The Role of Comparative Psychology in the Training of Veterinarians

Abstract

This article highlights some of the advantages that comparative psychology offers the veterinary student and veterinary education generally. Comparative psychology is the oldest of the social sciences and, as such, has accumulated over three centuries of experience in such areas as research design, animal–human interactions, and animal behavior. To establish whether comparative psychology is taught in veterinary schools, we survey all course catalogs of U.S. veterinary schools. None of the schools surveyed offered a course in comparative psychology, and inconsistencies were noted among the schools in regard to courses in animal–human interaction, animal behavior, and ethics. Suggestions are provided on how to incorporate principles of comparative psychology in veterinary education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

An inexpensive low-cost video monitoring system for automated recording of behavior and ecological interactions

“…Students in a course on comparative psychology and behavioral ecology can certainly benefit from learning how to observe behavior and how observations are used to design experiments (Abramson, 2023). It can also be used in the education of veterinarian students to help them better identify problem behaviors of, for example, farm animals and pets (Boughton & Abramson, 2023).…”