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Morgan's Canon, also known as Lloyd Morgan's Canon, Morgan's Canon of Interpretation or the principle or law of parsimony, is a fundamental precept of comparative (animal) psychology, coined by 19th-century British psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan. In its developed form it states that:
In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development.
Morgan's explanation illustrates the supposed fallacy in
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
approaches to animal behaviour. He believed that people should only equate the actions of animals to human states, such as emotions, intents, or conscious awareness, if a less advanced description of the behaviour cannot be posed. Alternatively, animal behaviours can be justified as complex when the animal's initiative involves procedures beyond instinctual practice (i.e. the animal is consciously aware of their own natural behaviours). This explanation can be used to understand the context under which the canon was studied, as well as its praises and criticisms. Several real world applications involving mating, competition and cognition exemplify Morgan's preference to simplify animal behaviour as it relates to these processes.


Context

Morgan's canon was derived after questioning previous interpretations of animal behaviour, specifically the anecdotal approach of
George Romanes George John Romanes (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms ...
that he deemed excessively
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
. Its prestige is partly credited to Morgan's behavioural descriptions, where those initially interpreted as using higher mental processes could be better explained by simple trial-and-error learning (what is now called
operant conditioning Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process in which voluntary behaviors are modified by association with the addition (or removal) of reward or aversive stimuli. The frequency or duration of the behavior ma ...
). One famous observation involves Morgan's terrier Tony, who, after many attempts, had successfully opened a garden gate. Though the final result could easily be seen as an
insight Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...
ful act, Lloyd Morgan had watched and recorded the approximations leading to the dog's gradual procedural learning, and could demonstrate that no insight was required to explain it.


Evaluation

The widespread study of
animal cognition Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals, including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influ ...
has required a disciplined use of Lloyd Morgan's canon. D.A. Dewsbury called Morgan's Canon "perhaps, the most quoted statement in the history of
comparative psychology Comparative psychology is the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. The phrase comparative psycholog ...
".
Frans de Waal Franciscus Bernardus Maria de Waal (29 October 1948 – 14 March 2024) was a Dutch-American primatologist and ethologist. He was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University in ...
reiterated that it is "perhaps the most quoted statement in all of
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
" in his book '' The Ape and the Sushi Master.'' One section points to a statement that Morgan later added: "there is nothing really wrong with complex interpretations if an animal species has provided independent signs of high intelligence". It has played a critical role in the growth of the prestige of
behaviourism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...
in twentieth century academic psychology. Morgan’s contribution remains a significant framework of animal cognition and is revered as a valued understanding of behavioural execution. Various reasons for adherence to the canon have been offered, including fitness analysis, constraints of
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
and
phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...
, and physiological limitations. With that being said, the canon has gathered substantial criticism. Many modern researchers such as Tobias Starzak suggest that it lacks operationally defined behaviour hierarchies. There is additional concern that the restriction of advanced cognitive explanations dismisses the spectrum of behavioural awareness and opportunity. Due to these problems, Morgan's own interpretation is thought to be oversimplified and ambiguous. Some
animal behaviour Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behavior, behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithology, ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th cen ...
research poses questions about favouring simplistic reasonings, especially when discussing behaviours from dispersed origins or observing rather sophisticated systems. The quantity of proposed behavioural mechanisms appears to receive less attention than their position on a cognitive scale. Several studies have taken note of this and thus maintained skepticism of Morgan's Canon as a parsimonous principle. Despite these shortcomings, several submitted alternatives, including
evidentialism Evidentialism is a thesis in epistemology which states that one is justified to believe something if and only if that person has evidence which supports said belief. Evidentialism is, therefore, a thesis about which beliefs are justified and whic ...
, aim to resolve its complications.


