| Definition #1 |
Psychologists do research to learn more about behavior and how knowledge of behavior can be used to advance the welfare of people and animals. Although much research in psychology uses people as subjects, research with animal subjects continues to be essential for answering some fundamental questions. Since Charles Darwin's work, which emphasized continuity in evolution from animals to people in their mental abilities and in physical characteristics, psychologists have worked to understand the basic principles and processes that underlie the behavior of all creatures, human and nonhuman. As knowledge has accumulated, identification of characteristics that are unique to different species has yielded information that contributes to understanding and advancing the welfare of animals and people. |