Larry Carbone
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195161960
- eISBN:
- 9780199790067
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195161960.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter examines the development of the profession of laboratory animal veterinary medicine. It argues that veterinarians have carved out a limited niche for themselves without impinging on the ...
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This chapter examines the development of the profession of laboratory animal veterinary medicine. It argues that veterinarians have carved out a limited niche for themselves without impinging on the liberty of researchers to use animals as they see fit. Veterinarians have consolidated their domain of animal care (as opposed to animal use) through their focus on controlling animal infections and disease, but their medicalized conception of animal welfare left them ill prepared for the conceptual shift in animal welfare policy in the 1980s, with its new focus on animal behavior, subjectivity, emotion, and psychological well-being.Less
This chapter examines the development of the profession of laboratory animal veterinary medicine. It argues that veterinarians have carved out a limited niche for themselves without impinging on the liberty of researchers to use animals as they see fit. Veterinarians have consolidated their domain of animal care (as opposed to animal use) through their focus on controlling animal infections and disease, but their medicalized conception of animal welfare left them ill prepared for the conceptual shift in animal welfare policy in the 1980s, with its new focus on animal behavior, subjectivity, emotion, and psychological well-being.
Etienne Save and Bruno Poucet
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195323245
- eISBN:
- 9780199869268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323245.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
This chapter reviews relevant data on the relationships between place cell firing and animals' spatial behavior. Evidence suggests that there is an interaction between place cells and behavior. Two ...
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This chapter reviews relevant data on the relationships between place cell firing and animals' spatial behavior. Evidence suggests that there is an interaction between place cells and behavior. Two complementary aspects of this interaction have emerged from these studies — namely, that place cells guide spatial behavior and, conversely, that behavior influences place cell firing.Less
This chapter reviews relevant data on the relationships between place cell firing and animals' spatial behavior. Evidence suggests that there is an interaction between place cells and behavior. Two complementary aspects of this interaction have emerged from these studies — namely, that place cells guide spatial behavior and, conversely, that behavior influences place cell firing.
Susan Hurley and Matthew Nudds
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198528272
- eISBN:
- 9780191689529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528272.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about animal rationality and mental processing in animals. This book discusses the ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about animal rationality and mental processing in animals. This book discusses the theoretical issues and distinctions that bear on attributions of rationality to animals and draws some contrasts between rationality and certain other traits of animals to determine the relationships between them. It explores the relations between behaviour and the processes that explain behaviour, and the senses in which animal behaviour might be rational in virtue of features other than classical reasoning processes on the human model.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about animal rationality and mental processing in animals. This book discusses the theoretical issues and distinctions that bear on attributions of rationality to animals and draws some contrasts between rationality and certain other traits of animals to determine the relationships between them. It explores the relations between behaviour and the processes that explain behaviour, and the senses in which animal behaviour might be rational in virtue of features other than classical reasoning processes on the human model.
Carl Ratner
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195373547
- eISBN:
- 9780199918294
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373547.003.0031
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The chapter explains unique human psychology as the outgrowth of unique properties of culture. Human psychology is cultural because it is selected by the cultural environment. This is a Darwinian ...
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The chapter explains unique human psychology as the outgrowth of unique properties of culture. Human psychology is cultural because it is selected by the cultural environment. This is a Darwinian argument. Human culture is socially constructed in fast-changing variable forms. It requires flexible psychological phenomena that can design and maintain and change these kinds of cultural factors. This is anathema to fixed, biologically programmed behavioral tendencies. Even human biology is socially formed. Examples of the unique, cultural formation of psychology are provided. Biological functions are shown to potentiate rather than determine psychology/behavior.Less
The chapter explains unique human psychology as the outgrowth of unique properties of culture. Human psychology is cultural because it is selected by the cultural environment. This is a Darwinian argument. Human culture is socially constructed in fast-changing variable forms. It requires flexible psychological phenomena that can design and maintain and change these kinds of cultural factors. This is anathema to fixed, biologically programmed behavioral tendencies. Even human biology is socially formed. Examples of the unique, cultural formation of psychology are provided. Biological functions are shown to potentiate rather than determine psychology/behavior.