Applications in animal populations


Mating displays

Most varieties of animals produce displays for reproductive or courtship purposes. Mating behaviour is often thought to be intentional due to the discriminatory nature of mate selection; that is, pursuit of potential partners anticipates a deliberate choice. Mating processes are frequently disputed under the nature-nurture debate. However, mating procedures may vary across circumstances.
Homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
mating displays such as those noticed in an observation of king penguins on the
Kerguelen Islands The Kerguelen Islands ( or ; in French commonly ' but officially ', ), also known as the Desolation Islands (' in French), are a group of islands in the subantarctic, sub-Antarctic region. They are among the Extremes on Earth#Remoteness, most i ...
appear identical to those used to attract opposite sex individuals. The ability of penguins to differentiate between members of the same and opposite sex has been debated within animal behaviour literature, some claiming the phenomenon to be irregular while others considered it more systemic. Nonetheless, environmental conditions such as sex ratios may demonstrate individual differences within the population. As the Kerguelen Island population showed no conscious discernment between individuals, instead choosing mates at random, Morgan's canon possibly presumes that their displays are genetically hardwired and show no evidence of
discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
between sexes.


Competition and external signals

Competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...
among organisms (usually males) results from unwavering disputes over territory (for mating or general residence), food, or potential mating partners. Individuals may compete using visual signals, as is seen in various
butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
species. Two different combative signals have been recorded: one uses an
aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
display that results in surrender of at least one male contestant, the second requires an encounter with an immature cocoon. The latter does not exclude rivals from approaching the same cocoon, but fights can occur in the event that a female is hatched. Similar instances in other species are supported by
game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...
principles. However, competition between butterflies is a rare occurrence and therefore conflict settlement is not exactly understood. One study used Morgan's canon to identify a third process; the possibility that battles emerge from a mistaken attempt to court other competitors. Since butterflies cannot cause severe injury to opponents nor accurately identify another's sex, the distinction of a mate from a competitor is sometimes nonexistent. Results of several studies conclude that air combat is ideally exclusive to territorial males. Likewise, Morgan's canon justifies misguided combat as long as recorded instances of sex differentiation are limited.


Cognitive awareness

The scope of animal consciousness is not perceived equally by human standards, so obligations to animal species as a whole are unequally distributed. Concerns raised by
animal rights activists Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ho ...
partly discuss the cognitive abilities of individuals or entire species. Such issues suggest that most species are at least somewhat capable of self-acknowledgement.
Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...
are particularly regarded for bearing high intellectual capacities, and are often the subject of cognitive experiments. Though Morgan's canon usually intends to avoid assumptions based on higher order processes, psychological exceptions arise with dolphins as their perceptions do not imply intentionality on their behalf. There is evidence of both self-directed and otherwise directed states of awareness that are close to those experienced by humans. A 2004 study tested the perceptual concept of uncertainty in dolphins. Subject were acclimated to an unaltered sound clip, then were expected to use their memory to determine a change in pitch. Once a lower or higher pitch was heard, the dolphins touched an oar intended as an indicator of each pitch category. Results reference a discrimination threshold beyond which interpretations of pitch change become doubtful (about 2100 Hz). Given potential errors in distinction, a third "escape" oar was provided for use in the event of uncertainty. While individuals do make use of the "escape", they are often reluctant to do so. Dolphin subjects still chose one of the other two options despite confusion, perhaps as an insistence on their original answer. Based on this type of research, experts have widely agreed on a pattern of ingrained compulsion that further supports Morgan's lower ordered inquiries.


See also

*
Animal cognition Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals, including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influ ...
*
B.F. Skinner Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in 1 ...
*
Behavioral ecology Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for ethology, animal behavior due to ecology, ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined Tinbergen's f ...
*
Edward Thorndike Edward Lee Thorndike ( – ) was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on comparative psychology and the learning process led to his " theory of connectionism" and helped ...
*
Mating system A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mating, mate under which circumstances. Reco ...
*
Occam's razor In philosophy, Occam's razor (also spelled Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor; ) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle o ...
*
Pathetic fallacy The phrase pathetic fallacy is a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct to things found in nature that are not human. It is a kind of personification that occurs in poetic descriptions, when, for example, clouds seem sulle ...
* Philosophical razor *
Signalling theory Within evolutionary biology, signalling theory is a body of theoretical work examining communication between individuals, both within species and across species. The central question is how organisms with conflicting interests, such as in se ...


References

{{reflist Animal cognition 1903 introductions