes impoverished,
as possible for their subjects. In the first experiments, households, Watson's childhood was quite different.
published in 1900, food was placed in a small box and The first twelve years of his life were spent on the
the rats had to burrow through sawdust or gnaw small farm his family owned some six miles outside
through the fastening of a door to get into the box.4For the town of Greenville. They then moved into the
the second set, published in the following year, the town when his father began to work in a sawmill.
labyrinth-like burrows of wild rats suggested the use There was a great deal of discord within the
of a maze. Small constructed a replica of the maze at family. Watson's mother was a devout and very active
Hampton Court Palace and let his rats live in it. His member of the nearby Baptist Chapei, who greatly
maze is illustrated in Figure 6.2. At various times he admired one of the local hell-fire preachers, John
would place food in the centre and observe the rats' Broadus, and named her second son after him.
progress in reaching it from a point outside.5 Despite this christening the attempts to instil her
These studies were mainly observational ones religious faith into her children, which had completely
and Small's tentative suggestions about their signi- succeeded with her first son, had no more lasting
ficance were more in the style of Romanes than of effect upon John Watson than upon his father.
Thorndike, with a great deal of inference about the A wild adolescence and a brush or two with the
presumed subjective experience of the subjects. police while still at school are perhaps not unusual
Small's papers were overshadowed by the much more with such a background. The real mystery about
provocative and analytic paper by Thorndike. How- Watson is that, although there does not seem to have
ever, Kline and Small had shown that rats could be been a single aspect of his childhood that encouraged
conveniently used for experiments on learning in intellectual pursuits, he did sufficiently well at high
animais; Small's comments on their sense of smell and school to go to the local Baptist college, Furman
the ability of blind rats to find their way through the University, and there developed a considerable in
maze prompted the question of what sense, or senses, terest in philosophy.
the rat was using in learning the maze. This became a Furman was very small, with a total faculty
central issue in the study of the rat for the next few membership of just eight professors, and it was on the
years. outermost periphery of the American academic world.
Animal psychology did not last very long at Clark However, one of the professors had just completed a
University. These studies of the rat and some later sabbatical year at what was now the centre of this
experiments on monkeys were the major products of world, the University of Chicago, and he taught
its laboratory of comparative psychology. Possibly Watson philosophy and psychology. The up-to-date
because of Hall's influence and his involvement in reading for his courses included the latest American
other aspects of psychology, such as developmental textbooks on psychology by Baldwin and by Ladd, as
studies, educational issues and a growing interest in well as translations of Wundt.
abnormal behaviour, work on animais ceased there After graduating from Furman in 1899 Watson
soon after the turn of the century. This left Chicago as taught in a one-room country school a hundred miles
the only place where rats were to be found in a from Greenville, where the children were impressed
psychological laboratory. Although Donaldson had by the rats he had tamed and taught to perform
been the first American scientist to work with rats, his various tricks. The following July his mother died. By
primary interest had been in their physiology.6 The the end of the month he had applied to the University
first systematic study of the behaviour of rats at of Chicago to do graduate work and had written to
Chicago did not begin until after Kline and Small had John Dewey, the professor of philosophy there, to
published an account of their work at Clark. The explain his reasons for doing so. By September all was
Chicago work was carried out by John Watson for his arranged, and at the age of twenty-two Watson left
doctoral thesis. Greenville.
In terms of background and personality Watson In 1900 the group of distinguished men teaching
differed considerably from the majority of young in Chicago included Loeb, Donaldson, Dewey and
American scientists of his time. For one thing he carne George Herbert Mead, a second philosopher who
from south of the Mason-Dixon line; he was bom and subsequently was highly influential in the develop-
spent his childhood in the piedmont country of South ment of social Science in America. The psychological
The laboratory rat and Watson 145
B. One of Kline's
problem boxes
g
sgRj mmmm
irnSámum5 S W
Fig. 6.2. Apparatus used in the first experiments on the behaviour of the laboratory rat, carried out at
Clark University around the turn of the century
laboratory was then still part of the philosophy proved a little when he was awarded a university
department. It was organized by a younger and less fellowship at the end of his first year. He was now
weil-known man, James Angell, another of the early ready to start research and was inclined to work on a
American psychologists whose interest in the subject problem suggested by Loeb. But by now Angell had
had been stimulated by William James and who had become an influential figure in his life and Angell
followed studies at Harvard with a year in Germany. dissuaded him from this plan on the grounds that
Watson had come to study philosophy and had Loeb was not a 'safe' supervisor for a new student like
been very much attracted by Dewey's reputation. But Watson. Instead Angell and Donaldson together
he was quickly disappointed by Dewey, later claiming suggested a research topic and jointly supervised his
that he could never understand what Dewey was work.
talking about. Watson continued to have a great deal The aim of the project was to test a current theory
of contact with Mead, for whom he had high respect, that learning could only occur once the process of
but his dedication to philosophy ebbed away and was myelinization of nerve fibres in the brain was well
replaced by an interest in some neurophysiological advanced. The study was a developmental one:
research which Loeb was doing and in the work of the Watson tested the learning abilities of rats at various
psychological laboratory. ages and looked for a correlation with progressive
Watson had very little money and had to support changes in various parts of their brain, which were
himself by means of various part-time jobs. These studied using histological techniques. This study was
included employment as an assistant janitor, a post an early example of research in physiological psycho-
whose duties included dusting AngelFs desk and logy or psychobiology, in that both behavioural and
looking after Donaldson's rats. The situation im- physiological variables were measured within the
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 146
became convinced that the matter could be best settled Watson carne to regard the behaviour of a rat in a
by using animais in which one or another sense had maze as a chain of discrete responses, controlled by
been eliminated by surgery. In the Spring of 1905 he kinesthetic feedback, which becomes increasingly
went to Johns Hopkins University to leam the integrated as training continues. Learning was seen as
appropriate surgical techniques. The visit provided an the development of a complex motor habit which,
opportunity to meet Mark Baldwin; the two men got when once initiated, progresses in an invariable,
on well together and a number of talks that Watson automatic fashion, in the sense that it is unaffected by
gave at Hopkins were well received. externai stimuli. This view was confirmed for him in a
After returning to Chicago Watson used his subsequent study with Carr, which he was to
newly-acquired skills to remove the eyes from one remember with delight years later when it became
group of rats, destroy the middle ears of a second known as the 'kerplunk' experiment. After rats had
group, lesion the olfactory bulbs of a third group and been extensively trained in a large maze, the latter was
cut off the whiskers of a final group of rats. He was sawn through and re-assembled so that some of the
unable to detect any impairment in their ability to arms were much shorter: the rats now ran squarely
leam a maze. The one positive result of these into the ends of these arms.9
experiments puzzled Watson: he found that the intact By this time Watson's interests had begun to
rats appeared curiously sensitive to the absolute move away from analysis of the sensory control of
orientation of the maze, in that rotation of the maze maze performance to the general problem of studying
through 180° from its normal position in the ex sensory processes in animais. In 1907 he and Robert
perimental room disrupted the animais' behaviour. Yerkes were awarded a small grant to prepare a report
On the basis of these studies Watson claimed that on methods of studying visual perception in animais.
the behaviour of rats in a maze is controlled only by Three years earlier Watson had first written to Yerkes
their kinesthetic sense, that is, by the internai feedback at Harvard where he directed the only other animal
sent to the brain by receptors in joints and muscles. psychology laboratory in the world. Although it was a
The experimental approach was crude and the results very long time before they actually met, they became
did not in fact demonstrate this claim. In an appendix close friends and for twelve years exchanged frequent
to the report he admitted the validity of criticisms letters in which they informed each other about their
pointing out that rats may be able to use more than one experiments, shared new technical information and
modality to negotiate a maze, so that, for example, a explained their general views on psychology.10 In
blind rat might use its sense of smell, whereas a rat connection with their joint grant Watson set up a small
without olfactory bulbs might use its sight. As a primate colony at Chicago to allow him to study colour
consequence he finally tested just one unfortunate rat, Vision in monkeys.
in which the eyes were removed, the olfactory bulbs Watson also started to follow up another new
lesioned and the whiskers cut off, and reported that its interest. In the Spring of 1907 he made the first of a
ability to leam to get to food in a maze was number of visits to the Dry Tortugas, islands lying
unimpaired. Nonetheless research many years later sixty-six miles west of Key West in Florida, to study
showed that Watson's critics were correct and that rats the behaviour of noddy and sooty terns. The report of
can use alternative senses to find their way in a maze, this first visit appeared in a publication of the Carnegie
the preferred sense depending on the characteristics Institute and cannot have had a wide readership even
of the maze. at the time.11 Yet in many ways this paper is far more
The appearance in 1907 of the paper reporting this impressive than those on rats which were published in
research involved Watson in his first public con- the standard professional journals. The bulk of the
troversy. There was an outcry over what was seen as paper consists of painstaking naturalistic observation
the needless cruelty of these experiments, unjustified of the behaviour of these sea birds, noting the
by relevance to any medicai problem. Watson made no similarities and differences between the two closely
claim that such research made any contribution to related species. Punctuating the details of their
human psychology and specifically rejected the idea mating, nesting, brooding and feeding patterns are
that a person placed in such a situation would learn in the questions these observations raised. Given the
the same way. He felt that it was plain that kinesthetic thousands of birds within the crowded nesting
stimuli would be of little importance to a human colonies, how do the partners recognize each other?
subject, who under comparable conditions would no How does each pair find its nest? In what way does the
doubt employ visual imagery to solve the problem of arrival of the eggs, and later the hatching of the young,
getting through a maze. produce marked changes in the behaviour of the
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 148
parents? Is the egg recognized? What Controls the research during this first visit to the Tortugas was of an
alternation of food-seeking between the two partners? exploratory nature, but the results were impressive for
As in his research with rats, Watson was most just three months' labour and laid the groundwork for
interested by questions about the sensory abilities of future visits.
the terns and about the effective stimuli controlling In 1908 Baldwin was in a position to appoint a
different aspects of their behaviour. With the ques professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins to be
tions carne ideas on simple experiments that might responsible for establishing a laboratory of compara
provide answers. He dyed the feathers of some birds, tive psychology and John Watson was one very
changed the markings of the eggs, placed eggs in the obvious choice. Watson had not proposed any
nests of birds that had not yet laid, and looked at the influential theory or made some great discovery, and
various resultant changes in behaviour. In contrast to his research interests may have seemed narrow. But
the plasticity of the behaviour of his rats and monkeys, his energetic work at Chicago had become well-
the reactions of the terns appeared remarkably known, and he had displayed broader interests and
invariable. He also noted the absence of any play in the scholarship in the reviews that he had contributed to
young birds as compared to mammals. the journals that Baldwin edited.12 Watson appeared
In contrast, in their sense of orientation the terns to be a Corning man. He was highly regarded by his
were much more impressive than rats. Working on the colleagues at Chicago: Carr later remembered Watson
problem of how each bird found its own nest, Watson at that time for his 'tremendous energy and enthu-
discovered that greatly altering the appearance of the siasm in both work and play, . . . his irrepressible
nest had no effect. If the nest were removed a few feet spirits, his intellectual candour and honesty and his
away the returning bird would alight on the spot scorn of verbal camouflage and intellectual pussy-
where the nest had been. If the nest were raised footing'.13 Both Angell and Donaldson wrote glowing
vertically a few feet, the bird would alight on it without references, the latter adding the telling comment that
hesitation, and then show a startle reaction when it Watson 'possessed that gift of Heaven of getting
peered over the edge. In some way the birds knew things done'.14
exactly where the nest was, but oddly nothing of what Watson felt loyalty towards Angell and reluctance
it, or its immediate surroundings, looked like. to leave a laboratory that had taken years of hard work
Much more dramatic evidence for the tern's to establish. Yet he still held the lowly rank of
navigational ability carne from a fragmentary study of instructor, with a salary that was small for a family
homing. Watson had acquaintances release birds, man. Just after obtaining his doctorate he had married
which had been captured on the Tortugas, from Key Mary Ickes, a student who, although not from the
West, from Cape Hatteras, 850 miles away, and from South, was from a similarly rural background, and
Cuba, 108 miles away. Many of the birds returned to they now had two children. The University of
the Tortugas in an impressively short time from each Chicago, like Clark, initially offered high salaries, but
of these starting points. Watson was mystified by this quickly became less generous. In Baltimore Clipper
ability and convinced that all current theories of ships no longer graced the inner harbour, a major fire
'distance orientation' were hopelessly inadequate. had recently destroyed a large area of the city and the
In order to test the performance of terns in place was a backwater in comparison to Chicago. But
problem boxes and simple mazes, he decided that it the university was still highly regarded. Eight years
was necessary to rear some young birds by hand. In after leaving South Carolina Watson attained the
doing so, he replicated the observations Spalding and prestigious and well-paid position of professor of
Lloyd Morgan had made on the increasing selectivity experimental and comparative psychology at Johns
of pecking movements and on the rejection of faeces. Hopkins.
He noted that 'Lloyd Morgan, Spalding and others are
unquestionably right when they affirm that young Robert Yerkes' comparative psychology
birds, if taken early enough and reared by hand, After 1908 anyone wishing to gain an overall
exhibit little signs of fear'. The makeshift conditions, picture of what animal psychologists had discovered
small number of animais and brief amount of time could most appropriately do so by reading Margaret
meant that the results of the learning experiments Washburn's The Animal Mind. Washburn was one of
were limited. They indicated that the terns could the few women in this period to rise to a prominent
demonstrate trial-and-error learning - they mastered position within American psychology. She had
the tasks very quickly - and suggested that vision was studied at Cornell University, one of the first major
the most important sense involved. In general the universities to give women full status as graduate
Yerkes' comparative psychology 149
students, and afterwards she had obtained a number imitation appeared for most of the tasks he used, he
of teaching appointments at various colleges. Her was convinced that one monkey had learned from
interest in animal psychology developed when, on observing the other how to pull out a plug and how to
returning to Cornell for a few years, she was asked to operate a lever.3 Sceptical readers were more impres-
give a course of lectures on the subject. It was some sed by the failure to detect any positive effect in all the
time later before she carried out some limited other tests. Watson, to take a notable example, tried
experimental work with animais herself.1 out similar tests on four monkeys in Chicago and
Possibly because of this lack of direct involvement detected no sign of 'inferential imitation'.4
in some particular area of research, Washburn's book Washburn's Animal Mind served as a useful
provided a fair, sensible and also very readable review overview of a decade's work in comparative psycho
of recent developments. The research described in the logy following Thorndike's thesis of 1898. It also
book was restricted to experimental studies and provided an indication of the new kind of ex
purely observational evidence was delíberately ex- perimental approach that was to follow. This was seen
cluded; there was little concern with the place of in a study by Lawrence Cole which was enthusiasti-
behaviour in some general evolutionary framework, cally summarized by Washburn. Cole's experiments
but otherwise she very much followed in the tradition were all directed towards specific issues that Thorn-
of Lloyd Morgan. dike had raised, except for a final one which was the
Washburn agreed with Morgan that for the first attempt to look at whether an animal can respond
psychologist the point of studying an animabs be appropriately on the basis of a signal that is no longer
haviour was to find out about its conscious States and present. Such 'delayed reactions' later became a
the point of this was to provide a context for the subject of great theoretical interest and one of the
analysis of human subjective experience. Much of the more specific controversies concerning Watson's
research discussed by Washburn was concerned with behaviourism centred on it.
the sensory abilities of particular species. Where The subjects for Cole's experiments were six
Watson was simply concerned to determine whether, young raccoons.5At first they were tested in what had
for example, a slight change in a light produced a become the standard kind of puzzle box so that, as
detectable reaction in some animal, Washburn wished Cole put it, he 'might learn by comparisons the place
to go further and work out what kind of sensation the of the raccoon in the scale of mammalian intelligence'.
animal must experience. 'What, for instance, is the The raccoon turned out to be an excellent subject for
meaning of the fact that the range beyond the violet such research: the animais would often work at a door
end of the spectrum, invisible to us, produces effects fastening even when disinterested in the food outside,
upon certain animais? Are they seen, or do the they could master a new task almost as rapidly as
sensations accompanying them rather resemble those Kinnaman's monkeys and were able to learn to open a
produced by an irritating Chemical? What kind of door when this required seven different operations.
sensation quality may we suppose exists in the Cole was much more systematic than Thorndike.
consciousness of an animal whose responses to light Where Thorndike's innovative attempts to train his
are mediated by the skin, not by the eyes?'2 animais to discriminate between pairs of related
The other kinds of research described in The stimuli were quite sloppy, Cole completed a well-
Animal Mind indicated the major influence of Thorn- controlled set of tests which established that the
dike's thesis. Some studies merely extended to new raccoon could learn to discriminate a black from a
species Thorndike's methods for studying trial-and- white card, a square from a circle and a high note on a
error learning. Others focussed on his analysis of harmônica from a low one. On the other hand further
associative learning and his claims that animais do not tests carried out with equal care revealed no sign of
learn by imitation or by passive instruction, that is, by imitation learning; Cole suggested that the tendency
being 'shown' or 'put through' the task. to imitate might be very rare and limited to those
Thorndike's own work with monkeys had left species that in their normal environment search in
these issues unsettled and a series of young resear- groups for Stores of food.
chers subsequently tried to resolve them. Unfortu- Although the tests for imitation agreed with
nately each study of imitation left the author firm in his Thorndike's conclusion, when Cole tested his rac
own opinion, but still allowed plenty of room for coons for passive learning the outcome was radically
criticism from those holding the opposite view. Thus, different from that reported in Thorndike's 1898
in 1902 Kinnaman reported some tests on two rhesus paper. Raccoons which had been put through a new
monkeys at Clark University. Although no sign of task learned it in half the time taken by those which
Comparative psychology and behaviouristn 150
Fig. 6.4. One of Lawrence Cole's raccoons from the experiments in Oklahoma
had not. Furthermore, when two of the animais were thus, the sequence white-blue-red indicated that, after it
given human guidance in raising a lever with the nose had been presented, food reward could be found on
and a third was taught to use its paws to raise the same top of a high box nearby, whereas the sequence
lever, when they were left on their own they persisted red-red-red meant that there was no reward on that
with the particular mode of operation they had been trial. Since at the moment when the raccoons had to
taught. Finally, one negative finding that was given a either respond or withhold from climbing the box red
great deal of stress by Thorndike was found not to was always present, it seemed to Cole that his animais
hold for raccoons; although Cole initially placed his must be retaining visual images of the colours earlier
subjects in a puzzle box by picking them up by the in the sequence in order to solve the task.
nape of the neck and lifting them in through the door, This use of a procedure that had not been at least
they soon began to enter the box of their own accord tried out by Thorndike was one unusual feature of
when given the opportunity. Cole's study. Another was that it took place in
Thorndike's failure to detect any form of passive Oklahoma. Almost all the other experiments on
learning was a major factor leading him to deny that animal behaviour performed in America during the
cats and dogs are able to form associations between first decade or so of the century were carried out at
ideas and to suggest that all animal intelligence either Clark, Chicago, Johns Hopkins or Harvard.
consists only of the connection of motor impulses to And of those four places it was Harvard that produced
certain situations. Cole's very clear positive results on the most research, both in terms of volume and
these tests naturally led him to the contrary view, that variety.
raccoons are capable of at least two kinds of learning, The driving force behind the animal laboratory at
of associating ideas as well as forming stimulus- Harvard was Robert Yerkes. Either directly or in-
response connections. directly he was involved in a large proportion of both
Cole also drew this conclusion from the final the research that followed on from Thorndike and the
phase of his tests where he trained the animais to new developments in discrimination training which
discriminate between two sequences of stimuli, of were summarized in Washburn's book of 1908. He
which the last item was the same in both sequences; remained a central figure when research on compara-
Yerkes’ comparative psychology 151
be the positive stimulus for this particular animal, This research with Dodson was just one of the
while the other contains a dark card. Whichever many dissertation projects that Yerkes supervised at
compartment the mouse chooses he can scurry out the Harvard. Many of the others were concerned with
other end and around to the starting point again. imitation learning, using at various times rats, cats and
However, if he enters the incorrect compartment a monkeys.
brief electric shock is given. The collaborative project with Watson, on
In Yerkes and Dodson's study different groups of methods for studying vision in animais, meant that
mice were trained by this method to learn discrimina- the two of them became increasingly absorbed in
tions of various leveis of difficulty; as one might purely technical problems over such matters as lenses,
expect, a discrimination between black and white projection bulbs and appropriate training procedures.
cards was learned more rapidly than one between two It is this preoccupation that accounts for the distorted
greys of slightly different intensity. The more interest- way in which Pavlov's work first became widely
ing aspect of the experiment was that for each levei of known among American psychologists. In 1909
difficulty shocks of different intensities were used in Yerkes was a joint author of the first general
order to find out what intensity was optimal for rapid introduction to Pavlov's work published in English.9It
learning of that particular discrimination. It turned out gave a clear account of the methods used for
that for the easiest discrimination the highest levei of conditioning the salivary response, but failed to
shock produced the fastest acquisition, whereas for indicate that for Pavlov the point of this method was to
the most difficult discrimination a lower levei was study the general functions of the brain and the nature
best. The general principie that, as a task increases in of learning. Instead, the review concentrated almost
difficulty, the optimal motivation levei becomes lower entirely on those studies which were most closely
has since been known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. It is related to Yerkes' current interest; the only experi-
illustrated on the right-hand side of Figure 6.6. ments from Pavlov's laboratory that the review
Yerkes' comparative psychology 153
described in any detail were ones that used condi- really knows animais, that the higher vertebrates
tioned salivation to test a dog's ability to make possess a great variety of sense qualities and feelings
auditory or visual discriminations. . . . of emotions, sentiments, associations, memory
Yerkes and his co-author displayed a positive, yet images, ideas, and even certain forms of judgement
restrained, attitude towards Pavlov's approach, sug- . . . and the more liberal among psychologists are at
gesting that it was not markedly more effective than present inclined to believe that at least some animais,
the methods already being developed in America to among them the dog and the horse, the raccoon and
study perception in animais, that it was difficult to use the cat, experience conscious complexes which are
and that it was probably unsuitable for animais other much like ours.'12
than dogs. They missed the point which Bechterev From the time his textbook appeared the research
quickly perceived, that the use of the salivary reflex in Yerkes carried out was much more specifically
Pavlov's laboratory was incidental and that some directed towards finding hard evidence for 'liberal'
other kind of response might well be much more beliefs in the superior abilities of certain species. He
suitable when applying Pavlov's basic procedure in a appears to have realized gradually that, although
different situation. claims about the conscious experience of animais can
As far as other American psychologists were never be proved or refuted, questions about the
concerned, Yerkes and Watson presented the unfamil- possibly complex basis of behaviour are nonetheless
iar picture of two young scientists from different open to various kinds of experimental enquiry. This
institutions collaborating in complete harmony and led to a form of comparative psychology which, like
with considerable success in the development of a new Morgan's, compared the mental abilities of different
field of psychology. However, although for some species, including man, but where questions concern-
years it did not become apparent to the outside world, ing the nature of animal consciousness receded into
by around 1910 their views as to the direction this new the background.
field should take were beginning to diverge. Animal Yerkes had probably never agreed with Thorn-
psychologists in America began to divide themselves dike's denial to animais of any kind of learning except
into a 'traditional' wing, most strongly represented by habits formed by the 'stamping in' of stimulus-
Washburn, and a 'radical' wing increasingly identified response connections; 'sensation-impulse' theory as it
with Watson. The main issue was whether behaviour was often called at this time. But until around 1911 he
provides a basis for making inferences about an had always played according to Thorndike's rules,
animal's subjective experience, as the traditionalists whereby inferential imitation was made the key issue.
claimed, or whether it deserved study in its own right Over the years a number of Yerkes' students had
since, as the radicais claimed, the contents of an attempted to obtain positive evidence for imitation
animal's consciousness are beyond the scope of learning with the main aim of demonstrating the
scientific enquiry. As noted earlier, these differences inadequacy of Thorndike's theory. Cole's procedure,
among American researchers echoed disputes that whereby raccoons had to delay their reaction until the
had occurred a few years earlier in Germany and then end of a series of stimuli, was imperfectly designed,
France. but it did alert Yerkes to the possibility of other,
In Yerkes' scientific papers the behaviour of his hopefully more productive, ways than imitation
experimental animais is reported without much more procedures for studying alternative kinds of learning
attempt to speculate on their subjective experience to habit formation. The final impetus for Yerkes'
than would be found in a paper by Watson. The extent approach carne from one of his students, named
to which Yerkes at this time differed from Watson and Gilbert Hamilton, who, in the year Yerkes' textbook
endorsed the aims of comparative psychology as appeared, published a study that suggested to Yerkes
defined by Morgan and then by Washburn is apparent yet another way of systematically studying processes
in a textbook he wrote in 1911.10 A central theme is the more complex than the strengthening of stimulus-
primacy of introspection as a psychological method response connections. Furthermore, Hamilton's pro
and the analysis of human subjective experience as the cedure had an attractive virtue of allowing easy and
ultimate goal of psychology. It contains numerous meaningful comparisons across a wide range of
passages that Watson could never have written; for species.13
example, one allowing in Haeckel-like fashion for the Hamilton was a psychiatrist who had become
possibility that plants have minds.11 A discussion of enthusiastic about new developments in psycho-
the minds of animais contains the following passage. pathology, particularly the work of Freud and Jung in
'There is no question, in the mind of the person who Europe and that of Adolf Meyer in America. He
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 154
believed that the central theme underlying their work hundred trials each subject received each exit door
on mental illness was recognition that a person's was left unlocked exactly twenty-five times.
behaviour was the end-product of a complex set of The specific version of this chamber used for a
unconscious processes that he termed 'reactive ten- given test varied according to the subject. These
dencies'; in the long run the only sure way of included ten human beings, five monkeys, sixteen
analysing these reactive tendencies was by the use of dogs, five cats and a horse. The human subjects were
experimental methods and consequently of compar- not a representative sample of the race; Hamilton
isons between animais and man.14Thus, when he later tested two men who worked on the estate, his own
became interested in the causes of homosexuality, he child of 26 months and some children between the
carried out pioneering experiments on the sexual ages of ten and fifteen. He regretted the absence of any
behaviour of monkeys.15 ages intermediate between that of his son and the
The achievements of animal psychology in 1911 elder children, but explained that his 'wholly unde-
were of little use to Hamilton. He could see the point of served local reputation as a vivisectionist seemed to
evaluating the sensory equipment of various species, create a stubborn unwillingness on the part of parents
but in studies of learning the emphasis on quantitative to supply young children for experimental work'.
aspects, such as the speed or number of errors with Although the study was not intended to bear
which an animal mastered a maze or puzzle box, directly on problems of psychopathology, this was the
seemed to him superficial and misplaced. A method ultimate aim of the work. Two of the human subjects,
was needed for finding out 'what, if any, are the a boy of eleven and one of the men, were of particular
qualitative differences of reactive tendency that interest to Hamilton, since he had previously judged
account for the fact that some mammals learn slowly, them to be mentally defective. His descriptions of his
and with many errors, to meet situations which their subjects are revealing about their attitude towards the
fellows of superior age or race learn to meet quickly experiment and his attitude towards them. 'Man T,
and with but few errors'. 16 the representative adult human being, is described as
Hamilton had no formal connection with any follows:
university. He was employed by a millionaire with a 'Age, 34 years. Native (Spanish-Indian) Califor-
large estate in Santa Barbara, Califórnia, but his duties nian. Ranch laborer in the experimenter's employ. A
as the family therapist usually left him time to carry man of limited education, but of average intelligence
out research. These unusual circumstances produced for his class. He went through the trials in the stolid,
the first example of a method for studying learning in unemotional manner that characterizes his work in the
different kinds of animais, where performance does fields. The "boss" wanted him to walk into and out of
not critically depend on an individual's perceptual and an enclosure 100 times, and he did so without asking
motor abilities or on his levei of activity. Hamilton's questions or shirking his task.'
experiment was a pioneering attempt which, no doubt Man l's fellow was labelled by Hamilton as
partly because he was outside the university system, 'Defective Man A' and given the following descrip-
did not receive the attention it deserved either at the tion:
time or in later years. It is worth describing at a levei of 'Age, 45 years. Native (Spanish-Indian) Califor-
detail which makes clear quite what he was trying to nian. Ranch laborer in the experimenter's employ.
do. Limited school education, but had read history and
The general form of apparatus used by Hamilton uncritical works on socialism. He was a nervous,
was a chamber containing an entrance door, which suspicious, "muddled" person, with a grievance
could not be used as an exit, and four exit doors, which against society in general, and a surprising fund of
could be locked or unlocked by means of a set of self-acquired misinterpretations relating to his social
strings operated remotely by the experimenter. On environment. He expressed a belief that my experi
each trial only one door was unlocked, so that when a ment was dangerous meddling with the human mind,
subject pushed against it he could leave the chamber and that it had some occult power of "making people
and find the reward available outside. The singular crazy". His curiosity and his desire to argue matters
aspect of the situation was that there was no consistent rendered him available, but he seemed to be in
signal to indicate which door was unlocked on a constant dread of the apparatus, and always labored
particular trial or which three were locked. The only under a suspicion that it was not the simple structure
rule was that whichever door had been unlocked on that it pretended to be.'
one trial would be locked on the next; otherwise the The general measure of performance used by
choice of doors was random, except that over the one Hamilton was to count how many attempts to open a
Yerkes' comparative psychology 155
door a subject made over his one hundred trials. The Hamilton's test was deliberately made insoluble
procedure meant that an individual who understood in the sense that there was no way in which a subject
the situation perfectly from the beginning and could could know which particular door was the open one
always remember which door had been unlocked on on a given trial before pushing at the three possible
the previous trial - and thus had to be locked on ones in turn. In this respect it retained the features of a
the present trial - would score about 200. A subject trial-and-error task and did so in order to make it easier
who understood the situation, but always forgot the to study the kinds of reactive tendencies subjects
outcome of the previous trial, could score 250 by using used. Yerkes subsequently used a procedure he
a sensible strategy. A subject with little understanding termed the 'multiple choice method' that was super-
of the situation, a poor memory and a tendency to- ficially similar to Hamilton's four-door situation, but
wards inappropriate 'reactive tendencies' would pro- with the crucial difference that the correct choice on
duce a very high score. This happened with the any trial could in principie be predicted by a subject.
horse, an 'eight-year old gelding of Western breed', The kind of arrangement he used is illustrated in
whose total of 461 attempts to open a door exceeded Figure 6.7. In the version shown here a subject is
that of all other subjects despite the stableman's belief presented with a choice of entering anything up to
in his 'smartness'. nine compartments. The number of compartments
Hamilton was gratified by the way these scores that were unlocked varied from trial to trial, and could
fell into what seemed an eminently reasonable be as small as three or as large as the complete set of
pattern. The human subjects were best, followed by nine. If the subject entered the correct compartment
the monkeys, the dogs and then the cats. Within each he would find the reward, but if he entered one of the
group the older subjects made fewer errors than the other unlocked compartments he would be confined
younger: Man 1 was better than the children, just as there for a minute or so. Yerkes selected the correct
the dogs were better than the puppies and the cats choice on a given trial by some systematic rule. The
better than the kittens. Moreover Defective Man A simplest one was that for any set of compartments the
scored 217 to Man l's surprising 200, while the one on the extreme right of this set was always correct.
retarded boy performed worse than any of the other Thus, if the compartments labelled 9, 8 and 7 in Figure
children except Hamilton's own baby. Hamilton 6.7 are open, 7 is correct; if 7, 6, 5 or 4, then 4 is cor
analysed in some detail the different patterns of rect; if 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, then 1 is correct; and so on.
responding exhibited by the subjects and a con- It was already known that animais can learn very
siderable part of his report was devoted to discussing rapidly a discrimination based on position; thus, if in a
the qualitative differences he observed. However two-choice situation the left-hand compartment al
there is no point here to any further discussion of his ways contains food and the right-hand never does, an
findings, since the study was one of those that is more animal comes to enter the reward compartment within
interesting for the possibilities it raised than for its a very small number of trials. Such a performance may
actual results. indicate that the animal has learned to approach a
Yerkes was no doubt as aware as anyone of the particular place or that it has learned the relationship
weaker aspects of Hamilton's study. For example, implied by the description 'right-hand' compartment.
especially in view of the results Yerkes himself had Yerkes' procedure ensured that except for the two
obtained with Dodson when varying the levei of shock compartments on the far right no one compartment
in their study with dancing mice, the differences contained reward more frequently than any other.
obtained by Hamilton might have been due to Consequently a subject can only perform well on this
variations in motivational levei; for example, his son task by learning the rule imposed by the experimenter,
may have made more errors than any of the monkeys since developing a tendency to approach a particular
simply because the toys he found beyond the exit compartment, a position habit as it became known,
provided a less effective incentive for performing well could raise performance only a little above chance
than the food provided for the monkeys. Hamilton levei.
recognized this problem, but did not discuss an Yerkes first tried out the procedure using a
equally serious weakness of his procedure, which is simplified form of the situation just described with
that it confuses what are likely to be very different some patients in a Boston mental hospital. The results
kinds of mental process; thus, as implied above, a were encouraging and he went ahead using the
subject can perform badly either because he forgets apparatus shown in Figure 6.7 to test in separate
the last trial or because his understanding of the experiments some crows and then a pair of pigs.17
situation is poor. He used a series of four problems with the pigs.
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 156
Fig. 6.8. Pig entering choice area of the multiple choice apparatus whose ground plan is given in Figure 6.7
second stage began. The aitn here was to train the appeared to be unrelated to any activity during the
subject to choose the exit that had been lit, after the delay period. Distracting noises, which produced
light had already disappeared. When the light was marked immediate reactions, left their choice perfor
switched off the subject was kept in the release box for mance unchanged. The raccoons would sometimes
a delay which was gradually extended as training head off in one direction and then alter course to
continued until performance started to deteriorate. choose the correct exit, something that was never
Hunter found that the rats could tolerate only observed in rat or dog. The children were unaffected
very brief delays, ten seconds at the most. The by whether they left the room; M, for example, could
raccoons were better, the best of the four being able to spend a long interval chatting outside and still make a
perform well with a twenty-five second delay. Of the correct choice when she returned.
dogs one was very poor, but the other could work well Various control procedures established that sub
with delays of up to five minutes. As for the children, jects were not using some subtle externai signal, such
each of them outclassed all of the animais. The oldest, as unconscious cueing by the experimenter or a slight
an eight-year old girl, M, reached delays of twenty- increase in the temperature of the exit chamber that
five minutes; Hunter believed that she could have had just been lit. With respect to the raccoons and
gone on to much longer intervals had time allowed. children, Hunter commented: 'We have exhausted
The behaviour displayed by subjects during the our ingenuity as to objective possibilities of explana-
delay period was systematically recorded and these tion, and as a consequence are forced to conclude in
results turned out to be at least as interesting as the favor of an intra-organic factor'. He suggested that his
length of delay an animal could tolerate. Hunter found was the first study to demonstrate conclusively that
that the rats and dogs relied entirely on orientation animais can under some circumstances base their
cues. When released the rats would head directly to behaviour on ideas. 'The type of function here
whatever exit they were pointing towards; it seemed involved is ideational in character. By applying the term
that the only way for them to respond correctly after a "ideas" to those cues, I mean that they are similar to
delay of even one or two seconds was by maintaining the memory idea of human experience so far as the
orientation of both head and body towards the exit function and mechanism are concerned. They are the
that had contained the light. The reason why one dog residual effects of sensory stimuli which are retained
could do so well at very long delays was because he and may be subsequently re-excited.' Because this
was able to keep his head pointing in the right conclusion applied to raccoons and children, and not
direction all the time. The most interesting aspect of to rats and dogs, the delayed reaction procedure
the children's performance, and frequently that of the seemed to provide a powerful tool for distinguishing
raccoons too, was the absence of any orientation; leveis of mental processes in different species, as well
whether they chose correctly or not after a long delay as a way of rebutting Thorndike's claim that all animal
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 158
intelligence is limited to the connection of impulses to one contributory factor, Watson's behaviourism, a
the sensations of stimuli that are currently present. general picture is required of American psychology
In less than twenty years since Thorndike had early in the twentieth century.
begun his doctoral work a handful of people had
created an active new field of experimental Science. American psychology at the beginning of the
For the first decade or so the major issues had been century
those raised by Thorndike, together with the study of It would have been a difficult task in 1908 to
the senses. Within this period a considerable amount produce an equivalent to Washburn's book that
of precise knowledge about the learning and percep- summarized recent and distinctively American con-
tual capacities of various species had been gained for tributions to human psychology in a way that would
the first time. And this was not just a matter of making be comparably illuminating to a layman. Books were
more specific what was already known in a general written; in fact, a puzzling feature of the early
sort of way. For example, it was a genuine discovery protagonists of a scientific psychology is the effort
that flew in the face of accepted belief to establish that they devoted to translating German tomes on psycho
among mammals man's perception of colour is shared logy or writing their own textbooks, at the expense of
by few other species apart from fellow primates and getting on with their Science. The obituaries written
that rats, Cole's raccoons and even bulls live in a black, years later by their successors are full of information
grey and white world. Equally there was hitherto on these books, on the laboratories these pioneers
complete ignorance over whether a creature such as a founded, the journals they edited and the students
turtle was capable of learning anything and an entirely they trained; yet substantial contributions to the
mistaken impression of the effectiveness of imitation understanding of the human mind receive little
or passive learning. Following this initial period new attention. Symptomatically it became common among
developments, such as the work by Hunter and by the many university laboratories of psychology estab-
Yerkes, meant that animal psychology remained a lished in the 1890s to publish collections of 'minor
lively research tradition. studies'; major studies were rare.
Such intellectual health was in complete contrast The lack of direction that characterized psycho-
to the precarious institutional position of animal logical research in America at the turn of the century
psychology. Within the few departments where such stemmed from a central dilemma. The problem was to
work was pursued it was in general regarded with find a way of reconciling three conflicting aims. One
suspicion, if not hostility. It was not at all clear to most was to keep psychology focussed on the study of the
American psychologists that such activities merited a mind as traditionally conceived, and thus to concen-
place within their subject. At Harvard Yerkes was trate on the nature of subjective experience. The
under considerable pressure to switch to human second aim was that it should be scientific, in the sense
psychology. He held the low rank of instructor and in that the validitv of its factual or theoretical claims
1908 he failed to obtain a promotion to assistant should be subject to assessment by the kind of
professor which went instead to a dilettante philo- empirical methods employed in other Sciences, and
sopher. Yerkes considered this to be a personal preferably by experimental methods. The third aspira-
humiliation. It was followed by a move to prevent the tion was that psychology should be interesting, either
awarding of doctorates to graduate students whose by relating directly to fundamental questions of
only research was with animais. Yerkes rejected everyday life or by making significant practical
incentives to specialize in educational matters, but his contributions.
use of patients at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital as This third consideration steadily increased in
the first subjects on which to try out his multiple importance. Doctorates in psychology were awarded
discrimination procedure and his textbook on human more rapidly than academic posts were being created
psychology mark his reaction to accusations concern- and hence there was a pressing need to show that
ing the narrow irrelevancy of animal psychology.20 training in psychology provided knowledge and skills
Until well after the First World War animal that the outside world should value. In the early part
research did little more than maintain a toehold within of the century the two most obvious fields for
academic psychology in America. However, as de- psychology to make its contribution to society were
scribed in the final chapter, by the end of the 1920s the education and mental health. As we have seen,
rat laboratory acquired a central place in almost every Hamilton eamed his living as a psychiatrist, while
major psychology department. To understand how many of Yerkes' other students, such as Cole, ended
this shift occurred and to appreciate the significance of up more typicallv in jobs related to the training of
Early 20th century American psychology 159
teachers. In order to provide their graduate students its core psychology should be a laboratory-based
with useful training and preserve the intellectual experimental Science.
coherence of the subject, university psychologists At the end of the nineteenth century the only area
needed a body of theory, knowledge or methods that in which American psychology was expected to sup-
would be applicable in one or other of these fields. ply some expertise was that of education. A great many
For over twenty years several major contenders people involved in the business of reforming, first,
for this role in turn attracted great interest. As primary schools and then high schools, as well as
described in this section, early on there was the those with more private concerns about the best way
developmental psychology of G. Stanley Hall and also to bring up children in a changing world, looked to
that of James Mark Baldwin, while these were psychology for delivery of the goods first promised by
followed by the importing from Europe of new Hall almost twenty years earlier. One result was the
theories of psychopathology, notably that of Sigmund emergence of what was called 'genetic psychology'
Freud; these in turn were followed, as described in the and this took two competing forms.
final chapter, by a period of intense enthusiasm over The early 1890s were stormy years for Hall. In
mental testing. In comparison, a research degree in 1890 his wife and daughter died in a fire in their home.
animal psychology seemed to offer little of practical In 1892 the troubles at Clark University, caused by lack
value. Watson and Yerkes believed it might be good of funds and by the way he, as president, had reacted,
preparation for a career in education, but until well left the size of the faculty reduced to a third of what it
into the 1920s few agreed with them and fewer still had been and the number of students reduced even
shared Hamilton's faith in the benefits animal re more drastically. In 1893 strife over journal policy had
search would confer upon psychotherapy. led to the founding of the Psychological Revíew by
To a small, but highly influential, group of Baldwin and James Cattell in direct rivalry to Hall's
psychologists represented by Edward Titchener con- own American Journal of Psychology. And in 1894 he
cern with potential applications of psychology was a reached the age of fifty and continually experienced
serious mistake at this stage in the subject's develop- feelings of malaise, which he described as 'the early
ment; to proclaim the general usefulness of a psycho- psychic symptoms of old age'. Yet within a short time
logical degree was to run the economic risk of selling he bounced back with renewed vitality and, although
unripe fruit. The fundamentais had to be settled first continuing as president of Clark, vigorously de-
and these very much included the question of veloped his own version of genetic psychology.
consciousness. This was the most popular topic in the HalTs solution to the dilemma surrounding
journals of the pre-war era so that the subject could psychology's future was to brush aside the claims of
easily be seen as a sub-branch of philosophy rather empirical validation. Hall had earlier been as respon-
than as the independent natural Science many wished sible as anyone for the growth of experimental
it to be. psychology in America. His new genetic approach,
When Watson was challenged to defend the however, now rejected his former view that psycho
inclusion of animal studies within psychology, he logy should be based on the laboratory and instead
replied by attacking the notion that the primary embraced an evolutionary perspective for studying
concern of the subject should be with the nature of the evolution of mind in general and the psychological
conscious experience. Independent of the strength of development of the individual, a perspective that
his arguments on such matters, in the long run what encouraged the collection of observations rather than
led to the increasing attractiveness of behaviourism experimental results. Hence the term 'genetic' - from
was its promise of a combination of usefulness and 'phylogeny' and 'on togem/' - which held an entirely
scientific respectability that previous alternatives had different meaning from the one it acquired twenty
failed to provide. It would make contributions to years or so later. The interest in child development
education that would be at least as beneficiai as Hall's stemmed partly from the consideration that, from a
genetic psychology or the development of mental biological point of view, a particularly remarkable
tests, it would provide methods for treating the feature of homo sapiens is the uniquely long time he
mentally ill that were at least as effective as psycho- needs to reach maturity. Among other things some
analysis and it would make direct contact with the recent European research on play in animais and
realities of everyday life in a way that academic children had attracted attention to the general ques
disputes over the nature of mind singularly failed to tion of the evolutionary function of an extended
do. All of this was to be achieved while maintaining, as childhood.1
no previous approach had been able, the belief that at Hall became deeply involved in the child study
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 160
tions, and the study of his second child, plus his related to the time he took to name colours or his
impressive knowledge of both biological and psycho- ability to estimate time, and none of these indices
logical research, he developed a theory of cognitive predicted academic achievement.6At the same time a
development that is a direct forerunner of Piaget's different type of test attempting to assess abilities of a
work and a theory of social learning that also more intellectual kind, which had been developed by
anticipates some recent theories of personality and Binet and Henri in France, was dismissed on the basis
social development.4 of a cursory evaluation.7 Full appreciation of the
Baldwin believed very strongly in theory. He French work did not come until 1910 when two of
objected to 'that most vicious and Philistine attempt, Hall's students began to develop American versions of
in some quarters, to put psychology in the strait-jacket the Binet tests, despite initial discouragement from
of barren observation, to draw the life-blood of all Hall.
