Comparative Psychology

Study of mind in its stages of development other than that of the normal adult human mind. It embraces four fields of investigation. (1) The manifestations of mental activity in the lower animals. The scientific treatment of this branch of the subject is of recent date. having been stimulated into activity largely by the writings of Darwin, and has contributed much to our knowledge. (2) The human mind in its early stages of development. (3) The products and expre ions of mind in the society, religions, customs and institutions of different cla es and peoples. (4) Psychiatry, the observation of mind in its variations from the normal and healthy state, as in insanity, idiocy, hypnotism and aphasia. Comparative psychology is sometimes improperly regarded as synonymous with animal psychology.