| George John Romanes (1849-1894): The Scientist Who First Applied Darwin's Theory to Psychology and How His Reputation Was Diminished |
| Joslyn Cynkus Dr. Roger Thomas, Psychology, The University of Georgia |
| George John Romanes (1848-1894) led the way in applying Darwin's theory of evolution to animal and human behavior. However, his work became the focus of some unfair and sometimes harsh criticism. This occurred after his death when, of course, he was unable to answer his critics. This paper contrasts some of that criticism with what Romanes clearly intended, and it will be shown that too often attributions to and criticism of Romanes were not justified.
Romanes was born in Kingston, Ontario, but within a year, his family returned to Great Britain where he spent the remainder of his life. His scholarly interests included theology, mathematics, and medicine before he chose to earn a master's degree in physiology at Cambridge University. Romanes became interested in Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) theory of evolution, and his letter to the editor of Nature (1873) pertaining to the theory elicited a favorable reply from Darwin and began a close friendship that lasted until Darwin's death. Although Romanes continued his work in physiology (e.g., his early research on jellyfish contributed to development of the concept of the synapse), he also began to apply the theory of evolution to the evolution of intelligence. A significant result was Romanes' three best known books, Animal Intelligence (1882), Mental Evolution in Animals (1883), and Mental Evolution in Man (1887). Unfortunately, Animal Intelligence would eventually diminish Romanes' scholarly reputation because it was mostly a compilation of anecdotes. In 1929, E. G. Boring, the most influential American historian of psychology, wrote, "the anecdotal method of Romanes...has become a term of opprobrium in animal psychology" (Boring, 1929, p. 464-465). Boring also cited Morgan's canon, pertaining to the interpretation of animal behavior, as a "reaction against Romanes" anthropomorphism (whether this was Morgan's intent is debatable; see Thomas, 1998). Romanes' critics included Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), the acknowledged founder of experimental psychology; Margaret Washburn, (1871-1939), a leading animal psychologist, author of the highly successful book, The Animal Mind (1908 and three subsequent editions), and the first American woman to earn a Ph.D. in psychology; and E. L. Thorndike (1874-1949), America's first major learning theorist, whose dissertation-based monograph (1898) and subsequent book (1911), Animal Intelligence, were highly influential in the development of animal psychology. As mentioned, criticism of Romanes was directed to his use of anecdotal
data and anthropomorphic interpretation. He was well aware of the pitfalls
of anecdotal evidence, but there was little, if any, other evidence to
cite at that time, as there were few, if any, applicable experiments available
to be cited. In the preface to Animal Intelligence, Romanes acknowledged the problems with anecdotal evidence, and he specified stringent criteria for assessing the reliability of the anecdotes that he did use. Romanes also expressed an obligation to quote the anecdotes verbatim. However, doing so usually meant quoting the original author's interpretation of the behavior, interpretations that were usually highly anthropomorphic. Romanes intended only to use the behavioral observations as a basis to form his own interpretations, but he did not explicitly reject the observers' interpretations. For example, both Wundt and Washburn criticized the interpretations included within anecdotes about ants burying other ants, but failed to show that Romanes provided a conservative, non-anthropomorphic interpretation. As time permits, such examples will be considered during the presentation. |