Science - speculative advance into the secret of things As mentioned earlier, the view that it was
- this ultra-positivistic cry has come here as every- premature for psychology to turn to practical prob
where else, and put a ban on theory. On the contrary, lems was held by Edward Titchener, an Englishman,
give us theories, theories, always theories!'5 But even who after studying for two years with Wundt, carne to
the less positivistic of his fellow psychologists asked America in 1892 to establish a psychological laboratory
that theories should at least be accompanied by at Cornell University. As the latest arrival from Leipzig
suggestions as to how their validity might be checked. he carne to represent experimental psychology of the
With all the time devoted to editing three journals, traditional German kind and this position was main-
establishing new laboratories, writing many books tained by a steady stream of transia tions of Wundt and
and co-ordinating a massive Dictionary of Philosophy other German texts. These eventually ensured that
and Psychology there was little left for working out American psychologists' view of their German roots
satisfactory empirical methods for studying develop carne to be dominated by Titchener's particular
ment. perspective, which emphasized and distorted certain
A third group sensitive to the appeals for a aspects of Wundt's work and totally ignored others.8
psychology that could be applied to educational The aim of Titchener's psychology was to analyse
problems regarded Baldwin, and James too, as guilty conscious States. The main method was that of
of leading the study of the mind back into philosophy. introspection as practised by trained observers who
To a number of psychologists inspired by Cattell and carefully noted the sensations they experienced in
based mainly at Columbia the future of psychology lay some experiment on perception or reaction times. He
in the development of quantitative methods that termed his approach slructuralism to indicate his
would produce precise factual information of direct concern with the nature of consciousness and the
use to the classroom teacher or administrator of an elements of which it is composed.
educational System. The major line of development Few psychologists of his generation completely
was the mental testing approach stemming from shared Titchener's views. He became increasingly
Galton's ideas. In the hands of psychologists like isolated as he withdrew from contact with his peers
Thorndike this was combined with experimental work and became an aloof figure to his students. A bruising
that took those aspects of classroom instruction that controversy with Baldwin in 1895 began this trend and
could be easily quantified and attempted to examine established an alliance, wholly unlikely on intellectual
them within a laboratory situation. A much debated grounds, between Hall and Titchener. He took no part
example was the question of massed versus spaced in the activities of the American Psychological Asso-
learning. In a classroom is it better to provide one hour ciation and in 1904 started an informal group called the
per day of French lessons or a block of five hours just 'Experimental Psychologists'. At meetings of this
once a week? In a laboratory will a person, or rat, group papers reporting research on animal, child,
taking part in an experiment on learning benefit from abnormal or applied psychology were banned, no
long periods of time between successive trials? matter how experimental they might be. An intriguing
In the first decade of the century this plain, aspect of the subsequent history of academic psycho
empirical approach had not shown much progress. logy in America is that, despite Titchener's social and
Indeed the Galtonian tradition seemed to have intellectual isolation and the ultimate rejection of his
foundered. A study of 1901 revealed little correiation particular kind of psychology, his influence and that of
between the various simple measures of individual the Society of Experimental Psychologists, which
differences promoted first by Galton and then by developed from his group, remained enormously
Cattell; a person's reaction time was only tenuously pervasive.
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 162
Many psychologists of the time shared Titchener's with professional training in the State hospitais for the
belief in keeping psychology a pure, experimental insane were neurologists whose main task was viewed
Science, but the enthusiasm for evolutionary theory of as identifying from post mortem examination of a
their undergraduate days left a lasting effect on the patient's brain the specific lesion responsible for his
way they viewed psychological phenomena. Fur- disorder. The discovery in 1905 that general paralysis
thermore, most of them had been introduced to of the insane, GPI, was associated with an identifiable
psychology by William James' Principies. In contrast to pathology of the brain and was linked to syphilis gave
Titcheneris claim that psychology should determine great encouragement to the general commitment to an
the strudure of consciousness, James discussed its organic approach.11
fundion. 'Consciousness . . . has in all probability A few of the newly-designated 'psychiatrists' had
been evolved, like all other functions, for a use - it is to serious misgivings about the prevailing wisdom.
the highest degree improbable a priori that it should Adolf Meyer in particular was sufficiently skilled in
have no use.'9 Titchener dismissed those who neuro-anatomy to worry about the continuing failure
preferred the Jamesian view as 'functionalists', and to find any sign of abnormality in the brains of
the name stuck. schizophrenics. Also he had gained unusually exten-
One of the main centres of functional psychology sive clinicai experience since his arrival from Switzer-
was Chicago, where the influence of local philo- land and believed current neurological theories of
sophers like Dewey and Mead reinforced its pragmatic insanity to be totally inadequate; there were too many
and evolutionary aspects. James Angell, Watson's cases of lasting recovery from severe depression or
supervisor, was seen as a leader among the younger schizophrenia for him to believe that such illnesses
functionalists. Contrasting his approach with the were caused by irreversible deterioration of the brain.
tradition represented by Titchener he wrote that Meyer and some of the young psychiatrists began to
psychology should be concerned with 'the identifica- look to psychology to provide an alternative basis for
tion and description of mental operations rather than understanding mental illness to that offered by
with the mere stuff of mental experience' and that neurology. Various forms of psychotherapy were
mental activity should be seen 'as part of the larger tried, mostly in and around Boston, where James
stream of biological forces'.10Nevertheless a good part remained the most eminent representative of
of the research supervised by Angell was, like that of academic psychology.
Titcheneris students, based on laboratory experiments The new developments in psychopathology
with adult human subjects, dealing with a range of greatly affected James' Outlook. Although not particu-
traditional issues in perception and memory and larly interested in educational matters, he was all in
putting little emphasis on the development of theory favour of psychology being of practical value. James'
or on immediate relevance to practical issues. attitude towards Titcheneris insistence on 'pure'
After finishing the Principies James himself turned psychology was one of scorn; 'The function of
mainly to issues in philosophy and religion, but Titcheneris "scientific" psychology (which "structur-
nonetheless kept up with new developments in ally" considered is a pure will-of-the-wisp) is to keep
psychology at least as well as most of the younger laboratory instruments going, and to provide plat-
generation. In particular he took a lively interest in forms for certain professors.'12 James began to talk of
what was happening in Europe. Although he com- the 'subconscious mind', a term that was self-
pletely ignored the later work of Wundt on social contradictory as far as Titchener was concerned. In
psychology and language - and thus, since Titchener 1901 James wrote that 'the menagerie and the
ignored this too, ensured that it had little impact in madhouse, the prison and the hospital have been
America - James followed closely the important new made to deliver up their material. The world of mind is
approach to psychiatry of Wundt's student, Emil shown as something infinitely more complex than was
Kraepelin, and even more the work on neurosis and suspected; and whatever beauties it may still possess,
hypnosis therapy by Pierre Janet and others in Paris. it has lost at any rate the beauty of academic
Attitudes towards mental illness at the turn of the neatness.'13
century were dominated by a belief in the overwhelm- One problem that had troubled many readers of
ing influence of heredity and its causation by specific James' Principies of Psychology in 1890 was that,
pathologies of the brain. The proportion of cases of although it put great emphasis on the nature of
'nervous' and 'mental' disorders in America attributed consciousness, it was not entirely clear about what
to heredity rose from around 20 per cent in the 1840s to 'consciousness' meant; James had been widely criti-
around 90 per cent in the 1900s. The only personnel cized for inconsistency in his treatment of the
Early 20th century American psychology 163
mind-body problem. With a new perspective gained which was ever the original of "spirit", breath moving
from the notion of subconscious mental events he now outwards, between the glottis and the nostrils, is, I am
began to concentrate upon this problem. In addition persuaded, the essence out of which philosophers
he was encouraged by the mounting attacks on the have constructed the entity known to them as
idealist movement that had dominated philosophy in consciousness.'
America and England during the latter part of the Besides philosophy James was prepared to speak
nineteenth century, reading 'the signs of a great and write on a number of topics like telepathy and
unsettlement, as if the upheaval of more real concep- religion which many felt that professional psychology
tions and more fruitful methods were imminent, as if a should leave well alone. There was one topic that he
true landscape might result, less clipped, straight- agreed should be left and this was sex. James had no
edged and artificial'.14 James' contribution in the great inclination to criticize the conventional morality
summer of 1904 towards a true landscape was to write of his age. In the Principies he had preached the
at a remarkable rate a number of papers expressing his importance of will-power in controlling physical
ideas on the mind and proposing a way of resolving desire. 'No one need be told how dependent all
traditional problems in philosophy which he labelled human social elevation is upon the prevalence of
'radical empiricism'. The first in this series, and the chastity. Hardly any factor measures more than this
one most important for psychology, was called 'Does the difference between civilization and barbarism.'16
consciousness exist?'; it concluded that the answer With one notable exception psychologists agreed
was 'No'. 15 that the subject of sex should be approached with
James argued that the distinction between mind extreme caution. Although - or, perhaps, because -
and matter, between 'physical stuff' and 'stuff called women in the United States enjoyed far more freedom
consciousness', that had prevailed in one form or than their sisters in Europe, the prudishness that had
another since the time of Descartes was a fundamental pervaded the Western world during the last half of the
mistake. He claimed that consciousness 'is a non- nineteenth century remained much more entrenched
entity, and has no right to a place among first in America. In many European countries well-
principies. Those who still cling to it are clinging to a publicized attacks, usually by artists or writers, were
mere echo, the faint rumour left behind by the made at the very end of the century on the perceived
disappearing ''soul'' upon the air of philosophy.' hypocrisy and evils of conventional morality, and
According to his theory of pure experience '"outer" these helped make possible some, albeit very limited,
and "inner" are names for two groups into which we open discussion of topics such as birth-control,
sort experiences according to the way in which they adultery or homosexuality. But there were no equiva-
act upon their neighbours'. Thoughts and feelings lent movements across the Atlantic.
have the same status in experience as externai objects: Among psychologists Stanley Hall perceived that
'things and thoughts are not at all fundamentally a subject such as adolescence can hardly be treated in
heterogeneous; they are made of one and the same realistic fashion without mentioning sex. By clothing
stuff, which as such cannot be defined, but only such discussion in what James described as 'religious
experienced'. cant' and by allowing his style to become even more
In the final section of his paper James confronted effusive when sensitive questions were approached,
the objection that in the last resort there remains the Hall appears to have believed that he might avoid
basic intuition exploited by Descartes that, while we causing offence. However most of his peers found that
may doubt all else, we know that we have thoughts. the style made things even worse. In his review of
James' opinion closely anticipates the treatment of Adolescence Thomdike complained of the difficulty of
thinking proposed by behaviourist psychology some understanding HalTs ideas; in private he noted that
ten years later. 'My reply to this is my last word, and I Hall's book 'is full of errors, masturbation and Jesus.
greatly grieve that to many it will sound materialistic He is a madman.'17 Even before Adolescence appeared,
. . . I am as confident as I am of anything that, in Angell reflected a general uneasiness about Hall's new
myself, the stream of thinking (which I recognize enthusiasm when he wrote to Titchener: 'Is there no
emphatically as a phenomenon) is only a careless turning Hall away from this d. . .d sexual rut? I really
name for what, when scrutinized, reveals itself to think it is a bad thing morally and intellectually to harp
consist chiefly of the stream of my breathing . . . There so much on the sexual string, unless one is a
are other internai facts besides breathing and these neurologist.'18
increase the assets of "consciousness", so far as the Many of the teachers and laymen who heard Hall
latter is subject to immediate perception; but breath, speak or read his work were upset by the discussion of
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 164
sex. On the other hand some of the people looking to to employ objective, quantifiable tests in the study of
psychology to provide insight into matters of personal free associations and his results appeared to support
significance regarded as pathetic the temerity shown Freud's theories.
by most academic psychologists towards anything At Clark University Meyer and Hall became very
that might make the profession lose some respect- interested in Freud's work and discussed it in their
ability. For them, effete arguments over structuralism lectures. The twentieth anniversary of the founding of
versus functionalism, or over the existence of cons- Clark was due in 1909 and Hall decided that a major
ciousness, might be interesting as philosophy, but part of the celebrations should be a conference
were an evasion of the job that psychology should be bringing together leading psychologists. It was Hall's
doing. It was an opinion expressed later in vivid own inspiration to invite Freud and Jung. Their
fashion by a biologist recalling the psychology of this acceptance ensured great interest in the Clark celebra-
era. 'After perusing during the past twenty years a tion among American psychologists, if only out of
small library of rose-water psychologies of the curiosity to see the notorious Freud in the flesh.
academic type and noticing how their authors ignore In Vienna Freud received the invitation with some
or merely hint at the existence of such stupendous and amazement. He was used to having his books and
fundamental biological phenomena as those of hun- papers either treated with derision or completely
ger, sex and fear, I should not disagree with, let us say, ignored by the academic world of Áustria and
an imaginary critic recently arrived from Mars, who Germany. Less than five years had passed since
should express the opinion that many of these works contact with Jung's circle in Zurich had marked the
read as if they had been composed by beings that had first expansion of psychoanalysis beyond Freud's
been bom and bred in a belfry, castrated in early immediate circle of mainly Jewish followers in Vienna.
infancy, and fed continually for fifty years through a Participation in the Clark conference and the honorary
tube with a stream of liquid nutriment of constant degree Hall bestowed upon Freud constituted the first
Chemical composition.'19 official recognition of psychoanalysis. It was also a
It was into a generally unsettled situation that highly important event for the movement in other
Sigmund Freud's work attracted increasing attention ways.21
from American psychologists. His treatment of sex In late August 1909, Freud, Jung and another
was startling, far more shocking than anything Hall psychoanalyst took a ship from Bremen to sail for
had written. In 1905, for example, Freud had written New York. Altogether Freud and Jung spent most of
Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory, in which he the seven weeks of their American journey in each
deliberately set out to explode common beliefs or other's company, when previously they had had only
pretensions that for normal individuais sexual ex- occasional, brief contact. On the voyage they analysed
perience does not begin until puberty. In plain, each other's dreams, but not to each other's satisfac-
unadorned language he discussed the connection tion. Freud refused Jung's request for some informa-
between thumb-sucking and masturbation, the re- tion about his private life which would have clarified a
semblance between 'a satiated child sinking back from certain dream, whereupon Jung was led to believe that
the mother's breast with reddened cheeks and blissful Freud 'placed personal ambition above truth'; he
smile' and the 'expression of sexual gratification in gradually became convinced that 'Freud himself had a
later life', the sensation of pleasure enjoyed by an neurosis'.22
infant holding back its faeces for 'masturbatic excita- Once in America Jung became increasingly enthu-
tion of the anal zone', and so on.20 siastic about the people, the countryside and the
Many American psychologists found Freud's culture. Freud enjoyed the reception he was given at
theories hard to follow and expressed in what Angell, Clark and was delighted by Hall. 'Who could have
for example, regarded as 'needlessly repellent termi- known that over there in America, only one hour a way
nology'. Furthermore, they appeared to depend solely from Boston, there was a respectable old gentleman
on rich and private interpretation by an analyst of the waiting impatiently for the next number of the
revelations by his few neurotic patients in a way that Jahrbuch, reading and understanding it all, and who
appeared immune to familiar kinds of evaluation. Yet, would then, as he expressed it himself, ''ring the bells
after all, Freud had been a respected neurologist with for us"?' In general, however, Freud's impression of
some well-received papers on the nervous system to America was far from favourable. The lack of formality
his credit. Moreover, a recent convert to psycho- distressed him, he had difficulties with the language
analysis, Carl Jung, who was based in a recognizably and most of the time he felt considerable physical
scientific psychiatric clinic in Switzerland, had begun discomfort; he suffered from a recurrent stomach
Watson's behaviourist manifesto 165
ache, which he blamed on American cooking, and an Clark had been so strong for at least fifteen years that,
infection of his prostate gland which made him acutely for example, while Yerkes and his students at Harvard
sensitive to the apparent inaccessibility of toilets worked on animal behaviour, they had no contact
wherever he went. After the conference the three whatsoever with those doing closely related work just
psychoanalysts spent some days as the guests of an an hour away in Worcester. Similarly, among the
American psychologist and his family at a remote other universities that Hall did not regard kindly,
camp in the Adirondack Mountains near Lake Placid. Columbia was represented only by Cattell, standing
Jung enjoyed himself hugely and entertained the behind James in the photograph, and there was no one
party with German songs. Freud thought he was whatsoever from Chicago. Animal psychologists were
suffering from a mild attack of appendicitis. After also notable for their absence from the Clark con
returning at last to Vienna Freud concluded: 'America ference, unless Jennings, on the far right of the front
is a mistake; a gigantic mistake, it is true, but row in the photograph, is counted; he was the only
nonetheless a mistake'. biologist there and the only representative from Johns
Following his American summer Jung no longer Hopkins. Baldwin was not there either; whether or not
heeded Freud's disapproval and he turned to the his importance would have outweighed HalTs dislike
study of the occult and the paranormal, abandoning of his old rival is a moot question, since by then
for good the association tests and the scientific Baldwin had left America for good, as is related in the
approach to schizophrenia that had gained him the next section.
invitation to Clark. America added greatly to Freud's
self-confidence and he weathered the subsequent John Watson's behaviourist manifesto
defection of Jung, and of other followers like Alfred At the turn of the century there were psycholo-
Adler, without a wavering of belief in his own gical laboratories in most American universities, with
particular theories. one glaring exception: the Johns Hopkins University
The visit of Freud and Jung to America in general in Baltimore, where experimental psychology had first
considerably enhanced the reputation of psycho- taken root in the New World. After Stanley HalTs
analysis there and provided the basis for its subse departure for Clark in 1888 the philosophy depart-
quent rapid growth. But this growth occurred almost ment at Hopkins had been wound down and the
entirely outside the educational system. Most of the apparatus from its psychological laboratory sold off.
leaders of academic psychology at the Clark con But by 1903 the university's financial State had
ference, who listened carefully to what Freud and improved considerably and Daniel Gilman had been
Jung had to say and gained a great deal of personal succeeded by a new president who, with more
respect for them, decided that this was not the way sympathy towards psychology, decided to re-
they wanted psychology to go. Psychoanalysis establish a department of philosophy and psychology.
seemed at close quarters just as dogmatic and In his search for a suitable person to carry this out, he
speculative as it had from afar; they worried about the wrote for advice to Baldwin. In reply Baldwin listed
central theme of infantile sexuality and could not see the few men he considered suitable for the task and
what kind of evidence could either confirm or modify ended by making it clear that he himself would
Freud's views on the subject. Hall remained a loyal welcome an appropriate offer, for he was feeling
Freudian for a few years, but then, to Freud's dismay, dissatisfied with the conservatism of Princeton and
decided that Adler's deflection of emphasis away from with the considerable undergraduate teaching load he
sex was more to his taste. was obliged to carry.
The Clark conference provides an intriguing view The president of Johns Hopkins was delighted by
of American psychology in 1909. The guests com- the prospect of such a catch; Baldwin was one of the
prised both those psychologists of whom Hall leading figures in psychology, known for his theor-
approved and those he considered too important not etical contributions to both developmental psychology
to invite. A group photograph from the conference is and evolution, an experienced experimentalist with
reproduced in Figure 6.10. It shows Hall in the centre the founding of flourishing laboratories at Toronto
of the front row, looking suitably patriarchal, with and Princeton already to his credit and, as co-owner
Freud to his left and, beyond Freud, the two Swiss, and editor of Psychological Review, a central figure in
Jung flanked by the diminutive Meyer. Also in the the professional structure of American psychology.
front row are the two most prominent representatives Within a few months he was appointed and once again
of academic psychology present, Titchener and James. enthusiastically set about organizing a new depart
James is the only man from Harvard; a tradition of ment. Among the letters of congratulation the follow
mutual distrust and avoidance between Harvard and ing from an English psychologist, James Ward,
PSYCHOLOGY CONI-1 RKNCK GROUP, CLARK UN1VERSITY, SEPTKMBER, 1909
BtginniHg tíifk firu roa’, Uft Io rifhi: Franz Boas, H. B. Titchener, Williara James, William Stern, l.eo Burgerstcin, (!. Stanley Hall, Ssgmuml I'rcu-i, Carl G. Jung, Adotf Meycr,
H. S. Jcnnings. Snond roo.: C. F. Seashore, Joseph Jastrow, J. McK. Cattell, E. F. Huchner, E. katzenellenlxigen. Krnest J»nes, V A Brill, Wm. H. Hurnhain, A. V. Chan-
berlain. Th-.rd rox: Albert Schinz, J. A. Magni, B. T. Baldwin, K. I.yman Wells, (i. M. Fortie*, K. A. Ktrkpatrick, San.lor Fercncai, K. C. Sanford, J. P. Portcr, Sakvo Kanda.
Híkoso kakise. Fottrth rox: E. Dawson, S. P. Haves, E, B, Hott, C, S. Berry, li. M. Whipple, Erank Drcw, J. W. A. Voung, I.. N. Wilson, K. J. Karlson, H. II. Godjard,
H. I. Klopp, S. C. 1'ulWr
Fig. 6.10. Group photograph from the psychology conference at Clark University, 1909
INatsoris behaviourist manifesto 167
reflected on the difficult situation which had sur- Watson injected a great deal of energy into what
rounded the appointment of Baldwin's predeeessor was now a well-established department, but within a
over twenty years earlier and sounded a warning note. few months psychology at Hopkins suffered a severe
blow. Baldwin suddenly departed for México and
'My dear Baldwin,. . . I do not know if I ever told
soon after resigned from the university. The reason for
you that I was once interviewed and cross-examined
this abrupt event was a well-kept secret until recently.
by a wealthy gentleman - his name I think was
It seems that in the summer of 1908 Baldwin had been
Thomas - over twenty years ago when they were
caught in a police raid on a brothel in Baltimore, but by
starting a chair of philosophy. He told me frankly that I
giving a false name had at first been able to prevent
was not orthodox enough - and then went back and
any scandal. Although two reporters recognized
appointed Stanley Hall! “At Baltimore", he said, "we
Baldwin, they kept quiet until the following winter
are a church-going people": and he had awful stories
when his reputation acquired some political signi-
of the consternation that Huxley - or perhaps it was
ficance. As acknowledgement of Baldwin's increasing
Tyndall - had produced by a special course of lectures.
involvement in educational matters, the mayor of
I hope the “church-goers" will not harry you, nor you
Baltimore invited him to become a member of the
frighten them. "Prosit Baldwin", I have just said to my
school board. At this point the reporters began to leak
wife, as she handed me a cup of coffee. In this
their information. When interrogated by the president
beverage, beloved of church-goers, I drink your
of Hopkins, Baldwin claimed that a friend had
health.'1
suggested visiting a negro social club and that he,
By this stage of his career Baldwin was content to Baldwin, had gone along out of curiosity, not knowing
let others get on with laboratory work. Even his that ladies would be present.4
interest in questions concerning child development Baldwin's explanation was not considered accep-
was shifting away from the kind of empirical study he table. On the grounds that the university could not be
had carried out with his own children towards what he seen to condone immorality by continuing to employ
called 'genetic epistemology'. This ambitious attempt someone guilty of such an offence, he was required to
to construct a theory of knowledge based on evolu- resign immediately. Within the next year one or two
tionary and developmental principies became the leaders of the psychological establishment knew
main focus of his intellectual energies for the next few enough of this story to decide that Baldwin should
years.2 Consequently he needed to appoint other become a forgotten name in American psychology.
people to handle the less philosophical aspects of the And, since he lived abroad from that time on, this is
department's work. what quickly happened.
Initially Baldwin made a number of excellent The event meant that, inadvertently, Baldwin
temporary appointments that ensured a good start for made a second major contribution to Watson's career.
the department. One of the later and more permanent The first had been to appoint the young man from
appointments was that of Knight Dunlap in 1906. Chicago to a full professorship. The second occurred
Dunlap had obtained his doctorate in psychology at because in the rush of his departure Baldwin turned
Harvard and, prior to joining Baldwin, had taught in over to Watson, as the most suitable person on the
Califórnia for four years. As a student he had become spot, both the chairmanship of the department and
impatient with psychology's preoccupation with cons- the considerable, and influential, journal commit-
ciousness and introspection. He remained highly ments that he was now relinquishing. A year later
criticai of Titchener's structuralism, believing that Baldwin's name disappeared from its foremost posi-
psychology should concern itself with action as much tion on the cover of the Psychological Review and that of
as with images and sensations and needed to be a John B. Watson replaced it. The only brief comment
practical subject.3 must have mystified all but the few readers in the
Dunlap's arrival at Hopkins coincided with that of know. It simply stated that 'Professor Baldwin has
Jennings who from 1906 headed the biology depart resigned his position in the Johns Hopkins University.
ment. In spite of the new interest in genetics that He is advised to give his voice a prolonged rest from
ended his active research on the behaviour of lower continuous lecturing. He will spend a year at least
organisms, Jennings maintained close contact with abroad.'5 As for Watson, at the age of only thirty-one
psychology and continued to give lectures and he now occupied a key position in American psycho-
laboratory classes on behaviour for many years. When logy.
John Watson arrived in 1908, one of the first things he By the time of Baldwin's departure the trustees of
did was to attend Jennings' course. Johns Hopkins were much more interested in its new
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 168
country town had led him to study biology at the State what animais can see was in contrast with the outlook
university. From there he had gone to Pittsburgh as a of his various colleagues. Jennings, Meyer and Dunlap
graduate student and, during the first summer, had all wanted psychology to concern itself with action,
met Jennings when working at a marine biology and drop its emphasis on perception; and Meyer and
station. Lashley was twenty-one when he arrived to Dunlap, at least, also wanted it to become useful. In
start research on genetics with Jennings. From the many ways Watson's general views on psychology
very beginning he also spent a lot of time with both were initially much more orthodox. A major reason for
Watson and Meyer.8 his interest in the behaviour of animais was that it
For many among the group of psychologists and provided the only way of answering the kind of
biologists at Hopkins, these years from about 1910 question about their senses which experimental
until America's entry into the First World War in 1917 psychologists had for some decades been asking of
were golden years. They were able to meet, talk and their human subjects. And as for practical implica-
pursue their interests with relatively little competing tions, whether or not it turned out that the rat
pressure from teaching or administrative duties. possessed colour Vision was unlikely to advance, even
Compared to most other American universities of the in a most indirect way, Meyer's efforts to understand
time Hopkins demanded little undergraduate schizophrenia or the search for a solution to any other
teaching of its faculty. Also, in philosophy and pressing human problem.
psychology there were very few graduate students; Within the field of animal psychology Watson
the department awarded only one doctorate in the was already committed by the time he arrived at
period from 1904 to 1912. Watson envied Yerkes the Hopkins to a tough experimentalist position and to the
steady succession of able young students who carne to avoidance of subjective terminology in interpreting an
study psychology at Harvard, attracted more by the animaTs behaviour. However, his views on the rest of
prestige of the university than the quality of the psychology were far less developed and his new
department. colleagues seem to have persuaded him to adopt a
Little is known in detail about the lives of this more consistent and criticai attitude towards current
group at this time. None of them wrote more than the research in human psychology. This made his
sketchiest of autobiographies. Lashley refused even professional position increasingly anomalous: here
that. Watson burnt most of his private papers. was the head of a prominent psychology department
Jennings, who kept a detailed diary for most of his life, and the editor of America's leading psychology
let it lapse during this period. Their joint research journal holding little respect for the activities of many
suggests that the two men who spent most time of his fellow psychologists and at the same time
together were Watson and Lashley. One collaborative pursuing a line of research which most of them
project concerned the development of a baby monkey believed to belong to biology, having little signi-
bom in the small colony Watson started at Hopkins. In ficance, if any, for the central issues of psychology.
the summers Lashley joined Watson on the Dry Privately Watson admitted to Yerkes in a letter of 1910
Tortugas to continue the study of homing by terns. that he wondered whether he was a physiologist
With Watson's encouragement Lashley also studied rather than psvchologist."
the ability of a parrot to learn to imitate sounds and Watson was provided with an opportunity to
began to examine the discrimination of visual pattems present his thoughts on this situation when early in
by rats. 1913 he was invited to give a series of lectures on
Watson's editorial duties and other professional animal psychology at Columbia University. His open-
commitments kept him very busy. Nevertheless, the ing lecture was concerned with the relationship
joint project with Yerkes on methods of studying between animal and human psychology and for the
Vision in animais was finished and the report, which first time he made public what he thought of the
was mainly about apparatus and techniques, was present State of American psychology. Later that year
finally published.9 He spent almost a year and a half the lecture appeared in the Psychological Review with
working with his wife on a series of collaborative the title 'Psychology as the behaviorist views it'.12
experiments on the rat's sensitivity to monochromatic Watson explained that he used to be embarrassed
light. It emerged that the rat, like most other by the frequent question: 'What is the bearing of
mammals, did not possess colour Vision; however, animal work upon human psychology?'. The accepted
Watson noted that 'from every standpoint the experi position when he had started research was that one
ments are far from satisfactory'. 10 needed to construct the conscious content of the
Watson's continuing concern with the question of animal whose behaviour had been studied in order to
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 170
as 'experimental pedagogy' and the 'psychology of whole is as open to objective control as the behavior of
tests', and which were beginning to prove their the lowest organism.'13
usefulness. However, these examples were the excep- It seems as though the second innovation was
tions: 'One of the earliest conditions which made me deliberately intended to shock. It suggested that a key
dissatisfied with psychology was the feeling that there problem in introspective psychology, the analysis of
was no realm of application for the principies which feelings, could at least in principie be solved by
were being worked out in content terms.' studying a certain kind of peripheral event. All
Running through Watson's paper was a firm feelings, claimed Watson, have their basis in sensa
optimism about the benefits psychology would obtain tions arising from the 'reproductive organs and the
from adopting a behaviourist point of view. Within a related erogenous zones'. He then worked through an
few years, it was suggested, the advantages would example of how the pleasing effect to the male of the
become apparent both in terms of the subject's general sight of a female animal might be explained in terms of
progress and of the production of results with physiological reactions. Despite Freud's visit and the
important practical value. Few specific suggestions attention given to his theories it was still unusual to
were made. Watson admitted that he 'was more find explicit discussion of sex in psychology books.
interested at the present moment in trying to show the Only the first chapter discussed the basis of
necessity for maintaining uniformity in experimental feelings in sexual sensations, but later in the book
procedure and in the method of stating results in both Watson returned to the idea of thinking as sub-vocal
human and animal work, than in developing any ideas speech in a chapter interestingly called, 'Man and
I may have upon the changes which are certain to beast'. This title suggests what the contents confirm,
come in the scope of human psychology'. He also namely, that Watson was proposing a revision of the
admitted that it was not clear to date how a Cartesian view of man's place in nature, which
behaviourist psychology would handle what he attacked one form of dualism in order to substitute
termed 'more complex forms of behavior, such as another. The chapter starts by bemoaning the fact that
imagination, judgement, reasoning, and conception'. even good natural scientists can show distressing
Watson's work over the next few years re- lapses.
presented an attempt to confront these deficiencies, 'We find among biologists generally the tendency
beginning with the problem of how to treat thoughts to treat simple reflexes and habits in a perfectly
and feelings in behaviourist terms. His suggested objective way, but suddenly when the reactions begin
solution first appeared in 1914 when he published a to get complex we find them introducing the concept
book, Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psycho of the psychic. It is introduced as a deus ex machina to
logy, which mainly consisted of a clear and very account for complexity in response. Even Loeb has not
readable review of recent work on animal behaviour escaped the tendency.'14 It then proceeds to introduce
and was comparable, except in its theoretical stance language as the dividing line between man and beast.
and more criticai tone, to Washbum's book of six years 'The fundamental difference between man and animal
earlier. from our point of view lies in the fact that the human
The opening chapter was the same as the paper on being can form habits in the throat.'
behaviourism of the previous year, but with two Watson was convinced that no other creature but
notable changes that suggest a considerable increase man is capable of any kind of language. He never
in Watson's confidence in his own ideas. Both changes justified this conviction, but from it stemmed his
were based on his general claim that ‘there are no highly sceptical attitude towards any claim of out-
centrally initiated processes'. First, he asserted that standing abilities in a particular animal. In his book he
thoughts and images are sensations arising from cited with strong approval Pfungst's study of the
events outside the brain, these events being 'habits' talking horse, Clever Hans, and proposed that the
identical in their properties to the kind of bodily same kind of analysis can equally be applied to
actions that more usually go by the name, but subsequent examples of horses and dogs for which
normally difficult to observe. Watson called them extravagant claims had been made. 'From our point of
'implicit behavior'. The example he concentrated view it can be readily understood that the search for
upon was thinking; he argued - without referring at all reasoning, imagery, etc. in animais must forever
to William James - that this is really sub-vocal speech. remain futile, since such processes are dependent
Tf implicit behavior can be shown to consist of nothing upon language or upon a set of similarly functioning
but word movements (or expressive movements of the bodily habits put on after language habits.'15
word-type) the behavior of the human being as a Watson's identification of thought with sub-vocal
Comparatme psychology and behaviourism 172
speech seemed implausible to most of his contempor- appeared in order to go there when the delay is over.
aries and to many people since who might have been Watson's suggestion was that children employ the
inclined to agree with his arguments against intro- implicit behaviour of talking, of repeating instructions
spection and for a Science of behaviour. However, it to themselves, and this allows them to find the correct
was crucial to his point of view and therefore deserves place after long delays in which they move around.
some more comment. This left the awkward cases in which raccoons
The kind of problem Watson worried over is performed well without maintaining bodily orienta
well-illustrated by an example he provided, an tion. 'Were Hunter a less careful investigator,' Watson
example which, like most others, contained many acknowledged, 'we might think that there was an
personal elements. 'Someone suggests in words that actual error in observation.' Apart from suggesting
you borrow one thousand dollars and go abroad for a some unlikely possibilities of artefact in the situation,
year. You think over the situation - the present all Watson could do was to point out the difficulty it
condition of your research problems, your debts, presented for him. 'There is no known mechanism of
whether you can leave your family, etc. You are in a response which might account for this. It thus seems
brown study for days trying to make up your mind.'16 best to reserve our attempt at explanation.'18
For Watson the aim of the psychologist is to predict the Watson's book promoted ideas and attitudes that
response to a given stimulus. In the present example were not obvious in his earlier paper on behaviourism.
there is a long delay between the initial stimulus, the Although Meyer, Jennings, Dunlap and Lashley
suggestion of a trip abroad, and a later response, the would not have expressed them in the same way, or as
decision whether or not to go. effectively, they shared most of the opinions expres
According to traditional psychology and to every- sed in the paper of 1913. They were all against relying
day belief the connection between the two events is to on introspection; all for detaching psychology from
be found in the trains of thought of which the person is philosophy and placing it closer to biology; for
aware at intervals during the intervening period. The changing it into an objective science of behaviour; and
minimal claim made by Watson is that the thoughts for making it more relevant to everyday problems. But
which, if need be, the person can report provide a in the book of 1914 Watson explicitly attached to his
poorer predictor of his eventual decision than that behaviourism a set of beliefs that owed very little to
provided by the systematic measurement of his his Hopkins colleagues and much more to Jacques
behaviour by an outsider. In some places a more Loeb.
extreme claim is made, implying that such delays Meyer, Jennings, Lashley and, of course, Baldwin
between a 'stimulus' and a 'response' are literally filled were all Darwinians; in contrast Watson, like Loeb,
by an uninterrupted sequence of muscle twitches in believed that nothing was gained from trying to place
the throat. Watson stated that, according to his point psychology within some evolutionary context. The
of view, a man who 'suddenly lost his laryngeal others were pluralists, rejecting the idea that any one
apparatus without any serious injury to the other principie, whether Loeb's tropism or Watson's habit,
bodily mechanisms' should no longer be able to could serve as an explanatory tool for every aspect of
think.17 behaviour. Jennings' views on this have been de-
There is a very close connection between the scribed earlier in this chapter. As for Baldwin, his
everyday example of the person tempted to go abroad scheme of development posited the emergence of
and the delayed reaction procedure employed by increasingly complex and varied processes. The most
Hunter. The results produced by Hunter's raccoons notable feature of Meyer's career in psychiatry was its
disturbed Watson. His inclination was to dismiss them eclecticism, his readiness to recognize important
as yet another claim for thinking or images in animais insights and encourage new theories, such as psycho-
that no doubt would soon be found invalid. The analysis, but strong resistance to the claims of any
trouble this time was that the results were obtained in would-be universal formula. His attitude is shown, for
the laboratory of Harvey Carr, whom Watson had example, in one paper where he suggested that unless
trained and knew to be a careful experimenter, and 'one has a chance to use, and with a feeling of
that the procedure used by Hunter was clearly very justification, a free pluralistic method of dealing with
carefully controlled. things, dogmatic restrictions kill off many a possibility
In Behavior Watson used the delayed response of seeing things for what they are worth'.19 Finally,
situation to illustrate his ideas on thinking. Thus, rats Lashley's subsequent career, which in many ways was
and dogs depend on explicit behaviour; they need to the most productive of them all, was similarly marked
maintain orientation towards the place where the light by its openness to new approaches and an even-
Concluding discussion 173
handed rejection of monolithic theories based on a few Lashley devised a way of studying conditioned
simple principies. salivation with human subjects, but this too seemed
Watson's friends at Hopkins did not share his unsuitable for general application. A change of
faith in the peripheral origins of all psychological attitude towards conditioning carne when Watson
events. In their view the brain did a great deal more read Bechterev's Objective Psychology and realized that
than connect incoming stimuli with responses; and the methods used in Bechterev's laboratory might
the rejection of introspection need not entail giving up provide the approach he needed. Watson and Lashley
attempts to work out what kinds of process might together used various kinds of stimuli to signal the
occur within the brain. For example, Lashley later delivery of brief shocks to the fingers or toes of their
echoed Jennings' concern with the problem of motiva- human subjects; they worked with one or two children
tion and the doubt that its complexities could be as well as with adults. Having managed to reproduce
adequately handled, as Watson briefly suggested, in the kinds of effect that Bechterev described, they could
terms of stimulation arising from various bodily begin to use the method for testing aspects of
organs. perception.
These differences between Watson and the others This research on conditioning was sufficiently
largely derived from a more fundamental difference, advanced for Watson to make it the main topic of the
their contrasting assumptions about the nature of presidential address to the American Psychological
Science. Watson held the same kind of positivism as Association which he gave at the end of 1915.20 His
Loeb, whereby the aim of a Science is to predict and nomination as president was not an endorsement of
control; it achieves this by amassing empirical gener- behaviourism so much as recognition of a productive
alizations in a manner in which the construction of research career and, even more, the industrious
theory is unimportant. For the others the goal of a performance of many professional duties over the
Science was that of understanding some set of natural preceding eight years. From the address it could easily
phenomena and for this endeavour theories play an be concluded that behaviourism had not advanced a
essential part. The word 'control' occurred frequently great deal since its birth two years earlier and that it
in Watson's writing, but it was used very rarely by the had not altered the scope of psychology at all.
others. At the time of this address there was a change in
It is puzzling that Lashley and Watson should Watson's circumstances that led him into a very
have spent so much time working together on various different kind of work. Most of the Johns Hopkins
projects and yet have maintained such conflicting departments were moved to a new campus further
outlooks. Sometimes it seems in reading their work from the centre of Baltimore, but the new space
that each is expressing one side of a long-continued available for the psychology laboratory was even more
argument that has been fought on and off in many limited than in the old premises. As a typical gesture of
different contexts. encouragement towards a new approach that might at
As an appropriate reflection of his arguments for a least contain some truth and be of some use, Meyer
new kind of human psychology, Watson devoted little offered Watson rooms in the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic
of his time to animais and instead began his first to set up his animal laboratory. Watson's new position
systematic experiments with human subjects. One in the medicai school complex made it easy for him to
might have expected that these would be related to his gain access to the maternity ward. Within months of
striking claims on the nature of thoughts and feelings; his move very much more of his time was spent
in fact he stayed for a while with familiar problems of observing the behaviour of new-born babies than that
perception. What he wanted was to make good his of his rats. The studies of babies that he carried out in
claim that human perception could be studied without the eighteen months before America entered the First
reference to the observer's subjective experience, in World War are described in a later chapter.
the same way as one might study perception in
animais. As he noted, 'it is one thing to condemn a Concluding discussion
long-established method, but quite another thing to It may be useful to comment on three of the
suggest anything in its place'. It was here that the themes that run through the varied set of issues and
conditioning research carried out in Rússia suddenly studies described in this chapter, the themes of
became of interest. consciousness, complexity and empirical produc-
Earlier Watson had agreed with Yerkes that tivity.
Pavlov's salivary conditioning procedures were of A view very widely held among psychologists at
limited usefulness in studying animal perception. the turn of the century was of consciousness as a
Comparative psychology and behaviourism 174
non-material entity possessing both a passive aspect, was that it destroyed the equation of 'complex' with
as the subject of inner experience, and an active 'conscious'. It was no longer possible to believe that
aspect, that of a causai agent. This latter aspect was the causes of any action that is not just a simple
most apparent in discussions of behaviour. Thus, the repetitive habit must be accessible to introspection.
actions of an adult human being could be split into two The general implications of psychopathology
categories: first, actions with a simple basis, which are were first clearly perceived in America by James and
'habitual' and performed 'automatically' or 'uncons- by psychiatrists like Meyer. Later, in the second
ciously' and, second, those determined in a more decade of the century, the notion that one can attempt
complex manner, which involves the intervention of to understand bases for animal behaviour that are
consciousness or mind. It was a view that had long more complex than stimulus-response connections
been regarded as the common-sense one within the without getting caught up in questions concerning
Western tradition and essentially reflected the old consciousness began to gain ground among animal
Cartesian division between instinctive behaviour and psychologists. Quite appropriately, the first major
rational action; it included the important extra study to reflect this outlook was that by Hamilton,
assumption that by careful reflection a person could who was trained in psychiatry and explicitly acknow-
understand the causes of his rational actions. Within ledged the influence of ideas from human psycho
this framework the main interest for a psychologist in pathology. It is noteworthy that his report does not
studying behaviour arose from the contributions this discuss the possibility of asking his human subjects
might make to the analysis of consciousness. why they reacted as they did.
During the first two decades of the century two The study of human psychopathology is relevant
major lines of enquiry helped to displace this kind of here in another way. The visit to America by Freud
view from its central position in American psycho and Jung was in some respects like that of applicants
logy. Research in animal psychology was one of these. attending a job interview or of salesmen travelling to
In studying lower organisms Loeb and Jennings explain their wares. Academic psychology needed to
agreed, despite their many differences on other find a new departure which would be of more practical
issues, that one cannot draw any inferences about an use than the analysis of consciousness by introspec
organism's subjective experience from its behaviour, tion. The eventual rejection of psychoanalysis made
which should be explained only in terms of material much easier the later acceptance of behaviourism. It
causes; the notion of consciousness as a causai agent also highlighted the already overwhelming preference
must be firmly excluded from the analysis of for approaches that are conducive to productive
behaviour. experimental research and the pronounced suspicion
The early comparative psychologists who studied towards alterna tive modes of empirical enquiry.
much larger creatures possessing backbones and The commitment to experimentalism was particu-
nervous systems were slow to reach the same larly strong in Watson. If some outlook in psychology
conclusion. But then they gradually discovered that failed to produce a steady increase in well-founded
they had been making considerable progress in factual knowledge then there must be something
understanding the varied topics that interested them - seriously wrong with it. This belief was a major factor
sensory capacities, the extent and nature of trial-and- in his continuing and fierce scepticism towards
error learning or of imitation, and so on - even though evidence of complex learning in animais and in the
no progress was made at all on questions concerning difference between his general outlook and that of his
consciousness in animais. In 1913 Watson was ex- Hopkins colleagues. Some comments on the rela-
aggerating a little when he claimed that all of the tionship between complexity and experimental pro-
'behaviour men' had come to recognize this point, but ductivity will serve as an appropriate ending to this
certainly the majority had already travelled a good discussion.
part of the way. In a very different context John Stuart Mill once
The second line of empirical work to undermine described what he viewed as the major obstacle to
any simple form of dualism was mainly European and progress in psychology. 'All students of man and
was based on clinicai, rather than experimental, society who possess that first requisite for so difficult a
evidence. This was the study of psychopathological study, a due sense of its difficulties, are aware that the
States and of therapeutic methods, which started with besetting danger is not so much of embracing
studies of hysteria and hypnotism in France and falsehood for truth, as of mistaking part of the truth for
culminated in the work of Freud and Jung. In the the whole.'1 The sentiment was one that James,
present context the primary importance of this work Baldwin and Meyer heartily endorsed.
Concluding discussion 175
To mistake a part of the truth for the whole may, systematic experiments yielding quantifiable results,
nevertheless, provide a powerful impetus for re- but within the framework developed by Romanes.
search; or, perhaps more fairly/ a strong belief in the Watson's views, in complete contrast to those of his
power of some single principie to encompass a very friend, carne to sound more and more like those of
large proportion of some subject often has con- Loeb. From an attitude of suspending judgement he
siderable pragmatic value. Loeb's theory of tropisms moved to strong agreement with Thorndike that
and its application to the behaviour of lower organ- animal intelligence is limited to the acquisition of
isms provides an excellent example. It stimulated a habits. Unlike his Hopkins colleagues he refused to
large number of studies which yielded a great deal of accept that processes more complex than stimulus-
information about such creatures as paramecia and response connections could be entertained without
hydra. Later, Jennings argued that what was now slipping into a dualist way of thinking; to discuss
known about these animais indicated that their 'ideation' in raccoons, as Cole and Hunter had done,
behaviour was based on more complex and diverse was to allow the soul back into psychology, an attitude
mechanisms than proposed by tropism theory and strangely similar to one that a preacher from Watson's
that to understand these mechanisms more than just a childhood might show in condemning some minor
knowledge of immediate, peripheral stimulation was misdemeanour because it permitted the Devil to slip
needed. By the time he had convinced most re- back into a Christian's life.
searchers, active work in this field died away. Like Loeb, Watson denied central factors in the
Loeb and Jennings stand as clear representatives determination of behaviour and claimed that even the
of two distinct scientific traditions that for a while were thoughts, feelings and motivational States of human
intermixed within animal psychology. Loeb was a beings can be adequately analysed in terms of various
German experimental physiologist who distrusted forms of peripheral stimulation. Although never fully
evolutionary theory as he distrusted any view not expressed in any one place it is clear that the
grounded firmly on experimental data; Jennings was a underlying rationale for these claims was the belief
Darwinian and, while committed to experimental that they provided the only basis for carrying out good
methodology, could hold firm to beliefs based on experiments producing valid, objective data on such
other kinds of evidence. The everyday business of matters. To contemplate complexity, as Mill pro
getting on with experiments delayed for some years posed, was to follow the path taken by Baldwin, losing
the appearance of a similar division among those who touch with empirical reality and regressing into
studied vertebrate behaviour. philosophy. Watson hoped that the day would soon
Around 1910 the two strands began to separate arrive when students of psychology would not be
out. Yerkes explicitly placed his comparative psycho expected to know any more about philosophy than
logy in the evolutionary tradition, attempting to use students of chemistry or physics.
