Editing Psychology (section)

=== Animal studies ===
[[File:MorrisWaterMaze.jpg|right|thumb|A rat undergoing a [[Morris water navigation test]] used in [[behavioral neuroscience]] to study the role of the [[hippocampus]] in [[spatial learning]] and memory]]
Animal experiments aid in investigating many aspects of human psychology, including perception, emotion, learning, memory, and thought, to name a few. In the 1890s, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously used dogs to demonstrate classical conditioning. Non-human primates, cats, dogs, pigeons, and rats and other rodents are often used in psychological experiments. Ideally, controlled experiments introduce only one independent variable at a time, in order to ascertain its unique effects upon dependent variables. These conditions are approximated best in laboratory settings. In contrast, human environments and genetic backgrounds vary so widely, and depend upon so many factors, that it is difficult to control important [[variable (research)|variable]]s for human subjects. There are pitfalls, however, in generalizing findings from animal studies to humans through animal models.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.ncabr.org/biomed/FAQ_animal/faq_animal_8.html |title= Ncabr.Org: About Biomedical Research: Faq |access-date= 1 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080708190108/http://www.ncabr.org/biomed/FAQ_animal/faq_animal_8.html |archive-date= 8 July 2008 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

Comparative psychology is the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. Research in this area explores the behavior of many species, from insects to primates. It is closely related to other disciplines that study animal behavior such as [[ethology]].<ref>Shettleworth, S.J. (2010) Cognition, Evolution and Behavior (2nd Ed), New York: Oxford.</ref> Research in comparative psychology sometimes appears to shed light on human behavior, but some attempts to connect the two have been quite controversial, for example the [[Sociobiology]] of [[E.O. Wilson]].<ref>Wilson, E.O. (1978) ''On Human Nature'' p. x, Cambridge, Ma: Harvard</ref> Animal models are often used to study neural processes related to human behavior, e.g. in cognitive neuroscience.