ABA OUT AND ABOUT: Slate column on how knowing more about animals teaches us about ourselves

Alan Kazdin and Carlo Rotella have penned over at Slate an interesting column on how basic animal psychology is at the root of some very useful practical knowledge about ourselves and how we can use that researched knowledge to make better decisions in our own behavior and in our relations with other,

Like a Rat: Animal research and your child's behavior.
By Alan E. Kazdin and Carlo Rotella
Slate

"...It would be wrong to leave you with the impression that psychology always comes back to animal research and to omit mention of the broad scientific swath of work on the unique features of humans. But psychologists tend to do the public a similar disservice when they underplay the importance of animal research.

There are larger points in play here, including a growing sense that the lower animals are not so low and we are not so high. Many psychological characteristics and their biological underpinnings appear to be conserved—that is, many characteristics of human psychology evolved in other animals and have been retained in humans. This is why we can study fish, flies, and frogs in order to learn about ourselves..."

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