7
Our knowledge of the psychology of the Apes, problem-solving
anthropoid apes is less than our knowledge of the
psychology of any other animal. But and purpose
notwithstanding the scarcity of material which 1
have to present there is enough to show that . . . in
their psychology, as in their anatomy, these
animais approach most nearly to homo sapiens.
George Romanes: Animal Intelligence (1882)
________________________ J
Early in the seventeenth century Descartes proposed problem of mental evolution had not come to the
that even apes do not possess minds. The two reasons forefront of debate and, since his traveis were made
that he gave for this conclusion were that they possible by the prices museums and private collectors
displayed nothing comparable to human language would pay for his specimens, Wallace's preoccupation
and that they had no ability to behave in an adaptive with hunting and with physical dimensions is perhaps
manner when confronted by a problem in some novel understandable. The one detailed description of the
situation. Both of these inadequacies on the part of behaviour of these animais concerned a captive baby
apes provided sure proof of their lack of capacity for orang-utan that he managed to keep alive for a few
thought. It is hard to know on what grounds Descartes weeks. Wallace was struck by its human qualities,
made these claims and his critics pointed out the lack especially its helplessness, which contrasted vividly
of evidence on such matters. A hundred years later la with the monkey of similar age that Wallace provided
Mettrie suggested that such failings, even if real, were as a comparison.1
by no means fundamental and, if trained in an When Thomas Huxley made public the Dar-
appropriate way, an ape could acquire the various winian claim that natural selection was intended as an
skills of a gentleman, including an ability to speak. explanation for human evolution too, a major basis for
When evolutionary theories were developed in his argument was the close similarity between human
the middle of the nineteenth century the mental anatomy and that of the great apes. His evidence carne
capacities of the apes became a topic that provoked a from the specimens that travellers like Wallace had
great deal of debate, but there was still very little more shipped back to Europe, but he did not speculate on
information to fuel discussion than there had been in what functions might have been possessed by the
Descartes' time. The Darwinians themselves had large brains that he carefully examined. Even Charles
remarkably little to say on this matter. The claim that Darwin himself simply repeated a story illustrating an
the chimpanzee or perhaps the orang-utan, along with orang-utan's understanding of the principie of the
the dog, comes closest in intelligence to man was lever and then passed on to discuss the mental abilities
repeated here and there, but always in passing. of more familiar animais.
Alfred Wallace was the only one of the Victorian By the 1880s when George Romanes made the
evolutionists to have first-hand experience of such kind of claim illustrated by the opening quotation to
creatures in their natural habitat. Early in his long this chapter there was still no real evidence that an
traveis in Malaysia and the East Indies, and three years ape's mind most closely resembled that of man.
before the idea of evolution by natural selection Romanes made a short, but significant, reference to a
occurred to him during a fever, he had spent some tame orang-utan kept by Baron Cuvier; this had been
weeks in Borneo hunting orang-utans. This was in seen to drag chairs into appropriate positions in order
1855 and it was many years before he wrote about this to climb up and operate door handles that were
experience. His account of these animais concentrated otherwise out of reach.2 After all his careful sifting of
upon details of how he had shot each of his victims the evidence on animal intelligence Romanes had little
and the question of whether full-grown males ever more to offer on the subject of apes than had Darwin.
exceed a height of four feet and two inches. The The State of profound ignorance over the habits
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 177
and mental capacities of apes was maintained subsequent brief study of monkeys had forcefully
throughout the period of lively debate over the repeated the claim made centuries earlier by Des
evolution of mind. It is curious in retrospect that so cartes. To many of those who believed Thorndike to be
little effort seems to have been expended on finding wrong, the apes seemed most likely to disprove his
out more about them. One reason may have been that general proposal that all non-human intelligence was
it was a sensitive topic. Ever since Bishop Wilber- to be explained on the simple basis of stimulus-
force's taunt regarding Huxley's descent from an ape, response connections established during trial-and-
Victorian cartoonists had delighted in portraying the error learning. More specifically there was the ques-
Darwinians in the company of some hairy, long- tion of imitation. The early experiments had made it
armed simian. To study apes made one an easy target very clear that the phrase 'to monkey with', meaning
for ridicule. to fiddle with something in an uncomprehending and
A more compelling reason was that such studies often destructive way, was apt; the expression 'toape',
were particularly difficult. Romanes found this out meaning to copy another's actions, might turn out to be
when, deciding that a more substantial basis was equally appropriate, despite Thorndike's denial.
needed for his conclusions concerning the minds of The case of the horse, Clever Hans and the
apes, he began to study a chimpanzee named Sally at analysis of its behaviour in 1905 by Oskar Pfungst
London Zoo. 'It occurred to me that I might try some were important in attracting the attention of German
experiments on the intelligence of this animal. The psychologists to issues in animal psychology.
circumstances in which she is placed, however, did Pfungst's results made it seem even more likely that
not prove favourable for anything like systematic the results Romanes had obtained from his study of
instruction. Being constantly exposed to the gaze of a Sally were hopelessly contaminated by unconscious
number of people coming and going, and having her cueing on the part of the investigator. The German
attention easily distracted by them, the ape was interest in animais aroused by Clever Hans was
practically available for tuition only during the early maintained by other developments that became
hours of the morning before the Menagerie is open to almost as notorious. A group of three horses, the
the public; and, as a rule, I did not find it convenient to Elberfeld horses, attracted wide attention a few years
attend at that time.'3 later. They were said to possess mathematical abilities
Beginning in 1887 Romanes attempted to teach surpassing even those originally claimed for Clever
Sally to perform two separate tasks. The first involved Hans, including the calculation of cube and fourth
counting: she was to hand him one, two or three roots of numbers. Again it became almost certain that
straws as requested. She learned this well and later their replies to questioners were controlled by barely
could perform very accurately up to five, but less perceptible movements which the questioners were
certainly with larger numbers. By then the criticai unaware they had made.5
reception given to Animal Intelligence had persuaded The realization that it is easy to be misled over an
Romanes to be more cautious when interpreting an animaTs talents had practical as well as theoretical
animaTs behaviour. He considered, but then rejected, implications. For example, doubts were expressed
the possibility that her performance may have been about the intelligence and tracking abilities of the dogs
controlled by unconscious expressions and gestures used by the Prussian police and in 1913 the Ministry of
on the part of her trainer. Instead, he was convinced the Interior commissioned a study of six of the best
that she possessed a true understanding of counting dogs. It was found that in the absence of unintended
and even exhibited 'some idea of multiplication'. Later signals from their handlers their performance was
commentators, like Lloyd Morgan, were less abysmal. A much more rigorous training programme
convinced.4 for police dogs was initiated.6
Romanes also tried to teach Sally the names of In the face of all this negative evidence there
colours. This was not at all successful and it seemed to remained the persistent belief that some species of
him that she might be colour-blind. He stopped animais must be more intelligent than others. If the
working with her at this point. His only other contact intelligence of the horse and dog, so highly regarded
with primates was with the monkey whose testing had by Romanes and other earlier writers, had perhaps
been largely in the hands of his sister, Charlotte. been overrated, there still remained the ape. Some
There was no immediate sequel to Romanes' brief tests were carried out on the apes in the Berlin
work and the nineteenth century had ended before Zoo and Pfungst himself attempted to assess the
any further attempts were made to test the intelligence ability of captive chimpanzees to leam by imitation,
of apes. By this time Thorndike's paper of 1898 and his but without achieving a great deal.7
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 178
Possibly because of the wide interest in such continuity of species and the boundaries between
questions Germany became the first country to them. Among the more psychological of the topics he
provide the necessary support for systematic studies discussed was the question of whether the brain
of apes and thus to make the first substantial empirical displays the characteristic of equipotentiality; for
contribution towards the arguments first raised by example, to what extent can one area take over the
Descartes and la Mettrie. Before describing this functions of another when the latter is destroyed?10
research it will be helpful to consider the more Another extension, which is particularly impor
immediate intellectual context in which these studies tant here, concerned the way that the actions of living
were carried out. creatures display the characteristics of 'equifinality'
All of the early students of ape behaviour were and 'self-regulation'. Driesch gave the example of a
influenced by a strong reaction that occurred to the dog making its way to a certain place. In one case the
predominant mechanist trend of biology at the end of dog might be heading there in a direct line, when a
the nineteenth century. A common form taken by this carriage crosses the line, causing him to run more
reaction was to insist that living creatures are orga- quickly and make a curve in order to avoid the
nized systems and not simple aggregates of their carriage. In another case one leg is injured so that the
constituent elements as the conventional analytic dog has to use three legs to get to his goal. In both
attitude appeared to insist. In the 1890s research in cases the final end-point is reached, even though
embryology was an important source for such ideas either a different route or a different set of movements
and one embryologist in particular, Hans Driesch, from the normal ones has been employed; behaviour
became an articulate and influential spokesman for has in some sense been regulated so as to adjust to
this kind of view.8 disturbances in an appropriate way.11
Driesch believed that any organism possesses One of Driesch's main preoccupations was with
three essential qualities that are absent from any the levei at which it is appropriate to describe and
non-living system. The first was the 'equipotentiality' analyse some biological phenomenon; a painting such
of its constituent parts. In a key experiment of 1891 he as 'The Madonna of the Chair, examined with a lens at a
found that after the fertilized egg of a sea-urchin had distance of 1 cm shows up quite differently than at 5 m
divided into two parts, if either of these was away. The first time we see only blotches. Is then the
destroyed, then the other would nonetheless develop study of blotches really the only task of the biologist?'12
eventually into a well-formed, but smaller, animal. In In psychology the problem of leveis first carne to
general he believed that the subsequent development prominence in the context illustrated by this example;
of any one part of an embryo depended as much on its by the turn of the century many psychologists began
relationship to the other parts as on its own constitu- to question the value of trying to understand human
tion. The second characteristic was 'equifinality', perception by means of experiments on 'blotches'. The
meaning that development may reach the same end kind of terminology Driesch used in the context of
point using several different routes. Finally, Driesch embryology - terms like 'structure', 'organization' and
believed that all living systems exhibit the property of phrases like 'form is not a mere sum of certain
'self-regulation' which he defined as 'any occurrence elements' - was introduced into the study of percep
or group of occurrences in a living organism which tion.
takes place after any disturbance of its organization or A little later the same problem was discussed and
normal functional State, and which leads to a re- similar arguments put forward in the context of
appearance of this organization or this State, or at least behavioural studies. We can describe someone's
to a certain approach thereto'.’ actions in the following way: 'moves through doorway
Starting from experimental embryology Driesch into room; picks up and replaces cushion; looks
extended his ideas to developmental biology in towards floor and moves direction of gaze in sweeping
general, considering such phenomena as the regen- movements; stops and scratches head; pats chest and
eration of severed limbs or adaptation to unusual then rear'; and so on. Under normal circumstances it is
environmental changes, and then into an overall likely that, if asked what this person was doing, we
'philosophy of the organism'. He claimed that a new would simply reply: 'looking for his lost wallet'. It is
biology based on principies of structure or form was quicker and yet in an important respect more informa-
needed in order to gain a deeper understanding of life; tive. But if we are watching what an animal does, to
for example, such an approach would avoid the describe its behaviour at such an abstract levei means
impasse both Darwinian and Lamarckian theories of imputing a specific purpose and overall organization
evolution had reached in explaining the origins and to its movements. Should a scientific observer avoid all
Hobhouse and articulate ideas 179
purposive language and employ the more detailed Koehler (1887-1967), who carried out the first inten-
and cumbersome kind of description that would be as sive research on apes. In his general approach, and in
appropriate for the movements of a clockwork toy? his choice of specific test procedures, Koehler was also
The early students of apes attempted to maintain a guided by earlier studies carried out in England by
detached, scientific attitude, and became acutely Leonard Hobhouse (1864-1929), who was the first
aware of the problem that the more detailed and person to respond to Thorndike's challenge by
objective their analysis of what the animais did, the carrying out further studies of problem-solving by
less informative it seemed to become. animais and the first to examine the ability of an ape to
Driesch was regarded as a maverick from early on learn by imitation.
in his work in embryology. He studied with Emst
Haeckel who, on reading an early suggestion by Leonard Hobhouse and articulate ideas
Driesch for a mathematical analysis of a certain Edward Thorndike's paper of 1898 provoked
problem in embryology, suggested that the author widespread disbelief. Most of his readers continued to
might profitably spend some time in a mental hold that cats and dogs are capable of learning by
hospital.13 By 1899 Driesch became committed to the imitation and of discovering Solutions to problems by
cause that became his life's work, to demonstrate the means that involve at least some primitive under-
inadequacy of materialistic Science and defend a new standing of the situation. They saw Thorndike's
form of vitalism. Driesch viewed materialism as the claims as based on a mistaken choice of tasks that
approach to nature which assumes 'that there is but allowed his animais no opportunity for displaying
one ultimate principie at its base, a principie relating to their mental ability.
the movements of particles of matter' and, as streng- Among the first to react in a positive way, by
thened in particular by 'dogmatic Darwinism', main- carrying out studies to prove Thomdike wrong, was
tains that 'organisms are merely arrangements of Leonard Hobhouse. This work refined ideas that
particles of matter, nothing else'.14 Hobhouse had already been developing for many
He argued that, in contrast to as simple a living years. He became widely known among animal
system as a fertilized egg that has just split into two, 'a psychologists prior to the First World War, but
machine . . . cannot remain itself if you remove parts thereafter he was almost completely forgotten.
of it or if you rearrange its parts at will'. Since he was Hobhouse was born in 1864 and spent his
unable to conceive of a machine that would possess childhood near Liskeard in Cornwall. His father was
such a property, this became his first proof of vitalism, an Anglican clergyman with a wealthy and aristocratic
the doctrine that living things are imbued with some family background. After a boarding school education
non-material substance which Driesch, following Hobhouse obtained a classical scholarship to Oxford
Aristotle, called entelechy. In subsequent years he University which he entered in 1883 to study 'Greats',
developed other proofs. His books were widely read, the classics and philosophy. His academic career
both in German and English, but his vitalism and the continued to be a distinguished one and, after
increasingly general levei at which he put forward his graduating, he remained at Oxford as a college fellow,
views lost him the respect he had previously enjoyed giving tutorials in philosophy.
among his fellow biologists. His appointment as a In view of his family background and highly
professor of philosophy and a later interest in traditional education Hobhouse held surprisingly
Lamarckian inheritance and in telepathy put him radical views. As an undergraduate he took part in
beyond the scientific pale. Consequently, although attempts to organize an agricultural union in the
many of his ideas were widely absorbed, it was rare to countryside around Oxford. As for philosophy,
cite him as their source, since to do so was to invite Hobhouse was fiercely opposed to the Idealism then
automatic disfavour. dominant in English universities. He identified with
In summary, in the early part of this century the the neglected tradition in British philosophy that had
study of apes began against a background which seemed to have ended with John Stuart Mill. In the
contained two major elements: Thomdike's claim that preface to his only book on philosophy Hobhouse
apes are no more capable of thought than cats or dogs, expressed his attitude towards Mill and his distaste for
and Driesch's arguments on the inappropriateness of the obscurity of much contemporary philosophy: 'Mill
a stimulus-response levei of analysis for understand- was guilty of shortcomings and inconsistencies, like
ing behaviour. Disbelief in Thorndike's claim and other philosophers, but the head and fount of his
sympathy for the views expressed by Driesch were offending was that, unlike many other philosophers,
particularly important in the work of Wolfgang he wrote intelligibly enough to be found out'. 1
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 180
Hobhouse did not believe that there was just one kind response on the next trial. Such evidence convinced
of animal intelligence, but instead held that in the Hobhouse that, after they had been trained to be
animal world there was a considerable range of mental attentive, his subjects were all capable of learning by
organization, different 'methods of correlation and observing his actions. Hobhouse also found that in
adjustment'. He was criticai of Herbert Spencer's some tests where no prior tuition was given there
simple linear account of mental evolution. In now appeared to be a sudden transition from trials in which
familiar terms, Hobhouse stated: 'Evolution is not a series of undirected, haphazard movements occur-
serial. Its plan is not that of a straight line or even a red to a smooth, rapid performance of the response.
spiral, but rather that of a tree'.4 Thorndike must be The criticai reader might well decide that this result
wrong in claiming that no matter from what branch an negated the value of the occasional evidence on
animal might be selected its only form of adjustment observational learning, since no results were given to
would turn out to be the blind formation of habits. show that such transitions were any more frequent
The principal subjects in his initial studies at the following 'tuition' than for trials where no tuition was
zoo were a dog, a cat, an otter and an elephant. He given. Instead, for Hobhouse the sudden emergence
used a variety of tests. Some resembled Thorndike's of a solution to a task meant that some process more
and used boxes, containing food, which could be complex than the formation of stimulus-response
opened by sliding a bolt, moving a lever or releasing a connections was involved, and this formed the basis
hook. In other situations a subject could only obtain a for the second of his detailed objections to Thorndike's
Container of food by pulling on a cord attached to it in arguments.
some manner or other. For example, in one test a toy Thorndike had proposed both a theory of trial-
bucket holding some meat was suspended from the and-error learning based on the formation of connec
bannisters of a stairway, in such a way that the subject, tions between stimuli and responses, S-R theory, and,
a dog in this case, could only reach it by mounting the from his common observation of a progressive
stairs and hauling on the string. decrease in latencies, that at a more molecular levei the
At first Hobhouse concentrated on the problem of formation of S-R connections indicates the 'wearing
imitation. He did not use, as Thorndike had done, a smooth' of pathways in the brain. By the time
situation in which an animal could observe a demon- Thorndike published the report on his monkey
stration of how to respond given by a fellow member experiments he had abandoned the use of a smooth
of the same species. Instead, Hobhouse more simply learning curve as a criterion for deciding whether
and more questionably looked at whether his own learning was based on S-R connections. Whether a
demonstrations of what to do appeared to benefit an particular instance of learned behaviour is correctly
animal. He quickly discovered that a major problem described in S-R terms is a different issue from that of
was that of gaining the animaFs attention; his animais what kind of neural process forms the basis for S-R
were rarely attentive unless there was a chance of learning. As Thorndike implicitly recognized, it is in
immediate and direct reward. Furthermore, attentive- principie possible for S-R learning to become complete
ness was a characteristic that could be acquired; he in a single trial or, in his terms, for a single satisfying
observed that as one or two animais were put through event to fully stamp in an S-R connection. Thus, the
a long series of tests they became less easily distracted. form of a learning curve may bear only very indirectly
This suggested to him a possible flaw in Thorndike's on the question of what an animal has learned.
studies of imitation. Since the untrained cat, placed in However, to Hobhouse the examples of an abrupt
a position to observe the performance of a trained cat increase in the speed with which a response was
in the puzzle box, did not benefit at all from the made, which he found in Thorndike's graphs or saw in
opening of the door, there was no reason to expect this his own tests, indicated at least some primitive form of
observer to take any sustained interest in what was reasoning.
happening. It seemed to Hobhouse that this was the One major effect of Thorndike's first publication
factor leading to Thorndike's failure to gain any was to change the standards for studies of animal
evidence of learning by imitation. behaviour. By 1901 Hobhouse's use of a few animais,
Even though this might well be a valid criticism of the consequent absence of control subjects, the easy-
Thorndike's method, Hobhouse's own evidence on going imprecision of the procedures and the informal
the matter was far from conclusive. At best he found reporting of non-quantitative results, embedded in
that, following his demonstration of how to pull at a a book of otherwise mainly speculative content, were
string or open a particular box, on occasions the already dated. Thorndike's thesis research had been
animal was unusually quick to make the appropriate concisely reported in a professional journal with a
Apes, problem-solvitig and purpose 182
comprehensive presentation of the results that upstairs, goes to fetch it from this room and not from
allowed Hobhouse to use Thorndike's data to criticize the nearby bookshelf from which it has been fetched a
Thorndike's theory. It is not easy to determine exactly hundred times before. Such an action is not prompted
what procedures Hobhouse used, what the outcomes by events in the immediate externai environment -
of the tests were or the extent to which his conclusions unless absent mindedly the person goes to the bookshelf
followed from his data. - but is determined by the goal of obtaining the book
The reports Hobhouse provided of how the dog, and knowledge of a method for achieving this goal.5
cat, otter and elephant performed on the various tasks Though this may be intuitively obvious, how can one
suggest that their behaviour left him a good deal more demonstrate that an action is purposive in this strict
sympathetic towards the view that animais can only sense in terms of behavioural criteria, given, as
solve problems by trial-and-error than when his ideas Hobhouse believed, that observation of behaviour is
has been based only on casual observation and on the one and only method of psychology?
what he had read. If this were the only empirical work One of the criteria he suggested was the complete
in his book, it would deserve its present obscurity. acquisition of some response after a single successful
However, Hobhouse went on to test a rhesus monkey attempt. The problem of interpreting this type of
and chimpanzee and the results he obtained from result was discussed above, and in any case Hobhouse
these two animais provide one of the reasons why himself did not regard it as a particularly satisfactory
Mind in Evolution became so influential. The other criterion. He was more confident about the signi-
reason was its clear and thoughtful discussion of what ficance of certain other phenomena: actions that
were to become key issues in the study of animal resulted from some sort of perceptual learning and the
behaviour. occurrence of appropriate behaviour in a novel
One idea that he discussed was the analogy situation. 'As judged from outward action then, the
between the behaviour of an animal and that of a certain signs of purposive action appear so far to be
self-regulating machine; for example, a steam engine these two: the relation upon which it is based may be
whose speed is controlled by a regulator. To use a experienced without leading to the formation of a
more recent terminology, Hobhouse suggested that habit; and again, may be applied in circumstances
behaviour should be viewed as part of a negative differing from those in which it was originally
feed-back control system. Although not directly perceived. Action may often be purposive without
stated, his argument was that such an approach need possessing these marks, but where we find these
not lead to Driesch's vitalism. A related issue, which marks we may be sure that it is purposive.'6
had more immediate influence, was the question of Hobhouse provided some spatial examples to
what it means to describe an action as 'purposive'. illustrate what he meant in claiming, for example, that
The actions of a spider in spinning may be in purposive action 'the results of experience are
described as having the purpose of completing a web. applied to action in a manner not determined by the
These actions are determined by the purpose only in experience itself'. In the example of fetching a book
the very indirect sense that the spider's inherited from upstairs, the action is not determined by the
neural mechanisms, which serve to organize the previous experience of leaving the book, although this
behaviour, have evolved during the history of the experience provided knowledge necessary for the
species in such a way that only those structures which action. Perhaps the idea is seen more clearly in one of
are best adapted to achieving such a purpose sur- the tests he used. A dog is brought to an unfamiliar
vived. The actions of Hobhouse's elephant, Lily, in house and is allowed to roam around it for a while. It is
pushing in a bolt with her trunk can also be described then taken to Point A outside the house, where it can
as serving the purpose of opening the food box in a see its master at Point B inside the house, but cannot
similar sense: in this kind of case, reinforcement has get to him directly. If the dog, when called, takes an
acted in a selective manner within the lifetime of the appropriate route, which can be shown is unlikely on a
individual animal to establish a neural organization chance basis, then its behaviour, Hobhouse would
which makes the response likely to occur in that argue, utilizes its past experience of roaming through
particular situation. the house, but is not determined by it. It would be
Hobhouse argued that many human actions are incorrect to view the action as a habit or the result of
purposive in a strict sense and, unlike the two the formation of an S-R connnection, since the animal
previous examples, cannot be based on instinct or may never have gone from A to B before. The goal or
habit. To use his example: someone needs a book and, purpose, that of reaching its master, determines the
remembering that for once it has been left in a room action.7
Hobhouse and articulate ideas 183
To the extent that a dog is able to take a direct house demonstrated the similar use of a small stick by
route which is both appropriate and one that is pulling a piece of banana about it with it. The Professor
relatively novel to him, then he displays the simplest at once tried to use this stick, but found it less effective
form of purposive action, which Hobhouse called than his rug. The next day the use of a reversed
'practical judgement'. This kind of action was char- walking stick was demonstrated and this was quickly
acterized by some flexibility in the choice of means, adopted as a means of retrieving a box containing
which he contrasted with 'the rigidity of habit'. Rather sugar or a banana. The following day there occurred
tentatively, he concluded that some of the behaviour what was probably the most intelligent piece of animal
his animais displayed in the puzzle box situations behaviour that had been carefully observed up to that
couid also be classed as practical judgement. 'In some point. Hobhouse placed a piece of banana and a large
cases there were indications that the animal was stick outside of the chimpanzee's reach, and gave him
learning not merely to execute a certain movement, a second, shorter stick. Nothing happened, and so
but to do a certain thing . . . When a cat, for example, after a while Hobhouse used this second stick to
learnt to pull out a bolt, it learnt not merely to paw, nor push the longer stick about. When handed the smaller
to paw at a particular thing, but to pull that bolt right stick, the Professor at once used this to obtain the large
out, a thing requiring a certain combination of stick and with the latter at last raked in the banana.
repetition of minor movements. I have already The rhesus monkey, Jimmy, had no previous
referred once or twice to Jack's (the dog) efforts with experience of using anything like a rug to retrieve
the skewer. Even more remarkable was the combina objects and learned to use a stick as a tool more slowly
tion of efforts by which he pulled the string up than the chimpanzee. Nevertheless after only four
through the bannisters. We cannot in such a case trials he began to manoeuvre a stick into an appropri
apply the conception of a perceived object discharging ate position for getting a nut and later became very
a uniform motor reaction. There is rather a combina adept. Like the Professor, when no stick was available,
tion of movements which are not always the same the monkey would attempt to use novel objects, such
except in this, that they are so adjusted as to produce a as a rope or an iron bar, as potential substitutes. In
certain perceptible change in the externai world.'8 contrast, although Hobhouse found it relatively easy
When Hobhouse tested Jimmy, the rhesus mon- to train his dog and the elephant to pull a box towards
key, and the chimpanzee he called Professor, he had them with a stick which was already in an appropriate
no doubts whatsoever that they were capable of position, they never showed any sign of attempting to
practical judgement. Furthermore, they sometimes get the stick into a position where they couid use it.
performed in ways that seemed qualitatively more When other tests were carried out, some inspired
intelligent than anything he had seen the other by Charlotte Romanes' work with her monkey,
animais do. He decided that the superiority of the two Hobhouse was again impressed by the apparently
primates was best described as an ability to hold 'more qualitative difference between the two primates and
articulate ideas'. 'By a more articulate idea is meant the other animais. It appeared in the way that the
one in which comparatively distinct elements are held monkey and the chimpanzee dealt with knots tied in
in a comparatively distinct relation. Thus, that a bolt ropes, or a hook securing a wire that in turn held a bolt
must be pushed back is a crude idea; that it must be in place. The Professor, but not Jimmy, learned to
pushed back so as to clear a staple, a relatively poke a stick into a tube and push out a banana inside.
articulate one, implying a distinction between the Jimmy moved stools or boxes into position, so that he
parts perceived (the bolt and its Staples) and an couid climb up to an otherwise unobtainable potato. In
appreciation of the relation between them. As ideas some cases there was a sudden transition from a
become more articulate, the results of experience are 'sub-primate' type of fumbling to an adept perfor
fully combined or modified to suit practical ends. mance of the appropriate action.
Something like originality begins to show itself, and Why was the performance of the Professor so
we have instances of what we have called "spon- much more impressive than that of the other animais?
taneous application''.'9 Hobhouse did not have a lot to say in answer to this
The observations that gave rise to these proposals question. He allowed that his choice of tests may have
began when Hobhouse saw the Professor use a rug favoured the ape, recognizing the possibility 'that
from his cage to retrieve nuts which had been thrown "ape intelligence" lends itself more readily to the kind
to him by onlookers, but had fallen short of his reach. of experiment which human intelligence most readily
The rug would be thrown like a net over the desired devises.'10In particular, apart from the spatial tests in
object, which was then worked towards him. Hob which only dogs appear to have been used, his tasks
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 184
were ones that emphasized an ability to manipulate parts.'13 Hobhouse made these observations in 1901,
objects. The monkey can apply one object to another; long before such ideas and language became identified
that is why he can use a stick, a stool, a poker. It may with the Gestalt school of psychology that arose in
be said, so could the dog, if he had a hand. I am not Germany a decade later.
prepared to deny this hypothetical statement; but I
would rejoin that if the dog had a hand, his Wolfgang KoehlePs tests of chimpanzee
intelligence would have developed in a different intelligence
way.'11 The stimuli used in most nineteenth-century
In view of the controversy which surrounded experiments on perception were physically simple
tests of ape intelligence thirty years later it is worth events: spots of light, pure tones of fixed frequency,
emphasizing that Hobhouse believed that the Profes monochromatic colours, pressures applied to a single
sor^ skill was based on his past experience and did not spot on the skin, and so on. This research made the
reflect some kind of innate ability to solve certain kinds rarely discussed assumption that continued work
of problem which was independent of prior learning. along such lines would eventually lead to an under
The crucial difference between the Professor and, say, standing of the perception of complex events, more
the elephant lay in what had been learned in the past; like those of significance in everyday life, without the
the chimpanzee faced a new task possessing much introduction of new principies. The kind of attack on
more detailed knowledge of the elements, and their this assumption made by Driesch, in arguing that a
relationships, of some previous, relevant situation, painting cannot be understood by examining it with a
knowledge of a kind which allowed him to 'articulate' magnifying glass, was expressed by a number of
these elements into a new and immediately appropri- critics. One of them was an Austrian psychologist,
ate combination. Christian von Ehrenfels, who in 1890 wrote a notable
However, by the time this controversy arose very paper on the subject with the title, 'On Gestalt (form)
few people read Hobhouse any more or knew that he qualities'. Von Ehrenfels gave the example of a
had been the first to use the tests that were now of melody. No amount of careful analysis of how the
such interest. And terms like 'articulate', 'correlation' individual notes are perceived can lead to the
and 'practical judgement' never became part of the processes by which a series of notes is heard as a
animal psychologist's technical vocabulary. Hob- melody, since, for example, all the notes may be
house's language served to create a barrier that transposed and yet leave the melody intact. A
prevented an easy understanding of his ideas by later property, such as 'being in the Key of A minor', cannot
generations. An important example illustrating shifts be found by examining the notes in isolation, but
in terminology is his use of 'assimilation'12 to denote arises from their relationship with one and other. This
what later became known as 'classical' or Pavlovian provides an instance of a form-quality based on
conditioning, or simply 'conditioning'. The term temporal relationships. Other types of form-quality
'assimilation', indicating the process by which a that were described by von Ehrenfels were mainly
stimulus comes to assimilate some of the properties of spatial; for example, perception of a square is made up
another event or object which it frequently accom- of four elementary elements, the sides, plus the
panies, was widely understood before the First World form-quality of the spatial relationship between
War, but little used afterwards. them.1
Finally, there is the question of what Hobhouse These ideas later made a particularly strong
meant when ascribing to an animal the ability to impression on a younger, German psychologist, Max
perceive relationships. He explained this in the Wertheimer, who decided that von Ehrenfels had
following way. 'By the term perceptual relation, I stopped short of a very important discovery. In the
intend a perceptual content in which distinct but summer of 1910 Wertheimer was on his way by train to
related elements are included. In such a perception, a holiday in the Rhine Valley and was thinking about
the relations contained contribute to the character of the relevance of form-qualities to the study of visual
the whole as much as the elements that are related, perception. An idea occurred to him on 'apparent
and in that sense the relations must be said to be movement', movement seen when two spots of light
perceived. It does not follow that the character of any appear in quick succession. He left the train at the next
of the relations concerned is analysed out and station, which happened to be Frankfurt, left his bags
distinguished from the terms which comprise it. at a hotel, bought a stroboscope at a toy-shop and
When 1 look at any complex object e.g. the front of a started to experiment in his hotel room. Later he was
house, I am aware of a whole with many distinct offered the use of facilities at the university. Wolfgang
Koehler's tests of chimpanzee intelligence 185
Koehler had just arrived there and he served as a tradition of studying various subjects at various
subject in Wertheimer's experiments. A little later they universities. Some contact with the physicist, Max
were joined by Kurt Koffka, another Berlin graduate, Planck, gave him an enduring interest in physics. He
who also took part in the research. became particularly interested in theories of electro-
Wertheimer believed that the study of perception magnetic fields, which were leading to the develop-
had to begin with forms or 'Gestalten'. It was a ment of radio communication at the time he was a
complete mistake to study 'elements', since these had student. Whereas it seems that for Thorndike the
meaning only as parts of a whole; no 'side' exists if invention of the telephone contributed to the kind of
there is no square in the first place. The key point of his theory he adopted, for Koehler the nature of certain
experiments on apparent movement was that the physical processes, rather than the human artefacts
perception of movement in this situation could in no based upon them, strongly and explicitly influenced
way be understood as a conjunction of two basic the kind of explanation he sought for mental phe-
elements, those of perceiving stationary points of nomena.
light.2 Despite his studies of physics, the research he
Wertheimer convinced Koehler and Koffka of the carried out for his doctoral studies was in psychology.
truth and importance of his insight and thus began a On the basis of experiments in Berlin on the percep
life-long collaboration between the three men, who tion of sound, which were supervised by Stumpf, he
devoted themselves 'to a common evangelical effort to received his doctorate in 1909 and obtained the
save psychology from elementism, sensationism and teaching post at the University of Frankfurt that led to
associationism, from sinnlose Und-Verbindungen his meeting with Wertheimer.
("mindless conjoining"; Wertheimer's phrase) and to Koehler was twenty-six years old when he set off
bring it to the free study of phenomenal wholes'.3The for Tenerife with his wife and their new baby.
exchange of ideas between them laid the foundation Although he had had no training in animal work, he
for what was to become known as Gestalt psychology. was a skilled experimenter, knew a great deal of
Their interaction may well have had the same quality psychology and, above all, his three years of exchang-
as that among the group of men at Johns Hopkins from ing ideas with Wertheimer and Koffka provided a
which, among other things, John Watson's behaviour- fertile basis for understanding the behaviour of the
ism emerged. Although Wertheimer, Koffka and seven chimpanzees that carne into his charge.
Koehler kept in contact throughout the rest of their Koehler's stay on Tenerife was much longer than
lives, the daily collaboration of their Frankfurt days originally intended and it was 1920 before he returned
ended in 1913 when Koehler left to study chimpan- to Germany. The First World War, which began less
zees. than a year after his arrival, meant that he was
This unusual opportunity arose because some virtually isolated for much of that time. However,
years earlier the Prussian Academy of Sciences had control of the surrounding seas by the British navy did
received a bequest specifically intended for the not stop him from receiving scientific journals which
establishment of a research station for psychological kept him up-to-date with research, particularly with
and physiological studies of apes. Tenerife, one of the experimental work in America. They were seven
Canary Islands, a possession of Spain, was selected as highly productive years. In addition to the studies of
an appropriate site. In 1912 the first director was given problem-solving which made him famous, he carried
a one-year appointment, with responsibilities of out a number of other innovative studies, of percep
setting up the station, of transporting there a small tion, discrimination learning and memory, and wrote
number of chimpanzees from West África and of a well-regarded book on the nature of psychological
beginning to test the animais. In 1913 a successor was explanation. The experiments he carried out on
needed. Stumpf, still Professor of Psychology at chimpanzee intelligence, most of which were com-
Berlin, suggested that Koehler would be a suitable pleted within the first year of his stay, are described
man for the job.4 here and his theoretical ideas and other work are
The choice of Koehler was made despite his lack discussed in the following section.5
of experience in working with animais. The major Koehler gave two main reasons for wishing to
factor appears to have been Stumpf's respect for him study the intellectual abilities of his apes. One was
as one of the most promising students of psychology compara tive: given that chimpanzees resemble man in
from Berlin. Koehler was bom in Estônia in 1887 and so many other ways, how similar is the way in which
moved with his parents to Prússia at the age of five. they think? The second echoed the rationale for animal
On leaving school he had followed the German psychology first proposed by Sechenov: the study of
Apes, problem-solvitig and purpose 186
a)
O O bjective
S : S t a r t in g
point f o r
animal
\l
Fig. 7.5. Sultan making a double-stick
C)
mediately available. These included the one Hob-
Fig. 7.6. Variations of the detour test, differing in
house had devised, where a small stick was first used
terms of the starting angle which is 90° in a), 125°
to obtain a larger stick lying outside the cage and the in b) and 180° in c)
latter then used to rake in the banana; and also one in
which the stick could be reached only by climbing onto
a box, which first had to be placed in an appropriate been used in English texts. An animal is placed in a
position. The first of these was solved by four of the situation where it is close to some desired objective,
animais, but not by a further two that were tested. The but direct access is prevented by a barrier, for example,
second, involving the box, proved to be even more wire netting or bars. To gain the objective the animal
difficult and the successful solution, by Sultan and two has to make its way around the barrier. Situations of
other animais, was preceded by false starts in which this kind may be ordered in terms of the initial
the box was moved part of the way towards the stick, direction which must be taken and the extent to which
but then abandoned. the animal loses sight of the objective while making
The most complex problem in this series was the detour. Thus, the diagrams in Figure 7.6 illustrate
apparently solved only by Sultan and one other a simple version, a), where the animal has to start at 90
chimpanzee. Two rods were made available and a degrees to the direction of the objective, which always
banana was placed outside the cage at a position remains within sight; an intermediate problem, b),
where it would be reached only if a long rake were which involves starting at an angle of 125 degrees; and
fashioned by inserting the end of one rod into the the most difficult, c), where the detour is initially in the
other. Sultan's eventful solution was observed by the opposite direction to the objective, which is out of
keeper, and not by Koehler: it occurred when, sight for a considerable part of the detour.
apparently by chance, Sultan happened to hold the Koehler distinguished between two kinds of
two rods in either hand in such a way that they lay in a performance in a detour test. One consisted of a
straight line. Figure 7.5 shows Sultan working on this sequence of random movements of which one,
problem. apparently by chance, took the animal to a point from
Before describing the final set of stick problems, it which the objective could be seen and reached
will be helpful to consider a simpler kind of situation directly. Even in a simple version, of the kind shown
that Koehler began to use in March. This situation in a), chickens would typically show this kind of
provided him with an important conceptual basis for behaviour. At the opposite extreme, a few attempts to
interpreting the other tests. It has been called in get directly at the objective might occur, then the
English the 'detour' or 'round-about' test, and the animal would quieten, gaze around and proceed to
German term used by Koehler, 'Umweg', has also take the appropriate path in a smooth unhesitating
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 190
manner. Thus, in a situation of the kind shown in c), in the situation where the double rod could be used as
provided either that the appropriate route could be a long rake, he applied it outside of the test situation as
seen or that an animal was familiar with the geography a means of fashioning a more effective jumping stick.
of the situation, a dog, a little girl of one year and three The second thing to note is that Koehler was not,
months and the chimpanzees showed this second as some later texts have implied, trying to demonstrate
kind of performance. how clever chimpanzees are. He was as much
By this time the animais had become familiar with interested in failure as success. There were a number
the technique of raking objects towards them. A of situations where the chimpanzees' behaviour
number of tests were devised that, although involving appeared to be surprisingly unintelligent by human
the use of sticks, were similar in conception to a detour standards. The very first test, for which the intended
task. In one test the banana outside the cage could not solution was to unhook a ring, was repeated in various
be obtained if the animal raked it directly towards him, forms. This kind of problem appeared to be insoluble
but only if directed towards a gap to one side. In a for the animais, except by trial-and-error methods.
second, the banana was placed in a three-sided box, Similarly difficult were the problems of uncoiling a
placed outside the cage in such a way that the banana rope and of detaching a stick, whose crook or
had first to be pushed away from the animal before cross-piece had caught on a bar. Koehler's chimpan
being raked in. This arrangement was like that of zees showed no more understanding of how to detach
Figure 7.6b, except that the objective, rather than the a crook caught in a bar than had Lloyd Morgan's dog,
animal, had to move along the appropriate detour whose attempts had been observed for two minutes by
path. A final example of this type of test was obtained the passer-by.
by suspending a basket of fruit on a horizontal rail
above the animal. In this case a stick had to be used to Insight
push the basket along the rail, at 90 degrees to its Koehler viewed his work on Tenerife as an
direction from the animal, until, on reaching the end, important part of the mission to save psychology from
it fell off. 'elementism, sensationism and associationism'. Back
Performance in the second kind of test, the one in Germany his earlier collaborator and mentor,
with the three-sided box, was described at relative Wertheimer, had made a start in the study of human
length. In the position shown in Figure 7.6b the perception; now Koehler was in a position to do the
problem was solved directly by only two chimpan same for animal psychology. The main enemy here
zees. This pair again included Sultan, although for was Thorndike with his claim that animal intelligence
once his performance was inferior to that of the second can solve problems only in a blind fashion. Koehler
animal and Sultan's first solution appeared to depend was personally acquainted with Oskar Pfungst, whose
on a chance roll of the banana towards the exit from study of Clever Hans had been completed just before
the box. Even though all five of the remaining Koehler arrived to study in Berlin, and being familiar
chimpanzees, and a two-year-old boy, were very with Pfungst's work, he must have viewed it as a local
familiar with the use of sticks and could solve the example of the dangerously negative trend in animal
equivalent detour problem when it involved their psychology that Thorndike had initiated.
movement along the detour path, they appeared From the outset of his work with chimpanzees
unable to solve this combination of the two problems. Koehler was convinced that their performance could
Two further kinds of observation deserve men- not be adequately explained as the result of a process
tion before concluding this account. First, the chim of trial-and-error learning with accidental success. On
panzees' use of sticks was not confined to the some occasions such a process did appear to underlie
situations devised by Koehler. Fie noted that they the emergence of the correct solution. Just as chickens
appeared to discover for themselves how to use sticks were able to reach the objective in a detour situation
as levers, as aids to jumping - though not in the following a period of random movements, in some
manner of a human pole-vaulter - and as a means of other tests a chimpanzee might succeed in an
fishing for ants. Fifty years later, in the first intensive apparently similar manner. However, as noted above,
study of chimpanzees in a natural environment, Jane in many tests the solution appeared to occur in a very
Goodall discovered the same use of twigs by wild different way, just as the performance of the dog, the
chimpanzees in catching ants and termites. Sultan had child and the chimpanzees in a detour situation could
learned to use the jumping stick method to reach be clearly distinguished from that of the typical
objectives high out of reach before he solved the chicken.
two-rod problem. Once the latter had been mastered Koehler maintained that a new conceptual
Insight 191
approach was required to understand the abrupt Archimedes' presumed feelings when leaping from
appearance in a situation that was novel to the animal his bath. It was sometimes termed the 'Ah-ha! -
of a successful solution or of a 'good error', an attempt experience'. But when Koehler described the chim
which appeared to indicate some understanding of the panzees' solution as arising from the occurrence of
situation, but happened to fail. Such an approach 'insight', he used the term in a much more specific way
should also go at least some way towards explaining than his predecessors. The crucial idea was that an
why some problems were more difficult than others abrupt change in performance occurred because the
and why the configuration of the situation was animal saw the situation in a different way: a process
important. On this last point it was clear to Koehler of 'perceptual restructuring' had occurred. Thus, he
that to attribute to the chimpanzees some form of described a situation in which the apes, needing a
abstract reasoning power would be as inappropriate as rake, spent a great deal of time vainly tugging at a
attempting to analyse their behaviour solely in terms stout bar firmly fixed to a door, when all that was
of associative leaming. To credit them with some needed was to tear a branch off a nearby tree. 'The
internai logical processing, in which various alterna- black iron bar . . . stands out visually better from the
tive strategies and their expected outcomes were wooden door as a separate object . . . To "see" a branch
reviewed in a systematic manner, would provide no of the tree, so to speak, as a stick is much more
understanding of why a stick lying on the ground was difficult.'1
readily used as a rake, but not one forming part of a Such notions are better illustrated than described.
bush, or of why Solutions involving movements at 90 Figure 7.7a can be seen as a set of unrelated lines: it can
degrees to the line between the animal and the also be seen as the digit '4' with other lines superim-
objective were easier than those involving movements posed. Figure 7.7b can be seen as two independent
at 180 degrees. objects; it is seen in a more 'structured' way as a tree
The term 'insight', and the related German term with a branch pointing towards a banana. Figure 7.7c
'Einsicht', had been used quite widely by psycho- can be seen as some unrelated shapes: it can also be
logists, both to refer to a presumed form of mental seen as a bird. Important features of these kinds of
processing and to the subjective experience accom- 'perceptual restructuring' are that they tend to occur
panying the sudden recognition of a solution to some abruptly and that they are usually irreversible. Once
problem: the most ancient example being that of the '4' or the bird has been seen, then it is usually
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 192
observations were mentioned earlier. Others were the imitation. This showed two important characteristics.
occasional attempt to place a box in a suitable position The first was that such learning only seemed to occur
by pushing it against a vertical wall, as if the box were when they had some understanding of the situation;
expected to stick to the wall; or, having erected a Koehler carne to believe that 'the animal must work
eonstruction of the kind shown in Figure 7.8, to hard to gain some understanding of the model, before
remove Box A and attempt to place it quickly on Box B it can imitate it' and found that, even among
before the eonstruction collapsed. Since the floor of chimpanzees, it was very rare for any animal to
the test area was flat and the sides of the boxes even, a 'manage to imitate a performance enacted before him
'visual' solution was sufficient for the one-box test and of which he knew nothing before'.4 The widespread
no knowledge of staties required for this. It is failures in recent years to obtain much evidence for
interesting in this context that contemporary work on imitation was attributed by him to the use, especially
picture analysis by Computer has suggested that an in cases of a human being demonstrating to another
implicit knowledge of staties may serve an important animal, of tasks where it was impossible for the animal
function in the perception of scenes by human beings. to perceive the crucial relationships.