Carl N. Degler
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195077070
- eISBN:
- 9780199853991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195077070.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter examines social scientists' use of biology in the study of human behavior. The conundrum of the roots of the incest taboo among human beings is surely the most elaborate example of the ...
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This chapter examines social scientists' use of biology in the study of human behavior. The conundrum of the roots of the incest taboo among human beings is surely the most elaborate example of the way biological knowledge has been drawn upon by social scientists. Another application of biology was in the discovery that among some animal species individuals in a group situation arranged themselves in a hierarchical pattern of relations. This study took place during the 1920s.Less
This chapter examines social scientists' use of biology in the study of human behavior. The conundrum of the roots of the incest taboo among human beings is surely the most elaborate example of the way biological knowledge has been drawn upon by social scientists. Another application of biology was in the discovery that among some animal species individuals in a group situation arranged themselves in a hierarchical pattern of relations. This study took place during the 1920s.
Annabel S. Brett
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691141930
- eISBN:
- 9781400838622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691141930.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter explores the concept of natural law, turning first to the Protestant milieu. Alterity—what would in the seventeenth century come to be theorized, and problematized, as “sociability”—is ...
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This chapter explores the concept of natural law, turning first to the Protestant milieu. Alterity—what would in the seventeenth century come to be theorized, and problematized, as “sociability”—is the dominant mood of the humanist and Protestant handling of natural law. It is there even in Thomas Hobbes, whose natural law coincides with moral philosophy and concerns the sphere of one's actions in respect of others. However, the Catholic scholastic tradition presents a very different framing of natural law, one that centers on individual agency and regulates the behavior of individual agents in their aspect as beings of a particular kind. While authors in this tradition grapple equally with the question of animal behavior in relation to law, they do not do so from the social perspective that characterizes Protestant humanist Aristotelians and jurists.Less
This chapter explores the concept of natural law, turning first to the Protestant milieu. Alterity—what would in the seventeenth century come to be theorized, and problematized, as “sociability”—is the dominant mood of the humanist and Protestant handling of natural law. It is there even in Thomas Hobbes, whose natural law coincides with moral philosophy and concerns the sphere of one's actions in respect of others. However, the Catholic scholastic tradition presents a very different framing of natural law, one that centers on individual agency and regulates the behavior of individual agents in their aspect as beings of a particular kind. While authors in this tradition grapple equally with the question of animal behavior in relation to law, they do not do so from the social perspective that characterizes Protestant humanist Aristotelians and jurists.
David F. Armstrong and Sherman E. Wilcox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195163483
- eISBN:
- 9780199867523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195163483.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter presents evidence from several signed languages for the emergence of grammar from the words (signs) of these languages. It details how signed words develop out of non-words — out of ...
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This chapter presents evidence from several signed languages for the emergence of grammar from the words (signs) of these languages. It details how signed words develop out of non-words — out of gesture by the same fundamental processes. This is the advantage that the study of signed languages uniquely offers — one can observe as new languages actually emerge, as, for example, in the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). The emergence of language is linked to a process long studied in the evolution of animal behaviour — the process of ritualization.Less
This chapter presents evidence from several signed languages for the emergence of grammar from the words (signs) of these languages. It details how signed words develop out of non-words — out of gesture by the same fundamental processes. This is the advantage that the study of signed languages uniquely offers — one can observe as new languages actually emerge, as, for example, in the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). The emergence of language is linked to a process long studied in the evolution of animal behaviour — the process of ritualization.
Philippe N. Tobler
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195373035
- eISBN:
- 9780199865543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195373035.003.0022
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems, History of Neuroscience
This chapter reviews the extracellular studies of dopamine neurons in behaving animals. Topics covered include motor functions of dopamine neurons, reward functions of dopamine neurons, reward ...
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This chapter reviews the extracellular studies of dopamine neurons in behaving animals. Topics covered include motor functions of dopamine neurons, reward functions of dopamine neurons, reward learning functions of dopamine neurons, economic value functions of dopamine neurons, and attention and novelty functions of dopamine neurons.Less
This chapter reviews the extracellular studies of dopamine neurons in behaving animals. Topics covered include motor functions of dopamine neurons, reward functions of dopamine neurons, reward learning functions of dopamine neurons, economic value functions of dopamine neurons, and attention and novelty functions of dopamine neurons.
