A new piece in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences will interest AHP readers. “How comparative psychology lost its soul: Psychical research and the new science of animal behavior,” by David Evan Pence. Article Highlights:
- The methods of 19th century comparative psychology have been mischaracterized.
- Early comparative psychology bore methodological affinities with psychical research.
- Fear of psychical research aided the rise of strict experimentalism in animal psychology.
- Journal capture and the shifts in institutional support aided early animal behaviorism.