This might well be an important difference between The second characteristic noted by Koehler was
the visual processes of man and those of apes.2 that, where imitation did occur, it was not simply a
Koehler's exchanges in Frankfurt with Wertheimer matter of copying some movement made by the skilled
and Koffka prior to arriving in Tenerife clearly inclined animal. One example was an obstacle task in which a
him towards an emphasis on the visual nature of heavy cage blocked the use of a stick to rake in a
problem-solving and the definition of insight as banana; initially only Sultan found the solution of
involving a change in the way a situation is perceived. moving the cage to one side, but, after watching
They also affected his analysis of the way his Sultan perform, one of the younger animais, Chica,
chimpanzees behaved in and out of test sessions. Just later abruptly solved the problem. Koehler com-
as the notion of 'side' only has meaning if a line or edge mented that 'if Chica's achievement was performed in
is part of some shape, like a square, the detailed imitation of what she had seen Sultan do, then she
movements of an animal only have meaning in terms certainly imitated the substance of his actions, and not
of the overall action of which they form components. their form, for her movements in displacing the box
Thus, heading off at an angle of 90 degrees or reaching were quite different from his, though both carne under
up for a stick are significant only as parts of an the category of "removal of the obstacle"'.5 Thus, it
integrated sequence defined by the goal it is designed appeared that chimpanzees represented the actions of
to attain. He believed that to break down behaviour their fellows at a general and interpretative levei, one
into highly specific movements was as misguided as in terms of the apparent purpose of the sequence of
treating lines or flashes as the most appropriate levei at movements, and similar to the one móst human
which to begin the study of perception. beings use when describing them. However, it is
Tf we change to this method and direct our worth noting that, as with other topies, Koehler made
observation and description to parts of these move- no systematic study of imitation learning; this was
ment complexes, the result turns out to be entirely partly because he found it was often necessary to carry
unsatisfactory: it provides detailed examples of the out tests in a group situation, since the animais were
mechanism of movement and of the pure physiology likely to become dejected and unreactive when tested
of muscles and glands. The further we push the in isolation. Consequently it was very difficult to sort
analysis in striving for this kind of objectivity, the less out the role of social learning in an unambiguous way.
we are inclined to call the description one of the In studying topies other than problem-solving
"behaviour" of apes, and the more it dissolves into Koehler was able to carry out formal experiments
purely physiological statements . . . We suspect a yielding more conclusive results. These were reported
train of thought that leads to such conclusions must in scientific papers and not included in his book, The
contain an error, even if it is not at first clear where to Mentality of Apes, which reported the research so far
look for it . . . If the subject matter of objective described. Some of his earliest work on Tenerife was
psychological observations disappears as soon as one on perceptual constancies in chimpanzees; for ex
tries to describe it analyticaliy beyond a certain point, ample, does the apparent size of an object vary with its
then there are realities in the animais investigated which are distance from the observer or, as with human vision,
perceptible to us only in these total impressions.'1 remain constant? In general he found that chimpan
One of the 'realities' Koehler referred to con- zees showed exactly the same constancies as man.3
cerned the way that his chimpanzees learned by A later set of experiments used a discrimination
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 194
procedure and discovered a phenomenon he called Hunter's research on delayed reactions and regarded
'transposition', which became a key theoretical issue this as the first real study in animais of 'something like
some twenty years later. Chickens were first trained to real "remembering" rather than the reproduction of
choose a box painted a médium grey over one painted former behaviour in a like situation'. He used a
a dark grey and then were given a choice between the simplified version of Hunter's technique, which
médium and a still lighter grey; Koehler found that consisted of burying fruit in the clear, sandy yard
they now chose the latter, even though it was novel outside the home cages in full view of a chimpanzee,
and their choice meant that they turned away from the but well outside its reach. At some later time the
box that had always hitherto contained food. Similar animal was either given a stick with which to reach the
findings were obtained when Chica, the chimpanzee, hidden treasure or allowed out into the yard. It turned
and a three-year-old child were trained in a similar out that memory for where the fruit had been hidden
discrimination task and also from an equivalent remained very accurate; even after a delay of up to
experiment involving variations of size instead of sixteen hours they would simply head straight for the
greyness. These results indicated to Koehler that right spot and start digging. Since during the preced-
animais can base their performance on the relation- ing retention interval they had been involved in
ship between stimuli in such choice tasks, learning to various activities and in many cases had also slept for
go to the lighter or to the smaller of the two stimuli, as the night preceding a morning memory test, there was
well as on the absolute properties of a particular even less possibility than in the case of Hunter's
stimulus.7 raccoons or children that performance depended on
Speculation on what constitute the major dif- some kind of orienting response or maintained
ferences between the human and ape mind led mediating behaviour. Various control procedures
Koehler to study one further topic. As already noted, confirmed that they were not using smell or subtle
he believed that two major differences involved visual cues to guide them to the hiding places.10
perception: the chimpanzee's lesser ability to distin- This work started too near to the end of Koehler's
guish the component parts of some situation - to use a stay to allow an extensive study of memory. When he
term becoming very familiar in Europe at that time, it returned to Germany in 1920, the Tenerife station was
is as if this animal lives in a world in which objects are closed and the chimpanzees transferred to the Berlin
much more highly camouflaged than in the human Zoo. Koehler's productivity had confirmed Stumpfs
world - and its relatively poor grasp of the elementary original opinion and in 1922 he became Stumpfs
physics of common objects, such as support rela- successor as the Professor of Psychology at the
tionships, which means that its Solutions to problems University of Berlin and its institute of psychology
remain at a visual levei. Lack of language provided the became a vigorous centre of Gestalt psychology. The
third difference; Koehler concluded from his many institute in Berlin, housed in the former palace of the
years of close contact with chimpanzees that their calls Kaiser, now attracted students of psychology from
and gestures never serve to designate objects or Germany and from abroad in the way that Leipzig had
describe States of the externai world, but can only done in earlier years.
express their moods and emotions. He said little on Very little research on animal psychology was
this subject, beyond suggesting that the lack of carried out after this by Koehler or by any of the other
articulate speech could not be ascribed to anatomical Gestalt psychologists in Germany.11 Koehler's own
factors.8 research followed his belief that the most fundamental
The fourth, and final, major difference was that in problem in psychology was that of understanding
Koehler's opinion' “the time in which the chimpanzee perception and that this was most effectively pursued
lives" is limited in past and future'.9He suspected that by using human observers. The approach to the study
it is unable to anticipate future events to anything like of problem-solving that he had developed on Tenerife
the same extent as man and that this is the main reason was applied and developed in studies with human
for the absence of anything that could be described as subjects by some of his students, notably Karl
even a primitive form of culture; he thought it totally Duncker. Also, Wertheimer had written on this
unlikely that a chimpanzee could prepare a tool for use subject before Koehler had left Frankfurt and he
on the following day. However he was unable to continued these studies. But Wertheimer's interest
devise any tests that satisfactorily examined this was in how children and adult human beings solve
aspect of his animais' intelligence. problems, and not at all in animais.2
Their ability to take into account past events was In 1925 Koehler made his first visit to the United
much easier to study. Koehler knew of Walter States as a visiting lecturer at Clark University. The
Insight 195
first English translation of The Metitality of Apes at various points in the Mentality of Apes-, thus, 'I must
appeared in the same year. Gestalt ideas began to explicitly warn my readers against the mistake of
make a major impression on the way Americans thinking that I am implying any supernatural mode of
studied perception. However, although Koehler's interpreting behaviour'.14 The problem was to extend
work became very well-known and his book widely the general Gestalt rejection of the mechanical by
read in the English-speaking world ever since, his attacking the connectionism of Thorndike and others,
ideas had only a limited impact on animal psychology and yet to avoid any appeal to the non-material forces
in America. Gestalt psychology displayed the now of the vitalists.
pre-eminent virtue of generating experimental re- This problem seems to have been an acute one for
search, but Koehler's ideas crossed the Atlantic at a Koehler during his stay on Tenerife. The second book
time of growing hostility to any form of nativism, of he wrote there, Physical Gestalten, was an attempt to
which Koehler was judged guilty, and to any kind of lay the foundations for an explanatory System in
theory that was not ground on the laws of association. psychology which was related to physical concepts,
As these two aspects of his chimpanzee studies have but not to 'mechanics'. The areas in physics he
continued to receive attention, some comments on concentrated upon were those to do with field effects.
them are appropriate before concluding this section.13 He suggested that a direct relationship might be
Koehler was not particularly interested in the way discovered between psychological phenomena and
that past experience contributes to the solving of the properties of electric, magnetic or gravitational
problems, beyond the very important point of em- fields.
phasizing that this does not occur simply as the As for his discussion of insight Koehler saw this as
expression of a habitual response earlier acquired the most fruitfu! way of approaching the study of
under slightly different circumstances. He was quite thought, but not as an explanation of the way his
sure that what an animal has previously seen and chimpanzees behaved. A theory of problem-solving in
done has a great effect on its performance in a novel chimpanzees would have to await a satisfactory
task; he did not believe, as some later commentaries general theory of perception. For Koehler the attitude
have suggested, that problem-solving of the kind he of a sceptic demanding hard evidence and a precise
studied reflected some speciai inherent capacity which theory before taking any interest was one that missed
develops in autonomous fashion. He might have the point of scientific enquiry. The principie of
speculated on whether his chimpanzees' poor grasp of parsimony, Lloyd Morgan's canon, is not a sufficient
support relationships was due to their lack of the guide. One should also employ the 'principie of
extensive manipulation of objects and of piling up maximum fertility' by examining a set of phenomena
things which mostyoung children display. He did not from a variety of viewpoints, even if these cannot be
do so, but in any case, since little was known about the specified very vigorously.
infancy of his subjects and there was no opportunity In later years Koehler decided that explanations of
for studying chimpanzee development, such specula- perceptual phenomena can only be sought at the levei
tion would have been empty. of neurophysiology. He carne to believe in direct
The other aspect of Koehler's work that perturbed parallels between visual effects and changes in electric
many Americans was its uncertain theoretical status. fields operating across the surface of the brain.
Did he explain how chimpanzees solve problems or Subsequent developments in neuroscience made
was his account merely descriptive? In what ways did these beliefs seem as unlikely as those of Pavlov's on
it differ from the loose anthropomorphic tales of the the physiological substrates of conditioning phe
Victorians? Koehler knew that many of his readers nomena, but Koehler hung on to them - even to the
would have accepted the strictures of Lloyd Morgan or extent of insisting in one study that quite high voltages
of Wundt, would have been impressed by Thorndike's be applied to his scalp in an attempt, which was
research or by Pfungst's analysis of Clever Hans, and repeatedly unsuccessful, to see the changes in vision
would not have been convinced by Hobhouse's that should be caused by the resultant distortion of his
studies. Against the trend supporting a rather low brain fields.15
estimate of any animal's intelligence, performances Few American psychologists accepted Koehler's
interpreted as indicating complex mental processing idea on field theory. Much later their doubts seemed
were likely to be received with scepticism. Aware that justified following experimental work by Karl Lashley,
on two counts, style and content, he might be classed one of the American animal psychologists most
as a latter-day Romanes, Koehler was anxious to sympathetic to Gestalt theory, who manipulated the
defend himself against possible charges of 'mentalism' electrical fields on the surface of monkeys' brains and
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 196
much time. But because the Hobhouse tests were confess if I had to review it I would say some pretty
carried out in a much less systematic fashion and mean things. You have made statements which are
because the animais' behaviour was difficult to based on such flimsy and anthropomorphic evidence
describe in precise, objective terms - let alone that for a while I seriously questioned your scientific
quantifiable ones - he felt dissatisfied with them. spirit. . . The papers on the multiple-choice stand for
Indeed it was almost an embarrassment that they a loose type of theoretical interpretation which has
should have proved so interesting. In the summary to been absolutely foreign to the spirit of behaviour for
his report he proudly trumpeted the virtues of his the last fifteen years. I agree thoroughly with Hunter
multiple-choice method and of well-controlled, quan- who says that the only thing that can be brought out by
titative experimentation. 'Never before . . . has any the multiple-choice method is reaction tendencies.
ape been subjected to observation under systemati- Anything more which is brought out through inter
cally controlled conditions for so long a period as six pretation is completely gratuitous and reacts strongly
months. Moreover my multiple-choice method had against both the method and the interpreter . . . I
the merit of having yielded the first curve of learning don't understand this momentary lapse, nor do any of
for an anthropoid ape . . . so far as one may say by the behaviour men I have talked with.'8
comparing it with the curve for various learning In reply Yerkes wrote a lengthy defence. But their
processes exhibited by other mammals, it is indicative friendship did not survive this exchange. Yerkes did
of ideation of a high order, and possibly of reasoning.'7 not carry out any further animal research for the next
That so little had been gained from the huge amount of few years. When he returned to Harvard from his
effort invested was not discussed. Nor was the earlier Californian sabbatical he became involved in other
admission that good performance on one of the matters, one of which was the continuation of work on
problems did not necessarily mean that the animal had a version of Binet's intelligence test.
perceived the appropriate relationship, had got the Two years after his Californian sabbatical Yerkes
'idea' of what was required, since various unintelli- became President of the American Psychological
gent response strategies could also generate quite Association. With the United States' entry into the
accurate performances. First World War he and other American psychologists
Yerkes used the term 'insight' to describe some became concerned with the contribution that psycho
aspects of Julius' behaviour, but he did not try to logy might make to their country's efforts. Since
specify what he meant by this. Experimenting left too Yerkes happened to be the president of the Associa
little time to develop his thoughts on such matters tion and also had some knowledge of mental testing,
while he was still in Califórnia. He did not work out he was chosen to head the massive Army testing
how the conclusions he drew from the Hobhouse programme that resulted from these deliberations.9
tasks could be substantiated by firmer evidence to It was an entirely new experience for Yerkes and
convince tough-minded critics such as Watson, who he discovered that he was a good organizer and
edited his report. Instead Yerkes relied on the enjoyed committee work. When the war was over he
authority of his personal reputation as a skilled and decided to stay on in Washington to supervise the
highly experienced researcher. analysis and publication of reports on the huge
Yerkes had objected strongly to Watson's 1913 volume of data accumulated by the programme. He
paper on behaviourism. Although in later years the had long been interested in questions concerning
terminology he employed became progressively more heredity. Various animal projects he designed to in-
behaviouristic, Yerkes never abandoned his respect vestigate the inheritance of behavioural characteristics
for Titchener's approach to human psychology or his had previously been disrupted by various accidents.
criticai attitude towards Watson's behaviourism. In More recently he had become involved in the eu-
turn Watson did not conceal his opinion that Yerkes' genics movement and he saw the army testing pro
work in Califórnia was of poor quality. In a letter gramme as an unparalleled opportunity for gaining
commenting on a harsh review by Hunter of Yerkes' an understanding of the relationship between race
book Watson included the following remarks. 'I am and intelligence.
going to punch you one under the fifth rib. It will make Yerkes also realized that remaining in govern-
you a little mad but I think we have known each other ment Service and serving on various committees of the
long enough for you to cuss me out in the way I new National Research Council might be the best way
deserve, and then settle down into the old grooves of achieving his major ambition, the founding of a
which are based along lines of sincere friendship . . . I primate station and the launching of full-scale studies
have just gone over your book on the apes again and I of apes both in captivity and in the wild. At the end of
Apes, problem-solving and purpose 200
up in Cuba to get further information on what was Clever Hans, la Mettrie's idea that an ape could be
involved and then set up a temporary laboratory at taught to speak was mistaken. After years of close
Yale for work on chimpanzees. He wrote a series of contact with his colony of chimpanzees Koehler was
both popular and scholarly books about apes and also unable to detect any form of communication that
during this period carried out the first assessment of resembled human language, while explicit attempts to
gorilla intelligence. The one member of this species train apes to talk, first by Furness and then by Yerkes,
that he tested performed very poorly on the Hobhouse were miserable failures, even though both investiga-
tasks in which both chimpanzees and orang-utans tors had started with considerable sympathy for la
could be so impressive.19 Despite his prestigious new Mettrie's view.
position, his very considerable research reputation In discussing the studies of problem-solving
and his unrivalled knowledge of the way Washington reviewed here Bertrand Russell once observed that
dispensed research money, it took five more years 'animais studied by Americans rush about frantically,
before a massive grant was obtained to realize his plan with an incredible display of hustle and pep, and at
for a permanent primate laboratory. last achieve the desired result by chance', whereas
In 1929 the Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology those 'observed by Germans sit still and think, and at
were set up near Jacksonville in the sub-tropical last evolve the solution out of their inner
climate of Florida to serve as a breeding, as well as a consciousness'.1 He did not find the situation as
research, centre. This carne as the culmination of his discouraging as this observation might suggest, since
efforts on behalf of animal psychology that had begun it seemed that national characteristics mainly in-
thirty years earlier. By his books, editorial labours, fluenced an experimenter's choice of task and thus
committee work and unflagging correspondence, as only indirectly the behaviour of their animais. It is
much as by his scientific achievements, Yerkes had reassuring that, while different attitudes to Science
done more than anyone to keep animal studies alive in were reflected by the methods favoured by Hobhouse,
America and based in psychology departments, as Yerkes and Koehler, when they used the same tests,
well as to initiate the study of apes. He was the first to they obtained the same results. On being given the
admit that his had been an organizational rather than Hobhouse tests, the orang-utan in Califórnia behaved
conceptual contribution. Shortly after the primate in much the same way as the chimpanzees in Tenerife.
laboratories opened Yerkes described himself in the All three men agreed with Romanes and disagreed
following way. 'Endowed with a mentality in many with Descartes, in concluding that under appropriate
respects ordinary, I have always had the advantage of conditions apes can display more than blind habit and
a few wholly extraordinary abilities. Love of work and show evidence of rudimentary thought.
the power to tap new reservoirs of energy seem to As to the nature of their thinking and the way
have been paternal heritages which the circumstances apes differ both from other non-human species and
of my life greatly strengthened. From childhood I have from man, Yerkes did not really explain what he
been able to work easily, effectively, and joyously, meant by ascribing to his orang-utan and to the
even when associates whom I considered my super- chimpanzees he tested years later the capacity for
iors physically and intellectually faltered or failed. 'ideation'. Hobhouse and particularly Koehler had
This I attribute more largely to exceptional planful- more to say on this and both concurred with Romanes'
ness, persistence, sustained interest, and abiding faith suggestion, implicit in many of the pertinent terms
in the values of my objectives, than to unusual gifts or used in everyday language, that thinking and under-
acquisitions.'20 standing are intimately related to visual perception.
The superior abilities of apes to solve problems in
Concluding discussion comparison with other animais was not because the
The studies described in this chapter were the Solutions well up from unusually rich inner con
first real tests of Descartes' claim that apes cannot sciousness, but appeared to stem mainly from seeing
think. The chimpanzees tested in various ways by the world in a more articulated way.
Hobhouse, Koehler and Kohts and the orang-utan and Yerkes would dearly liked to have obtained much
chimpanzees tested by Yerkes sometimes appeared more dramatic and unambiguous results from the
capable of responding in an appropriate fashion when multiple-choice apparatus in which he required his
confronted with a novel situation. On the other hand animais to rush about. The reason he attached so
these pioneering studies suggested that Descartes was much importance to this approach was that at least no
correct in stressing the unique properties of human one could argue about the precision of the data it
language and that, like von Osten's belief in his horse, produced; if he reported that an animal made eight
Concluding discussion 203
correct choices out of a possible twelve in a day's answered within the framework offered by the
session, then no one could object that the results were conditioned reflex; it was not at all clear what kind of
projections of the experimenteis beliefs. To claim that research could develop naturally and productively out
Julius moved a box with the intention of placing it of the early studies of problem-solving.
beneath the banana or, in the absence of a box, Over twenty-five years later Koehler commented
attempted to drag the experimenter towards the on the unreceptive treatment given to his ideas on
appropriate spot, was, Yerkes knew full well, to invite insight and expressed his belief that American-style
disbelief and disapproval from the majority of his research on such issues was more feasible than it
peers. appeared at the time. 'The American tradition is
Perhaps because he had fewer powerful and averse to non-experimental forms of observation. It
articulate critics of this kind close at hand, Koehler would therefore have been advisable not to insist too
faced this problem more directly than Yerkes. He much on the simple kind of evidence from which the
decided that Hobhouse and, by implication, Driesch concept of insight had been derived. The conditions
were right to emphasize the purposive nature of at under which insight occurs, and the consequences
least some types of behaviour, in particular the which it may have, can surely be investigated in
characteristic of potential flexibility with respect to a perfectly orthodox experimentation . . . Clearly it
fixed end-point. Consequently, the dangers of subjec- must be possible to combine the American insistence
tive interpretation seemed to Koehler a necessary upon precise procedures with the European tendency
price to pay in order to ensure that what an animal first of all to get a good view of the phenomena which
does is not viewed in a meaningless way. For Koehler are to be investigated with so much precision.'2
and for Hobhouse to decide that some action on the There were other reasons for a cautious attitude
part of the animal reflected a specific intention did not towards Koehleris ideas. One has been alluded to
mean that the animal possessed a non-material mind throughout this chapter, namely the suspicion that
of a Cartesian kind or was imbued with Driesch's reference to 'Gestalten' and 'field theories' might be a
entelechy. Both believed that living organisms work loose cloak for vitalism. Clark Hull reacted so
according to the same laws of chemistry and physics negatively to lectures given by Koehler's comrade-in-
that govern the physical world and that the difference arms, Koffka, that he dedicated himself to developing
lies in the extraordinary complexity of their structure. explanations for Gestalt phenomena that were to be
They were not at all sure how the structure of an based solely on principies of conditioning.3
organism and the organization of its behaviour were to Another reason has been referred to less often.
be understood. Some of Hobhouse's remarks suggest This was the hereditarian bias that Gestalt theory
that he would have been pleased by the later appeared to display. Any claim regarding the su-
application of control theories developed for man- periority of ape intelligence to that of other species
made self-regulating systems. For his part Koehler implied that this was inherited via the ape's genes. In
looked to field theories and his ideas developed into an unreflecting way, this was seerv as related to the
what was an unsuccessful physiological model of claim that one branch of the human race is innately
brain function. more intelligent than another. Koehler's work hap-
The details of Koehler's work became widely pened to become well-known in America when
known among American psychologists in 1925 when opinion was sharply shifting from the attitude that
the first English translation of The Mentality ofApes was such a claim was obviously true towards the belief that
published. This was two years before the English it was just as obviously false. Some of the reasons why
version of Pavlov's Conditioned Reflexes appeared. this shift occurred are discussed in the following
Pavlov's ideas and discoveries were quickly absorbed, chapter.
albeit with some distortion, by animal psychologists in Before concluding it is of interest to note that both
America and the general study of conditioning became Koehler and Yerkes provide further examples, adding
the mainstream research tradition. In contrast, the to those of Thorndike and Watson, of men who
impact of Koehler's work on apes was quite limited. became highly influential in the professional world of
This was partly due to the greater attraction of psychology - Koehler as professor in Berlin and
Pavlov's more familiar kind of theory and of his Yerkes first in Washington and then as a professor at
objective methodology. But perhaps, more important, Yale - and whose reputation in psychology was first
was the fact that it was easy to see what kind of established by their work with animais.
empirical questions needed to, and could, be
8
'Of all vulgar modes of escaping from the Nature and nurture
consideration of the effect of social and moral
influences on the human mind, the most vulgar is
that of attributing the diversity of conduct and
character to inherent natural differences.'
John Stuart Mill: Principies of Political Economy (1848)
V_________________ _______________________ J
During the nineteenth century there was considerable reaction pattern more complicated than a reflex, but
confusion concerning the concept of instinct. The term best understood as a chain of reflex actions or a
was used a great deal by biologists and psychologists 'compound reflex'. His friend, George Lewes, also
as if it had some precise, technical meaning. Yet what criticized the view that instinctive action is guided by
one writer meant when talking of a particular instinct some central, immaterial purpose, but accepted
often had very little in common with the meaning Lamarck's view on inheritance. Lewes popularized his
attached to such phrases by someone else. theory under the labei Tapsed intelligence': instincts
One of the older sources of ideas on the subject were actions which had initially involved some
was the extensive discussion of instinct provided by perception of their consequences or were in some
an otherwise obscure professor of philosophy from other sense rational, which had then become habitual
Hamburg, named Herman Reimarus, who believed and which over a number of generations had become
that instincts were to be understood in terms of the to some degree innate.
purposes that they appeared to subserve. Thus, a Charles Darwin's views on the matter at first
'maternal instinct' did not refer to some specific marked a complete break with earlier thinking. One of
reaction that an animal might display towards its eggs the most revolutionary ideas in Darwin's Origin of
or young, but to some general tendency to act in Species was that natural selection acts upon patterns of
various ways so as to promote the welfare of its behaviour as well as upon bodily organs. He pointed
offspring; such an inner tendency was supposed to be out that various complex, yet completely innate,
non-physical and to operate without the animaLs reactions found in certain species of social insect, such
awareness. Reimarus attempted to categorize such as bees and ants, could not be the product of
tendencies and, in doing so, produced the first Lamarckian inheritance, since they were displayed by
systematic list of instincts, which totalled forty-seven neuter individuais without offspring. Like Spencer,
distinct types.1 Darwin believed that such reactions were different
In Lamarck's theory of evolution a central place only in levei of complexity from simple reflexes.
was given to a concept of instinct similar to that of The simple contrast between Darwinian and
Reimarus. Many later evolutionists agreed with Lamarckian theories of evolution became obscured in
Lamarck on the inheritance of tendencies to behave in the 1870s and 1880s as first Darwin and then his
certain ways, accepting the view that the innateness or successors, like George Romanes, became convinced
ready acquisition of an action by some living creature of the importance of Lamarckian inheritance.
must be the result of arduous practice on the part of its Romanes carne to conclude that there were two kinds
ancestors. However, they did not necessarily also of instincts: primary ones, produced directly by
accept other aspects of Lamarck's theory. natural selection, and secondary ones, corresponding
A notable example was Herbert Spencer, who to Lewes' Tapsed intelligence'. At the same time he
believed in Lamarckian inheritance as the principal rejected Spencer's analysis of instincts as compound
explanation for the origin of instincts, but emphatical- reflexes and felt sympathy for Reimarus' original view
ly did not share Lamarck's view of what constituted an that an instinct is a set of activities and reactions
instinct. For Spencer an instinct was simply an innate working towards some common goal.2
Instinct and human nature 205
The variety of views held by instinct theorists a used in various and often contradictory ways without
hundred years ago is still reflected in colloquial ever upsetting anyone very much. In the case of
English. An instinct can refer to some set of reiated instinct, however, the rapid shift of ideas on inheri-
activities, as in describing sex or aggression as tance occurring around the turn of the century meant
instincts; to some specific, innate reaction, as in that biologists and psychologists either had to agree
referring to an animaTs tendency to right itself when on a more consistent definition of instinct or discard
first falling from a height or to swim when first the term altogether from their technical vocabulary.
immersed in water; or to some reaction so well The crucial changes in views on heredity con-
practised that it has become automatic, as in claiming sisted of the rapid acceptance of Weismann's argu
that the driver of a car 'instinctively jammed on the ments against Lamarckian inheritance and the sub-
brakes'. sequent rediscovery of MendeTs Laws, which together
This last kind of usage, meaning a well-learned laid the foundations of modem genetics. This had
habit that can occur without conscious reflection, was two major consequences for psychology: one was the
untii about 1890 essentially the only way in which the need to clarify the distinction between the learned
term was applied to human behaviour. During the last and innate behaviour of animais, and Morgan was the
century most of the arguments over instinct were first to show how this might be done;6 the other was
developed in the context of non-human animais, for that it brought to the forefront questions concerning
traditionally their behaviour was thought to be guided the inheritance of human mental abilities.
largely by instinct, while man alone was guided For at least two centuries beliefs about the extent
primarily by reason. 'Nothing is commoner', wrote to which man is bound by his nature have swung
William James in 1890, 'than the remark that man slowly to and fro. During certain eras, often ones of
differs from lower creatures by the almost total economic expansion followed by a rapid social or
absence of instincts.'3 In characteristic fashion James political change, there has been widespread agree-
then tried to persuade his readers that the received ment that a person's ability and temperament are
view was entirely wrong, and he did so by exploiting largely fixed by the way he or she has been nurtured
in a seemingly deliberate way the ambiguity sur- and by the more immediate influences of the physical
rounding the meaning of instinct. He concluded that a and social surroundings of everyday life. Such an
higher animal 'appears to lead a life of hesitation and attitude was common in the latter part of the
choice, an intellectual life; not, however, because he eighteenth century, particularly in France, and also in
has no instincts - rather because he has so many that the early Victorian England of John Stuart Mill and
they block each other's path'.4 Alexander Bain.
Five years later Lloyd Morgan summed up the by In other periods an individuaLs potential has
now total confusion surrounding the subject. 'Instinc- been viewed as severely constrained by a set of factors
tive activities are unconscious (Claus), non-mental called 'human nature' and differences between indi
(Calderwood), incipiently conscious (Spencer), dis- viduais have been seen as largely a result of dif
tinguished by the presence of consciousness ferences existing at birth. When the pendulum is
(Romanes), accompanied by emotions in the mind passing through this latter positioh it has been
(Wundt), involve connate ideas and inherited know- common to assume that variations in characteristic
ledge (Spalding); synonymous with impulsive activi patterns of action across cultures, classes or sexes
ties (James), to be distinguished from those involving reflect inherent constitutional variation. At such times
impulse proper (Hoeffding, Marshall); not yet volun- it has seemed natural for a man to do certain things or
tary (Spencer), no longer voluntary (Lewes), never pursue certain interests, but unnatural for a woman to
involuntary (Wundt); due to natural selection only do so; obvious that one social class produces bom
(Weismann), to lapsed intelligence (Lewes, Schnei- leaders, while another consists of people capable of
der, Wundt), to both (Darwin, Romanes); to be only manual work; and beyond question that some
distinguished from individually-acquired habits (Dar races show an innate sense of rhythm and others
win, Romanes, Sully and others), inclusive thereof inherit a talent for shopkeeping.
(Wundt); at a minimum in man (Darwin, Romanes), at Such beliefs provided a convenient ideology for
a maximum in man (James); essentially congenital justifying, and administering, the vast colonial
(Romanes), inclusive of individually-acquired mod- empires that many European nations had acquired
ifications through intelligence (Darwin, Romanes, during the nineteenth century. They became particu
Wallace).'5 larly strong in Great Britain, perhaps because the
There are plenty of words which continue to be whole colonial experience loomed so large in British
Nature and nurture 206
life and possibly also because of the development in seem to have been guided by the motive of maintain-
British índia of rigid, detailed class distinctions that ing the childhood conviction that he was cleverer than
mirrored the intricate caste system of the native anyone else. Since his father had a northern industrial-
culture. But whatever the reasons were, from around ist's suspicion of Oxford and Cambridge, and since
1885 nativistic beliefs became more pronounced in these institutions still did not offer the scientific
Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, in North education that McDougalTs reading of Huxley, Spen-
America than they had been for centuries. When men cer and Darwin impelled him to obtain, he studied
of outstanding intellectual reputation and moral Science, concentrating on geology, at the local Uni-
authority, like James, concluded that man, after all, versity of Manchester. He began this at the uncom-
possessed a great many inherited tendencies to act in monly early age of fifteen, so that four years later he
certain ways or, like Francis Galton, stated that human obtained a first-class degree at a time in life when most
achievements were mainly the result of good selective boys of his background were about to leave school.
breeding, the stamp of scientific authority, with all the By this time McDougall had developed an interest
prestige that this now enjoyed, was put upon the in physiology and this subject had become well-
hereditarian outlook. established at Cambridge. Since there was no urgent
General views of this kind provided the context need to eam a living, he now took a further four-year
for two of the most lively developments in British course of study in Cambridge which led to another
psychology during the decade or so before the First first-class degree in 1894. This was followed by three
World War. One was the invention by men such as years of medicai studies at a London hospital; he saw
Karl Pearson and Charles Spearman of statistical this training less as a preparation for a career in
techniques specifically designed to analyse the inheri- medicine than as a useful step towards his goal of
tance of mental abilities. The other started by taking election to a Cambridge fellowship. It was at this stage
seriously James' claim that there are a great many that the future course of his career was decided when
human instincts and tried to understand their he read William James' Principies of Psychology.
properties by comparing them to the instincts dis- In 1898 contacts with people in Cambridge led to
played by other species. The most persuasive advo- an invitation to join a notable anthropological expedi-
cate of this approach was William McDougall (1871— tion to the Torres Straits in Indonésia. His main duty
1938). He decided that Darwin's successors in com- on the expedition was to assess the sensory abilities of
parative psychology had placed far too much weight the natives of this area. Afterwards he spent some
on studying the relative intellectual abilities of different months studying the lives and customs of various
species; in doing so they had neglected Darwin's primitive tribes in nearby Borneo. On returning to
discussion of the links between emotional States in Europe his education finally ended with a year spent
different species, including man.7McDougall believed in Germany, learning about experimental methodo-
that the most important contribution the study of logy in the psychological laboratory of G. E. Mueller in
animais could make to human psychology was to Goettingen.
provide an understanding of human emotion and the McDougalTs fourteen years of training left him
springs of human conduct. It was largely due to ideally equipped for a profession which hardly existed
McDougall and to his compatriot, Wilfrid Trotter in England. The best appointment he could find was a
(1872-1939), that during the early years of this century part-time teaching post at University College, London
psychologists and sociologists on both sides of the where he was responsible for the psychological
Atlantic took a great deal of interest in the question of laboratory and where he carried out some experiments
instinct. Subsequently, when a reaction to instinct- on visual perception. This research was inspired by his
based theories of human behaviour gathered momen- violent antipathy to currently prevailing theories, an
tum in America around 1920, McDougalTs work attitude that was to characterize his later work in other
became a principal focus for attacks on the heredi areas of psychology. He spent four years in London,
tarian outlook in psychology. and then in 1903 was appointed to the Wilde
Readership in Mental Philosophy at Oxford. Since the
William McDougall, Wilfrid Trotter and terms of this appointment were designed to deter the
human instincts holder from attempting to engage in any empirical
McDougall was born in 1871 to a wealthy family work, McDougall had to carry out research in a room
in the North of England. He spent most of his boyhood loaned to him by the physiological department.
in a suburb of Manchester and showed precocious The ideas that brought McDougall fame did not
intellectual ability. Many aspects of his later career arise from his research on vision nor from other work
McDougall, Trotter and human instinds 207
fledgling, may well improve hugely with practice and whether descriptions of animal behaviour might be
may well show great flexibility according to the distorted by the observer's preconceptions about
situation and available material; nevertheless, accord human psychology. He knew of the work of Morgan
ing to McDougall, the bird would still be displaying a and of Hobhouse, but did not absorb their criticai
nest-building instinct. rigour. And in what McDougall has to say about
He was well-aware of pitfalls in the way of animais there is nothing of the shrewdness and the
understanding human instincts. Even in the case of direct impact of first-hand observation that Morgan
animais he regarded earlier attempts to analyse and Hobhouse both convey.
instincts as completely useless: 'attribution of the A peculiarity of McDougalTs treatment of instinct
actions of animais to instinct . . . was a striking was that he kept to his three-fold definition in a rigid
example of the power of a word to cloak our ignorance manner so that sometimes what might on other
and to hide it even from ourselves.'6And as for human grounds be regarded as a prime candidate for the
behaviour, 'lightly to postulate an indefinite number status of a basic instinct was rejected because it was
and variety of human instincts is a cheap and easy way not associated with a distinctive emotion. He de
to solve psychological problems and is an error hardly scribed the following seven primary instincts and their
less serious and less common than the opposite error associated emotional quality: flight and fear; repulsion
of ignoring all the instincts'.7Accordingly, McDougall and disgust; curiosity and wonder; pugnacity and
did not accept as true instincts many that were anger; self-abasement and subjection; self-assertion
suggested by his contemporaries. For example, he and elation; and finally, the parental instinct and the
denied that people are endowed with a religious 'tender emotion'. He also mentioned other instincts in
instinct or an instinct for rivalry. Similarly, he decided which the emotional tendency was less well-defined,
that it was misleading to labei imitation or play as such as the gregarious and acquisitive instincts, and
instincts; these should be regarded as general other emotions compounded from primary ones, such
tendencies. as sexual jealousy and female coyness.
The major difference between man and other A notable feature of the early editions of Social
species is that 'man has an indefinitely greater power Psychology is that sex is itself coyly referred to as the
of learning, or profiting by experience, of acquiring 'instinct of reproduction' and receives only a passing
new modes of reaction and adjustment to an immense mention. As McDougall later admitted, this was odd
variety of situations'.8This means that in man innnate in that 'consideration of sexual experience and
tendencies are deeply overlaid and it accounts for the conduct affords the clearest illustration and the most
unsatisfactory nature of previous discussions of obvious support' for his theory.9 Indeed, it arguably
human instinct. From a psychological point of view provides the best model for a general treatment of
the greatest value to be gained from studying animal human instincts along the lines proposed by
behaviour stems from the possibility of more easily McDougall. The main reason for omitting any exten-
discerning the basic instincts, since in animais they are sive discussion of sex was because McDougall felt this
far less distorted by learning. The other way of might be offensive to the general reader for whom
approaching the problem of human instincts and their the book was intended. It is a good example of
emotional components, one that is complementary to the 'rosewater' attitude of psychology in that era,
animal psychology, is to study psychopathology particularly since McDougall was in many re-
where, as it were, instincts rise to the surface in spects an unusually courageous and unconventional
exaggerated form. person.
This is how McDougall explained his approach to The extent of Freud's subsequent influence and of
the subject. In fact Social Psychology does not contain a a rapid shift in convention is illustrated by the fact that
single example of working systematically from sets in 1914, six years after Social Psychology was first
of studies of animal behaviour to the analysis of a published, McDougall added a lengthy and relatively
particular human instinct. Instead its list of primary frank discussion of sex. Nevertheless, despite his early
instincts contains as high a ratio of speculation to and unfulfilled promise to bring evidence from
specific evidence as any of its predecessors. The only psychopathology to bear on the question of human
starts in the direction that McDougall claimed to be instincts and despite a close interest in psycho-
taking occur when apparently comparable behaviour analysis, McDougall resisted the general conclusions
in animais is briefly described. There is no sign of Freud drew from the analysis of his patients. 'I incline
questioning whether he might be selectively searching strongly to the view that they (the psychoanalysts)
for examples to confirm beliefs already firmly held; or have extended to normal individuais generalizations
McDougall, Trotter and human instincts 209
Such a quotation makes Trotter sound as if he that among Germans there was 'deliberate cultivation
anticipated the recent development of sociobiology, by superiors of a domineering harshness towards their
but he provided no developed examples to back up his inferiors, of habitual cruelty towards animais, and
claim that the study of social animais is crucial to an indeed of the conscious deliberate encouragement of
understanding of man. The occasional references to harshness and hardness of manner and feelings as
the bee, the wolf or the sheep were, if anything, even laudable evidence of virility'. Even the German
vaguer than the passing nods to natural history musical tradition and love of singing were cited in
provided by McDougall. The main reason why Trotter support of the argument, since 'the wolf, then, is the
is interesting here is that, like McDougall, he believed father of the war song, and it is among peoples of the
that the prevailing introspective psychology was lupine type alone that the war song is used with real
sterile, that it had nothing to offer social psychology or seriousness'.16 In a hive 'decisions of policy of the
sociology and that what was needed was an applica- greatest moment appear, as far as we can detect, to
tion of the objective approach that animal psycholo- arise spontaneously among the workers, and whether
gists had begun to develop. In less forthright terms the future is to prove them right or wrong, are carried
than those used later by Watson he described 'the out without protest or disagreement' and English
sense of unimaginable complexity and variability of society is marked by a similar lack of central direction;
human affairs', which arises when we furnish ex- he wrote to his fellow countrymen of 'the deep, still
planations of our own conduct, as a kind of anthro- spirit of the hive that whispers unrecognized in us
pomorphism. He contended that 'a reaction against all'.17
this in human psychology is no less necessary there- Trotter claimed that this nonsense was serious
fore than was in comparative psychology the similar analysis and it followed that, like a dog or wolf,
movements the extreme developments of which are Germany needed to be given a sound thrashing.
associated with the names of Bethe, Beer, Uexkuell When the war was over he admitted that some of this
and Nuel . . . it is this anthropomorphism in the was prejudice, but excusable because of the time it was
general attitude of psychologists which, by disguising written. By then the harm had been done; to invoke
the observable uniformities of human conduct, has scientific theory in support of chauvinism is in the long
rendered so slow the establishment of a really practical run as harmful to the theory as appeals to 'God on our
psychology.'14 side' are to religious belief.
Trotter's ideas became widely known when he Trotter wrote no more on the subject and he was
combined two earlier papers with new material in a soon forgotten. Although his contribution was a
book of 1916 entitled Instincts of the Herd in Peace and minor one, his book was important at a criticai time for
War. This included an extended discussion of Freu- spreading very widely the opinion that an objective
dian theory; Trotter was one of the first British psychology, which was based on the study of animal
scientists to attend a meeting of the psychoanalytic behaviour, avoided introspection and was allied to
society and his close friend and brother-in-law, Ernest Freudian theory, would help cure the ills of society.