Richard Firn
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199566839
- eISBN:
- 9780191721700
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199566839.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
This chapter focuses on the important role of Natural Products in determining the interactions between individuals (of the same or of different species) that cohabit an area. The interactions between ...
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This chapter focuses on the important role of Natural Products in determining the interactions between individuals (of the same or of different species) that cohabit an area. The interactions between plants and animals provide examples of the way in which NPs play a role in interspecies interactions. In many animals, the key senses of taste and smell have evolved to be acute sensors of a very few NPs, but most NPs are quite possibly never sensed by any organism. However, given that NPs evolved billions of years ago, and terrestrial animals and plants only about 400 million years ago, there is a very large hole in our understanding of the selection forces in microbes that drove the evolution of NPs for the majority of evolutionary time.Less
This chapter focuses on the important role of Natural Products in determining the interactions between individuals (of the same or of different species) that cohabit an area. The interactions between plants and animals provide examples of the way in which NPs play a role in interspecies interactions. In many animals, the key senses of taste and smell have evolved to be acute sensors of a very few NPs, but most NPs are quite possibly never sensed by any organism. However, given that NPs evolved billions of years ago, and terrestrial animals and plants only about 400 million years ago, there is a very large hole in our understanding of the selection forces in microbes that drove the evolution of NPs for the majority of evolutionary time.
Jose Luis Bermudez
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195159691
- eISBN:
- 9780199849598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195159691.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter outlines the different types of question posed by the forms of psychological explanations of the behavior of nonlinguistic creatures given in various parts of the cognitive and ...
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This chapter outlines the different types of question posed by the forms of psychological explanations of the behavior of nonlinguistic creatures given in various parts of the cognitive and behavioral sciences. Due to the cognitive turn in the behavioral and cognitive sciences in the modern age, high-level cognitive abilities are being investigated in an ever-increasing number of species and at earliest stages of human development. This chapter explores the development in the scientific study of human characteristics and animal behavior. The new discipline of cognitive ethology is essential in the study of the mental states of animals and of how those mental states manifest themselves in behavior. The three areas of cognitive ethology, developmental, psychological, and cognitive archaeology are becoming ever more closely integrated. Research into animal cognition is now employing the dishabituation paradigm.Less
This chapter outlines the different types of question posed by the forms of psychological explanations of the behavior of nonlinguistic creatures given in various parts of the cognitive and behavioral sciences. Due to the cognitive turn in the behavioral and cognitive sciences in the modern age, high-level cognitive abilities are being investigated in an ever-increasing number of species and at earliest stages of human development. This chapter explores the development in the scientific study of human characteristics and animal behavior. The new discipline of cognitive ethology is essential in the study of the mental states of animals and of how those mental states manifest themselves in behavior. The three areas of cognitive ethology, developmental, psychological, and cognitive archaeology are becoming ever more closely integrated. Research into animal cognition is now employing the dishabituation paradigm.
K.J. Jeffery (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198515241
- eISBN:
- 9780191687914
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515241.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This book explores the relationship between cellular processes and animal behaviour. It does this by focusing on the domain of navigation, bringing together scientists from either side of the ...
