ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the strategy of comparative psychology and the interpretation of the phenomena described by Brookshire under the heading divergences in special learning abilities. A meaningful comparative psychology can only emerge, not from superficial work with a large number of animals, but from intensive work with a small number of divergent forms. The comparative psychology of intelligence has been dominated almost from the outset by a powerful theory that denies divergence, and the discovery of different learning processes in any two species whatever would permit at least the generalization that divergence has occurred. The familiar fact that performance in learning situations may be influenced by "species-typical" responses to reinforcement does not necessarily imply the operation of species-typical learning processes. It may be well to give some careful thought to the distinction between questions about qualitative differences in performance and questions about qualitative differences in learning process.