Jones, became the leading figure in the psycho Like Trotter, McDougall was much affected by the
analytic movement in England as well as Freud's war, but his influence on psychology continued long
biographer. Trotter was far more sympathetic to after it was over. Following the German invasion of
Freudian theory than McDougall, but nevertheless Belgium in 1914, McDougall immediately volunteered
worried that no biological context was provided: 'it as a private in the French army. Some months later he
seems to feel no need of bringing its principies into transferred to the medicai corps of the British army
relation with what little is known of the mental and for the first time in his life became deeply involved
disabilities of the non-human animais'.15 He argued in applying his knowledge of psychology, in particular
that consideration of the social instincts provided this to the treatment of victims of shell-shock. This
necessary context. experience increased his interest in psychoanalysis
Although the treatment of psychoanalysis no and, when the war was over, he visited Jung to submit
doubt added to the book's appeal, what made it himself to analysis at the hands of an expert. He carne
notorious and of huge interest to the British wartime away 'enlightened but not convinced'. On returning
reader was its description of national differences. to his academic work at Oxford an invitation arrived
Among the varieties of social organization Germany, it from Harvard to take the vacant chair of psychology.
claimed, displays the aggressive characteristics of the Although there was more interest in psychology at
wolf-pack, while English society shows the advanced Oxford than before the war, the low esteem in which
gregariousness of the bee. For example, he maintained the subject was held there and at other British
Psychological Darwinism 211
universities was still discouraging. McDougall explicable', but by the time he left for Harvard he was
accepted the invitation and remained in America for convinced that behaviour is impelled by a special kind
the rest of his life. of non-physical force which he later called 'hormic
In the few years before his departure many of energy'. His outlook had become identical with that of
what had been tentative opinions became more Hans Driesch, whom McDougall never directly cited,
confident and extreme, and in a direction that was but who nonetheless was the main inspiration for his
usually opposed to the general trend of the time. If now unabashed vitalism.
self-assertion was the primary instinct behind his McDougalTs Social Psychology had been well-
career, then the second was certainly pugnacity. received by American psychologists as well as by the
'Whenever I have found a theory widely accepted in general public; by 1920 the book had gone into its
the scientific world, and especially when it has fifteenth edition. But he seemed like a figure from an
acquired something of the nature of a popular dogma earlier era when he arrived in America, a speculative
among scientists, I have found myself repelled into philosopher with no solid background of experimental
skepticism'.18 He began to take a sympathetic interest papers on the topics on which he was supposed to be
in Lamarckian inheritance where earlier he had expert; although this was more a reflection on the state
decided that it was probably correct to reject it. In his of British psychology than on McDougall. 'In America
Social Psychology of 1908 he was less dismissive of the I was known as a writer who had flourished in the later
mental abilities of non-Europeans than many of his middle ages and had written out a list of alleged
generation, but by the time he left for America his instincts of the human species.'21
opinions had become much more racist. Once settled, McDougall pursued new interests
There were many members of the psychological in a way that might have been designed to provoke
community in America who in 1920 shared further antagonism in view of his influential and
McDougall's interest in Lamarckism and his beliefs prestigious position as professor of psychology at
about racial and sexual differences. Amplified by his Harvard. As one historian put it, 'his name became
haughty, unfriendly manner, what distanced him almost synonymous with theories and practices
from many of his new colleagues was what they saw as regarded by most American psychologists as rem-
his abandonment of a scientific outlook. Although nants of exploded but still dangerous superstitions -
eight years earlier he had defined psychology as the with animism, vitalism and teleology; with nativism in
science of behaviour, this did not endear him to the the discredited form of Lamarckism; and with shady
early American behaviourists, since what McDougall ventures into psychical research and extrasensory
meant by 'behaviour' differed from Watson's mean- perception . . . Perhaps more than any other indi
ing. McDougall believed that behaviour had to be vidual, McDougall became a Symbol of what American
defined in purposive terms and that the actions of a psychology has most heartily set itself against'.22 The
living organism are inherently different from the result was that even to take an interest in purposive
movements displayed by any kind of physical object. behaviour, instincts, and the very real problems of
For example, he compared the movements of a billiard motivation that McDougall attempted to grapple with,
bali with those of a timid guinea pig, frightened by carne to be viewed with great suspicion.
being removed from its hole and persistently trying to
return there by one way or another, despite obstacles The Psychological Darwinism of race and
placed in its way, until it succeeds or its energy is instinct
exhausted.19 'When we survey the whole world of The discussion of instinct just prior to the First
material things accessible to our perception these are World War by McDougall, Trotter and other writers
seen . . . to fali into two great classes, namely (1) a was just one aspect of a general approach for which
class consisting of those things whose changes seem to the term 'Psychological Darwinism' provides a useful
be purely physical happenings, explicable by mecha- labei, even though it contained many elements which
nical principies; and (2) a class of things whose Darwin himself would have rejected. Other important
changes exhibit the marks of behaviour and seem to be aspects included the belief that there are several pure
incapable of mechanical explanation, but rather to be 'types' of human being possessing well-defined
always directed, however vaguely, towards an end - physical characteristics and 'neophrenology', the be
that is to say, are teleological or purposive.'20 lief that there are significant differences in brain
In 1912 he had admitted it just possible that in the structure that give rise directly to psychological dif-
distant future Science might succeed in 'establishing ference between individuais.
that all seemingly purposeful action is mechanically Such beliefs were well-entrenched in Europe, and
Nature and nurture 212
not just among British scientists. On the continent independence of their subject matter from the 'bio-
Ernst Haeckel continued as an influential figure right logizing' approach and evolutionary framework that
up until the war, using his immense authority as the founding fathers such as Herbert Spencer had im-
leading evolutionist in German-speaking countries to posed. One focus for this part of the attack was the
promote views on inherent racial differences. Haeckel question of race and its main theme was the cultural
endorsed the anti-semitism that erupted in late relativity of social and psychological norms. The
nineteenth-century Germany, proposing, for ex- debates over race and instinct, and the related
ample, that Christ's merits stemmed from the fact that controversy over mental testing, had a profound effect
he was only half-Jewish, since his true father was a on American psychology, leading to the dominance of
Roman officer who had seduced Mary.1 an environmentalist ideology and encouraging a
Haeckel also associated evolutionary theory with subsequent emphasis on the study of learning.
specific social and political views. His professional In the early years of the century the attitudes of
career coincided with the growth of the Second American scientists towards racial and ethnic dif
Reich and his lifetime hero was Bismarck, the chief ferences in general resembled those common in British
architect of the German Empire. Haeckel argued that or German Science. Wide concern over the tide of
Germany's expansionary policies and its autocratic immigration from Southern and eastern Europe led to
form of government could be justified on Darwinian frequent cries of alarm from experts who discussed the
grounds. With the outbreak of war Haeckel, like many dilution of American genetic stock, using phrasing as
other German scientists, felt betrayed by the British; racist as any to be found in a book by Galton or
referring to Germany's 'treacherous, murderous En- Haeckel. But at the same time there were develop-
glish brother', he stated that England had polluted ments beginning within anthropology that eventually
Europe by bringing into battle on her side 'the inferior led to the overthrow of such beliefs, to the extent that
races of the Empire' and by allowing them to fraternize by 1925 few established psychologists or social
with the racially superior Europeans.2 Such senti- scientists would express in public views on race that
ments led Trotter to reply in kind. Across the Channel had been held as 'scientific' facts less than ten years
it was solemnly reported to the French Association for earlier.
the Advancement of Science in 1917 that 'the German The major figure in this development was the
race suffers from polychesia (excessive defecation) anthropologist, Franz Boas. In 1883, as a twenty-five
and bromidrosis (body odour). . . Their advantage to year old student at Berlin, Boas had gone to live among
the enemy in wartime is that they serve to detect the Eskimos of Baffinland and from this experience
infallibly the spies of the German race masquerading became increasingly sensitive to the relativity and
in France as Alsatians'.3 arbitrariness of human customs. This attitude was
The reason for mentioning such jingoistic out- strengthened by subsequent expeditions to study the
bursts here is that they may help to account for the Indians of British Columbia. In 1889 he emigrated
fierceness of the criticism to which Psychological from Germany to take up a teaching post at Clark
Darwinism was eventually subjected on the other side University where, partly stimulated by G. Stanley Hall
of the Atlantic. Underlying the post-war debates in and by a close friendship with Henry Donaldson, he
America over issues of instinct and race, and often not became heavily involved in the then popular activity
far from the surface, was the mood of rejecting an alien of amassing measurements of various bodily dimen-
ideology, one that is irretrievably embedded in the sions. When physiological psychologists working at
mesh of feuding nationalism, undemocratic politics the turn of the century, like Henry Donaldson, began
and antiquated social structures of Europe. to measure the head, brain and spinal cord of rats and
The American attack on Psychological Darwinism when the occasional student they supervised, like
carne from two directions. One was the experimental John Watson, tried to relate those measurements to an
tradition of rejecting speculative theory and concepts animal's intelligence, they were implementing in
not based on hard evidence; as discussed in earlier experiments with animais what physical anthropolo-
chapters, such an approach had already discredited gists were attempting in surveys of human
Lamarckian inheritance and also HaeckeFs key populations.4
'biogenetic law', the principie of recapitulation of From 1880 until the end of the century a vast
phylogeny by ontogeny. Around 1920 the concept of amount of data on human head shapes and sizes had
instinct was subjected to similarly criticai examination. been gathered, largely for the purpose of clarifying
The second direction of attack was from the social differences between human races. Boas' concern was
Sciences, and formed part of their struggle to assert the different in that, instead of the usual attempt to
Psychological Darwinism 213
fertile. Boas found no evidence for this when he critics to advise me which of my men were most
studied 'half-blood Indians' of mixed European and handsome, or a board of prelates to designate the true
North-American Indian origin. If anything, the aver- Christians'.9 In any case, the Armistice was signed
age half-blood woman bore more children than a shortly after full-scale testing was under way. Even
mother of 'pure Indian stock' and these children were Yerkes admitted that it showed how efficiency could
taller. have been improved and millions of dollars could have
Such discoveries led Boas to a position of been saved by using the test results to assign men to
considerable scepticism towards any claim about appropriate postings or to reject those deemed
inherent racial differences. By the beginning of the incapable of benefiting from the most simple training.
war some of the younger anthropologists and The important thing for psychology was that nearly
sociologists influenced by Boas' work went beyond two million men had been tested and the potential of
this to belief in complete equality of intellectual or this new kind of psychology had received official
cultural potential across different races. This was the recognition; 'if psychology had not in fact contributed
view, for example, of William Thomas, whose study of significantly to the war, the war had contributed
changes occurring in traditional customs among significantly to psychology', for, as Yerkes noted,
immigrants from Poland paralleled the study of 'wartime publicity accomplished what decades of
physical changes carried out by Boas.7 It was some academic research and teaching could not have
years before any psychologist publicly endorsed an equalled'.10
equally environmentalist Outlook, even though many When the War was over and the lengthy, but
had close personal ties with the anthropologists and eagerly anticipated, task began of analysing all these
were familiar with recent work in the field. Thus, data, the theoretical assumptions made by Yerkes and
Watson later wrote that the book that had influenced his colleagues were strongly hereditarian. The leading
his whole outlook more than any other was William members of the American eugenics movement had
Sumner's Folkways of 1906, which described the played a central role in developing the Army tests and
overwhelming variety and complexity of human this influence became very apparent in the interpreta-
mores and customs, particularly those to do with tions given to some of the major findings emerging
marriage and child-raising.8 Within anthropology the from the results. For example, the fact that black
criticai examination of entrenched hereditarian Americans from northern States gave average scores
assumptions had confronted the central concept of higher than those from Southern States was seen as a
race, but within psychology such questions were at result of selective migration northwards by the most
first avoided because of the exciting possibilities able members of this population. Again, the marked
offered by the development of mental testing. positive correlation in the results from recent immig
One major effect of the war on American rants between high test scores and length of time
psychology was to reduce sharply the remaining spent in the United States was taken as proof that, as
feeling of deference towards the European traditions widely feared, the mental calibre of immigrants had
which had inspired its origins. A second effect served been steadily declining.
as an equal boost to American psychology's self- The authors of the report do not seem to have
esteem; this stemmed from Robert Yerkes' success in entertained at all seriously the possibility that the tests
mobilizing his country's psychological expertise to might measure familiarity with mainstream American
assist the army in selecting and training its personnel. life. The types of question asked, the conditions under
From almost every American university, psycholo- which the tests were given and the high incidence of
gists left to join the Division of Psychology, which to zero scores indicating that many of the men were
Yerkes' chagrin was designated part of the Sanitary, totally confused by the whole procedure, these and
and not the Medicai, Corps. Some were allocated to other considerations strongly suggest that the average
training or testing schemes related to specific military mental scores assigned to different groups simply
functions, but the great majority worked on the indicated the extent to which their members had
development and administration of the general Army become assimilated to the dominant culture.
tests. However, even the idea of discussing cultures in
It is doubtful whether the effectiveness of the the plural was still unusual. The word normally
American army was improved by this massive exer- occurred only in the singular form to denote the
cise. Testing was often haphazard and was frequently accomplishments, interests and styles of elite groups
prevented or ignored by sceptical officers; one noted within Western society. The new, technical use of
that he 'would be just as much helped by a board of art 'culture' was being adopted by anthropologists and
Psychological Darwinism 215
social scientists influenced by Boas, but was not yet wide interest in another context, the public debate
widespread. over immigration that carne to the fore in 1922 when a
An attack on the hereditarian bias of the mental congressional committee began hearings in prepara-
testing movement began by concentrating on its social tion for new legislation. There was a strong movement
and political implications. This had been heralded by in favour of much more restrictive quotas drawn up on
an address to the American Psychological Association racist grounds. Many of the mental testers with an
given in 1916 by John Dewey, who discussed in very interest in eugenics gave public support. However,
general terms the connection between structural these psychologists were not so much leading lights as
approaches in psychology and conservative attitudes Johnnies-come-lately to a movement which had
towards social problems. 'The ultimate refuge of every campaigned against further immigration from South
standpatterin every field, education, religion, politics, ern and eastern Europe long before anyone thought to
industrial, and domestic life, has been the notion of an cite eugenics arguments or intelligence test data in its
alleged fixed structure of mind. As long as mind is support. There were a variety of banners to wave other
conceived as an antecedent and ready-made thing, than what one supporter of restricted immigration
institutions and customs may be regarded as its dismissed as 'highbrow Nordic superiority stuff'.16
offspring. By its own nature the ready-made mind Results from the Army testing programme were
works to produce them as they have existed and now used on behalf of the campaign for selective immigra
exist. There is no use in kicking against necessity.' He tion just as this campaign began to arouse deep
went on to welcome 'the advent of a type of revulsion among other American intellectuals. In 1924
psychology which builds frankly on the original the new and highly restrictive law was passed, but by
activities of man and asks how these are altered, then the kind of belief that had helped its passage was
qualified and reorganized in consequence of their seen as disreputable among American scientists.
exercise in specifically different environments'.11 Jacques Loeb's personal experience before the war of
A more detailed version of Dewey's argument racial discrimination based on his Jewish background
carne later from outside the profession when in 1922 had long turned him into an enemy of racial theories.17
the journalist, Walter Lippmann, began a series of By the mid-1920s he was joined in public by other
articles in the New Republic. He examined current pillars of the biological establishment, including his
claims on behalf of intelligence tests and expressed former adversary over the behaviour of lower organ-
alarm that the promise of Binet's work was 'in danger isms, Herbert Spencer Jennings, who was now one of
of gross perversion by muddleheaded and prejudiced the world's leading geneticists; Jennings attacked the
men'.12 Lippmann was primarily concerned with eugenics movement for the way it distorted genetic
education: 'the danger of intelligence tests is that in a theory in order to provide a spurious scientific basis
Wholesale system of education, the less sophisticated for its claims.18
or the more prejudiced will stop when they have Within psychology many who had been involved
classified and forget that their duty is to educate. They in the eugenics movement or in mental measurement
will grade the retarded child instead of fighting the began to change their minds. Cattell, the father of
causes of his backwardness.'13He argued that correla- mental testing in America, confessed that he now
tions between social status and intelligence were found 'the Army tests sadly inadequate as scientific
'hardly an argument for hereditary differences in the measurements'.19In 1923 Carl Brigham published with
endowment of social classes. They are a rather strong Yerkes' encouragement a popular summary of the
argument for the traditional American theory that the results of the Army programme that incorporated a
public school is an agency for equalizing the opportu- highly racist interpretation under the title A Study of
nities of the privileged and the unprivileged.'14 American Intelligence; in 1930 he declared that 'the
Lippmann's articles were well-informed, closely study, with its entire hypothetical structure of racial
argued and - in contrast to Dewey's elaborate and differences, collapses completely'.20 Unlike Brigham,
difficult style- very forceful. They ended with the plea Yerkes continued to believe in racial differences in
that 'psychologists will save themselves from the mental ability, but he had been impressed by Lipp-
reproach of having opened up a new chance for mann's arguments concerning the problems of mental
quackery in a field where quacks breed like rabbits, testing and anyhow considered that the climate of
and they will save themselves from the humiliation of opinion had changed so drastically it was too danger-
having furnished doped evidence to the exponents of ous a topic to study or discuss.21
the New Snobbery'.15 The immigration debate was a turning point for
Just at this time intelligence was also attracting American anthropology and sociology. Until then the
Nature and nurture 216
dominance of the Psychological Darwinians in the classes; within the intellectual class, the politicians'
social Sciences had been prolonged by events con- unfailing instinct for exhausting every wrong device
nected with the war. Most of them were of British before trying the obviously right one; in the religious
descent and Protestant tradition, were bom in the group, the English instinct to begloom Sunday; and as
North-East and associated with the Ivy League a self-abasement instinct, that of women that they all
universities; in general they had favoured American worship strength in whatever form, and seem to know
entry into the war. Among the group of anthropol- it to be a child of heaven.23
ogists associated with Boas and among the Chicago The polemics were begun by Knight Dunlap,
sociologists were many of Jewish or of other 'non- Watson's colleague at Johns Hopkins, who wrote a
Aryan' tradition and they were strongly suspected of paper in 1919 with the provocative title, 'Are there any
being at best neutral or, in some cases, pro-German in instincts?'24Dunlap was worried about the conceptual
their politics. They were certainly not as conspicuous confusion surrounding the topic and proposed that
in their eagerness to rush in to help the war effort as two points should be made clear. One was the need to
Yerkes, Thorndike and their fellow psychologists had distinguish carefully between the term 'instinctive
been. Bitterness created by wartime differences per- reaction', used at a physiological levei to refer to an
sisted for a few years and kept the Boasians at a unlearned response, and the 'teleological' use of
distance from the establishment. But in the mid- 'instinct' by theorists like McDougall to refer to classes
twenties it was gradually ceded that biology did not of activities serving some common purpose. The
provide the most appropriate training or framework second point made by Dunlap was that, at the
for the study of society or of human customs. The long teleological levei, instincts should be regarded as no
era in which evolutionary ideas dominated American more than labeis for convenient groupings of activi
social Sciences ended at last. Terms like 'social ties, serving to classify behaviour much as documents
heredity' faded away as others like 'cultural transmis- are sorted out in a filing system in whatever way is
sion' took their place.22 currently most useful. What Dunlap objected to was
Some three years before Lippmann's critique of the tendency in social psychology to assume that, once
intelligence tests and the hearings on immigration, a an activity was described as an example of some
debate erupted within psychology over the issue of instinct, it was possible to reach some conclusion
instinct. Although this began by considering the about the nature of this activity; 'having posited a
logical validity of appeals to instinct, the relative "pugnacious instinct" for example, one writer
importance of nature and nurture in human and proceeds gravely to infer that war is forever a
animal behaviour quickly became one of the main necessity, as the expression of this instinct'. Such
issues examined by the stream of papers on instinct inferences would be justified only where the under-
that were published in the early 1920s. As a result of lying psychological processes were understood. Since
this, the instinct debate was as important as the Dunlap did not know of any case in which this was
criticisms of racial theory and mental testing in remotely true, he concluded that in this sense there
accelerating the environmentalist trend of American were no instincts.
psychology. Dozens of papers on instinct followed within the
By the time the arguments began, McDougall's next four or so years. The main accusation was
list of seven primary instincts in his Social Psychology of expressed by one leading critic in the following, and
1908 looked exceedingly modest in comparison with relatively mild, way. 'In many cases it is a sort of
the suggestions of later instinct theorists. One particu- catch-all for vague and indefinite ideas about the
larly thorough review showed that, in the first twenty causes or relationships of activities. Writers, unable to
years of the century, four hundred authors of books or account clearly for the occurrence of a particular
articles had proposed nearly six thousand classes of behavioristic phenomenon on a purely objective
instinct encompassing over fourteen thousand indi basis, bring in the term instinct and use it as a charmed
vidual cases. Among the miscellaneous examples word, thus sidetracking further responsibility for an
discovered by this survey were: within the aesthetic explanation. Race has been a similar term to conjure
group, the instinct of a girl to pat and arrange her hair; with, a stop-gap to a complete explanation of social
within the altruistic group, the desire to liberate the phenomena in terms of scientifically-determined
Christian subjects of the Sultan; as a social instinct, facts.'25 The kind of examples used to illustrate this
that of socialists towards international relationships; aspect of the problem were to explain that a man
as an anti-social instinct, that of upper-class Mexicans jumped off a cliff because he had a suicidai instinct or
to consider themselves a people apart from the lower Trotter's claim that wolves behave as they do because
Psychological Danvinism 217
interest in animais, but who wanted theories of since instinct is an unscientific concept and since it
human action appropriate for social psychology. implies hereditarian beliefs, hereditarian beliefs are
These writers were sensitive to the findings from themselves unscientific.
cross-cultural studies and attacked instinct theory on The number of examples drawn from the study of
the grounds that no list of instincts, no matter how animais' behaviour to be deployed in the instinct
well-defined, subtle or numerous, could account for debate may have been small, but, when argument
the diversity of human customs; what was required concentrated on the specific issue of human instincts,
from psychology was an analysis of the processes by there was only one source of directly relevant
which aspects of a culture are maintained by a social evidence. This was a study of the behaviour of
group.30 newborn babies that Watson began in 1916. This
In concluding this section, it is worth noting one research and Watson's part in the nature-nurture
crucial difference between the arguments over race controversy are described in the next section.
and instinct. The racial issue was to some degree an
empirical one, in which the various protagonists The final part of John Watson's career
advanced certain kinds of evidence or criticized For good or for ill, since the 1960s there has been
others, whether the findings were from an anthropo- a massive invasion of behavioural methods into the
logist's field-work or from the Army testing pro- practice of clinicai psychology. Variants of condition-
gramme. Thus, the swing away from biological ing theory have inspired specialized forms of therapy
determinism and from the racism of the evolutionists for individuais suffering from crippling phobias,
was encouraged by the discovery that people changed obsessions or addictions and have suggested major
after arriving in the United States to an extent that had innovations in the way that institutions for the
not been thought possible. mentally ill or retarded are organized. It appears as a
This was not the case with the debate over natural development of the behaviourist viewpoint to
instinct, which remained largely conceptual and to a consider abnormal patterns of behaviour as habits or
surprising degree free from the consideration of conditioned reactions that have been acquired accord-
evidence. In fact, it was just this absence of relevant ing to the same principies of learning that produce the
evidence that made most of the younger psychologists acceptable and adaptive actions of those regarded as
so suspicious of the concept. From the time of James, perfectly sane and rational. The puzzle is that this
chapters on instinct continued to be included in development carne so late.
psychology textbooks, but they remained empty Watson was well-aware of the potential applica-
of the bustle of experimental data for or against this tion of his ideas to clinicai problems. His interest in the
or that theory which accumulated in other chapters. importance of conditioning for psychology had first
Even a committed experimentalist like Kuo only be- been aroused by Bechterev's Objective Psychology and
gan to make an empirical contribution to the study one of Bechterev's main hopes for this new kind of
of such matters long after the debate was over, as psychology was that it would transform the field of
in a celebrated study on the development of rat- psychiatry in which he was one of Russia's leading
killing by cats where rats and cats were reared authorities. In a paper of 1916 Watson expressed a
together.31 similar view, paying tribute to Freud's ideas on the
When McDougall first discussed instinct he took pervasive influence of childhood experience on adult
pains to insist that such an approach did not deny the life, but arguing for the use of an objective terminology
plasticity of behaviour displayed by many species. He based on the concept of habit.1Using as a hypothetical
was not troubled by the occurrence of sexual imprint- example the favourite animal in Russian laboratories,
ing in pigeons nor by what were to him familiar Watson described a dog that, in displaying all sorts of
findings that both nest-building and bird-song can be curious and unpredictable responses to familiar
similarly affected by early experience, which were the objects, could appropriately be labelled neurotic. The
only other pieces of evidence entered into the instinct point was that we are quite willing to accept the dog's
debate. However, his laterespousal of racist atttitudes behaviour as a product of training by a human master,
promoted an identification of analyses of behaviour but we are loath to believe that comparable human
based on instinct with a hereditarian attitude towards reactions might arise as habits produced in a dis-
human differences which critics like Kuo were happy astrous childhood environment. At the time the paper
to encourage. Consequently, given the general swing was written Watson was on the point of moving into
towards environmentalism it was easy for psychol the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Adolf Meyer's invita-
ogists to accept implicitly the fallacious logic whereby, tion so that he was in an excellent position to develop
The final part o f Watson's career 219
such ideas. So why did behaviour therapy take so long the clinic, Watson studied the reactions of newborn
to develop? babies at a nearby maternity hospital.
The last event may offer a clue to the answer. The aim of this work was to obtain empirical
Watson sent a pre-publication copy of his paper to evidence on the issues that James and McDougall had
Meyer, who was infuriated by what he regarded as the discussed and to demonstrate that the behaviourist
cheap ridicule cast upon other approaches, by its lack could study productively the key subjects of instinct
of any informed appreciation of what mental illness is and emotion. For Watson an emotion was a distinc-
like and, above all, by the evident failure to grasp tive, hereditary pattern of response, 'involving pro-
Meyer's own views on the subject, even though the found changes of the bodily mechanism as a whole,
two men had now been fellow professors at Johns but particularly of the visceral and glandular Systems'
Hopkins for over six years. Meyer decided that 'the and which 'throws the organism for the moment at
paper is merely another of the half-cocked pioneer least into a chaotic State'.4
schemes, devoid of any serious attempt to do justice to Watson and his students looked at babies within a
others and attempting to handle a field concerning month of birth and decided that only three such
which you are obviously too uninformed'.2 patterns could be distinguished: fear, rage and love.
Watson was taken aback at Meyer's reaction. He These conveniently corresponded exactly with those
protested that Meyer had overlooked the modesty he had described some years earlier, before ever
with which his tentative suggestion had been made contemplating empirical work on such a topic. The
and that he was not trying to butt in on Meyer's more productive and interesting aspect of the study
preserve. Meyer was unmollified. 'Your "neuras- carne from attempts to discover what types of stimuli
thenic" dog is a permissible product of imagination. elicited these reactions at this early stage of life. Three
Your statement of what the physician would do with it main kinds of event were found to produce strong fear
is however a farce . . . Your temperament as shown in reactions: sudden loss of support, a sudden shake or
your work is not unlike Loeb's. You have to shut out pull of the blanket when the baby was nearly asleep,
everything that might confuse your outlook. It always and loud sounds. The only way of producing a rage
is entertaining, but, as far as convincing him, useless reaction seemed to involve hampering the baby's
to debate with Loeb. It is most satisfactory to take him movements, as by holding the head or constraining
for what he gives and not to ask for any assimilation of the arms or legs. Finally the love reaction was obtained
one's own viewpoint. So it may be with you . . . My when the baby was tickled, gently rocked or given
forefathers have been free of the dogma of exclusive another form of 'stroking or manipulation of some
salvation since 1521; and I never had any need of erogenous zone'.5
eliminating a whole sphere of life interests as you did For twenty-five years psychologists had discus
when you shed the Baptist shell . . . You may have sed the wide variety of emotional reactions believed to
much more up your sleeve than your paper showed. be innate, and in particular the numerous 'natural'
You will find me receptive for all but one thing: fears to be expected during a child's development,
intolerance and the dogma of exclusive salvation.'3 which Stanley Hall and his students had described.
Meyer was pleased to have Watson in his clinic, Consequently Watson was as much intrigued by the
but the message was clear: if Watson wished to keep nega tive results from his study as by the positive ones.
his laboratory space and promote his own ideas on He could, for example, find no sign of distress when
psychopathology, then he had better make sure first the babies were brought into close contact with
that he had the kind of clinicai experience and various animais and, to take an example closely
knowledge of the subject that Meyer had already related to his own experience, they showed no fear of
gained; which was a tall order, given Meyer's intellect, the dark.
integrity and twenty hard-working years in the field. The work on emotion was accompanied by some
Meyer suggested that Watson examine thoroughly initial tests that were intended to focus on the subject
three to five cases of neurosis or psychosis and then of human instincts. Watson adopted Loeb's definition
see how promising the conditioning model looked. of instinct as a system of chained reflexes, which in
Once settled at the Phipps Watson was diverted turn carne from Herbert Spencer; this meant that a
from this challenge by an equally promising field in start should be made by finding out what reflexes are
which to develop behavioural research and one which present at birth or soon after. The preliminary study
would avoid the strain of frequent collisions with revealed a large number of specific and well-
Meyer that were inevitable if he continued with developed reflexes, such as hiccoughing, sneezing,
psychopathology. So instead of psychiatric patients in yawning and eye-movements. This surprised the
Nature and nurture 220
student who was supervised in this work by Watson stones, but I do wish to decry the tendency in our
and she concluded the first report by noting that 'the American schools to think that any teacher is good
reflex and instinctive equipment of the child at birth is enough to teach young children'.9 In general his
more complex and advanced than has hitherto been advice was cautious, promising that education might
thought'.6 Watson himself was especially intrigued expect a great deal from future behavioural studies,
by the grasp reflex and the babies' ability to support but admitting that there was not much on offer yet. In
their own weight, which disappeared as they grew this context he echoed Morgan's appeal for an institute
older; Figure 8.5 shows him carrying out a test of this for the study of comparative psychology and Yerkes'
kind. more recent call for one in which apes might be
An early opportunity to talk about this new work studied by explaining the need for 'an experimental
and the practical uses of behaviourism arose when nursery where fifteen to twenty children can be
Watson was invited to deliver one of a series of public brought up during the first five years of life . . . under
lectures sponsored by the Joint Committee on Educa strict experimental conditions . . . I have something in
tion, a body which, among other aims, was to examine mind far more scientific and far more important than
what 'new light on the subject of public schools might any material which can be gathered from the use of the
be obtained from modern Science'.7 The four main so-called scales of measuring "intelligence", however
participants included Jennings, who represented useful such scales may be'.10
biology and talked about health and heredity, and Watson's new emphasis on nurture in human
Meyer, who represented psychiatry and discussed its development and the possibilities for change was also
implications for intellectual and moral development; seen in his discussion of some of the animal research
only the sociologist, William Thomas, was from carried out by his students. One issue was the now
outside the Hopkins group. Whereas the other three familiar one of whether spaced practice is more
remained either very general or non-controversial in effective than massed practice: in addition to results
tone, Watson characteristically had concrete and showing that rats learned to open a puzzle box in
memorable suggestions to offer. fewer trials when given one, rather than many, trials a
He began with examples like the grasping reflex day, Watson cited a parallel study by Lashley yielding
or the question of how right-hand preferences arise in similar results from human subjects learning to use the
order to illustrate what he was doing and then went on English long-bow.
to consider the meaning of his discovery that only a The other issue referred back to James' pessimistic
very limited number of stimuli elicit emotional conclusions on the crystallization of habits by the age
reactions in young babies. Two years earlier with Karl of thirty. A Hopkins student, Helen Hubbert, had
Lashley he had used the conditioned reflex as a compared the times to learn a complicated maze
method for studying perceptual problems, but now, required by rats of different ages. She found that,
as in his paper on mental illness, he presented it as a although the younger ones were quicker, even those
process of learning which could explain how emotion of eighteen months or so - corresponding to human
al reactions developed to a wide range of situations. Tf old age - learned quite rapidly. In his lecture Watson
we do possess, as is usually supposed, many hun- suggested that 'these experiments should give those
dreds of emotions, all of which are instinctively of us who have passed the first bloom of youth a good
grounded, we might very well despair of attempting deal of hope. Many of us in that too often unfortunate
to regulate or control them and to eradicate wrong condition say that we do not know how to dance, to
ones. But according to the view I have advanced it is skate, and to play games because we did not learn
due to environmental causes, that is, habit formation, such things when we were young; but this excuse is no
that so many objects come to call out emotional longer valid. We now have experimental evidence to
reactions.'8 show that the contention of William James concerning
The focus of the conference was education in the the non-plasticity that is supposed to go with old age,
schools. Since Watson's results had confirmed him in which has been so unanimously accepted, is com-
the belief that the first few years of life are all- pletely unfounded . . . Convention has more or less
important in shaping the emotional life of the child, it frowned at middle age putting on so-called youthful
followed that 'we can rapidly improve matters by habits: we look askance at a middle-age individual
making the positions of the early grade teachers the who is trying to learn such acts . . . I should say that
most desirable and the best paid ones in our schools', here our conventions are wrong; that middle age and
provided that they received good training in psycho- early old age would be much more exciting periods for
logy and psychopathology; 'I do not wish to cast all of us if we would only become willing to scorn such
The final part of Watson's career 221
Fig. 8.5. Watson testing the grasp reflex of a new bom baby; this is a still from a film
Watson made in 1919, hence the poor quality of the print
conventions and dare to learn whatever we please to whole army experience is a nightmare to me. Never
learn.'11 have I seen incompetence, such extravagance, such a
The study of babies had been going for just over a group of overbearing, inferior men.'12
year when America's entry into the war led to a With his general attitude and his scorn for the
temporary interruption of the work. Presumably kind of diplomatic skills that enabled Yerkes to
because of his known lack of experience and of en- function so effectively in the army, it was predictable
thusiasm for mental testing, Watson was not involved that Watson should get into trouble with his superiors.
in the general Army testing programme. When in As a result of one clash he was sent on his first-ever
August, 1917 he was eventually commissioned, he trip to Europe. Its purpose was to use questionnaires
was assigned at Thorndike's suggestion to the aviation which Thorndike had designed to interview British
board. His responsibilities included that of devising airmen fighting in France. Even if they had not been
tests for selecting men most suited for training as otherwise engaged, it is difficult to envisage much
pilots and later, when joined by Dunlap, studying the success from this venture and Watson eventually
effects of oxygen deprivation on flying skills. returned to America with little to show for his traveis.13
Watson's wartime experience was not important Another clash followed when he let his opinion be
in terms of the results obtained from his various widely known that some test results demonstrated the
projects. What was significant for him was the complete worthlessness of a selection procedure
realization, in common with many other of his fellow favoured by his superior officer. Watson was assigned
academics, that he had worthwhile skills to offer the to front-line duties in France and there were strong
outside world and the ability to use them as effectively hints of a hope that he would not return. However, the
as any professional. In Watson's case such feelings of Armistice was signed before he left and by December,
confidence in his practical value were combined with 1918 he returned to academic life in Baltimore.
growing contempt for the typical army officer. 'The The Phipps Clinic once more became a busy
Nature and nurture 222
centre for research. The work withbabies started again in the final two pages of the book. Watson simply
and there were also new projects, some of them endorsed Meyer's rejection of appeals to hypothetical
extending scientific method into areas which made the organic lesions as causes of neurosis or psychosis,
university administration nervous. One was a project suggesting that in most cases it was much more
planned during the war in which Watson and Lashley productive to view a patient's problem as resulting
investigated the effectiveness of some instructional from a 'diseased personality' caused by 'habit distor-
material on venereal disease designed to emphasize tion' and 'long continued behavior complications'.
the perils of promiscuity. While evaluating an Army Prior to publication the book was discussed chapter by
film called Fit to Fight, they gave a showing in a small chapter in weekly seminars attended by Meyer. His
town in Pennsylvania, where no advanced warning many other interests had not left Watson time to work
had been given about the content and explicit nature with any of the patients at the clinic and one presumes
of the footage, and narrowly escaped arrest by the that the memory of Meyer's challenge over mental
sheriff. Of equal potential for unwelcome publicity in illness was kept fresh.
this new era of Prohibition was research into the It would have been natural to treat the question of
effects of alcohol on human performance. Watson was 'habit distortion' in more depth, since a central theme
a drinking man, whose survey of the evidence of the book was the development in the child of what
revealed nothing to indicate that 'the consumption of Watson now called 'conditioned emotional reactions'.
alcohol in small amounts when taken after the In presenting this idea he had appealed to plausible
working period of the day is over produces any evil examples, such as the fear of lightning developing
effect either upon the individual or upon his because it is often followed by a loud noise. The only
progeny'.14He was eager to obtain a supply of whisky direct illustration he could quote was that of a
adequate to sustain experimental work likely to six-month old baby, who previously showed no
confirm this conclusion. Both projects took a great deal hesitation in approaching animais, but showed signs
of time, but they contributed their share towards of fear when a small dog was tossed into his pram.
making the laboratory a lively and often hilarious However, around the time of the book's publication
place for Watson and his small group to work in.15 Watson carried out a demonstration of his ideas on
Somehow in the middle of all this Watson managed to emotional conditioning that has remained his most
finish his second book, Psychology from the Standpoint of famous experiment.
a Behaviorist, which was published in 1919. An eleven-month-old infant, named Albert B.,
The book began with a clear statement of his now had been observed since birth and found to show no
familiar views on psychology, followed first by some fear of anything except sudden, loud sounds. When
standard textbook information on the physiology of various animais were brought close, he would readily
the senses and the rest of the nervous system and then reach out and touch them. A conditioning procedure
by a series of topics reflecting the research interests was used by Watson and his assistant which consisted
concerning human behaviour that he had begun to of presenting Albert with a white rat and, as he
explore since leaving the study of animais. The stretched his hand towards it, a Steel bar was sharply
outlines of a behaviourist programme, oriented to struck immediately behind his head. Two such trials
wards practical problems, were now quite clear: it was were given and then a week later the rat was presented
to include the development of emotional reactions and again. Albert's reaction was now much more cautious
the integration of reflexes into skilled habits; the basic and, after five more trials in which reaching for the rat
laws of habit formation, especially those bearing on was followed by the loud noise of the bar, he began to
educational practice; and the effect of factors, ranging cry and move away when he saw the rat. In later tests
from alcohol, caffeine and climate, to sex, age and time there was some sign that the fear reaction transferred
of day, on various aspects of human performance. to other objects, since Albert showed distress when a
Watson repeated the proposal to study thinking and rabbit, dog or fur coat were put in front of him.16
problem-solving by monitoring responses of the Forty years later, when modem behaviour ther-
larynx, but there was still nothing in the way of apies were developed, this experiment with little
substantial research to report in this area. Albert became widely cited as an early piece of
Any reader who noticed that the author was evidence in support of conditioning theories of
affiliated to a psychiatric clinic or who had read phobias. It is therefore worth noting that from
Watson's paper on mental illness three years earlier Watson's initial report it is clear that to labei Albert's
might well be surprised to find that the subject of reaction as a 'rat phobia' is a misleading exaggeration;
psychopathology was given only the barest treatment even after the final conditioning trial he 'began to fret'
The final part of Watson's career 223
Fig. 8.6. Testing a baby's fear of animais by placing a white rat in his lap; a still
from the film referred to in Figure 8.5
only when the rat was placed on his arm or crawled Two graduate students had joined Watson after
about his chest. It may be that the mildness of Albert's the war: Curt Richter and Rosalie Rayner. The latter
reaction accounts for what is so curious in the light of assisted him with the baby work and was involved in
subsequent interpretations of this study, including the experiment with Albert. Soon after her arrival he
Watson's own later accounts: namely, that no effort had concluded a paper with a passage that intriguing-
was made to rid Albert of his fear of the rat before he ly combined his belief in the importance of studying
was removed from the hospital.17 emotion and his rejection of James' pessimism over
The absence of any attempt to 'de-condition' the possibility of escaping the trap of thirty years of
Albert is comprehensible in terms of the research habit training. Watson wrote of an individual whose
tradition to which Watson belonged. As already 'social relations at home and on the outside are on the
noted, comparative psychologists in England and same dead levei. His emotional attitudes are
America had concentrated on the problem of how stereotyped - there seems to be a wall around these
animais solve problems and how intelligent behaviour people. Is there no way of breaking through this wall
is acquired. From Thorndike onwards there was not a and getting the individual to reach a higher levei of
single experiment from a North American laboratory achievement? Emotionally exciting stimuli occasion-
that examined the disappearance of a previously learned ally seem to accomplish i t . . . may break through the
response. This was not true of Pavlov, who from the stereotyped and habitual mode of response and
beginning viewed this as a central problem, but in 1919 arouse the individual to the point where he can accept
there was still little to read even about Pavlov's early and profit by intensive training . . . and eliminate his
work and, although Bechterev could be read in French errors, work longer hours and plan his work in a more
or German, it was not an aspect of conditioning that he systematic manner.'18 So what are these 'emotionally
said much about. Even if Watson had not been exciting stimuli'? Watson listed wealth, rearing a
constrained by Meyer's insistence that informed family, strong rage or fear; the omission of an obvious
clinicai experience precede pronouncement on mat- further example, of falling in love, seems to have been
ters of psychiatry, he would have had no experimental deliberate. By the time these comments on emotion
analogies to suggest ideas as to how a neurotic patient appeared, Rosalie Rayner had begun to play an
might shed a distorting habit. important part in his life.
Nature and nurture 224
Rosalie was an intelligent, attractive, well- not accept permanent separation from Rosalie. Meyer
educated and lively young lady from a rich Baltimore advised the president that 'without clean-cut and
family and with an uncle who had been a senator for outspoken principies in these matters we could not
Maryland. By the early part of 1920 she and Watson run a co-educational institution nor could we deserve
were seen so often in each other's company that a position of honor and responsibility before any kind
newcomers to Hopkins often assumed that they were of public nor even before ourselves'.22 Watson re-
man and wife. Watson's marriage had started badly signed and left Baltimore. La ter, in November, divorce
many years earlier in Chicago and the relationship proceedings were begun in his absence and, by
with his wife, Mary, had been very cool for some time. supplying journalists with personal details of their
For a while it seemed that Mary might tolerate this marriage and copies of the letters, Mary ensured that
close friendship for Rosalie. But they separated in the resulting publicity would end Watson's chances of
April and it turned out that Mary had previously obtaining an appointment at any other university for
stolen some love-letters from Rosalie's house that her at least several years. His career at Hopkins had begun
husband had written. Her lawyer and a brother who with the crisis over Baldwin's visit to a brothel and was
had always distrusted Watson prompted her to make now ended at the age of forty-two by one over his
the most of this evidence.” own sexual behaviour.
By August Watson knew that there was a strong On his return from the war Watson had felt
chance that he could lose his job. He was in New York increasing dissatisfaction with academic life and, as
and he wrote to Meyer for advice, confiding to him always, found it difficult to live on his professorial
the details of his married life and his present dilemma. salary. He had toyed with the idea of applying his
'I can find a commercial job. It will not be as bad as talents in some business and had begun to put out
raising chickens or cabbages. But I frankly love my feelers to various firms. Upon resigning he contacted
work'. I feel that my work is important for psychology the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and was
and the tiny flame which 1 have tried to keep burning soon given a trial appointment designed to acquaint
for the future of psychology will be snuffed out if I go — him with the basics of the world of commerce. By the
at least for some time . . . I think since the first year of time his name featured prominently in the New York
my marriage I have always been a fatalist - I've said Times and the Baltimore papers he was travelling up
always that Mary and her brothers would finally force and down the Mississippi valley testing the market for
me out. Possibly this has accounted for some of my rubber boots. In December he returned to New York
impatience - attempting to force things and to get as and early in 1921, now that the divorce was final, he
far as I could before the storm overtook me.'20 and Rosalie were married. Both the marriage and his
Meyer was sympathetic and hoped that a solution new career were successful and brought him a great
could be found, but admitted to earlier disquiet over deal of contentment and satisfaction.23
Watson's disregard for convention and over his belief A behaviourist approach and respect for empirical
that psychology could be developed into a Science evidence turned out to be great assets in the
without regard for ethical principies. 'Many passages advertising world. Watson promoted the then almost
in your book gave me a feeling of taking, for example, unknown concept of market research. His psycho-
great freedom on your part in the illustrations from the physical expertise proved very useful, as in some tests
sex-life, and the references to Freudism . . . always to determine whether blindfold smokers could iden-
made me fear danger to you or to the cause or both - tify their favourite brand of cigarette. To Watson's
not because of any timidity as to what others might surprise these tests revealed that his subjects' marked
say, but owing to doubts as to whether there was preferences were not based on any intrinsic property
scientific proportion in the statements and safety in of the cigarette, such as its taste, but entirely on the
the control of the effects among the readers. It may be associations that went with the brand name. He sold
that I did not want to be taken for a prig.'21 The only Johnsons' Baby Powder, Pebeco Toothpaste, Ponds
way out, Meyer believed, was to convince the Cold Cream, Maxwell House Coffee and Odorono,
university president that the affair was completely one of the first deodorants. 'It can be just as thrilling to
finished and that no scandal could leak out. What watch the growth of a sales curve of a new product as
parents could send their offspring to an institution to watch the learning curve of animais or men.'24 By
known to tolerate flagrantly immoral behaviour on the 1924 he was made one of the four vice-presidents of
part of its faculty? what was now a booming agency.