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This book explores the relationship between cellular processes and animal behaviour. It does this by focusing on the domain of navigation, bringing together scientists from either side of the brain-behaviour divide in an attempt to explain the linkage between spatial behaviour and the underlying activity of neurons. The book is organised into two sections. Section One deals with the so-called ‘higher’ levels of description — studies of spatial behaviour and the brain areas that might underlie such behaviour. It begins with insects, remarkably sophisticated navigators, and ends with humans, examining along the way issues such as whether animal brains contain maps and whether spatial and non-spatial information interact, and if so, how? Section Two delves further into the brain and focuses on the mammalian representation of space and the role of place cells. These issues have far wider ramifications than simply helping us to understand the process of navigation. This system might provide a model for how other forms of knowledge, beliefs, and intentions are encoded in neurons.Less
This book explores the relationship between cellular processes and animal behaviour. It does this by focusing on the domain of navigation, bringing together scientists from either side of the brain-behaviour divide in an attempt to explain the linkage between spatial behaviour and the underlying activity of neurons. The book is organised into two sections. Section One deals with the so-called ‘higher’ levels of description — studies of spatial behaviour and the brain areas that might underlie such behaviour. It begins with insects, remarkably sophisticated navigators, and ends with humans, examining along the way issues such as whether animal brains contain maps and whether spatial and non-spatial information interact, and if so, how? Section Two delves further into the brain and focuses on the mammalian representation of space and the role of place cells. These issues have far wider ramifications than simply helping us to understand the process of navigation. This system might provide a model for how other forms of knowledge, beliefs, and intentions are encoded in neurons.
Leslie L. Iversen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195328240
- eISBN:
- 9780199864751
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328240.003.0004
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems
This chapter discusses the central nervous system effects of cannabis. Topics covered include subjective reports of the marijuana high, laboratory studies of marijuana in human volunteers, insights ...
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This chapter discusses the central nervous system effects of cannabis. Topics covered include subjective reports of the marijuana high, laboratory studies of marijuana in human volunteers, insights from animal behavior experiments, and whether the repeated use of marijuana leads to tolerance and dependence.Less
This chapter discusses the central nervous system effects of cannabis. Topics covered include subjective reports of the marijuana high, laboratory studies of marijuana in human volunteers, insights from animal behavior experiments, and whether the repeated use of marijuana leads to tolerance and dependence.
Julia Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views ...
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Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views communication, in its elementary form, as an interaction between two individuals (sender and receiver) involving the use of signals by the sender as well as the processing of and responses to those signals by the receiver. This framework defends the concept of information but rejects the notion that senders are generally selected to “provide” information and that information is “encoded” within a signal. The notion that animals process information creates a bridge from studies of communication to those assessing the cognitive underpinnings of communicative behavior.Less
Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views communication, in its elementary form, as an interaction between two individuals (sender and receiver) involving the use of signals by the sender as well as the processing of and responses to those signals by the receiver. This framework defends the concept of information but rejects the notion that senders are generally selected to “provide” information and that information is “encoded” within a signal. The notion that animals process information creates a bridge from studies of communication to those assessing the cognitive underpinnings of communicative behavior.
Edward S. Reed
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195073010
- eISBN:
- 9780199846887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195073010.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Ecological psychology holds that behavior and awareness are an animal's ways of discovering and using key resources—the values and meanings—of the animal's surroundings. Human beings are no different ...
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Ecological psychology holds that behavior and awareness are an animal's ways of discovering and using key resources—the values and meanings—of the animal's surroundings. Human beings are no different from other animals in this regard, although we have evolved some novel cooperative methods for these processes of discovery and use. The key to understanding resource use, whether in evolution generally or more specifically in regard to psychological evolution, is to find the selective processes that constrain and change the varieties of resource use found in a population. This chapter argues that the source of the psychological components of natural selection are the affordances of the environment. These affordances select and shape animal behavior and awareness, not only on the time scale of natural selection but also within more narrow time scales, such as that of ontogeny, learning, and individual behavioral acts. The concept of affordances as the basis of animacy and sentience is ecological psychology's contribution to our general understanding of the evolution of animals within the environment.Less
Ecological psychology holds that behavior and awareness are an animal's ways of discovering and using key resources—the values and meanings—of the animal's surroundings. Human beings are no different from other animals in this regard, although we have evolved some novel cooperative methods for these processes of discovery and use. The key to understanding resource use, whether in evolution generally or more specifically in regard to psychological evolution, is to find the selective processes that constrain and change the varieties of resource use found in a population. This chapter argues that the source of the psychological components of natural selection are the affordances of the environment. These affordances select and shape animal behavior and awareness, not only on the time scale of natural selection but also within more narrow time scales, such as that of ontogeny, learning, and individual behavioral acts. The concept of affordances as the basis of animacy and sentience is ecological psychology's contribution to our general understanding of the evolution of animals within the environment.
