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Cognition in animals.

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Animal intelligence. --- Cognition in animals.

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"If the author of this book had had to choose a title for it after it was written he would have called it "A Romance of the Animal World." For the contents both seem and are romantic and wonderful, although--with the exception of such doubtful or possibly doubtful observations as are given on the authority of the writer himself--there is nothing therein which does not rest on scientific investigation or on the evidence of trustworthy observers, who, at different times and in different places, have had co-incident experiences, and whose accounts bear the stamp of sober research, and are the simple description of things they actually saw. But as histories (of nations as of individuals), related just as they really happened and still are daily happening, are full of more wonderful and more startling occurrences, of grander tragedy and more irresistible comedy, of more apparently impossible and incredible things and events than are told in fiction, and leave far behind them the boldest fancies of poets and novelists, so it is also with nature; she is wont, the more we peer into her secrets, to bring the most marvelous, the mightiest and the most "astonishing forms out of the simplest and the least differentiated. That "Mind in Animals" especially is in reality a far other, higher and more complex thing than had hitherto been generally conceived, and indeed than the ruling schools of philosophy desired (and still desire) to admit, can be unknown to none who is acquainted with animals, not alone from hearsay and from philosophic writings, but from his own intercourse with them, from his own observation, or from the works and teachings of real and unprejudiced observers. For such observation furnishes continually, and with overwhelming fullness, the most startling and incontrovertible examples and proofs, that between the thinking, willing, and feeling of men and of animals there is the most striking similarity, and often a mere difference of degree. But even among comparatively educated people it has been little thought and felt that this rule applies also to those classes of animals which appear to be so far below us as those treated of in the present work; our intellectual vanity will have to submit to bitter humiliation and rebuke in contemplating the proceedings--or the societies and deeds--of these unjustly despised, but yet, in spite of their minuteness, wonderful creatures. But the greater the humiliation from the one point of view, the greater from the other is the satisfaction arising from the renewed proof of the sublime unity of Nature; and hence that the same intellectual or spiritual principle, call it reason, understanding, soul, instinct, or propensity, pervades the whole organised series, even if in the most manifold modifications and variations, from below to above, from above to below"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Animal intelligence. --- Cognition in animals.

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"Animal minds are complex and diverse, making them difficult to study. This Element focuses on a question that has received much attention in the field of comparative cognition: "Do animals reason about unobservable variables like force and mental states?" The Element shows how researchers design studies and gather evidence to address this question. Despite the many virtues of current methods, hypotheses in comparative cognition are often underdetermined by the empirical evidence. Given this, philosophers and scientists have recently called for additional behavioral constraints on theorizing in the field. The Element endorses this proposal (known as "signature testing"), while also arguing that studies on animal minds would benefit from drawing more heavily on neuroscience and biology"--

Cognition in animals. --- Psychology, Comparative.

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How do we develop self-awareness, or a sense of self? One of the most popular theories is that language plays a major role: language and the narrative form allow us to develop a sense of self because this sense is dependent upon representational thought and the psychological manipulation of representations. Some scholars argue against this theory, claiming that more than language and representational thought is needed. Comparing human and animal cognition is a particularly powerful way of examining this disagreement; if animals possess self-awareness without having the representational linguistic capabilities of humans, then the comparison will provide significant evidence for the argument that language and narrative form do not play the only role, and that researchers may have overlooked a cognitive link. This volume will be of great interest to researchers in cognitive, developmental, and social psychology.

Cognition in animals. --- Psychology, Comparative. --- Self-perception.