Somehow or other copies of the love-letters It says a great deal for Watson's commitment and
reached the president and, in any case, Watson would energy that he managed to maintain an active interest
The final part of Watson's career 225
in psychology despite the considerable demands of his believe that instinct was a perfectly serviceable
job. Before leaving Hopkins he had told Meyer that 'he concept to use in the analysis of animal behaviour, a
was fearful of cutting loose and going into business view strengthened by his experience with birds. But
because it seems to produce the same effect as does the the cumulative results of his baby research weakened
eating of the poppy', but for ten years his determina- his belief that there are any human instincts. The
tion that this should not happen was successful. On congressional hearings on immigration were in pro-
the more popular side he produced a stream of gress; in his Hopkins research he had not found any
magazine pieces on psychological topics and became marked difference between the occasional black baby
known to a wide public as 'Mr. Behaviourism'. Many born in the hospital and more usual white ones, and
of his former colleagues were offended by the now he carne to decide that no one else had any
simplistic messages and occasional self-puffery in evidence either to support the assertions about innate
these articles; one virulent critie complained that, like racial differences being made to the committee. His
Dadaism in art and jazz in the world of music, plan for a 'baby farm' carne to include the idea of
behaviourism was becoming the mindless Symbol of having different racial groups so that at least it would
1920s modernism in psychology.25 be possible to establish whether under identical
There was also a professional side to Watson's environmental conditions children of different races
psychology. He continued to serve as a journal editor still displayed characteristic psychological traits.
for several years and to give and arrange series of Watson's lecture series provided the basis for a
evening lectures. He also searched for ways of third book, Behaviorism, which was published in 1924.
continuing the research with babies. A year or so after The content did not differ very much from that of the
the divorce he wrote to a former Hopkins colleague one six years earlier. What stood out were the style,
that he 'would never go back into academic work as reflecting the deliberate appeal to a wide readership,
such - 1 could be tempted by an experimental farm for and the central emphasis now given to an environ-
babies. I hate to leave the babies hanging in the air as I mentalist approach to human behaviour. In short,
did, but the probability of my ever getting this under emphatic sentences, with pithy examples from every-
suitable conditions is almost nil'.26 However, in 1923 day life in New York, he presented the argument that
he did succeed in obtaining some support for a everyone has an equal psychological inheritance and
research project on the emotional development of that the differences between individuais which
children and he supervised the young psychologist, become apparent in childhood are the result of very
Mary Cover Jones, who carried out most of the work. rapid learning which occurs early in infancy and
This research included a study in which techniques for perhaps even before birth. In opposition to the
ridding disturbed children of irrational fears were at familiar claims of the eugenicists Watson stated, for
last tried out and thus it represents the first example of example, that he 'would feel perfectly confident in the
work in behaviour therapy.27 ultimately favorable outcome of careful upbringing of
The debates over race and instinct had not a healthy, well-formed baby born of a long line of crooks,
impinged strongly on Watson at first, partly because murderers and thieves, and prostitutes'.30
of his general attitude that solid empirical data, rather Stress on the enormous importance of learning
than more discussion, were needed and partly during the first few months of life was one way in
because of the developments in his private life that which Watson's environmentalism differed from
followed soon after Dunlap's paper sparked off the earlier versions. Another was its sensitivity to the way
controversy over instinct. The results of his baby that subtle differences between the life experience of
research and his emphasis on the importance of two individuais, which to the outsider may not be at all
conditioning placed him on the nurture side of such obvious, may have far-reaching consequences. He
debates, but at first he voiced no strong opinion on discussed the dynamics of family life and the way
these issues that could compare, for example, with brothers and sisters may receive very different
Kuo, who was accused by McDougall of out- treatment from their parents and also examples of the
Watsoning Watson.28 following kind, an actual case he knew about. 'Two
In his evening lectures he found that the attitude girls, aged nine, live in adjoining houses. They have
of suspended judgement was constantly being chal- the "sam e" training (mothers are close friends and
lenged by students who wanted to know: what is bring up children according to the same rules). One
inherited and what is not inherited?29In his 1919 book day they took a walk. The girl on the left looked at the
Watson had suggested in a tentative manner a modest Street and saw only Street activity, the one on the right
list of human instincts. Unlike Kuo, he continued to looked towards the houses and saw a man exposing
Nature and nurture 226
Watson's style and lack of scholarly virtues, there is Never hug and kiss them, never iet them sit in your
certainly a compelling analogy to be drawn between lap. If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when
Watson's advertising and the effect of Behaviorism. Just they say goodnight. Shake hands with them in the
as he created a glamourous image for Ponds cream by morning.'37 Rosalie Rayner was no doubt the saving
persuading genuine queens to appear in advertise- grace in her two children's lives. In an article titled 'I
ments for the product, so behaviourism became am the mother of a behaviourist's sons' she wrote: 'In
intimately associated with the new environmentalism some respects I bow to the great wisdom in the Science
and identified, by its language and by its appeal to of behaviourism, and in others I am rebellious . . . I
Jefferson's statements on equality in the Declaration of secretly wish that on the score of (the children's)
Independence, as a truly American kind of psycho- affections they will be a little weak when they grow
logy. up, that they will have a tear in their eyes for the
Watson's message must have given comfort to a poetry and drama of life and a throb for romance . . .
great many parents whose family line seemed to have I like being merry and gay and having the giggles.
more than its fair share of criminais or failures. At the The behaviorists think giggling is a sign of mal-
same time it placed a heavy weight of responsibility on adjustment.'38
parenthood. Watson offered this as an explanation of The book was dedicated to the first mother of a
the hereditarian outlook's perennial appeal. When happy child. A happy child was described as one who
children prove wayward, parents can always say: 'If was, and would remain, self-reliant, 'so bulwarked
these tendencies are inherited we can't be much with stable work and emotional habits that no
blamed for it.' This was certainly the kind of adversity can quite overwhelm him', as well as 'a
reassuring message conveyed by Stanley Hall's pic- problem-solving child' and one that 'puts on such
ture of development as a series of unfolding instincts habits of politeness and neatness and cleanliness that
and his ideas had by then been widely absorbed by adults are willing to be around him, at least part of the
child-guidance experts. With the rapid social changes day'. The care needed to achieve this result was spelt
following the war and decreasing confidence in out to a surprising levei of detail, including precise
traditional patterns of child care, more and more specification for the times of meais and of sleep and for
parents looked to Science for advice.35 To meet this the levei of the bathwater. Despite some earlier
demand Watson and Rayner wrote The Psychological expression of progressive views on the status of
Care of Infant and Child in 1928. In the longrun this book women, Watson was no advocate of major changes in
probably had a more profound effect on more people traditional parental roles. In discussing the period
than anything else Watson wrote. before bedtime he suggested that 'this is a good time to
After his departure from Johns Hopkins the tone give the father his half-hour. It keeps the children used
of the authoritative scientist who knows best became to male society. Then, too, they have their chance to
increasingly evident in Watson's writing. His pet ply him with questions.'39
scheme for bringing up babies under tightly controlled The aspcct of current practice in child care that
conditions had a sinister ring to it from the very most troubled him was the incidence of 'too much
beginning. In 1916 he had explained that this kind of mother love', the title of the book's third chapter. It
project was necessary in order to obtain the kind of was strongly reminiscent of the contempt James had
evidence that would make it possible to give parents expressed, when writing about habits almost forty
'advice of a scientific character; only a charlatan would years earlier, for the 'nerveless sentimentalist and
presume now to give "expert advice'” .36 dreamer'. Watson believed that a mother who showed
In the following twelve years his experience had more than a minimum of affection - one who was
been limited to two years of intensive work with perhaps not careful to ensure that the 'bath should be a
babies in Baltimore, to acting as a very much part-time serious but not gloomy occasion' - was likely to
consultant to Jones' work in New York and to some produce a dependent child, who would grow up
contact with the two children of his first marriage, plus unable to cope with life and prone to 'invalidism', a
rather more with the two boys that Rosalie bore. On tendency to find the aches and pains of his body of far
this basis he presumed to advocate a particularly more interest than events in the externai world.
controlled style of child care that was strangely grim It is difficult to assess the impact of Watson and
for someone who in his own life could be so Rayner's advice. However, at the very least it must
spontaneous and sociable and display a lively sense of have encouraged the trend towards inflexible patterns
fun. 'Treat them as though they were young adults. of child care that appeared in North America and
Dress them, bathe them with care and circumspection. Britain during the 1930s. Books offering the same kind
Nature and nurture 228
take this risk to allow the maze-running tradition to The approach adopted in these studies had little
continue at Chicago. interest in theory and in later years this tradition
In the early 1920s the situation began to change. earned the title of 'dust-bowl empiricism'. Consider-
The public university system of the mid-western and able effort went into ensuring that comparable aspects
western States had been steadily expanding since well of learning by rats and people could be studied. In
before the First World War. Psychology departments some early studies these went as far as using full-size
took part in this expansion, but the kind of theoretical human mazes, either specially constructed ones or, in
or philosophical issues that had earlier given psycho at least one case, utilizing one already available in the
logy its appeal in the older north-eastern universities amusement park.6 However, most human studies
cut little ice west of the Appalachians. The pressure used the Stylus maze, where blindfolded subjects
was much greater for psychology to show that it could were required to trace a route through slots cut in a
impart skills with some practical value, particularly for thin board, or tasks involving simple motor skills or
teachers. A major function of the big State universities lists of verbal material. Even when some fairly realistic
was to provide personnel for the educational system. problem was studied it was often quite easy to find
The rapid expansion of primary schooling that had some apparently comparable problem to set a rat in a
occurred towards the end of the nineteenth century maze. For example, the question of whether a piano
had been followed by a corresponding development of piece was best practised in parts or as a whole and the
the secondary sector. New high schools were built at a question of how prior learning of task A would affect
rate of over one a day during the first twenty years of someone's progress in learning task B prompted
the century.3 equivalent questions that could be studied in the
There was a large influx of graduate students into animal laboratory.
psychology after the war and a great many of those In the reading assignments for courses on learn
who after three or four years left with their Chicago or ing, Thorndike's Educational Psychology was joined by
Columbian Ph.Ds found jobs that were related to Watson's Behavior of 1914, mainly because it was still
education. Many discovered, as had one of Carr's the most convenient book to provide a survey of
pre-war students, Walter Hunter, at the University of comparative psychology and not because those giving
Kansas, that they were expected to give courses in the the courses necessarily saw themselves as behaviour-
psychology of learning to students majoring in ists. Watson's emphasis on applied psychology was
education. At first Edward Thorndike's three-volume welcome and in practice they went along with his
Educational Psychology was the only textbook that could dismissal of introspection; there were lots of learning
be used; the many traditional texts on psychology had curves, but little discussion of what subjects said about
little to say about learning.4 how they learned.
The Progressive Era was marked by widespread These students of learning also put to one side the
faith in the solution of problems by calling in the right problem of whether all learning or knowledge is
kind of expert. For twenty years Thorndike had been revealed by immediate changes in behaviour. Watson
arguing that the kind of expertise needed by educators had dismissed as a 'mythological conception' the view
was a knowledge of statistics, mental testing and that some experiences can influence future behaviour
experimental studies of learning. The mid-western without producing overt effects in the meantime. 'It is
psychologists concentrated on studies of learning. true that I can give the verbal stimulus to you "Meet
Their investigations of variables affecting how people me at the Ritz tomorrow for lunch at one o'clock".
or rats learned a particular task had a precision, Your immediate response is "Alright, IT1 be there".
thoroughness and professional quality that gave them Now what happens after that? We will not cross this
scientific authority and yet, at the same time, the difficult bridge now, but may I point out that we have
results were easily assimilable. There was another in our verbal habits a mechanism by means of which
consideration that was no doubt at least as important the stimulus is reapplied from moment to moment
in making the psychology of learning attractive to the until the final reaction occurs, namely going to the Ritz
educational establishment: it was essentially con- at one o'clock the next day.'7This was one of Watson's
servative. It promised technical improvements that promises in the opening chapter of Behaviorism, but
would enable children to learn much more at school, very few of his former colleagues believed that he had,
but posed no challenge to the basic system or criticism or ever would, cross this bridge. Most of the maze
of the existing syllabus in a way that applications experts were many hundreds of miles from the Ritz
based on other developments in the social Sciences and what mattered to them was that habits were very
might have done.5 important, not the question of whether habits pro-
Nature and nurture 230
vided an answer to every question in psychoiogy. most other rat psychologists. He carne from a wealthy,
Using Thorndike's and Watson's books in the urban New England background which he described
same course did bring one glaring theoretical dif- as 'upper middle or lower upper'. His childhood was
ference into focus: their opposing views on how habits spent in Newton, just ouside Boston, and was
are formed. Thorndike consistently repeated his strongly affected by a family Quaker tradition of plain
original claim of 1898 that habits are based entirely on living and high thinking. At school he was good at
connections between stimuli and responses and that mathematics and so went to study Science at the
such connections are strengthened by the occurrence Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtaining his
of a pleasurable or satisfying event immediately degree in 1911 at the age of twenty-five. By then an
following the response. Watson agreed with the first interest in psychoiogy had been inspired by summer
part of this claim, but just as consistently denied the school courses taught by two Harvard men, Ralph
second, the Law of Effect. Following Loeb, he had Perry and Robert Yerkes, and, inevitably, by reading
dismissed appeals to subjective concepts like 'plea- William James. Tolman decided to transfer from MIT
sure' and he repeated Loeb's derision for the idea that to Harvard for graduate work in philosophy and
a moth approaches a candle because it likes the light. psychoiogy.
Watson argued that the mysterious retro-active effect In the lecture course he was taught that psycho-
such events were supposed to have on an S-R logy was the study of subjective experience, but in the
connection had no place in a Science of behaviour. In laboratory he found that subjects' accounts of what
place of the Law of Effect Watson maintained that the they felt or thought were given little weight. Tolman
principies of frequency and recency were the only was troubled by this lack of consistency. 'This worry
ones needed to explain how learning occurred; that is, about introspection is perhaps one reason why my
the probability or speed with which a particular introduction in Yerkes' course to Watson behaviorism
response occurred in a given situation is unaffected by carne as a tremendous stimulus and relief. If objective
its previous consequences and only by how often and measurement of behavior and not introspection was
how recently it has previously been made in that the true method of psychoiogy I didn't have to worry
situation.8 any longer.'10
This was another case in which Watson stimu- Although Watson brought general relief, more
lated great interest, but failed to convince. Everyone specific attitudes to psychological issues were im-
knew, of course, that no rat ever ran more and more parted by people closer at hand. One of the most
rapidly to the place in a maze designated by the influential was Perry who, despite his interest in
experimenter as the 'goaT, unless there was a good psychoiogy, never became involved in research and
chance of food or some other reward being there when has been remembered only as a philosopher. Perry
it arrived. Watson suggested an explanation of why and other Harvard colleagues welcomed Watson's
this should be that avoided introducing reward into views on the methodology and scope of psychoiogy,
the learning process and the last paper he published but rejected his reductionism. They found Watson's
on animal research argued that it made no difference if treatment of habits simplistic and Perry in particular
the introduction of reward into the goal box was was much more sympathetic to the views expressed in
delayed.9A series of theoretical papers argued against Leonard Hobhouse's Mind in Evolution. Perry's gen
his account. However, the issue failed at first to eral ideas were very close to the ones Koehler was
stimulate further experimental work with animais, developing in Tenerife at about this time; he argued
except in one place. This was at the University of that the purposeful nature of behaviour is its central
Califórnia at Berkeley, where in 1918 Zing Yang Kuo characteristic and that this can be analysed without
arrived from China as an undergraduate and Edward retreating into mysticism; Watson's 'muscle-twitch'
Tolman arrived as the new instructor in psychoiogy. approach was pitched at the wrong levei and held no
They were attracted by the question of how reward for monopoly on an objective approach to psychoiogy."
a correct choice and punishment of incorrect choices As a graduate student Tolman worked on a range
affects a rat's behaviour. Rats were bought, mazes of topics, but did not become involved in any animal
constructed and within a few years the Berkeley research. When he arrived at Berkeley, he was asked
laboratory became one of the most productive centres to suggest a new course and, remembering Yerkes'
for the study of learning and, above all, the place course at Harvard, he chose to give one on compara-
where experiments were directed at fundamental tive psychoiogy. 'It was Watson's denial of the Law of
questions. Effect and his emphasis on Frequency and Recency as
Tolman was no mid-western country boy like the prime determiners of animal learning which first
Rats, mazes and learning theory 231
they began to translate various ideas, which many reduced. This result was incomprehensible in terms of
others had expressed before and often more clearly, Thorndike's Law of Effect.16
into experimental research which showed how one Other experiments from Tolman's laboratory
could analyse learned behaviour following a 'molar' were directed towards what Perry had termed the
approach. In that era it was particularly true that to run 'docile' nature of behaviour and what Hans Driesch
experiments meant much more than the explicit had called 'equifinality'. In one experiment run by a
function of gathering empirical information; it served student named D. A. Macfarlane, rats were first
as a badge of scientific respectability, as a means of trained to swim through a maze and, once they had
making one's ideas precise and coherent, but, even learned where to go, a false bottom was inserted so
more importantly, as a mode of communication. that they could now reach the goal box by wading to it.
Generations of psychology students have since This produced some transient disruption, but there-
learned about many of the experiments run at after the rats made no more errors than before.17Such
Berkeley during this period, not because startling re- experiments provided concrete evidence on the flex-
sults were obtained - in many cases few contempor- ibility of goal-directed behaviour to supplement the
ary animal psychologists would be able to say exactly hypothetical examples described by Driesch over
what the results were from these familiar studies - but thirty years earlier. The performance of the swimming
because they illustrate a particular set of ideas with rats indicated the inadequacy of the claim by Carr and
such clarity. This is why Toiman, and not Perry, is still Watson, arising from their 'kerplunk' experiment.
remembered. They found that highly trained rats collided with the
The main thrust of the early experiments was to wall when the layout of their maze was altered and
show that, despite Watson's claims, reward, or more concluded that the only thing learned by a rat in a
generally the consequence of a response, is important, maze is a chain of responses integrated by kinesthetic
but, despite Thorndike, it does not operate directly on stimuli, that is, internai feedback from muscle and
the process of learning. Toiman drew a distinction joint receptors. In Macfarlane's experiment the switch
between learning and performance; reward was from swimming to wading should have changed
viewed as unnecessary for learning, but essential for completely the pattern of kinesthetic stimuli received
motivating performance. A key experiment on this by his rats as they made their way through the maze.
point was included in the 1925 Ph.D. thesis of H. C. The finding that they were not much affected by this
Blodgett and concerned a phenomenon that became change strongly suggested that what is learned in a
known as 'latent learning'. One group of hungry rats maze is where the reward is located and not what
was allowed to run through a maze once a day for six responses are needed in order to reach it.
days, but without any food reward in the box at the By the end of the 1920s increasing interest in
end of the maze. On the seventh day they found food problems to do with learning the location of reward
there and within two trials were running as rapidly produced experiments that bore a strong resemblance
and with as few errors as a control group which had to the detour experiments devised by Hobhouse and
received food reward since the first trial. This showed developed by Wolfgang Koehler. The classic study in
that the experimental group had learned a great deal this series was carried out by Toiman and C. H.
during the first six days, but only when food was Honzik and reported in 1930. It used the maze shown
provided as an incentive was this learning translated in Figure 8.10. As can be seen, the animais were faced
into performance.15 with a choice between a direct (Path 1), an intermedi-
Another experiment in this group concerned a ate (Path 2) and a lengthy route (Path 3) to the food
second phenomenon which was also to feature box. After the rats had been given ample opportunity
prominently in later disputes over the nature of to become familiar with the maze, tests were given to
learning. This was carried out by M. H. Elliott for his find out what they would do if the direct path was
M. A. thesis of 1928. For nine days a group of rats were blocked either at A or at B. Since Path 2 was second in
given one trial a day in which they found bran mash in preference to Path 1, it was not of great significance to
the goal box and then, on the tenth day, they found observe that on finding a block at A the animais turned
sunflower seed, a much less attractive food to them back to the choice point and chose Path 2. The crucial
than mash. This resulted in a sharp increase in the question was what would happen when a block was
time they took to run the maze and in the number of placed at B. Provided that they could remember or
errors on the next few trials. Here was a case in which directly perceive the layout of the maze and were
on the tenth day the correct response was rewarded capable of making the appropriate inference, they
and yet its probability of occurring of the next trial was should return to the choice point and select Path 3,
Rats, mazes and learning theory 233
60
cr
<
UJ
v
o:
Lü 40
CL
in
cr
UJ
CL
< 20
CL
U.
O
o
z 0
Fig. 8.12. Number of experimental papers per year on the behaviour of the rat from 1910 to 1931; note the temporary
increase in papers on motivation during the period 1924-1928 and the very steep increase in papers devoted to learning
after this
monograph of 1929 which summarized this research, analyses of the results it marked a break with
he wrote: 'I began the study of cerebral function with a experimental physiology in the European tradition
definite bias towards such an interpretation of the where the typical experiment examined the behaviour
learning problem (that is, learning as the development of just one or two animais and no quantitative analysis
of habits and habits as successions of movements). was performed, as in Pavlov's laboratory.
The original programme of research looked toward the The general growth of interest in the rat is shown
tracing of conditioned-reflex ares throughout the graphically in Figure 8.12, which plots the number of
cortex, as the spinal paths of simple reflexes seemed to papers on rat behaviour published each year from 1910
have been traced through the cord. The experimental to 1931.25 As shown in this graph, there was an
findings have never fitted into such a scheme. Rather, accelerating increase during the Twenties: apart from
they have emphasized the unitary character of every one exceptional year, it took until 1924 before twenty
habit, the impossibility of stating any learning as con- papers were published in a year, yet by 1930 the
catenation of reflexes, and the participation of large annual rate had climbed to over sixty. The early part of
masses of nervous tissue in the functions rather than this rise was due to a burst of papers on motivation
the development of restricted conduction-paths.'23 beginning around 1923. This was partly an after-effect
From failing to find the neural pathways that had of the instinct debate, as experimenters' interest
given connectionism its respectability Lashley de- turned towards ways of measuring what were becom-
veloped into a fierce critic of S-R theory; his was an ing known as 'drives'. Such studies included those of
unusual case since, as one of his students later Watson's student, Curt Richter, at Johns Hopkins,
expressed it, he began by developing 'just those considerable work on sexual behaviour in rats at
"Watsonian" notions that, later, he spent most of his Stanford University and a series of experiments at
professional life refuting' and yet remained a close and Columbia University which compared the strengths of
loyal friend to Watson, prizing the latter's remark that different drives using the Columbia Obstruction Box.26
he was the only thorough-going behaviourist that By 1930 a decreasing number of papers were
Watson knew.24The research was also important from published on motivational topies and, as shown in
a methodological point of view, since with its use of Figure 8.12, the overwhelming emphasis was on
the rat, of large groups of animais and of statistical learning. To a large extent this reflected the accomp-
Nature and nurture 236
lishmentof Tolman and his students in demonstrating with physiology, Tolman's approach dropped any
how key issues in learning could be examined by the pretence that its concepts and variables could be
use of a suitable maze experiment. Tolman dedicated directly related to known physiological processes. His
his book of 1932 which reviewed the first ten years of willingness to consider inherited factors in human
research in the Berkeley laboratory to 'MNA' - mus behaviour and his increasing use of Gestalt termino-
norvegicus albinus, the white rat - and a few years later logy placed him still further from Watson. Tolman
expressed his conviction that 'everything important in even began to go back to those issues which twenty
psychology (except such matters as the building of a years earlier behaviourism had sought to ban from
super-ego, that is everything save such matters as psychology. 'We have been objective and we have
involve society and words) can be investigated in refused to introspect. We have assumed that other
essence through the continued experimental and men likewise were "dumb" and so could not tell us of
theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior their conscious experiences. We have sought to build
at a choice-point in the maze'.27 It would ha ve been up our psychology as if all the textbooks written up to
difficult in 1920 to find a single psychologist holding 1914 (the date of Watson's Behavior: an Introduction to
such a belief - it was certainly not one that Watson Comparative Psychology) had never existed. But after all,
held - but ten years later it was becoming common. we cannot reaily escape the old questions of sensation
And even those who regarded such claims as absurd and image, of feeling and emotion. The good old
exaggerations often found it useful, as an aid to that psychologists in their laboratories, who introspected
objectivity all agreed was essential in psychology, to and filled innumerable pages of their Protokolls with
formulate their problems in terms of what a rat might accounts of these processes, were doing something
do in a particular kind of maze. and doing it ably. What, now, in our terms was this
that they were doing?'4
The decline and resurgence of strict One of the few voices to plead for a return to strict
behaviourism behaviourism was that of Kuo. He became alarmed by
By 1930 many of the general views that Watson the 'conciliatory attitude of the behaviorists towards
had put forward were widely accepted, but there was the traditional psychology' and was horrified by the
little support for his more specific claims, those that reception given to the ideas of Gestalt psychology who
characterized 'strict behaviorism', as McDougall had 'at least as far as their view of learning is concerned,
christened the outlook he most detested in American are simply trying to persuade their American col
psychology.1 Watson himself no longer wrote about leagues to go back to the Middle ages'. In 1928 Kuo
psychology and those who held views closest to his renounced his earlier endorsement of Tolman's 'pur-
failed to attract attention.2 Others who enjoyed more posive behaviorism', sharply criticizing the direction
prestige among their colleagues, men like Lashley or in which his Berkeley teacher had since moved and
Tolman, had moved so far from the theories Watson calling for a return to the 'S-R formula directly derived
had advocated that their continued use of the labei from the basic principies of physics'.5
'behaviorist' seemed misleading. For them it signified Kuo's attack produced a careful and equally sharp
commitment to an entirely objective approach in rejoinder from Tolman, summarizing his reasons for
psychology, for even after Titchener's death in 1927 using concepts based on inferences from behaviour
there were still plenty of psychologists who continued that were themselves not directly observable in a way
to believe that psychology should also concern itself that Hobhouse, Jennings or Perry might have done.
with subjective States and use introspective methods. 'Our doctrine is that behavior (except in the case of the
But the labei did not indicate commitment to the simplest reflexes) is not governed by simple one to one
conditioned reflex nor to the rejection of any appeal to stimulus-response connections. It is governed by
internai processes nor to many of the other claims more or less complicated sets and patterns of adjust-
Watson had made after 1913. ment which get set up within the organism. And in so
Lashley argued that the way to understand the far as these sets of adjustments cause only those acts to
mind was by means of physiological research; he persist and to get learned which end in getting the
never accepted Watson's suggestion that 'thinking' organism to (or from) specific ends, these sets or
was based on subvocal speech or some other form of adjustments constitute purposes.'6
covert response.3 Tolman's emphasis on the essential Tolman also defended himself against the accusa-
goal-directedness of behaviour meant rejecting a basic tion that his theories made no reference to physiology.
component of Watsonian behaviourism and, in con- 'I find it an invitation to further investigation. I
trast to Lashley's and to Watson's plea for closer links wonder indeed whether the alternative doctrine of
Decline and resurgence of behaviourism 237
relatively simple one to one stimulus-response con- ran to a goal-box without entering a cul-de-sac or who
nections has now any more acceptable a neurological swiftly opened a puzzle box be analysed in the same
picture at its Service. I doubt if it does. Before Franz way as that of a dog salivating before the arrival of
and Lashley's results appeared, simple reflex- food? By now Herbert Spencer's thoughts on learning
psychology had a doctrine of specific and insulated were rarely cited and never read, but for the first time
sensory-motor paths to fali back on. But now that this there was a sustained effort to sort out the muddle he
simple picture has been taken away, is it, I wonder, had helped to create when, in the 1870 edition of his
any better off as to neurology than is our purposive Principies of Psychology, he had added Alexander Bain's
doctrine?'7 idea of instrumental conditioning to the idea of
Kuo had argued that his 'theory of the prepotent classical conditioning which he had gained from
stimulus', which was essentially a conditioned reflex David Hartley and expressed so much more clearly in
model, could account entirely for the behaviour of a rat the first edition of his book fifteen years earlier.
in a maze. At the end of his rejoinderTolman admitted With the appearance of Pavlov in English there
that this was a remote possibility, but one only worth was at first wide agreement that Watson, once again,
taking seriously when it had been worked out in was wrong and that trial-and-error learning could not
detail. In reply Kuo simply dismissed Tolman's views be explained in terms of Pavlov's conditioned reflex.11
as 'really McDougall's animism under disguise' and he In Poland Konorski and Miller had already reached the
never developed the notion of 'prepotent stimuli'.8By same conclusion.12In 1932 Tolman made clear his view
this time he had returned to China and his position at that there existed a variety of forms of learning, of
the University of Shanghai made it difficult to pursue which instrumental and classical conditioning repre-
scholarly interests.9 sent two distinct types.13 The conditioned reflex was
For a while no one took on the task that Tolman regarded as an important, but not a central, concept.
had suggested to Kuo, that of developing a detailed The intellectual atmosphere soon began to
theory of maze behaviour based on a conditioning change. By the mid-1930s a group of learning theorists
model. Furthermore, there was very little ex centred around Clark Hull at Yale University were
perimental work using conditioning procedures, de- becoming a powerful force in American psychology.
spite the importance Watson had attached to the For these 'neo-behaviorists', as they were later called,
conditioned reflex, and there were also few ex and for the 'radical behaviorists' inspired by Skinner
perimental studies involving children. In one experi- who became influential at a later date, one or another
ment on 'building likes and dislikes in children' a model of conditioning has occupied a key theoretical
two-year old boy was given orange juice, which was position; what to Tolman and others had seemed to
unexpectedly followed by the sound of a click and a represent different forms of learning have either been
large mouthful of vinegar, and he subsequently treated as secondary or ignored.
showed a distaste for oranges and a tendency to shiver There appear to have been two main reasons for
on hearing a clicker.10 But such Watsonian studies the sudden resurgence of a form of strict behaviourism
stand out from the journals of this era and only and its subsequent long grip on American psychology.
emphasize the absence of any sign elsewhere of One factor was the powerful institutional position
Watson's direct influence. occupied by Hull and his colleagues. Like other forms
A major problem for anyone who wished to take of research in psychology, animal studies in the 1920s
Watson's advice seriously and concentrate upon the were at best supported by small grants from Univer
ideas and results generated in Pavlov's laboratory for sity coffers. The productivity of Tolman's laboratory at
almost thirty years was that they were effectively Berkeley was helped considerably by the relatively
inaccessible except in bare outline. The problem was to generous attitude of the University of Califórnia
a large extent overcome in 1927 when the English towards such research. But even at Berkeley financial
translation of Pavlov's Conditioned Reflexes appeared. support consisted of lump sums towards specific
This acted as an important stimulus to learning theory projects which were normally of the order of fifty or a
in America, at first by encouraging careful compar- hundred dollars. The amounts often did not seem
isons between the procedures employed for the worth the tedious paperwork that was required to
trial-and-error or instrumental studies of Western obtain them.14
comparative psychology and those used by Pavlov. One sign of a change in the financing of research
Were such differences simply products of an historical was the launching in 1926 of the 'Behavior Research
accident or did they reflect two different processes of Fund'. This was based in Chicago and contributions
learning? Could the learning displayed by a rat who were from private citizens. Although the money was
Nature and nurture 238
'to be devoted to research in problems of human there was the difficulty of time. Teaching undergradu-
behavior', a large part was used to support Lashley's ates in an effective way, supervising graduate stu-
work on brain lesions in rats. With some awkwardness dents, taking on summer school teaching to supple-
the Foreword to his monograph noted that 'it may ment modest salaries and making a fair contribution
puzzle some that the approach to human behaviour towards the general running of their department and
should lead through such an apparent by-path, but a the university, all of these added up to a satisfying,
frontal attack is not necessarily the most effective . . . comfortable, but reasonably full, occupation.
the old academic liberty of the Renaissance is the In 1876 Daniel Gilman had hoped that the ideal of
greatest safeguard to successful scientific enterprise'.15 the university as a centre of research, for which
The real change to big Science carne with the professors would be allowed at least as much time as
Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. In an earlier era was expected to be spent on their teaching, would
the vast sums in this fund might have gone towards a spread across America. Forty years later James Cattell
new university or hospital, but instead its administra- carried out a survey to find out how many members of
tor, a young man named Beardsley Ruml with a Ph.D. the American Psychological Association could be
in psychology from Chicago, drew up plans to counted as professional scientists, by which he meant
distribute some forty million dollars over a period of that they spent at least half of their working hours on
seven years so as to promote research in the social research; he found that only sixteen of the two
Sciences. hundred or so members qualified.18 Presumably
One grant from this Rockefeller fund went to Watson and Yerkes were among these sixteen, since,
support the research on childhood fears that Mary with regard to time if not to money, they had enjoyed
Cover Jones carried out with Watson. Other, larger unusually favourable conditions for their research at
grants went towards the founding of child study Johns Hopkins and Harvard. Most of their colleagues
centres at a number of different universities. The main further west could only maintain a scientific career at
impact on animal psychology carne from the rela- the cost of severe pressure on other aspects of their
tionship between the fund and Yale University. The lives.
psychology instructor at Chicago, James Angell, who The opportunities offered by the newly funded
had acted as graduate supervisor to both Watson and research institutes were excellent by any standards.
Carr, and later to Ruml, moved in 1920 to a post with Those in such institutions became even more favoured
the Carnegie Foundation, taking Ruml with him as relative to their fellow psychologists as economic
administrative assistant. A year later Angell became depression dried up the supply of university positions
president of Yale, where his achievements included for those with new Ph.Ds and increased the teaching
the expansion of psychology and the attraction of loads of those who already held posts. This increased
outside support for research in the social Sciences from still further the power to determine the future of
various bodies, but pre-eminently from the Rocke psychology of those sitting on committees which
feller fund that his former assistant now directed.16 distributed research money. An individual might
A major product of the flow of money into Yale bubble with ideas, might have published a series of
was the Institute of Human Relations. In 1929 Clark excellent papers and served as an inspiring teacher to
Hull was appointed as a member of this institute and, his graduate students, but, if for reasons other than
despite its name and HulTs own previous interest in a academic ones, he was denied funding, he would not
range of topics in human psychology including be able to carry out much experimental work nor
hypnosis and aptitude testing, it rapidly became a support his students, so that they need not look to
centre for the development of learning theory based other fields to find jobs.
on a conditioning model and for research on maze- Ruml's decision to direct the Rockefeller funds
running by rats.17 In the same year Robert Yerkes at into research carne from his belief that social problems
last obtained from the National Research Council the were only temporarily assuaged by direct grants to
massive funding for primate research that he had welfare organizations and that in the long run what
sought for over fifteen years and he re-entered was needed was 'the production of a body of fact and
academic life as a research professor at Yale. principie', knowledge that will be 'expected in time to
At the best of times members of university result in substantial social control'.19 Within psycho
psychology departments found it difficult to maintain logy, research on animal behaviour was one likely
a steady research programme. Even when some candidate, especially for someone familiar with such
financial support was forthcoming from their univer work from his graduate student days. It was intellec-
sity to pay for equipment, materiais or other expenses, tually attractive, in that the work from Tolman's
Decline and resurgence of behaviourism 239
laboratory plus the confrontation between American left out entirely the social dimension to human
comparative psychology, Gestalt theory and Pavlov's learning. Even Tolman, with all his enthusiasm for
research on conditioning had produced a large set of mus norvegicus albinus, allowed that the human
well-defined and basic theoretical questions. Is there a super-ego and language were not open to profitable
single form of learning? Can problem-solving be approach via maze-running by rats. Since the begin-
reduced to trial-and-error learning? Is reward neces- ning of the century most psychologists believed it to be
sary for learning? How is reward related to drive? Is self-evident that a large part of what a person learns is
there a difference between spatial and response from other people, by means of language, imitation or
learning? How are emotional responses acquired? Is some other process. Yet during this period animal
avoidance learning solely an instance of a conditioned psychology had made singularly little progress in
reflex? What is the physiological basis of this or that understanding imitation learning, while attempts to
aspect of learning or motivation? Furthermore, these study the language learning capacities of apes had
and other such questions appeared to be highly only served to emphasize the uniqueness of man in
tractable ones, which could well be completely this respect. According to McDougall and Trotter the
answered by a suitable series of experiments, while study of instincts was to provide the basis for social
the many years of rat research of the kind carried out psychology. With the rejection of instinct theory there
by Carr's students provided the invaluable back- also went, usually unheeded, rejection of the idea that
ground of technique and parametric information 'man is throughout a social creature . . . (whose) mind
needed for such work. develops entirely out of interactions between him and
Hull and his co-workers at Yale set about the task other human beings, and that an individual not so
of answering such questions in terms of concepts built up is unthinkable'.21
derived from Pavlov and using the experimental The commitment to the study of the isolated
approach developed by Tolman. They began to attack individual, whether rat or man, was by no means
Tolman's claims in a concentrated, thorough manner confined to the behaviourists. It was part of a common
that made his style seem that of the dilettante. Years heritage from the experimental tradition of physio-
later he wrote that he had 'liked to think about logy, taken for granted to such an extent that it was
psychology in ways that proved congenial to me. rarely commented upon. Thus, for example, the
Since all the Sciences, and especially psychology, are studies of intelligent problem-solving inspired by
still immersed in such tremendous realms of the Gestalt psychology maintain, as recently suggested,
uncertain and the unknown, the best that any an 'idea of the intellectually challenging environment
individual scientist, especially any psychologist, can as perfectly described by Daniel Defoe. It is the desert
do seems to be to follow his own gleam and his own island of Robinson Crusoe - before the arrival of Man
bent, however inadequate they may be. In fact, I Friday. The island is a lonely, hostile environment, full
suppose that actually this is what we all do. In the end of technological challenge, a world in which Crusoe
the only sure criterion is to ha ve fun. And I have had depends for his survival on his skill in gathering food,
fun.'20 In contrast, Hull and his colleagues were very finding shelter, conserving energy, avoiding
serious, both about their Science and the need to danger.'22 Applications of the new learning theory to
exploit the powerful position they held at Yale in education were to be achieved, as we have seen, by
extending their influence elsewhere. evaluating the role of spacing or of reward in an
In order to attract such funding it was, of course, individuaFs acquisition of a habit and not by examin-
not enough to be studying tractable, intellectually ing some other factor, arguably with at least as great a
satisfying problems in a serious, scientific manner. potential importance, such as the relationship be
The research also needed ideological appeal. This was tween child and teacher or the parent's role as a model
provided by the environmentalism that, largely due to for what a child treats as worth knowing.
Kuo and Watson, had become closely associated with Watson's influence on the resurgence of strict
behaviourism. Identify the basic principies of learning behaviourism was indirect. Few of the people in-
in a form that is comparable to the laws of mechanics volved had ever met him and Hull, for example, did
and then, and only then, a solid and comprehensive not have a high opinion of Watson's theories.23
foundation is obtained, the promise ran, for under- Watson's major contribution was that, more than
standing the complex process whereby an adult anyone else of his generation, he had campaigned for
human being acquires all those skills, attitudes and the extension of experimental method into areas of
feelings that characterize his 'culture'. human interest that psychology had hitherto hardly
It was a bold promise and an unlikely one, since it touched. The essence of Watsonian behaviourism,
Nature and nurture 240
shown as much by what he did as by what he wrote, cages, conventional ethics allow a human being with
was his belief that experimental evidence is the only suitable status, acceptable motives and a convincing
means we have for achieving true understanding of rationale to shock, poison, blind, castrate, drug and
some issue and that this kind of Science has to be surgically interfere with the brain and body of a rat.
applied directly, even if this means the overthrow of Interest in what Watson had to say was not
deeply held convictions and fundamental mores of the limited to fellow psychologists and readers of up-
scientist's own culture. How foolish to legislate on market New York publications. By a curious turn of
Prohibition when we have no evidence on the effects fate, the person whose mother, when he was a baby,
of alcohol on human behaviour! How irrational to had acted as an assistant in 1872 in Douglas Spalding's
spend large sums on propaganda to reduce the experiments on imprinting and instinct, some fifty
incidence of venereal disease without experimental years later developed an interest in animal behaviour,
tests to find out how such propaganda affects sexual although in complete ignorance of the circumstances
behaviour! How absurd to produce innumerable of his childhood. By then Bertrand Russell was the
books of advice on bringing up children, but make no leading philosopher of the English-speaking world,
scientific effort to find out what factors are really but also almost penniless. One way for him to earn
important in human development! money was to give lectures in America; another was to
To Watson the 'baby-farm' project for studying write popular books on philosophy. Following his
under well-controlled conditions the first few years of interest in the philosophy of mind, he began to read
children of varied racial background was a profoundly about recent research in animal psychology; he was
sensible idea. His contemporaries were either far from provided with an excellent opportunity for getting
desiring Watson's radical rejection of conventional through a large number of books during a spell in
values or more impressed than he by the enormity of prison for pacifist activities towards the end of the First
the dangers and problems associated with such World War.27
ventures. In 1929 a psychologist with general views On a visit to New York a few years later Russell
close to Watson's was suspended from the University met his fellow exile from academia, John Watson, who
of Missouri for approving the circulation among provided hospitality and contacted some of his old
students and their parents of a questionnaire concern- friends to see if they could arrange for Russell to
ing attitudes towards sex that an undergraduate in his lecture at their universities. In 1927 Russell published
department had prepared. A sociology instructor a brisk and readable book called Philosophy, of which a
more directly involved in the project was dismissed large part was devoted to the basic conceptual issues
and the undergraduate, O. Hobart Mowrer, left to arising in contemporary physics and contemporary
continue his studies in the East, eventuaily ending up psychology.28 The aspects of psychology he com-
at Yale where he became associated with Hull's group mented upon were animal research, theories of
at the Institute of Human Relations.24 learning, and behaviourism. The book was generally
As 'Mr. Behaviourist', Watson created a generally favourable towards Watson's approach and, though it
favourable atmosphere for his successors by means of rejected some of his specific theories - dismissing, for
the articles he wrote in the 1920s which startled, example, Watson's attack on the Law of Effect - it
enraged and intrigued the readers of the New Yorker, endorsed others with an enthusiasm few psychol
New YorkTimes or Harpers Monthly,25Such articles were ogists shared. For example, Russell wrote that 'the
of considerable help in making subscribers to the failure to consider language explicitly has been a cause
'Behavior Research Fund' or trustees of the Rockefeller of much that was bad in traditional philosophy. I think
Memorial sympathetic towards arguments that invest- myself that "meaning" can only be understood if we
ment in behavioural Science would produce a techno- treat language as a bodily habit, which is learnt just as
logy to solve social problems. A detour around the we leam football or bicycling. The only satisfactory
awe-inspiring barriers blocking the direct assault that way to treat language, to my mind, is to treat it in this
Watson wanted was provided by the rat. The relative way, as Dr Watson does. Indeed, I should regard the
ease of obtaining clean, unambiguous results from theory of language as one of the strongest points in
animal experiments was, for example, pointed out by favour of behaviourism.'29
Tolman: 'let it be noted that rats live in cages; they do For so eminent a philosopher to show such
not go on binges the night before one has planned the sympathy gave behaviourism considerable prestige.
experiment'.26 Presumably because such experiments The book was exciting for anyone who had begun to
were rare in the Berkeley laboratory, he did not also think about philosophical problems and who was also
add that, as well as preventing them from leaving their fascinated by the dizzying concepts of relativity and
Decline and resurgence of behaviourism 241
atomic theory and by the prospect of a new Science of B. F. Skinner, whose attempts to embark on a career as
mínd. In September, 1927 McDougall commented on a writer after leaving college no longer seemed prom-
Watson that 'it is the success of his appeal among ising; the book inspired him to take up psychology
young students that is the disturbing fact for those instead.31 Russell thus played some part in ensuring
who hope much from the splendid development of that, when neo-behaviourism began to falter in the
American universities now going on so rapidly'.30 In 1950s, Skinner's version of behaviourism was waiting
the same month RusselFs book was discovered by to step into its place.
The following provides for each section of the book Notes
a list of the major sources I used in writing it and
in some cases suggestions on further reading on the
topic, followed by the notes which are numbered
separately for each section. Where a book is cited
extensively I have used initials as an abbreviation of
its title, as indicated below.
V J
AI: G. J. Romanes Animal Intelligence London: Kegan, FG: D. W. Forrest Francis Galton: the Life and Work of a
Paul, Trench & Co., 1882. Victorian Genius London: Elek, 1974.
AL: F. Lilge The Abuse of Learning: the Failure of the FP: Y. P. Frolov Pavlov and his School London: Kegan,
Cerman University New York: Macmillan, 1948. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1937.
ALI: C. L. Morgan Animal Life and Intelligence London: GPHR:V. M. Bechterev General Principies of Human
Edward Arnold, 1890. Reflexology New York: International Publishers,
AP: E. A. Asratyan I. P. Pavlov; his Life and Work 1932. (Reprinted New York: Amo, 1973.)
Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House, GSH: D. Ross G. Stanley Hall: the Psychologist as Prophet
1953. (Russian original, 1949.) Chicago: University of Chicago, 1972.
B: J. B. Watson Behaviorism New York: Norton, 1924. H: T. H. Huxley Hume London: Macmillan, 1878.
BA: A. Bain Autobiography London: Longman Green & HB: E. Nordenskiold The History of Biology New York:
Co., 1904. Tudor, 1928.
BICP: j. B. Watson Behavior: an Introduction to Comparative HBSC.E. Clarke & C. D. 0'Malley The Human Brain and
Psychology New York: Henry Holt, 1914. Spinal Cord Berkeley: University of Califórnia,
BLO: H. S. Jennings The Behavior of the Lower Organisms 1968.
New York: Macmillan, 1906. (Reprinted in HDN: M. A. B. Brazier 'The historical development of
Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University, 1962.) neurophysiology.' In J. Field (Ed) The Handbook of
BM: L. C. Rosenfield From Beast-machine to Man-machine: Physiology, Section 1: Neurophysiology Vol. 1
the Animal Soul in French Letters from Descartes to la Washington, DC: American Physiological Society,
Mettrie New York: Oxford University, 1940. 1959.
BP: B. P. Babkin Pavlov Chicago: Chicago University, HEP: E. G. Boring History of Experimental Psychology New
1949. York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1950. (2nd Ed.)
CP: H. Cuny Ivan Pavlov (Translation by P. Evans) HG: F. Galton Hereditary Genius London: Macmillan,
London: Souvenir Press, 1964. (French original, 1869.
1962.) HI: C. L. Morgan Habit and Instinct London: Edward
CR: I. Pavlov Conditioned Reflexes (Translation by G. V. Arnold, 1896.
Anrep) London: Oxford University, 1927. HM: F. Lange The History of Materialism (Translation by
CRP: I. Pavlov Conditioned Reflexes and Psychiatry E. C. Thomas) London: Truebner, 1880.
(Translation by W. FL Gantt) London: Laurence & HPA: A History of Psychology in Autobiography Vols 1, 2 & 3
Wishart, 1941. (Edited by C. Murchison), Worcester, Mass: Clark
CW: D. Cohen /. B. Watson: the Founder of Behaviourism University, 1930, 1932 & 1936 (Reprinted in New
London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. York: Russell & Russell, 1961); Vol. 4 (Edited by E.
DIR: H. Seton-Watson The Decline of Imperial Rússia G. Boring et al.) and Vol. 5 (Edited by E. G. Boring
London: Methuen, 1964. & G. Lindzey), New York:
DM: R. Descartes A Discourse on Method (Translation by Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952 & 1967; Vol. 6
J. Veitch) London: Dent, 1912. (French original, (Edited by G. Lindzey), Englewood Cliffs, N):
1637.) Prentice Hall, 1974.
EW: A. Bain The Emotions and the Will London: Parker & HREP.:N. Hans History of Russian Educational Policy:
Son, 1859. 1701-1917 New York: Russell & Russell, 1931.
FA: N. G. Hale Freud and the Americans New York: (Reprinted in 1964.)
Oxford University, 1971. HSf: T. M. Sonnebom 'Herbert Spencer Jennings'.