Susan Hurley and Matthew Nudds (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198528272
- eISBN:
- 9780191689529
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528272.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This book focuses on one of the major debates in science today — how closely does mental processing in animals resemble mental processing in humans? It addresses the ...
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This book focuses on one of the major debates in science today — how closely does mental processing in animals resemble mental processing in humans? It addresses the question of whether and to what extent any animal behaviour can be regarded as the result of a rational thought processes. Three key questions recur throughout the book: What kinds of behavioural tasks can animals successfully perform? What, if any, mental processes must be postulated to explain their performance at these tasks? What properties must processes have to count as rational? The book pursues these questions in relation to primates, birds and dolphins. Some chapters focus on a particular species. They describe some of the extraordinary and complex behaviour of these species — using tools to solve foraging problems, for example, or behaving in novel ways to solve complex social problems — and ask whether such behaviour should be explained in rational or merely mechanistic terms. Other chapters address more theoretical issues and ask, for example, what it means for behaviour to be rational, and whether rationality can be understood in the absence of language. The book features empirical work on rationality in primates, dolphins, and birds. The book includes an editors' introduction, which summarizes the philosophical and empirical work presented, and draws together the issues discussed by the contributors.Less
This book focuses on one of the major debates in science today — how closely does mental processing in animals resemble mental processing in humans? It addresses the question of whether and to what extent any animal behaviour can be regarded as the result of a rational thought processes. Three key questions recur throughout the book: What kinds of behavioural tasks can animals successfully perform? What, if any, mental processes must be postulated to explain their performance at these tasks? What properties must processes have to count as rational? The book pursues these questions in relation to primates, birds and dolphins. Some chapters focus on a particular species. They describe some of the extraordinary and complex behaviour of these species — using tools to solve foraging problems, for example, or behaving in novel ways to solve complex social problems — and ask whether such behaviour should be explained in rational or merely mechanistic terms. Other chapters address more theoretical issues and ask, for example, what it means for behaviour to be rational, and whether rationality can be understood in the absence of language. The book features empirical work on rationality in primates, dolphins, and birds. The book includes an editors' introduction, which summarizes the philosophical and empirical work presented, and draws together the issues discussed by the contributors.
Anna L. Peterson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520226548
- eISBN:
- 9780520926059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520226548.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This chapter explores the role of anthropological claims in ethics with a look at the ways the natural sciences might contribute to alternative narratives about human nature and relations with the ...
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This chapter explores the role of anthropological claims in ethics with a look at the ways the natural sciences might contribute to alternative narratives about human nature and relations with the nonhuman world. It discusses the implications of evolutionary theory for human nature and humans' place in nature and looks at the increasingly rich picture of nonhuman behavior provided by studies of animal behavior. It also evaluates the role of ecological knowledge in ideas about human nature and environmental ethics.Less
This chapter explores the role of anthropological claims in ethics with a look at the ways the natural sciences might contribute to alternative narratives about human nature and relations with the nonhuman world. It discusses the implications of evolutionary theory for human nature and humans' place in nature and looks at the increasingly rich picture of nonhuman behavior provided by studies of animal behavior. It also evaluates the role of ecological knowledge in ideas about human nature and environmental ethics.
Randolf Menzel and Julia Fischer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art ...
