Psychology Commons^™

"Humans And Animals"? On Saying What We Mean, Clinton Chapman, Nancy Dess

Clinton D Chapman

Discusses the linguistic phrase of "humans and animals" to distinguish humans categorically from all other animal species, and its application to psychology. It is suggested that the habit of using the human–animal convention persists because the human–animal dichotomy is institutionalized in psychology. Psychologists who study humans and those how study nonhumans tend to use different methodologies to train graduate students accordingly. They often use different publication venues and occupy different spaces. Separate ethics and funding boards review their research protocols. The nature of nonhuman animal minds and evolution is discussed. It is proposed that unexamined use of human–animal language should …