Notes 243
Biographical Memoirs Vol. 47 Washington, DC: PK: E. Cassirer The Problem of Knowledge: Philosophy,
National Academy of Sciences, 1975. Science and History since Hegel New Haven: Yale
HTHM: J. Priestley Harlley's Theory of the Human Mind, on University, 1950.
the Principie o f the Association of Ideas London: PO: V. Bechterev La Psychologie Objective Paris: Librairie
Johnson, 1775. Felix Alcan, 1913.
ICP: C. L. Morgan An Introduction to Comparative PP1: H. Spencer Principies of Psychology London:
Psychology London: Scott, 1894. Longman, Brown, Green & Longman, 1855. lst Ed.
IHPW.W. Trotter Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War PP2: H. Spencer Principies of Psychology London:
London: Emest Benn, 1916. Longmans, 1870. 2nd Ed.
ISP: W. McDougall An Introduction to Social Psychology PSB: W. McDougall Psychology: the Study of Behaviour
London: Methuen, 1908. London: Williams & Norgate, 1912.
JLCL: P. J. Pauly Jacques Loeb and the Control of Life: PSPB: J. B. Watson Psychology from the Standpoint of a
Experimental Biology in Cermany and America, Behaviorist Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1919.
1890-1920 Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Johns PSW: 1. Pavlov Selected Works Moscow: Foreign Publishing
Hopkins University, 1980. House, 1955.
JPP: W. James Principies o f Psychology New York: Holt, RA: F. Fearing Reflex Action: a Study in the History of
1890. Physiological Psychology New York: Hafner, 1930.
LCR: I. Pavlov Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes (Translation RCE: G. W. Stocking Race, Culture and Evolution New
by W. H. Gantt) London: Laurence & Wishart, York: Free Press, 1968.
1928. SA: H. Spencer An Autobiography London: Williams &
LHAP: W. Wundt Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology Norgate, 1904. Vols. I & II.
(English translation by Creighton & Titchener) SAN: 1. Sechenov Autobiographical Notes (English
London: Sonnenschein, 1894. (German original: translation by K. Haines) Washington, DC:
Leipzig, 1892.) American Institute of Biological Sciences, 1965.
LK: J. D. Burchfield Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth (Russian original, 1905.)
London: Macmillan, 1975. SD: R. Hofstadter Social Darwinism in American Thought
LLD: F. Darwin (Ed.) The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia, 1944.
London: Murray, 1887. SHE: C. Bibby T. H. Huxley: Scientist, Humanist and
LHH: L. Huxley (Ed.) The Life and Letters of T. H. Huxley Educator London: Watts, 1959.
London: Macmillan, 1900. Vols I & II. SI: A. Bain The Senses and the Intellect London: Parker &
LLLG: K. Pearson The Life, Letters and Labours o f Francis Son, 1855.
Galton Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1914, SP: G. Joncich The Sane Positivist: a Biography of E. L.
1930. Thorndike Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University,
LLR: E. Romanes (Ed.) The Life and Letters of George John 1968.
Romanes London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1902. SRC: A. Vucinich Science in Russian Culture: 1861-1917
MA: W. Koehler The Mentality of Apes (Translation of 2nd Stanford, Califórnia: Stanford University, 1970.
German edition by E. Winter) New York: Harcourt, SRS: J. Ben-David The Scientisfs Role in Society
Brace & World, 1925. (Original German, 1917.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
ME: L. T. Hobhouse Mind in Evolution London: SSW: I. Sechenov Selected Works Amsterdam: Bonset,
Macmillan, 1901. 1968.
MEA: G. J. Romanes Mental Evolution in Animais New TAI: E. L. Thorndike Animal Intelligence New York:
York: Appleton & Co, 1884. Macmillan, 1911.
MLMA: R. M. Yerkes The Mental Life of Monkeys and Apes TE: H. Cravens The Triumph o f Evolution: American
Behavior Monographs, 3, No. 1 New York: Holt, Scientists and the Heredity-Environment Controversy,
1916. (Reprinted in Delmar, New York: Scholars 1900-1941 Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania,
Facsimiles & Reprints, 1979.) 1978.
MM: J. O. de la Mettrie Man a Machine La Salle, Illinois: VB: C. Darwin The Voyage of the Beagle London: Dent,
Open Court, 1953. (French original, UHomme 1906. (Original version published in 1839.)
Machine, 1748.) WJ: R. B. Perry The Thought and Character of William
NI: F. Galton Natural inheritance London: Macmillan, James Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1935.
1889. WMcD: W. McDougall 'Autobiographical sketch'. In HPA
PBAM: E. C. Tolman Purposive Behavior in Animais and Men Vol. 1 (1930), pp. 191-224.
New York: Century, 1932. YB: P. I. Yakovlev, 'Bechterev.' In M. A. B. Brazier
PC1C: J. B. Watson and R. Watson The Psychological Gare of (Ed.) The Central Nervous System and Behavior New
Infant and Child New York: Norton, 1928. York: Josiah Macy Foundation, 1959.
Notes for pp. 1-14 244
Chapter 1: Mental evolution There has been some confusion as to whether the
Spencer-Bain Principie was originally the idea of
C harles D arw in and The D escent o f Man Spencer or of Bain. Little doubt about Bain's priority
Excellent accounts of the development of remains after comparing his The Senses and the lntellect
evoiutionary theories during the nineteenth century (SI) of 1855 with the first edition, also of 1855, of
are provided by Eiseley (1958) and by Himmelfarb Spencer's Principies o f Psychology (PP1) and the latter
(1959). These served as major sources for fhis with the second edition (1870) of this work (PP2).
section, together with the interesting treatment of Spencer was well acquainted with Bain's work long
the development of Darwin's theories and his views before 1870; in 1859 he wrote a review of Bain's The
on human evolution in Gruber (1974). A very recent Emotions and the Wilt (EW) and cited Bain in the second
and excellent treatment of Darwinism in general is edition of his book on topics other than those
provided by Oldroyd (1980). discussed here.
1 See Burckhardt (1977). 1 Hull (1973).
2 C. Darwin The Voyage of the Beagle (VB). 2 Flugel (1933).
3 VB, p. 195. 3 SI, Preface.
4 VB, p. 206. 4 SI, p. 289.
5 Gruber (1974). 5 SI, p. 404.
6 Biographical information is from the two volume 6 EW, p. 349.
autobiography (Wallace, 1903) and the more recent 7 SA I, p. 402.
and briefer account in Williams-Ellis (1966). A 8 SA2, p. 171.
contemporary tribute deserves quotation: 'Once in a 9 Haight (1968); Hirshberg (1970).
generation a Wallace may be found physically, 10 PP1, p. 530.
mentally and morally qualified to wander 11 PP1, p. 543.
unscathed through the tropical wilds of America 12 PP1, p. 540.
and Asia; to form magnificent collections as he 13 PP1, p. 561.
wanders; and withal to think out sagaciously the 14 PP1, p. 465.
conclusions suggested by his collections' (Huxley, 15 PP1, p. 465.
1864; p. 35). 16 PP2, p. 581.
7 Jenkin (1867). 17 PP1, p. 574.
8 Wallace (1864). 18 SA I, p. 402.
9 Wallace (1869). 19 PP2, p. 280.
20 PP2, pp. 281-6.
The Spencer-B ain Principie 21 PP2, p. 507.
The general contributions of Spencer and Bain are 22 PP2, p. 545.
discussed in any number of texts, but rarely in any 23 PP2, p. 545.
detail. Boring (1950; HEP) and Hearnshaw (1964) 24 Himmelfarb (1959).
were among the more useful here. Biographical
material is from these two sources and from the D ou glas Spalding's experim ents on instinct
autobiographies of Bain (BA) and of Spencer 1 Biographical material is from Haldane (1954), which
(SA). accompanies a reprint of Spalding's first paper, and
from Gray (1962; 1968).
Notes for pp. 14-35 245
Morgan on comparative psychology and theories of Mathematics, heredity and Francis Galton
leaming An excellent account of nineteenth-century debates
Morgan's views on Huxley's Belfast paper and on over geological time is given by Burchfield's Lord
the mind-body problem around this time are also Kelvin and the Age of the Earth (LK). Biographical
discussed in Morgan (1896b). information on Galton is from Pearson's Life, Letters
and Labours of Francis Galton (LLLG) and from the
1 ALI, pp. 304; 417; 464. more recent, and briefer, biography by Forrest (FG).
2 ALl, p. 464. Page references to Galton's books are to the second
3 ICP, p. 4. edition of Hereditary Genius (HG) and to the first
4 ICP, p. 8. edition of Natural Inheritance (NI).
5 ICP, p. 163.
6 ICP, p. 186. 1 Huxley (1894).
7 ICP, p. 47. 2 LK, p. 73.
8 ICP, p. 50. 3 Marchant (1916; pp. 250-1); see also LK, p. 78.
9 ICP, p. 29. 4 LK, pp. 90-117.
10 ICP, p. 182. 5 LK, pp. 93-109.
11 ICP, p. 216. 6 Morgan (1878).
12 ALI, p. 415. 7 The quotation is taken from Bartlett's Familiar
13 'Metakinetic' was used by Morgan in ALI, pp. Quotations (1968) which gives the source as Kelvin's
464-70, but the term is not used in the similar Popular Lectures and Addresses (1891-1894), but I have
argument in ICP, pp. 327-36. been unable to trace the original quotation.
14 ICP, p. 336. 8 Galton (1879).
15 ICP, p. 342. 9 Mill (1873).
16 Macpherson (1900; p. 10). 10 FG, pp. 1-26.
11 LLLG1, pp. 196-207.
Morgan's canon, psychological complexity and 12 FG, pp. 38-59.
instinct 13 Huxley's views on race, class and sex are discussed
A more detaiied analysis of Morgan's treatment of by Bibby (1959; pp. 25-34).
instinct than that provided here is in Richards 14 HG, p. 12.
(1977). References below are to books cited above, 15 HG, p. 35.
plus Morgan's Hábil and Instinct (HI). 16 HG, pp. 338-48.
17 Galton (1908; p. 290); quoted in FG, p. 101.
1 ICP, p. 303. 18 Galton (1872); see FG, pp. 111-13.
2 ICP, p. 296. 19 FG, pp. 114-21.
3 ICP, p. 370. 20 LLLG, pp. 156-69.
4 ICP, pp. 376-9. 21 NI, p. 80.
5 ICP, p. 53. 22 FG, pp. 149-70.
6 ICP, p. 59. 23 Galton (1883; p. 20).
7 ICP, p. 59. 24 Galton (1883; p. 21).
8 ICP, p. 253 . 25 NI, p. 194.
9 ICP, p. 244. 26 NI, p. 155.
10 ICP, p. 285. 27 NI, p. 62.
11 ICP, p. 118. 28 Hearnshaw (1964; pp. 66-8); see also Introduction
12 ICP, p. 114. in Pearson (1892).
13 Tarde (1890); Baldwin (1894). 29 LK, p. 21; LLH2, pp. 375-9.
14 ALI, p. 422. 30 LK, pp. 134-40.
15 ALI, p. 138. 31 E. B. Poulton 'A naturalist's contribution to the
16 HI, Ch. 2. discussion upon the age of the earth'. British
17 HI, pp. 20-2. Association, 1896. Reprinted in Poulton (1908).
18 HI, p. 156. 32 LK, pp. 163-4.
19 MEA, p. 198.
20 HI, p. 121. Morgan, Galton and British psychology
21 Morgan's conclusions were very similar to those 1 HI, p. 334.
Notes for pp. 49-65 247
E dw ard T hom dike's puzzle boxes and d o ctoral Rene D escartes an d the beast-m achin e
thesis For all the many commentaries on Descartes'
Biographical information is from the highly detailed philosophy there has been surprisingly little
account of Thorndike's life provided by Joncich discussion of his views on animais. One curious,
(SP). His thesis work was first reported in but interesting, paper on the topic is Rodman
Thorndike (1898); this was reprinted in 1911 as the (1974), which draws heavily on an account of the
second chapter of his book, Animal Intelligence (TAI); debates over this topic for a century after Descartes,
page references are to the facsimile of the first Rosenfield's From Beast-machine to Man-machine
edition published in Darien, Conn: Hafner, 1970. (BM). A recent discussion of whether Descartes
believed animais to be conscious is provided in
1 SP, p. 105. Cottingham (1978), while an excellent account of
2 Quoted in SP, p. 89. the exchanges between Descartes and his
3 TAI, p. 123. contemporaries is to be found in Walker (1983). For
4 Quoted in SP, p. 146. an overview of the whole history of human beliefs
5 TAI, p. 122. about the minds and behaviour of our fellow
species, see the entry by Singer on the 'History of
The L aw o f E ffect and S-R bonds the study of animal behaviour' in McFarland (1981).
The sources here are as for the previous section. Quotations from Descartes' Discourse on Method
(1637) are from an English translation of 1912 (DM).
1 SP, pp. 190; 207.
2 TAI, p. 211. 1 This and the following two quotes are from DM, p.
3 Thorndike & Woodworth (1901). 44.
4 Thorndike (1913). 2 DM, p. 45.
5 TAI, p. 240. 3 DM, p. 46.
6 TAI, p. 244. 4 DM, p. 49; despite his belief that knowledge should
7 TAI, p. 274. be available to all, Descartes postponed publication
8 Pearson (1892); the metaphor of the brain as a of some of his more controversial writings, as with
telephone exchange is to be found on p. 42 of the The Treatise on Man noted below.
Everyman edition of 1937. 5 DM, p. 58.
9 Bertrand Russell seems to have been the first to
point this out (Russell, 1927; pp. 34-6). The C artesian reflex
10 Meehl (1950). Excellent discussions of the Cartesian reflex and of
11 TAI, pp. 253-7. subsequent physiological research on the topic are
12 Gardner & Gardner (1969). to be found in Fearing's Reflex Action (RA), Clarke
13 SP, p. 400. and 0'M alley's The Human Brain and Spinal Cord
14 Comment by A. H. Maslow, quoted in SP, p. 551. (HBSC) and in Clarke and Dewhurst (1972).
15 TAI, pp. 46-8. Another important seventeenth-century contributor
16 TAI, p. 128. to the idea of reflex action was the Oxford
17 TAI, pp. 110-12. neuroanatomist, Thomas Willis; see Spillane (1981;
18 TAI, p. 119. pp. 53-107).
Notes for pp. 87-100 249
Hilgard & Bower, 1966; 3rd edition). A 12 CP, pp. 30-1; LCR, p. 16; BP, p. 62.
comprehensive survey of research on classical 13 BPms, Ch. 6 makes it dear that Pavlov enjoyed two
conditioning is provided by Mackíntosh's The further advantages which I have not seen discussed
Psychology of Animal Learning (Mackintosh, 1974; pp. in any published source. One was the political
1-142). For the non-psychologist an excellent protection that his patron, Prince Oldenburgski,
exposition of Pavlov's work and an assessment of it could offer as a progressive, yet very powerful,
relative to modem developments is provided in a member of the goveming arístocracy. The second
compact, cheap and accessible form in Gray (1979). was the Services of an exceptional technician, E. A.
Background material on scientific, educational and Hanike, who was an eccentric and indispensable
social developments is mainly from Vucinich's Science member of the laboratory. Hanike built equipment,
in Russian Culture (SRC), Seton-Watson's The Decline of carried out biochemical assays and handled
Imperial Rússia (DIR) and Hans' History of Russian Pavlov's research budget, just as Sara looked after
Educational Policy: 1701-1917 (HREP). his domestic one.
The opening quotation is from Pavlov's article, The
conditioned reflex', in the Big Medicai Encyclopedia (see How Wolfsohn, Snarsky, Tolochinov, Pavlov and
PSW, p. 250). Babkin began to experiment upon conditional
reflexes
1 Shaw (1932). Shaw may have been wrong about the 1 LCR, p. 21; PSW, pp. 17-19.
extent to which the idea of the conditioned reflex is 2 PSW, p. 18.
familiar to children. The claim has been made that, 3 Quoted in LCR, p. 21.
although children of up to the age of ten years know 4 BP, p. 222.
about many other psychological phenomena, condi 5 BP, p. 69; AP, p. 60.
tioning provides one of the exceptions (Mischel, 1979). 6 LCR, p. 18; BP, pp. 121; 13CM.
2 LCR, p. 52. 7 LCR, p. 25.
3 Leake (1959) points out that in Rússia 'physiology' is 8 BP, pp. 62; 81; 112; FP, p. 246.
often used in a much wider sense than in the West to 9 This account of the early studies of conditioning is
include any scientific study of the function of living based on Pavlov's own scattered remarks on the
matter. Thus it can include embryology, genetics and subject, particularly those in the first lectures on
pharmacology, as well as psychology. This is close to conditioning reprinted in LCR and PSW, and on the
its earlier use in Germany at the time of Johannes accounts provided by Babkin (BP, Chs 14 & 27) and
Mueller. by Koshtoyants (PSW, pp. 26-9); see also Anokhin
4 Kuhn (1962). (1968). As in all these accounts, the emphasis in the
5 Kline (1955); SRC, pp. 273-97. present chapter is on the role of events within his
6 Quoted in Dobzhansky (1955). laboratory in changing Pavlov's Outlook from a
7 Kline (1955). dualist to a materialist position on mind. However,
8 AP, p. 28. as Philip Pauly has pointed out to me, it seems
9 LCR, p. 13; CRP, p. 170 (footnote); SRC, p. 300. unlikely to be pure coincidence that Pavlov's ideas
10 Quoted in CRP, p. 170. carne so close to those expresssed by Beer, Bethe &
Uexkuell (1899) or by Loeb (1899). At least a portion
Pavlov's early career of those long hours Pavlov spent reading every
1 This is one of the few comments Pavlov makes about night must have been devoted to such works.
his youth in his brief autobiography; PSW, p. 44. 10 PSW, p. 632; also LCR, p. 38.
2 BP, p. 337. 11 LCR, p. 39.
3 SRC, p. 300; BP, pp. 18-21; PSW, p. 13. 12 BP, pp. 224-31; seealso BPms, Ch. 16; pp. 14-16.
4 SRC, p. 63. 13 LCR, pp. 49-58.
5 BP, p. 225. 14 LCR, pp. 65-6.
6 Most of the material on Pavlov's personal life related in 15 LCR, pp. 71-2; CR, pp.51-63.
Babkin's biography, and to a lesser extent in the other 16 This first occurred in the translation of Pavlov's
biographies, appears to be derived from two Russian Huxley lecture (Pavlov, 1906).
sources that have not been translated into English: a 17 LCR, pp. 81-95.
biographical sketch by V. V. Savich dating from 1924 18 LCR, p. 95.
and Reminiscences by Pavlov's widow, which was
published in Novi Mir in 1946; see also PP, pp. 264-71. Vladimir Bechterev and Objective Psychology
7 SRC, p. 186. The two books by Bechterev cited here are his
8 Quoted in SRC, p. 60. Psychologie Objective (PO), a French edition of 1913
9 SRC, p. 187. of the original Russian, and his General Principies of
10 SRC, p. 203. Human Reflexology (GPHR), using the English
11 BP, pp. 67-73; SRC, p. 303. translation of 1932. In addition to the French
Notes for pp. 123-39 252
version of La Psychologie Objective, there was also a workers would "muddle" such a novel and
German edition, but never an English one. complex physiological method as conditioned
Biographical material on Bechterev is from the reflexes' (BPms, Ch. 11).
sketch by A. Gerver in GPHR, from a chapter by P. 16 Konorski (1948).
I. Yakovlev (YB) and one by A. L. Schniermann 17 Konorski (1948); for an introduction to Konorski's
(Schniermann, 1930). Brief sketches are also work, see Halliday (1979).
provided by Vucinich (SRC) and by Babkin (BP, 18 PSW, pp. 306-10; 443-4.
with additional material in BPms, Ch. 9; pp. 23-6). 19 CR, pp. 141^4.
20 An excellent recent introduction to theories of
1 Material on the 1905 revolution is from DIR, Pt. 3 conditioning which is deüberately non-Pavlovian in
and from Walkin (1963). its approach is Dickinson (1980).
2 Walkin (1963: p. 197). 21 See Mecacci (1979). An idea of the interplay
3 SRC, p. 229. between politics, philosophy and psychology in the
4 HREP, p. 176; but see AP, pp. 19; 27. Soviet Union is provided by McLeish (1975). Many
5 Thus Koshtoyants (1964) admits to his failure to Western psychologists have been more
find any evidence of contact between Pavlov and complimentary about Pavlov's theoretical
Sechenov, even though Koshtoyants himself is contributions than the present account; one notable
convinced that there ought to have been some example is Gray (1964), which also attaches a great
personal link. deal more significance to Pavlov's beliefs about
6 GPHR, p. 195. individual differences than most other Western
7 YB, p. 194. commentaries.
8 YB, p. 193. 22 PSW, Pt XII, p. 651.
9 A first-hand comparison between the two 23 BP, p. 118.
laboratories is provided by Babkin, BP, pp. 75-83.
10 YB, p. 190 cites a biography by V. P. Ossipov. Concluding discussion
11 HREP, p. 200; SRC, p. 322.' 1 Twitmeyer (1902); see Coon (1982).
12 The present account is based on the French version
of this paper (Bechterev, 1906).
13 Bechterev (1906; p. 395, my translation). Chapter 6: Comparative psychology and the
14 PO, pp. 153-5; GPHR, pp. 196-8. beginning of Behaviourism
15 PO, pp. 255; 262; GPHR, p. 205.
16 This account of the Pavlov-Bechterev dispute is The opening quotation is from Watson's Behavior: an
from Babkin (BP, pp. 89-94; with further detail in Introduction to Comparative Psychology (BICP) of 1914
BPms, Ch. 9, pp. 16-23). (p. 27 in the reprint of 1967).
Pavlov's later work 1 Beer, Bethe & von Uexkuell (1899). From secondary
1 CR, Lectures 9-12; LCR, p. 322. sources of the time I gather that a similar debate
2 LCR, pp. 140; 158; CR, p. 250. took place in France a few years later between Nuel
3 CR, pp. 29-30; 295; LCR, pp. 185; 341. and Claparede (Nuel, 1904), which attracted
4 In experiments with mice to test for the inheritance considerable attention; see Yerkes (1906).
of conditioned reflexes; see n. 14 below.
5 CP, p. 120. Jacques Loeb, Herbert Jennings and lower organisms
6 CRP, Lectures 50 & 55; CR, p. 299. A major source for much of the material in this
7 Quoted in CP, p. 80. section was Pauly's thesis on Loeb, Jacques Loeb and
8 LCR, p. 279. the Control of Life (JLCL). The same author compares
9 GPHR, pp. 141-2. Loeb and Jennings in a way that complements the
10 GPHR, pp. 148-9. present account in Pauly (1981). Biographical
11 YB, p. 200. material on Jennings is from the memoir by
12 LCR, pp. 287-93. Sonneborn (HSf). The primary source for the
13 LCR, pp. 364-7; CR, pp. 313-18; FP, pp. 214-15. scientific material in this section was Jennings' The
14 Razran (1958); cf. AP, pp. 96-7. Behavior of the Lower Organisms (BLO); the 1962
15 CR, p. 379; Babkin States that Pavlov deüberately reprint of this book contains an interesting
made it almost impossible for outsiders to find out introduction on the relationship between Jennings,
the details of research in his laboratory. Thus, Loeb and Watson by D. D. Jensen, who also writes
referring to the period before the First World War, about this in Jensen (1970).
Babkin writes that 'the reason Pavlov gave for his
reluctance to share the results of his research with 1 The argument carne to a head at a public meeting
the Western world was his fear that inexperienced where Jennings was able to demonstrate his claims
Notes for pp. 139-58 253
in dramatic fashion, thus making a name for 7 This point was brought home to me some years ago
himself; see HS], pp. 173-4. by Jose Linaza who, while working at Sussex,
2 HS], p. 152. incidentally gave some of his rats from an early age
3 BLO, p. 237. unusually extensive handling of the kind that
4 BLO, p. 212. Watson provided and for the same reason, that he
5 Jennings (1907); cited in BLO, p. xi. too was interested in developmental questions. The
6 BLO, p. 276. behaviour of Linaza's rats was totally unlike that of
7 BLO, p. 336. any of our other animais.
8 Jennings (1907). 8 Watson (1907a).
9 Loeb (1910); cited in JLCL, p. 18. 9 Watson & Carr (1908).
10 The Baldwin effect, or principie of organic selection, 10 See the Robert M. Yerkes Collection, Yale
has never been in the mainstream of evolutionary University Library.
theory, but has been promoted at various times and 11 Watson (1908b).
in various versions since first proposed by Morgan, 12 In view of Watson's later views on consciousness
Poulton and Baldwin. The most recent discussion I two of the most interesting of these reviews are the
have seen is Waddington (1975; pp. 28-31; 88-9). ones that D. D. Jensen has drawn attention to, one
Among recent psychologists Piaget was the most of Jennings and one of Loeb (Watson, 1907b); see
well-known exponent of the principie, having also the review of Pfungst's report on Clever Hans,
picked it up from Baldwin and then later been referred to in Ch. 3 (Watson, 1908a).
gratified by Waddington's exposition. 13 Carr (1936).
14 Quoted in CW, p. 48.
The laboratory rat and John Watson's early career
Material on the laboratory rat is from papers by Robert Yerkes' comparative psychology
Lockard (1968), Miles (1930) and Richter (1968). The This account is based on the primary sources listed
account of Watson's life here and in later sections is below. The only overall survey of comparative
based on a variety of sources, of which a major one psychology during this period that goes into any
is Cohen's biography, J. B. Watson, the Founder of detail is contained in a fascinating recent doctoral
Behaviourism (CW). Other sources include Watson's thesis on The Origins of Behaviourism: American
own autobiographical sketch of 1936 in HPA3, Psychology, 1870-1920 (0'Donnell, 1979) which is
which needs to be treated with some caution, an particularly interesting on the institutional
unpublished honours thesis by P. O. Welsh (Welsh, framework that Watson and Yerkes worked within.
1963) and several individual papers that are cited 1 Washburn (1932).
below, particularly those by Philip Pauly and Lexa 2 Washburn (1908; p. 120).
Logue. 3 Kinnaman (1902).
4 Watson (1908c).
1 Lockard (1968); Richter (1968). 5 Cole (1907).
2 Biographical material on Meyer is mainly from 6 Yerkes (1932).
Leifs biography of Meyer (Leif, 1948). His role in 7 Yerkes (1907).
introducing the laboratory rat to America is 8 Yerkes & Dodson (1908).
emphasized by Richter (1968) who may exaggerate 9 Yerkes & Morgulis (1909).
Meyer's influence (cf. Miles, 1930). In view of the 10 Yerkes (1911).
later relationship between Watson and Meyer it is 11 Yerkes (1911; p. 132).
intriguing that the rats Watson had to look after 12 Yerkes (1911; p. 239).
when he first arrived at Chicago were almost 13 Yerkes later commented on the importance he
certainly ones sent by Meyer to Donaldson; see attached to the work of Cole and of Hamilton in a
unpublished letters from Donaldson to Meyer on brief historical sketch of early comparative
March 19th and April 29th, 1900 in the Meyer psychology (Yerkes, 1917).
Papers of the Alan Mason Chesney Medicai 14 Hamilton (1911).
Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medicai Institutions. 15 Hamilton (1914).
3 Miles (1930; p. 326). 16 Hamilton (1911).
4 Small (1900). 17 Coburn & Yerkes (1915); Yerkes & Coburn (1915).
5 Small (1901). 18 Hunter (1952).
6 Given the potential interest of rat behaviour it is 19 Hunter (1914).
quite remarkable that Donaldson, despite his 20 0'Donnell (1979; pp. 502-15).
training in psychology, concentrated entirely on
questions conceming the rate of growth of the A m erican p sy ch o log y a t the beginning o f the century
body, brain and spinal cord of different strains of Three books were used extensively in preparing
rats. this section; Boring's History of Experimental
Notes for pp. 158-78 254
Psychology (HEP), Hale's Freud and the Americans (page references are to the 1967 edition which
(PA) and Ross's biography of G. Stanley Hall contains an introduction by R. J. Hernstein).
(GSH). 0'Donnell (1979; Chs 8, 9) is particularly
interesting on this period. 1 Baldwin (1926; Vol. 1, p. 118).
2 For a recent discussion of this work, see Russell
1 Groos (1896; 1901); see excerpts in Bruner, Jolly & (1978).
Sylvan (1976). 3 Dunlap (1932).
2 Thorndike (1904). 4 On Baldwin's disgrace, see Pauly (1979) and an
3 Baldwin (1895; p. 185). unpublished Ph.D. thesis by Mueller (1974).
4 Baldwin has recently been rediscovered, as noted in 5 The comment was in fact printed in the sister
the following papers, Broughton (1981), Cairns joumal, Psychological Bulletin, 1909, 6, 256.
(1980) and Mueller (1976), and the following books, 6 Leif (1948).
Broughton & Freeman-Moir (1981) and Russell 7 Leif (1948, p. 261).
(1978). 8 Beach (1961); Hebb (1959).
5 Quoted in HEP, p. 529. 9 Yerkes & Watson (1911).
6 Wissler (1901). 10 Watson & Watson (1913).
7 Sharp (1899); for a recent discussion of the 11 0'Donnell (1979; p. 518).
introduction of mental testing into the U.S.A, as 12 Watson (1913).
well as a brief account of Baldwin's work, see 13 B1CP, p. 21.
Cairns & Ornstein (1979). 14 B1CP, p. 317.
8 Recent reappraisals of the influence of Wundt and 15 BICP, p. 334.
Titchener in America are provided by Blumenthal 16 BICP, p. 17.
(1979; 1980), Danzinger (1979) and Leahey (1981). 17 BICP, p. 327.
9 Quoted in HEP, p. 515. 18 BICP, pp. 224-7.
10 Angell (1936). 19 Quoted in FA, p. 161.
11 FA, Pts 1 & 2. 20 Watson (1916a); Watson's election to the APA
12 William James to Mary Calkins (1909) in Perry presidency is among a number of intriguing events
(1934; Vol. 2, p. 123). discussed in Samelson (1981).
13 Perry (1934; p. 168).
14 James (1976). Concluding discussion
15 James (1904). 1 Mill (1950; p. 105).
16 James (1890; Vol. 1, p. 22).
17 Quoted in GSH, p. 385. Chapter 7: Apes, problem-solving and
18 Quoted in GSH, p. 385. purpose
19 The biologist is W. M. Wheeler and the quote from
a 1917 address comes from Gould (1977; p. 155). The opening quotation is from Romanes (1882; p.
20 Freud (1910). 471)
21 The visit of Freud, Jung and Ferenczi to Clark
University is described in GSH, Ch. 18 and FA, Ch. 1 Wallace (1869; Vol. 1, pp. 62-9).
1, while details from Freud's point of view are 2 Romanes (1882; p. 481).
presented in Jones (1955). Quotations from Freud 3 Romanes (1889).
are from this latter source. Freud's intellectual roots 4 Morgan (1894; p. 253).
were not very distant from those of American 5 BICP, Ch. 9 discusses some of these cases, as does
psychologists in that his training in research Katz (1937).
followed the tradition of the Berlin physiologists; 6 Katz (1937).
Freud regarded Emst Bruecke as his most 7 Pfungst (1912); cited in Yerkes (1916).
influential teacher. This aspect of Freud's theories is 8 Driesch wrote a two-volume work in English, based
emphasized in the excellent introduction to on his Gifford Lectures of 1907 and 1908, which he
psychoanalysis in Fancher (1973). describes as modifications of his earlier publications
22 Jung's view of the American visit is given in Jung in German and the present account is based on this
(1961), which includes letters he wrote at the time (Driesch, 1908). 1 was helped by the discussion of
to Emma Jung. his ideas in an unpublished paper by two Sussex
colleagues, G. Webster and B. C. Goodwin, 'The
lohtt Watson's behaviourist manifesto origin of species: a structuralist approach'. Another
Major sources for this section were Cohen's useful source was Oppenheimer (1967).
biography (CW) and Pauly (1979), while the major 9 Driesch (1908; Vol. 1, p. 166).
primary source was Watson's Behavior. an 10 Driesch (1908; Vol. 2, pp. 89-100).
Introduction to Comparative Psychology (B1CP) of 1914 11 Driesch (1908; Vol. 2, p. 6).
Notes for pp. 178-96 255
12 Thís 1894 quote from Driesch is given in For ease of presentation the account here differs
Oppenheimer (1967; p. 1). from Koehler's in that it keeps to the chronological
13 Oppenheimer (1967; p. 72). order in which the tests were given (fortunately
14 Driesch (1908; Vol. 1, p. 283). Koehler provides dates for most of them) and it
attempts to separate methods and results from
Leonard Hobhouse and articulate ideas interpretation and discussion. Some readers may
Biographical material is from two books on find Koehler's organization, in which the research
Hobhouse: Owen (1974) and Hobson & Ginsberg is presented in a theoretical and non-chronoiogical
(1931). Quotations are from his major work in sequence more satisfactory.
psychology, Mind in Evolution (ME) of 1901. MA, p. 18.
MA, p. 65.
1 Hobhouse (1896; p. ix). 8 MA, pp. 16-17.
2 His political views of the time can be gauged from 9 MA, p. 192.
Hobhouse (1904). 10 MA, p. 19 (footnote).
3 ME, p. 12. 11 Koehler (1971; p. 198); this quotation is from a
4 ME, p. 2. paper that provides an extensive and thoughtful
5 ME, p. 128. discussion on the methods of animal psychology,
6 ME, p. 130. originally published in 1921.
7 ME, pp. 220; 223.
8 ME, p. 198. Insight
9 ME, p. 234. 1 MA, p. 102.
10 ME, p. 258. 2 One example is Winston (1975); see Boden (1977;
12 ME, pp. 86-97. pp. 252-67).
13 ME, p. 135 (footnote). 3 Koehler (1971; pp. 205-6).
4 MA, p. 220.
Wolfgang Koehler’s tests of chimpanzee intelligence 5 MA, p. 61.
Unfortunately there appears to be no biographical 6 Koehler (1915).
study of Koehler, who was reticent about his life 7 Koehler (1918).
and never wrote even a sketch of an 8 MA, pp. 305-8.
autobiography. Details of his life here come mainly 9 MA, p. 272.
from two obituary notices, Henle (1968) and Asch 10 MA, p. 278-82.
(1968), from HEP and from conversations 1 had in 11 Ellis (1938; pp. 228-73) contains three papers
Summer, 1976 with Mrs W. Koehler, Carroll Pratt, reporting animal research carried out in Germany
Frank Geldard and Hans Wallach. 1 am also during the 1920s which followed on from Koehler'
indebted to the help given by the late Hans-Lukas work. These papers describe experiments with
Teuber, whose father was Koehler's predecessor on ravens, jackdaws, jays and bees. N. R. F. Maier, an
Tenerife and who spent an evening commenting on American, spent a two-year visit to Berlin in the
an early draft of the present account. Finally, Ilse early 1930s working on problem-solving in rats.
Gaertner of the Free University of Berlin very 12 Helson (1973); Luchins (1975).
kindly spent time on my behalf in checking 13 Some subsequent studies on problem-solving by
publications of the Koenigliche Preussische chimpanzees which criticize various aspects of
Akademie der Wissenschaften for material on the Koehler's work are reprinted in Riopelle (1967).
Tenerife station. 14 MA, p. 17.
15 Wallach (1976).
Descriptions of Koehler's experiments are based 16 Lashley, Chow & Semmes (1951).
entirely on the accounts given in his Mentality of Robert Yerkes' studies of apes
Apes (MA). This was first published in German in A major source for this section was a 1916
1917; page references here are to an English reprint monograph by Yerkes, The Mental Life of Monkeys
of 1973. and Apes (MLMA). A further source was a
1 von Ehrenfels (1890); this paper and the early comprehensive review by Yerkes and his wife, The
history of Gestalt psychology are discussed in Great Apes: a Study of Anthropoid Life (Yerkes &
Heider (1973). Yerkes, 1929). Biographical information is from
2 Wertheimer (1912); an account of the early days of Yerkes' autobiographical sketch of 1932 in HPA2,
the Gestalt movement is included in a recent supplemented by an obituary notice (Elliott, 1956).
biographical study of Wertheimer by his son
(Wertheimer, 1980). 1 G. M. Haslerud discusses the relationship between
3 HEP, p. 595. Yerkes and Koehler in his introduction to the 1979
4 Stumpf (1930). reprint of MLMA.
Notes for pp. 196-211 256
2 Yerkes & Yerkes (1929; p. 181). Apparently 2 See Ch. 2 for more detail on Romanes' views on
Haggerty never published a full account of his work instinct.
with orang-utans, but briefly described it in 3 James (1890; Vol. 2, p. 389).
Haggerty (1913), while his study of imitation is 4 James (1890; Vol. 2, p. 393).
reported in Haggerty (1909). 5 Morgan (1895); quoted in Herrnstein (1972).
3 Watson (1908c). 6 Morgan (1896a; Ch. 2).
4 MIMA, p. 91. 7 Darwin (1872).
5 MIMA, p. 68.
6 MIMA, p. 87. William McDougall, Wilfred Trotter and human
7 MIMA, p. 131. instincts
8 JBW to RMY, 12 May 1916; letter in the Robert M. Biographical material is mainly from McDougalTs
Yerkes Collection, Yale University Library. See also own very readable autobiographical sketch
the correspondence between RMY and H. S. (McDougall, 1930 in HPA); this is referred to below
Jennings in the same collection on May 16th and as WMcD and is supplemented by the excellent
June lOth, 1916 and April 13th, 1917. discussion provided by Hearnshaw (1964; Ch. 12).
9 See Ch. 8 below; Yerkes (1921). Discussion of his work is based on McDougalTs
10 MLMA, p. 142. Introdudion to Social Psychology (ISP) of 1908 (page
11 Furness (1916). references are to the 18th edition of 1932) and on
12 Yerkes (1925; p. 175). his Psychology: The Study of Behaviour (PSB) of 1912
13 The quote is from Yerkes & Yerkes (1929; p. 307); (page references are to the Home University Library
the full report on this study is Yerkes & Learned revised edition of 1914). An interesting discussion
(1925). of McDougalTs ideas in the light of recent
14 Yerkes (1925; p. 179). developments in philosophy and psychology which
15 The first study of matching by primates carried out gives a much more detailed exposition of his
in America was by Weinstein (1941); this cites theories than the present account is Boden (1972).
Kohts, but not Hamilton, and points out that the
first reported use of the technique was by Itard in 1 WMcD, p. 208.
eighteenth-century France (Itard, 1972). 2 ISP, p. 2.
16 Sheaffer (1973; pp. 188-91; 501); the research on 3 ISP, p. 19.
marriage was reported in Hamilton (1929). 4 See PSB, p. 23.
17 Hamilton (1908). 5 ISP, p. 29.
18 Kohts published reports in Russian in 1921 and 6 PSB, p. 138.
1923, but the present account is based on a later 7 ISP, p. 88.
summary paper in French (Kohts, 1928). 8 ISP, p. 327.
19 Yerkes (1927; 1928); see summary in Yerkes & 9 ISP, p. 385.
Yerkes (1929; Pt V). 10 ISP, p. 406.
20 Yerkes (1932; p. 404). 11 ISP, p. 410.
12 Greisman (1979). All references to Trotter's work
Concluding discussion are based on his Instincts of the Herd in Peace and
1 Russell (1927; p. 33). This book provides an War (IHPW) of 1916; page references are to the
admirably clear discussion of many of the key second edition, 1919. An intriguing portrait of
issues in psychology raised by animal research in Trotter is provided in Jones (1959).
the late 1920s. 13 IHPW, p. 24.
2 Koehler (1971; p. 433); on Koehler's departure from 14 IHPW, p. 14.
Germany, see Henle (1978). 15 IHPW, p. 70.
3 Hull (1952). 16 IHPW, pp. 183-6.
17 IHPW, pp. 203-5.
18 WMcD, p. 204.
Chapter 8: Nature and nurture 19 PSB, p. 20.
20 ISP, p. 355.
The opening quotation is from Barzun (1965; p. 21 WMcD, p. 216.
218), which gives the reference: J. S. Mill Principies 22 Heidbreder (1973; p. 268).
of Política! Economy, I, p. 390. However, this does
not specify which edition and I have been unable to The Psychological Darwinism of race and instinct
track down the original source. Excellent accounts of the nature-nurture
controversy in American Science are given in
1 Wilm (1925; pp. 94-119); Jaynes & Woodward Stocking's Race, Cullure and Evolution (RCE) and
(1974). Cravens' The Triumph of Evolution: American Scientists
Notes for pp. 211-25 257
and the Heredity-Environment Controversy: 1900-1941 from letters in the Meyer Collection, The Alan
(TE). A particularly thorough and fascinating study Mason Chesney Medicai Archives, The Johns
of intelligence testing in this era is provided by Hopkins Medicai Institutions, Baltimore.
Samelson (1979). Briefer accounts of some aspects References to Watson's books are from his
of this controversy, particularly of the Army Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist (PSPB)
programme, can be found in Kamin (1974), and in of 1919 (page references to the second edition of
Gould (1981). Cravens (1978; TE) includes an 1924); his Behaviorism (B) o f 1924 (references to the
account of the instinct controversy which is dealt University of Chicago reprint of 1958); and to his
with in more detail in the following two papers that book with Rosalie Rayner Watson of 1928, The
proved very helpful in preparing this section: Psychological Care of Infant and Child (PCIC).
Herrnstein (1972) and Krantz & Allen (1967). The
classic review of early instinct theories is Bernard's 1 Watson (1916b).
Instinct: a Study in Social Psychology (I) of 1924. 2 Meyer to Watson, May 29,1916; unpublished letter
in Meyer Collection, The Alan Mason Chesney
1 Haeckel (1900; p. 337). Archives, Johns Hopkins Medicai Center,
2 Gasman (1971). Baltimore.
3 Attributed to Dr Edgar Berillion in Barzun (1937; p. 3 Meyer to Watson, June 3, 1916; unpublished letter
174). in Meyer Collection.
4 Material on Boas is from RCE, Chs 7 & 8; TE, pp. 4 PSPB, p. 215.
90-120. 5 PSPB, pp. 21-220; the first published account of this
5 RCE, p. 175. work was Watson & Morgan (1917).
6 Boas (1911). 6 Blanton (1917); see also PSB, pp. 252-70.
7 RCE, pp. 259-64; TE, p. 147. 7 Jennings et al. (1917).
8 Sumner (1906). 8 Jennings et al. (1917; p. 72).
9 Samelson (1979; p. 145). 9 Jennings et al. (1917; pp. 75-6).
10 Quoted from Samelson (1977) which, with 10 Jennings et al. (1917; pp. 77-8).
Samelson (1979), was a source for much of the 11 Jennings et al. (1917; pp. 92—4).
material described here. See also Gould (1981). 12 Watson (1936; p. 278).
11 Dewey (1917). 13 See CW, pp. 107-11 and Watson (1936).
12 Lippman (1922; 1923). 14 PSPB, p. 383.
13 Lippman (1922; p. 297). 15 I am grateful to Curt Richter who in an interview of
14 Lippman (1922; p. 329). July 13th, 1976 was very helpful in conveying the
15 Lippman (1923; p. 10). atmosphere in Watson's lab.
16 Samelson (1979; p. 136). 16 The first and most detailed of the many versions of
17 Pauly (1980; Ch. 10). this study was Watson & Rayner (1920).
18 TE, p. 173. 17 The subsequent place of the experiment in social
14 TE, p. 286. Science folklore is delightfully given in Harris
20 TE, p. 239. (1979).
21 TE, p. 241; Samelson (1979; pp. 128-35). 18 Watson (1919b).
22 TE, pp. 182-4. 19 CW, Ch. 6.
23 /, pp. 172-220. 20 Watson to Meyer, Aug. 13th, 1920; unpublished
24 Dunlap (1919). letter in the Meyer Collection.
25 /, p. 172. 21 Unpublished notes by Meyer on letter to Watson,
26 Gottlieb (1972). Aug. 1920; in Meyer Collection.
27 Kuo (1921). 22 Meyer to Goodnow, Presidential Papers,
26 Whitman (1919); quoted in Kuo (1921). Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University.
29 Kuo (1921; p. 657). 23 CW, Ch. 7.
30 I, Chs 10 & 20. 24 Watson (1936; p. 280); see also Buckley (1982).
31 Kuo (1930). 25 This charge was made in the first virulently
anti-Behaviourist book, Roback (1923).
The final part of John Watson's career 26 Watson to Raymond Pearl, April 8th, 1921. Pearl
A variety of sources were used in preparing this Collection, American Philosophical Library,
section, some of which are indicated below. The Philadelphia.
only extended account of Watson's life during this 27 Jones (1924); a more accessible account of this work
period is Cohen's biography, /. B. Watson (CW). is the summary in Watson's Behaviorism. For Mary
Among other interesting and slightly more recent Cover Jones' brief recollection of Watson, see Jones
sources is Samelson (1981). Quotations from (1974).
correspondence between Watson and Meyer are 28 Watson & McDougall (1928).
Notes for pp. 225-38 258
Rats, mazes and leaming theory The decline and resurgence of strict behaviourism
Detailed and extensive reviews of the research Two unpublished papers by Franz Samelson
discussed in this section can be found in Warden, (Psychology Dept, Kansas State University, Kans,
Jenkins & Warner (1935; 1936) and in Munn (1933). 66506) were particularly valuable in preparing this
Descriptions of work in the Berkeley laboratory are section: 'The stalemate of the Twenties' (presented
from Tolman's Purposive Behavior in Animais and Men to the 1980 Cheiron meeting) and 'The social
(PBAM) of 1932; page references are to the second Sciences in the Twenties' (presented to the 1982
edition. Unfortunately there is no biographical Cheiron meeting). An interesting and much older
study of Tolman apart from his autobiographical paper evaluating developments during this era is
sketch (Tolman, 1952 in HPA). Many of Tolman's Harrell & Harrison (1938). The impact of research
early papers are reprinted in Tolman (1966). funding is discussed by S. Cross in a forthcoming
Ph.D. thesis (Cross, in preparation).
1 Carr (1936); see also Beach (1974).
2 Carr (1936; p. 79). 1 McDougall (1926).
3 The relationship between high school expansion 2 M. Meyer, A. P. Weiss, E. A. Singer and J. R.
and psychology in the State universities is discussed Kantor are among the people frequently classed as
in 0'Donnell (1979; Ch. 11). strict behaviourists at this time. However, since
4 Hunter (1952; p. 172). they made no direct contribution to animal
5 0'Donnell (1979; Ch. 11). psychology and do not appear to have influenced
6 Such mazes and the results they generated are its development, they are not discussed here. See
described in many of the psychology textbooks Harrell & Harrison (1938).
written in America between 1930 and 1960; see, for 3 Lashley (1923).
example, Woodworth & Schlosberg (1954; Ch. 21) 4 PBAM, p. 234.
or the earlier editions of this text. 5 Kuo (1928).
7 Watson (1924; p. 16). 6 Tolman (1928).
8 BICP, Ch. 7. 7 Tolman (1928).
9 Watson (1917). 8 Kuo (1929).
10 Tolman (1952; p. 326). 9 Kuo (1967; Preface); also Gottlieb (1972).
11 Perry (1918). 10 Moss (1924).
12 Tolman (1952; p. 329). 11 One of the first discussions of this distinction to
13 Kuo (1922). follow the English translation of Pavlov was
14 PBAM, p. 6. Troland (1928). This contrasted 'reflex' and
15 PBAM, pp. 48-50. 'retroflex' action; see Ch. 14 and the discussion of
16 PBAM, pp. 54-8. this book by Herrnstein (1972).
17 PBAM, pp. 77-82. 12 See Ch. 5 above.
18 PBAM, pp. 164-70. 13 PBAM, Ch. 21.
19 Koehler (1926); Koffka (1928). 14 See Samelson's two unpublished papers listed
20 Tinklepaugh (1928); see also PBAM, pp. 74-6. above and footnotes in some of the experimental
21 Notable examples are Helson (1927) and Maier papers cited in the previous section.
(1929). 15 Foreword by Herman M. Adler to Lashley (1929; p.
22 Skinner (1979; p. 30). xvi).
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T he nam es of people referred to in the text Name and subject index
are given in C a p it a l s .
A d le r , Alfred, 165 discussed by Descartes, 85, 86, 91 B ec h t e r e v ,Vladimir, 123-30, 134, 153,
age of the earth, 2, 3, 5, 21, 23, 49, 52 discussed by Huxley, 19, 20 173, 218, 223, 234
A l d in i , Giovanni, 96 discussed by James, 66 confrontation with Pavlov, 127, 128,
A lexa n d er II, Czar, 104, 113 discussed by Morgan, 37 234
A m be r ley , Lord John, 15, 16 discussed by Romanes, 28 criticizes Pavlov's ideas on human
A m be r ley , Lady Kate, 15, 16, 241 mechanical models, 87, 91 psychology, 129
American Journal of Psychology, 60, 67, aversive conditioning, 74, 127 early career, 125
159 see also punishment founds Psycho-neurological
American Psychological Association, Protopopov's conditioning Institute, 126, 130
161, 173, 199, 238 procedure, 127 influence on Watson, 173, 218, 223
addressed by Dewey, 215 Yerkes' study of dancing mice, 74 his objective psychology, 125-7, 173
surveyed by Cattell, 238 awareness, and lack of, 80, 81, 83, 108, Pavlov's opinion of, 125
Watson as president, 173 109 B e e r , T., 136, 210
Yerkes as president, 199 see also consciousness bees, 27, 28, 209, 210
American universities, 59, 60, 63, 228 their communication, 27
see also Califórnia, Chicago, Clark, their social organization, 209, 210
Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, B., Albert, 222, 223, 228 B e l l , Charles, 95
Johns Hopkins, Minnesota, MIT, B a b k in , B. P., 117, 122, 133 Bell-Magendie law, 96
Princeton and Yale Universities, B a in , Alexander, 2, 8-11, 13, 14, 21, B e n e k e , F. E., 250
reform of, 59, 60 22, 28, 35, 38, 64, 101, 205, 237, B er k e l e y , Bishop, 33, 50
anaesthetic, 96 244 Berlin physiologists, 55, 102, 107, 108,
A ng ell , James, 145, 146, 148, 163, 164, belief in spontaneous activity, 9, 101 115, 131, 134, 140
170, 238 environmentalism, 9, 14, 21, 205 see also B o is -R ey m o n d , B r u ec k e ,
criticizes discussion of sex, 163, 164 Spencer-Bain principie, 13, 22 H elm h o lt z , L u d w ig , M u elle r
as instructor at Chicago, 145, 146, on volition and instrumental Berlin University, 54, 78, 97, 103-5,
148 conditioning, 8-10, 237 138, 194, 203, 212
as J. B. Watson's supervisor, 148, youth and studies, 10 Boas studies there, 212
170 B a l d w in , James Mark, 44, 50, 67, 68, its Institute of Psychology, 194
as president of Yale, 238 137, 142, 144, 147, 148, 159-61, B e r n a r d , Claud, 105, 120, 141
as spokesman for functionalism, 162 165, 167, 168, 172, 174, 175, 224 study of salivation, 120
animal psychophysics, 136, 147 appointment at Johns Hopkins, 142, view of body as self-regulating
see also sensory processes 165 System, 141
ants, 27, 30, 33, 209 controversy with E. Titchener, 161 visited by Sechenov, 105
apes, 5, 85, 86, 91, 183-5, 201, 202 dismissal from Johns Hopkins, 167, B e t h e , A., 136, 210
see also chimpanzees, gorillas, orang- 224 B in e t , Alfred, 137, 138, 161, 199, 215
utans interest in developmental on the psychic life of lower
A r ist o t l e , 101 psychology, 159-61 organisms, 137, 138
associationism, 8, 41, 58, 64, 85, 93, principie of organic selection, 142, reception of his tests in U.S.A., 161
185, 195 253 see also intelligence; mental tests
Hartley's doctrine of, 93 relationship with J. B. Watson, 147, biogenetic principie, 57, 62
opposed by Gestalt psychologists, 148 see also H a eck el , recapitulation
185 stress on learning, 160 theory
automaton theory, or animais as textbook, 144 birdsong, 6, 7, 30, 43, 218
automata, 17, 19, 20, 28, 37, 66, Beagle, HMS, see D a r w in , Charles B is m a r c k , Count, 212
85, 86 beavers, 27 B lo d c et t , H. C., 232
Name and subject index 271
Bo a s, Franz, 212-16 their opening of doors described by Clark University, 60, 67, 143, 144, 148,
contact with Donaldson, 212 Romanes, 26 150, 164, 165, 194, 212, 228, 233
relinquishes belief in Lamarckism, their rat-killing studied by Kuo, 218 its animal laboratory, 143, 144, 149,
213 their sense of direction tested by 228
student days, 212 Romanes, 32 Boas teaching there, 212
B oerh a a ve , Hermann, 89 studied by Hobhouse, 181, 182 exodus to Chicago, 143
B o is -R eym o n d , Emil du, 97, 98, 102-7, trained to escape from puzzle boxes founded by Hall, 60, 61
109, 113, 125 by Thorndike, 69, 144 Meyer's presence, 143
Ignorabimus lecture, 107 C a t t e l l , James, 67-9, 73, 159, 161, suspicious attitude of Worcester
as member of Berlin group, 102 165, 166, 215, 238 citizens, 213
studies nervous system, 97, 98 attends Clark conference, 165, 166 visited by Freud and Jung, 164, 165
teaches I. Sechenov, 103-6 decides Army tests inadequate, 215 visited by Koehler, 194, 233
visited by Bechterev, 125 establishes psychology at Columbia, Clever Hans, 78-81, 83, 171, 177, 190,
B o t k in , Sergei, 103, 113, 114, 116 67, 69 195
education in Berlin, 103 founds Psychological Review, 67 clinicai psychology, 125, 129, 174, 218,
doctrine of nervism, 115 surveys research activity of 225
influence on medicai training, 113, psychologists, 238 Bechterev's interest in, 125
114 C h a rc o t , J. M., 125 Pavlov's excursion into, 129
box stacking tests, 183, 187, 197 Chicago University, 61, 137, 138, 143, in relation to the unconscious, 174
use by Hobhouse, 183 146, 148, 150, 162, 167, 168, 228, Watson's view on, 218, 225
use by Koehler, 187 229, 234, 235, 237 C o l e , Lawrence, 149, 150, 156, 158,
use by Yerkes, 197 as centre for functional psvchology, 175
brains, 6, 8, 38, 65, 90, 100, 111, 145, 162 experim en ts w ith raccoons, 149, 150
146, 234, 235 as centre for rat psychology, 228, colour Vision, 57, 127, 147, 158, 169,
Breslau University, 116 229 177
B rig h a m , Carl, 215 Hunter's arrival there, 143 in chimpanzee studied by Kohts, 201
Bristol University, 34, 49 Lashley's research there, 234, 235 in chimpanzee studied by Romanes,
British Association for the Meyer's arrival, 143 177
Advancement of Science, 14, 18, Watson's arrival and student career, in dogs, claimed by Bechterev, 127
19, 46, 47, 49, 92, 109, 138 144, 146, 148 in dogs, disputed by Pavlov, 127
meeting in 1860 at Oxford, 18 chickens, 14, 30, 34, 35, 40, 68, 100, in monkeys studied by Watson, 147
meeting in 1872 at Brighton, 14, 46, 189, 190, 217 in rats studied by Watson &
47 effects of early experience on chicks, Watson, 169
meeting in 1874 at Belfast, 19, 92, 14, 35, 217 Columbia Obstruction Box, 235, 258
109 in Koehler's detour experiments, Columbia University, 67-9, 72, 73, 120,
meeting in 1892 at Oxford, 49 189, 190 161, 169, 235
meeting in 1896, 49 child study movement, 61, 159 as base for educational psychology,
B r u ec k e , Ernst von, 97, 102, 106, 254 children, 28, 56, 68, 74, 154-8, 190, 194 67, 161
bullfinches, 43 as subjects in Hamilton's reaction its psychology department founded
B u n sen , R. W., 105 tendencies study, 154, 155 by Cattell, 67
B u t le r , Samuel, 245 as subjects in Hunter's delayed Thorndike obtains his doctorate
B tjtton , Jeremy, 3, 7 response test, 156-8 there, 72
as subjects in Koehler's detour tests, Watson lectures there, 169
C a b a n is , Pierre, 249 190 conditioned reflex, 11, 22, 94, 95, 110,
C a ja l , Ramon y, 100 as subjects in Koehler's transposition 111, 120-3, 125, 133, 142, 235, 236,
Califórnia, University of, 217, 230, 237 experiments, 194 237
founding of animal laboratory on chimpanzees, 7, 41, 130, 176, 177, 182- conditioned salivation described by
Tolman's arrival, 230, 237 95, 200-3 Whytt, 95
Kuo as student there, 217 'fishing' for termites, 190 Hartley's theory of, 94
Cambridge University, 45, 206 Hobhouse tests the Professor, 182-4 research on conditioned reflex begun
C a r r , Harvey, 146-8, 156, 172, 217, Ioni given matching test by Kohts, by Pavlov, 120-3
228, 229, 232, 239 201 Spencer's concept of, 11, 22, 95
contribution to rat psychology, 228, their linguistic ability, 76, 200 conditioning, 38, 80, 134, 142, 173,
229 their memory, 194, 201 184, 237
experiments on delayed response, their minds compared by Koehler to as explanation of maze performance,
156 the human mind, 194 237
as student at Chicago with Watson, their problem-solving ability studied of kneejerk by Twitmeyer, 134
146-8 by Koehler, 186-90 in lower organisms, 142
cats, 26, 32, 69-73, 77, 143, 152-5, 181, their problem-solving studied by Morgan's theory of, 38
182, 218 Pavlov, 130 termed 'assimilation' by Hobhouse,
compared to other species by Sally of London Zoo studied by 184
Hamilton, 154, 155 Romanes, 41, 78, 81, 177 Watson's interest in, 173
their grooming rewarded by Tenerife research station founded, without awareness, 80
Thorndike, 77 185 see also conditioned reflex,
Name and subject index 272
Condi tioning—cont. his concept of the reflex, 87-9, 106 D r ie s c h , Hans, 178-80, 184, 203, 211,
instrumental conditioning, S-R his denial of mind in apes, 176, 232
theory 202 attacks atomism, 184
Congress of Berlin, 24 on mind vs body, 85 equifinality, 178, 203, 232
connectionism, 65, 234 on the nature of Science, 86 equipotentiality, 178
see also S-R theory on neural transmission, 87, 88, 96 his philosophy of the organism, 178
consciousness in animais, 13, 19, 20, detour problems (also called Umweg self-regulation, 178
22, 27, 28, 72, 101, 133, 136, 153, test), 182, 186, 189-91, 232 similarity of views to McDcugalTs,
169, 170, 174 compared to Tolman's maze 211
Huxley's view of, 19, 20 problems, 232 vitalism, 179
Jennings' discussion of, 142 for dog tested by Hobhouse, 182 dualism, 28, 66, 67, 84-6, 90, 91, 120,
Morgan's analysis of, 37, 38 used and analysed by Koehler, 189- 126, 171, 174
Romanes' criterion for, 27, 28, 136 91 Bechterev rejects, 126
Thorndike's description of, 72 D ew e y , John, 63, 140, 144, 145, 162, Descartes' concept of, 84-6
Watson's dismissal of, 136, 169, 170 215 James criticizes, 163
consciousness in human beings, 11, attack on standpatters, 215 Pavlov shifts from, 120
12, 17, 37, 64, 80, 81, 83, 108, 109, cannot be understood by J. B. ducks, 14, 34, 35, 43, 91, 217
136, 137, 159, 161-3, 167, 170, 173, Watson, 145 following response in, 14, 217
174 influence on functionalism, 162 mechanical model of, 91
as central concern of American influence on H. S. Jennings, 140 their visual recognition of water, 43
psychology, 159 digestive system, 112, 117-21 D u n c k er , Karl, 194
James' analysis of, 162, 163 discrimination learning, 77, 130, 136, D u n l a p , Knight, 167, 169, 172, 216,
Titchener's structuralist approach to, 149, 151, 152, 194, 196 217, 221, 225
161 by Cole's raccoons, 149 attack on instinct, 216, 225
Watson's views on, 136, 170 introduced by Thorndike, 77 employed at Johns Hopkins, 167
see also awareness in Koehler's transposition
Cornell University, 148, 161 experiments, 194 early experience, 14, 34, 102, 217
counter-conditioning, 129, 130 of monkeys unaffected by brain effect on bird behaviour, 14, 34, 217
cross-hatching of birds, 14, 217 stimulation, 196 effect on sexual development, 217
crows, 155, 196 by Pavlov's dogs, 130 effect on suckling of lambs, 9, 102
tested by Yerkes, 155, 196 by Yerkes' dancing mice, 151, 152 educational psychology (also called
C u r i e , M., 49 disinhibition, 122 experimental pedagogy), 60, 61,
C y o n , Ilya, 113 dogs, 27, 30, 35, 36, 40, 58, 71, 95, 110, 72, 76, 160, 161, 171, 220, 228, 229
118, 125, 138, 143, 144, 153-8, 177, Columbia University as centre for,
D a r w in , Charles, 1-8, 12, 13, 15, 17, 181-3, 190, 201, 218 161, 229
21, 23-8, 32-4, 42, 44, 45, 49, 50, Bechterev experiments on, 125 Ha!l's influence on, 160
54, 57, 111, 112, 138, 176, 204 Goltz lesions their brains, 138 its link with learning research at
acclaims Spencer, 13 Hamilton compares their reactive Chicago, 228, 229
develops theory of mental evolution, tendencies, 154, 155 its relation to high school expansion,
6-8 in Hamilton's pioneering matching- 229
publishes theory of natural selection, to-sample experiment, 201 Watson's proposals for, 220
4 in Hobhouse's detour and problem- E h r e n f e l s , Christian von, 184
reacts to criticism of natural solving tests, 181-3 elephants, 30, 41, 42, 72, 181, 182, 184
selection, 4, 5 in Hunter's delayed reaction study, their memory, 42
reception of ideas in Rússia, 111, 112 156-8 their trial-&-error learning studied
relationship with Romanes, 24 in Koehler's detour tests, 190 by Hobhouse, 181, 182
respects Huxley, 17 Morgan observes trial-&-error E l io t , Charles, 63
theory of instinct, 30, 204, 205 learning by Tony, 35, 36, 69 E l io t , George (Marian Evans), 10
voyage in HMS Beagle, 2, 3, 42 Pavlov's treatment of, 110, 118 E l l io t t , M. H., 232, 233
D a r w in , Erasmus, 249 Romanes describes their mental emotion, 9, 66, 207, 219, 220, 222, 223
D a r w in , Francis, 137, 138 abilities, 27 conditioned emotional reactions,
decerebration, 89, 94, 100 Thorndike uses them as puzzle-box 220 , 222
delayed reaction tasks, 149, 156-8, 172, subjects, 71, 144 James' theory of, 66
229, 233, 234 tracking for Prussian police, 177 McDougall on link with instinct, 207
developed by Hunter, 156-8 Watson's hypothetical case of Watson studies emotional responses
discussed by Watson, 172, 229 neurosis in, 218 of babies, 219
introduced by Cole, 149 D o n a ld so n , Henry, 60, 61, 143-6, English universities, 54, 59
used by Tinklepaugh with monkeys, 168, 212, 253 environmentalism, 14, 21, 31, 64, 91,
233, 234 associates with F. Boas, 212 92, 107, 109, 195, 212, 214, 217,
D e sc a r t e s , Rene, 13, 19, 84—9, 93, 96, contact with Meyer, 143, 168, 253 225
100, 101, 106, 108, 109, 123, 163, helps to supervise J. B. Watson, 145, of Bain, 9
176-8, 202 146, 148, 253 as central theme in Watson's
his beast-machine, 85, 86 studies at Johns Hopkins, 60, 61 Behaviorism, 225
biography, 89 D osto yevsk y , F., 111 of Kuo, 217
Name and subject index 273
H o bh o u se , Leonard T.—cont. experimental studies following Institute for the study of animal
his youth and philosophical studies, Thorndike, 149 psychology, 49, 196, 199, 220, 225
179, 180 Haggerty tests for it in apes, 196 Morgan's plan for, 49
homing, 148 Hobhouse studies it in various Watson's shift to interest in child
H o n z ik , C. H., 232, 233 species, 181 institute, 220, 225
horses, 30, 40, 78-81, 138, 153, 154 Koehler's ideas on its complexity, Yerkes' emphasis on primates, 196,
Clever Hans and his successors, 78- 193 199
81 McDougall classifies it as a general instrumental conditioning, 132, 142 237
their intelligence rated by Yerkes, tendency, 208 compared with classical
153 la Mettrie describes unconscious conditioning, 237
compared unfavourably to other imitation, 91 Konorski and Miller stress its
species by Hamilton, 154 Morgan stresses its importance in distinctiveness, 132
H u b ber t , Helen, 220 cultural transmission, 43, 44, 52 Morgan distinguishes two types of,
H u l l , Clark, 203, 237-9 Romanes on its role in perfecting 35
decides to challenge Gestalt theory, instincts, 30 Pavlov's theory of, 132
203 Thorndike's experiments on, 71, 72 Thorndike's experiments on, 69-72
leads neo-behaviorism at Yale, 237 Watson fails to find it in monkeys, see also conditioning, Law of Effect,
human evolution, 5, 6, 44, 49, 55 149 Spencer-Bain Principie, S-R
H u m e , David, 20, 21, 50 see also vocal mimicry theory, trial-&-error learning
H u n t er , Walter, S., 156-8, 172, 175, immigration, 61, 213-16, 225 intelligence, 7, 23, 70, 74, 137, 199,
194, 199, 201, 217, 229, 233 Imperial College, London, 17 214, 215
criticizes Yerkes, 199 imprinting, 14, 35, 217 definition of, 23
his research discussed by Watson, inheritance of acquired characteristics; Galton's views on, 46, 48
172, 175 also called Lamarckism, Lamarckian in relation to race, 199
studies delayed response, 156-8 inheritance, Law of Use and tests criticized by Lippmann, 215
teaches learning at Kansas, 229 Disuse, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 21, 23, tests used by American Army, 214
H uxley , Thomas H ., 2, 5, 10, 15-22, 24, 30-4, 42, 43, 48, 49, 52, 56, 58, see also mental measurement
26, 27, 33, 44-6, 49, 55, 60, 62, 64, 68, 130, 160, 179, 204, 205, 211,213 introspection, 37, 83, 126, 136, 161,
92, 123, 143, 176, 177, 209 attacked as aspect of Psychological 167, 170, 210, 229, 236
on consciousness as an Darwinism, 212 Bechterev objects to it, 126
epiphenomenon, 20 Boas abandons it, 213 Chicago studies of learning ignore it,
his contact with Lloyd Morgan, 33 Driesch advocates it, 179 229
as Darwin's bulldog, 5, 17, 18 McDougall's opinion of, 211 McDougall and Trotter distrust it,
describes animais as automata in Morgan's views on, 42, 43 210
Belfast, 19, 20, 92, 109 as origin of instinct, 30, 31, 34, 58, Morgan endorses it, 37
on evolution and morality, 20, 209 204 Thorndike uses it, 161
inspires A. Meyer, 143 Pavlov's experiments on, 130 Watson criticizes it, 136, 170
on mathematics, 44 Thorndike's interest in, 68, 69 Yerkes accepts it, 153
at opening ceremony at Johns Weissman's attack on, 32, 56
Hopkins, 60, 62, 64, 167 inhibition, 102-7, 129, 130 J a c k so n , J. Hughlings, 143
his sceptical attitude, 18, 19, 26 insight, 41, 190-3, 198, 199, 203 J a m e s , William, 16, 60, 63-8, 75, 80,
sheds prejudices, 46 Koehler's theory of, 190-3 82, 137, 144, 161, 162, 165, 166,
studies neuroanatomy of primates, Morgan's definition of, 41 171, 174, 205, 218-20, 226, 227, 230
5, 18, 176 instinct, 7, 14, 23, 30, 34, 39, 42, 43, attends Clark conference, 165, 166
his youth and studies, 17 52, 64, 102, 110, 197, 204-6, 207, develops interest in psychology, 63
208, 211, 216-19 on habit, 65, 66, 220
I c k es , Mary (later Mary I. Watson), as aspect of Psychological on human instincts, 64, 205, 206, 218
148, 169, 224 Darwinism, 212 influences McDougall, 206
ideas, 157, 198, 202 confusion over, 205 influences Tolman, 230
in orang-utan's solution of problem, debate of 1920s on, 216-18 his interest in psychopathology, 162
198, 202 definition of, 23 on the mind-body problem, 66, 67,
their role in delayed reactions, 157 imperfect instincts (see also 163
see also imagery imprinting), 14, 34, 39, 217 his position at Harvard, 63, 64
imagery, 47, 48, 147, 150, 170, 171 James' beliefs concerning human his radical empiricism, 163
Galton's research on, 47, 48 instincts, 64 rejects automata theory, 66
imageless thought debate, 170 McDougalFs definition and listing his theory of emotion, 66
treatment by Watson, 141, 171 of, 207, 208 J a n e t , Pierre, 162
use by animais in delayed reactions, Morgan's analysis of, 42, 43, 52 J e f fe r so n , Thomas, 92
150 origins of, 30 Jena University, 55, 56, 139, 140
use in negotiating a maze, 147 Romanes' treatment of, 28-31 J e n k in , Fleeming, 5, 45
imitation, 26, 30, 42-4, 52, 69, 71-3, Spencer's concept of compounded J e n n in g s , Herbert Spencer, 137, 139-
86, 91, 104, 136, 149, 152, 153, 158, reflexes, 30, 42 42, 165-9, 172-5, 215, 220, 236
174, 177, 179, 181, 193, 196, 239 Institute of Experimental Medicine in on appropriate description of
Cole studies it in raccoons, 149 St Petersburg, 117 behaviour, 142
Name and subject index 275
attacks eugenics, 215 studies transposition, 194 his early studies and career, 138
attends Clark conference, 165, 166 uses box tests, 187 Meyer's view of Loeb, 219
compared with Loeb, 141 uses detour tests, 189, 190 on the nature of Science, 138, 139,
his early studies, 139, 140 uses stick tests, 188 173, 175
lectures on Science and education, on why some tests are difficult, 191, opposes racism, 215
220 192 lower organisms, 137-42, 167, 175, 215
opposes Loeb, 139, 140 K o ffka , Kurt, 80, 185, 192, 203, 233 L u bbo ck , Sir John (later Lord
his position at Johns Hopkins, 167 K o h t s , Ladygin, 201, 202 Avebury), 27
rejects simplistic accounts of KoNORSKi,Jerzy, 132, 237 L u d w ig , Carl, 97, 98, 102, 104-6, 116,
behaviour, 140 K r a e p e l in , Emil, 162 250
on state-dependent effects of K u h n , Thomas, 111 pledge against vitalism, 102
stimuli, 141, 173 Kuo, Zing Yang, 217, 218, 225, 230, supportive of students, 104, 105
studies with Verworn, 139, 140 231, 236, 237, 239 synthesises urine, 102
Jews, prejudice towards, 46, 138 on instinct and development, 217
Johns Hopkins University, 59-63, 117, his maze experiment with rats, 231 M c d o u c a ll , William, 206-11, 216, 218,
137, 147, 148, 150, 165, 167-9, 185, renounces purposive behaviorism, 219, 225, 226, 236, 237, 239, 241
213, 220, 224, 225, 227, 228, 234, 236 his behaviourism compared to
235, 238 Watson's, 211
designed by Gilman, 59, 60 L a d d , G. T., 144 debates with Watson, 226
its medicai school added, 168 L a m a r c k , Jean, 2, 3, 8, 204 defines strict behaviourism, 236
is opened, 60 Lamarckism; see inheritance of emigrates to America, 210, 211
provides first base for American acquired characteristics his racist beliefs, 211
psychology, 60, 61 language, 7, 41, 52, 76, 86, 94, 194, 240 sympathetic to Lamarckian
psychology re-established there, 165, L a sh l ey , Karl, 146, 168, 169, 172, 173, inheritance, 211
167 195, 220, 222, 228, 234-8 his theory of instinct, 207-9, 216, 218
its relationship to the city of experiments on conditioned reflexes, his youth and early training, 206
Baltimore, 60, 213 220 M a c fa r la n e , D. A., 232
Watson and other faculty appointed, his opinion of behaviourism, 172 M a c e n d ie , Francois, 95, 96, 100
148, 167-9 his relationship with Watson, 169, M a ie r , N. R. F„ 256
Watson dismissed from, 224 173, 222, 228 M a r r y a t , Captain, 30
Jones, Emest, 210 his research on the physiology of M a r x , Groucho, 26
J ones, Mary Cover, 225, 227, 238 learning, 234, 235 M a r x , Karl, 15
Journal of Animal Behavior, 151 studies at Johns Hopkins, 168, 169 Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Junc, Carl, 135, 164-6, 174, 210 tests Gestalt theory of brain 230
visited by McDougall, 210 function, 195, 196 matching-to-sample problems, 41, 201
visits America, 164-6 latent learning, 232 introduced by Hamilton, 201
Law of Effect, 74, 76, 101, 230-2, 240 used with chimpanzee by Kohts, 201
Kantor, J. R.. 259 Elliott obtains evidence against it, 232 materialism, 66, 91, 107, 120, 124, 131,
Kazan University, 125, 127 Russell endorses it, 240 133, 163, 179
Kelvin, Lord (see T h o m pso n , W ), 45, Thorndike introduces it, 74-6 mathematics, 44-6, 73
49 Tolman criticizes it, 231 M a t te u c c i , Cario, 96
Kinnaman, A, J 149 Watson dismisses it, 230 mazes, 144, 146, 148, 228-37
Kline, Linus, 143, 144, 146 see also Spencer-Bain Principie Small introduces replica of Hampton
Koehler, Wolfgang. 179, 184-96, 200- learning curves, 70, 71, 73, 224, 229 Court maze, 144, 145
3, 230, 232-4 Leipzig University, 55, 59, 60, 65, 78, their use in the Chicago laboratory,
his choice of test procedures, 186 101, 104, 116, 125, 161, 194 146, 228, 229
as co-founder of Gestalt psychology, L e n in , 1, 111, 130 their use in Lashley’s physiological
185 L ew e s , George Henrv, 10, 112, 117, research, 234, 235
on the difference between human 118, 204 their use in Tolmaris laboratory,
and ape minds, 1M his friendship with Spencer, 10 230-3
distinguishes between mechanized his influence on Pavlov, 112, 117 used by Watson to study terns, 148
and intelligent behaviour. 186 on instincts as 'lapsed intelligence', M e a d , George Herbert, 144, 145, 162
on imitation, 193 204 medicai applications of Science, 86, 87,
his influence on Tolman, 232 233 Leyden, University of, 89, 90 102, 109, 115, 117, 134
on insight in problem solvíng, 191, Liberalism, 14, 180 memory of animais, 11, 41, 42, 69, 70,
195 L ip p m a n n , Walter, 215, 216 156-8, 194, 201
his neurophysiological theorv 195, L iv in c st o n e , Dr, 47 in Hunter's delayed reaction tests,
196 L o c k e , John, 50 156-8
obtains post in Tenerife, 185 L o e b , Jacques, 137-9, 141, 144, 145, in Koehler's tests of chimpanzees,
on purposive action, 192, 193 171-5, 191, 215, 219, 230 194
his reasons for studying compared with Jennings, 141 in Kohts' short-term retention task,
chimpanzees, 185 his conflict with Jennings, 139 201
reception of his work in America his contact with Watson, 144, 145,172 Morgan's view on, 41, 42
195, 203 his criticism of the Law of Effect, 230 Thorndike's experiments on, 69, 70
Name and subject index 276
M e n d e l , Gregor, 47, 50, 142, 205 tested by Charlotte Romanes, 32, 33, neurone theory, 75, 131
mental images; see imagery 177, 183 neurosis, 37, 125, 129-31, 134, 164,
mental measurement, 48, 73, 212, 214, tested by Hobhouse, 182-4 218, 219
215, 220, 221 Thorndike obtains unsatisfactory N e w t o n , Isaac, 93
see also intelligence results from them, 73 N i c h o l a s I , Czar, 104
metaphysical Society, 18, 19 in Tinklepaugh's study of delayed N i c h o l a s II, Czar, 123, 124
M e t t r i e , Julien Offray de la, 84, 89- reactions, 233, 234 Nobel Prize, 122, 128
93, 107, 109, 176, 178, 200, 202 in Yerkes' multiple-choice tests, 196- N u e l , J. P. 210, 252
biography, 89-92 8
compared with Sechenov, 107 M oore, G. E., 50 objective psychology, 126, 127, 136,
his environmentalism, 90-2 moralíty, 7, 15, 20, 22, 40, 42, 59, 62, 210, 230
on the linguistic potential of apes, 63, 66, 86, 91, 209 see also B e c h t e r e v
91, 176, 200, 202 M o r g a n , Conwy Lloyd, 23, 24, 28, Odessa University, 107, 108
on the relation between man and 32-45, 48-52, 57, 64, 65, 68, 76, 82, O e d e n b u r g s k i , Prince, 117, 251
beast, 90, 91 84, 132, 136, 142, 149, 153, 156, 0 'N e il l , Eugene, 201
M e y e r , Adolf, 143, 153, 162, 164-6, 160, 188, 190, 195, 205, 207, 208, orang-utans, 7, 176, 196-200
168, 169, 172, 174, 220, 222-5, 253 245, 246 Cuvier studies one, 176
attends Clark conference, 165, 166 abandons Lamarckian inheritance, Furness fails to teach one to talk,
his attitude to psychoanalysis, 164, 33, 42, 43, 49, 52 200
168 his analysis of learning processes, hunted by Wallace, 176
contributes to psychopathology, 162, 38-40 Julius tested by Yerkes, 196-9
168, 222 his critique of anecdotal evidence, O s t e n , Herr von, 78-80, 202
as director of Phipps Psychiatric 32, 33, 36, 41 otters, 181, 182
Clinic, 168 on human evolution, 44, 49, 50, 52 overshadowing, 132
his early career, 143 on imitation, 43, 44 Oxford University, 33, 206, 210
introduces rats to America, 143, 253 his influence on Kline, 143
lectures on Science and education, his influence on Thorndike, 68-72 paramecia, 139-43
220 on instinct, 42-4, 205, 207 parrots, 7, 86, 169
his opinion of Loeb, 219 Morgan's Canon, 40 partial reinforcement, 80
his relationship with Watson, 173, on the nature of comparative passive learning, 71, 73, 76, 149, 150,
218, 223-5, 253 psychology, 37, 38 158
M e y e r , M., 240, 259 his principie of organic selection, P a s t e u r , Louis, 115, 117
M e y n e r t , Thomas, 248 142, 253 P a v l o v , Ivan, 11, 110-36, 140, 152,
mice, 130, 151, 152, 196 ranks psychological complexity, 40-2 173, 195, 203, 223, 234, 235, 237,
Michigan, University of, 139 his relationship with Huxley, 33, 37 239
microscopes, 96, 137 his relationship with Romanes, 28, applies conditioning to
Military-Medical Academy of St 32, 33 psychopathology, 129, 130
Petersburg, 103, 105, 107, 113, studies learning in young birds, 34, assessment of, 131-3
116, 125 35 his attitude to religion, 112, 113
Mill, James, 94 his youth and studies, 33, 34 begins to study conditioning, 121-3
Mill, John Stuart, 8, 13-15, 21, 45, 53, M o r g a n , Thomas, 142 his chauvinism, 116
94, 101, 174, 175, 179, 204, 205 Moscow University, 104, 108 his exceptional change of mind, 111
his environmentalism, 8, 204 motivation, 141, 235 his marriage and domestic Iife, 115,
favours pluralism, 174, 175 see also Regulation 116, 119
respected by Hobhouse, 179 M o w r e r , O. Hobart, 240 his opinion on individual
visited by Spalding, 14 M u e l l e r , Johannes, 97-9, 101, 103, differences, 129
mind-body problem, 40, 66, 85, 86, 90, 104, 106, 109, 140 his professional life and career, 117,
137, 163; on spontaneous activity, 101, 106, 119, 120
see also dualism, materialism and 140 reacts to discovery of secretin, 121
monism his textbook, 101, 104 his reception by American
Minnesota, University of, 228, 234 on vitalism, 101 psychology, 152, 173, 203, 223, 237
monism, 37, 39, 56 multiple-choice tests, 155, 156, 197-9 in relation to Sechenov, Russian
monkeys, 7, 25-7, 33, 40, 69, 73, 136, Munich University, 138 Science and evolution, 111, 112,
143, 147, 152, 154, 155, 169, 176, M u y b r i d g e , E., 37 124
177, 182-4, 195-8 his relationship with Bechterev, 124,
their ability to imitate, 73, 149 National Research Council, 199 127, 128
their brain fields examined by nativism, 195, 203, 205, 211, 214, 217, his research on digestion, 117-19
Lashley, 195 218 his youth and studies, 112-15
their colour Vision, 147 natural selection, theory of, 4, 5, 17, P e a r s o n , KarI, 48, 50, 75, 206, 209,
development of infant studied by 21, 23, 28, 30, 49 248
Lashley and Watson, 169 Natuerphilosophie, 54, 58, 85 perception of relations, 41, 42, 66, 184,
infant studied by Wallace, 176 nervism, doctrine of, 114, 121 185;
their reaction tendencies compared nest-building, 6, 44, 207, 208, 218, 246 in Gestalt theory, 184, 185
by Hamilton, 154, 155 neural action, 87, 88, 93, 95-100, 131 Hobhouse's definition of, 184
Narne and subject index 277
James' theory of, 66 in Hunter's delayed reaction study, his mother as Spalding's assistant,
Morgan discusses, 41, 42 156-8, 172 15, 16
see also Gestalt psychology racism, 12, 62, 211, 212, 215, 216, 218 writes sympathetically of
P e r r y , Ralph, 230, 232, 236 radioactivity, 49 behaviourism, 240, 241
P f l u e g e r , Edouard, 102, 104, 107, 109 rake problem, 183, 188, 197 Russian education, 104, 107, 113
P f u n g s t , Oskar, 78-81, 83, 171, 177, rats, 136, 143, 144, 152, 156-8, 169, Russian universities, 107, 114, 116, 117
190, 195 218, 228-40 see also Kazan, Moscow, Odessa and
acquainted with Koehler, 190 arrive in America, 143 St Petersburg universities
studies Clever Hans, 78-81, 83 first enter psychological laboratories, Russo-Japanese War, 112, 124
studies imitation in chimpanzees, 177 143-5 R u t h er fo r d , Lord, 49
phrenology, 100, 104 in Hunter's delayed reaction study,
phylogenetic scale; see Scala naturae, 8, 156-8 St Petersburg University, 105, 108, 112,
12, 28, 31, 56, 137, 149, 155, 156, their increasing popularity, 234-6 113, 117, 124, 126
170, 181 Tolman's high estimation of, 236 S a l i s b u r y , Lord, 49
P i a g e t , Jean, 161, 191, 253 R a y n e r , Rosalie (later R. R. Watson), Scala naturae, or Ladder of life, 8, 12,
P i e r c e , Charles S., 63 223, 224, 227, 228 28, 31, 56, 137, 149, 156, 170
pigeons, 100, 217 her affair with J. B. Watson, 224 Scepticism, 17, 19, 26, 52, 72, 77, 111,
pigs, 14, 155, 156, 196 co-authors book on child care, 227 195, 211
P l a n c k , Max, 185 reaction times, 55, 79 S ch w a n n , Theodor, 97, 100
play, 148, 159, 208 reasoning in animais, 7, 11, 31, 41, 52 scorpions, 32
positivism, 173 discussed by Darwin, 7 S e c h e n o v , Ivan, 84, 85, 101, 103-9,
P o u l t o n , Edward, 49, 246, 253 discussed by Morgan, 41 111-13, 118, 124, 127, 134
P r e y e r , Wilhelm, 56, 61, 64 discussed by Romanes, 31 his attitude to vivisection, 118
Princeton University, 165 discussed by Spencer, 11 his relationship with Pavlov, 111-13,
P r o t o p o p o v , V. P., 126, 127 recapitulation theory, 57, 62, 139, 212, 127
protozoa, 137, 139, 142 237 on the relationship between
psychiatry, 125, 130, 153, 162, 164, see also biogenetic principie psychology and physiology, 84,
168, 218, 219, 222 reductionism, 138 106-8
psychic secretion, 119, 120 reflexes, 2, 11, 30, 84, 87-9, 91, 93, 95, his research on inhibition, 105, 106
psychoanalysis, 164, 165, 168, 172, 174, 99, 101, 109, 110, 219, 220, 222, his youth and studies, 103-6
208, 210 231, 235, 236 self-consciousness, 39, 41
s e e also F r e u d see also conditioned reflexes sensori-motor theory, 88, 94-6
psychobiology, 146, 168 regulation, 141, 178, 182, 203 see also Bell-Magendie Law
psychological Darwinism, 10, 211-13, Driesch's definition, 178 sensory preconditioning, 77
216 Hobhouse suggests analogy with sensory processes in animais, 147, 151,
see also Social Darwinism steam-engine, 182, 203 174, 193, 201
Psychological Review, 67, 159, 165, 167, in lower organisms, 141 see also colour Vision, psychophysics
169 R e i m a r u s , Hermann, 204 sex, 7, 42, 154, 163-5, 168, 171, 200,
psychopathology, 162, 174, 208, 218- religious belief, 2, 5, 15, 24, 40, 46, 49, 201, 208, 209, 213, 217, 222, 224,
20, 222 56, 60, 62, 68, 82, 91, 112, 124, 226, 235, 240
see also clinicai psychology, 144, 167, 175 avoided by psychologists, 163
H a m i l t o n , M e y e r , A. and R i c h t e r , Curt, 146, 223, 228, 235 as basis of feelings, 171
psychiatry R o m a n e s , George )., 23-34, 37, 40-4, in Freud's theories, 164, 165
psychophysics, 55, 224 48-50, 54, 57, 64, 66, 68, 82, 136, Meyer's views on, 168, 224
punishment, 74, 151 137, 175-7, 195, 202, 204, 245 scandal caused by questionnaire on,
purposive definitions of behaviour, on ape intelligence, 176 240
178, 182, 192, 193, 203, 230, 231, collects and analyses observations studied by Hamilton, 154, 201
233, 236, 237 on animal behaviour, 24-7 treatment by McDougall, 208, 209
by Driesch, 178 on instinct, 28-31, 204 S h a w , George Bemard, 110
by Hobhouse, 182 on the methodology of comparative sheep, 8, 9, 102, 209, 210
by Koehler, 192, 193 psychology, 32 S h e r r i n c t o n , Charles, 101, 108, 129
by McDougall, 211 on mind and consciousness, 27, 28, S i n g e r , E, A., 259
by Perry, 230 136 S k i n n e r , B. Frederick, 9, 234, 237, 241
by Tolman, 231, 233, 236, 237 on the perceptual basis of reason, 31 S m a l l , Willard, 143, 144, 146
puzzle boxes, 69-71, 73, 144, 148 his relationship with Darwin, 24, 25 S n a r s k y , Anton, 117, 120, 121
introduced by Thorndike, 69-71 tests chimpanzee, Sally, 41, 78, 81, Social Darwinism, 10, 15, 44, 62
modified by Kline for rats, 144 177 see also Psychological Darwinism
used by Cole for raccoons, 149, 150 Royal Society, 17, 24, 50 spacing of trials, 220, 229
used by Watson for rats, 146 R u m l , Beardsley, 238 spatial relationships, 32, 182, 189-92,
R u s s e l l , Bertrand, 15, 16, 50, 202, 240, 232-3
rabbits, 40, 95 241, 248 S p a l d i n g , Douglas, 2, 14-16, 18, 21,
raccoons, 136, 149, 150, 153, 156-8, compares American and German 24, 26, 30, 34, 35, 39, 51, 64, 148,
172, 194 psychology, 202 217, 240
in Cole's experiments, 149, 150 contact with Watson, 240 his discovery of imprinting, 14, 217
Name and subject index 278
debates with McDougall, 226 studies nature of maze learning with Yale University, 201, 203, 237, 238
his doctoral thesis, 145, 146 Carr, 146, 147 Y erk es, Robert M., 74, 137, 147, 150-
is divorced, 224 studies visual perception in animais, 53, 155, 156, 158, 159, 165, 169,
experiments with terns, 147, 148 147, 169 175, 196-230, 214-16, 230, 238
gives evening lectures, 225 on thought as subvocal speech, 171, assumes linear scale of intelligence,
his initial paper on behaviourism, 172, 222, 229, 236 137, 156
169-71 his youth and studies, 144, 145 fails to get promotion, 158
joins the U.S. Army, 221 W e b b , Beatrice, 50 founds research centre for primates,
moves from Chicago to Johns W e b e r , Edouard, 101-3 238
Hopkins, 148, 167 W e i s m a n n , August, 32, 42, 48, 56 organizes intelligence testing for
on old age, 220, 221 W e t s s , A. P., 259 Army, 199, 214, 215
his opinion of Clever Hans, 81, 171 W e r t h e i m e r , Max, 184, 185, 190, 192, his relationship with Watson, 147,
opposes the Law of Effect, 230 194 151, 153, 169, 199
on psychology and education, 159, W h y t t , Robert, 94, 95, 99, 110 reviews Pavlov's early research, 152
220, 221 W i l b e r f o r c e , Bishop Samuel, 18, 62, self-appraisal, 202
his relationship with Lashley, 169, 177 studies discrimination learning, 74,
228, 235 W i l l i s , Thomas, 249 151
his relationship with Meyer, 218, 219 W o l f s o h n , Stefan, 117, 120, 121, 135 studies primates in Califórnia, 196-9
his relationship with Yerkes, 147, wolves, 209, 210, 216 uses multiple-choice method, 155
151, 153, 169, 199 women's emancipation, 15, 105, 148, writes textbook, 153
stresses environmental factors, 225, 227 the Yerkes-Dodson Law, 152, 155,
226 W uerzburg U niversity, 138 198
studies babies, 173, 219, 220, 222, W u n d t , W ilhelm , 51, 53, 55, 58, 59, his youth and studies, 150, 151
223 61, 65-7, 99, 125, 143, 144, 161,
studies imitation in monkeys, 149 162, 195 Zurich University, 143
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