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Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art assessment of animal cognition, with experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology addressing these questions in an integrative fashion. It summarizes the latest research, identifies areas where consensus has been reached, and takes on current controversies. Over the last thirty years, the field has shifted from the collection of anecdotes and the pursuit of the subjective experience of animals to a rigorous, hypothesis-driven experimental approach. Taking a skeptical stance, this volume stresses the notion that in many cases relatively simple rules may account for rather complex and flexible behaviors. The book critically evaluates current concepts and puts a strong focus on the psychological mechanisms that underpin animal behavior. It offers comparative analyses that reveal common principles as well as adaptations that evolved in particular species in response to specific selective pressures. It assesses experimental approaches to the study of animal navigation, decision making, social cognition, and communication and suggests directions for future research. The book promotes a research program that seeks to understand animals’ cognitive abilities and behavioral routines as individuals and as members of social groups.Less
Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art assessment of animal cognition, with experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology addressing these questions in an integrative fashion. It summarizes the latest research, identifies areas where consensus has been reached, and takes on current controversies. Over the last thirty years, the field has shifted from the collection of anecdotes and the pursuit of the subjective experience of animals to a rigorous, hypothesis-driven experimental approach. Taking a skeptical stance, this volume stresses the notion that in many cases relatively simple rules may account for rather complex and flexible behaviors. The book critically evaluates current concepts and puts a strong focus on the psychological mechanisms that underpin animal behavior. It offers comparative analyses that reveal common principles as well as adaptations that evolved in particular species in response to specific selective pressures. It assesses experimental approaches to the study of animal navigation, decision making, social cognition, and communication and suggests directions for future research. The book promotes a research program that seeks to understand animals’ cognitive abilities and behavioral routines as individuals and as members of social groups.
Stan A. Kuczaj II and Rachel Thames Walker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195377804
- eISBN:
- 9780199848461
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377804.003.0030
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Some animals appear to engage in purposeful problem solving. Trial-and-error learning and conscious reflection appear to lie at opposite ends ...
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Some animals appear to engage in purposeful problem solving. Trial-and-error learning and conscious reflection appear to lie at opposite ends of the problem-solving spectrum. The distinction between trial-and-error learning and the sorts of reflection involved in planning and insight is important in the history of the comparative study of problem solving. This chapter explores the problem-solving capabilities of bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins possess relatively large brains and have demonstrated a variety of cognitive abilities. However, relatively little is known about the manner in which dolphins solve problems. The chapter first considers two cases (dolphin “syntax” and dolphin “pointing”) in which dolphins derive strategies in response to problems posed to them by humans. It then summarizes a series of studies designed to assess the ability of dolphins to plan their behavior when confronted with novel problems. It also presents recent findings on dolphin play and considers the role of play in the emergence of problem-solving skills.Less
Some animals appear to engage in purposeful problem solving. Trial-and-error learning and conscious reflection appear to lie at opposite ends of the problem-solving spectrum. The distinction between trial-and-error learning and the sorts of reflection involved in planning and insight is important in the history of the comparative study of problem solving. This chapter explores the problem-solving capabilities of bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins possess relatively large brains and have demonstrated a variety of cognitive abilities. However, relatively little is known about the manner in which dolphins solve problems. The chapter first considers two cases (dolphin “syntax” and dolphin “pointing”) in which dolphins derive strategies in response to problems posed to them by humans. It then summarizes a series of studies designed to assess the ability of dolphins to plan their behavior when confronted with novel problems. It also presents recent findings on dolphin play and considers the role of play in the emergence of problem-solving skills.
Randolf Menzel and Julia Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of ...
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Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity. This paved the way for an immensely productive research program. While this field benefited from insights into the proximate causes of animal behavior, awareness grew of the importance of taking a species’ evolutionary history and ecological adaptation into account, an insight which led to a multitude of field studies with a large range of animal species. Studies in the field and lab are now performed in concert to compensate for their respective limitations. It is this combined approach which makes current cognitive behavioral studies so rich. This identifies key questions at the frontier of present research and discusses how these questions can be translated into experiments and observations.Less
Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity. This paved the way for an immensely productive research program. While this field benefited from insights into the proximate causes of animal behavior, awareness grew of the importance of taking a species’ evolutionary history and ecological adaptation into account, an insight which led to a multitude of field studies with a large range of animal species. Studies in the field and lab are now performed in concert to compensate for their respective limitations. It is this combined approach which makes current cognitive behavioral studies so rich. This identifies key questions at the frontier of present research and discusses how these questions can be translated into experiments and observations.
Marian Stamp Dawkins
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198503200
- eISBN:
- 9780191686474
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198503200.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
The first part of human's quest for consciousness in other species is to look at what is now known about their behaviour and to see whether this can be dismissed as simply the workings of unthinking, ...
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The first part of human's quest for consciousness in other species is to look at what is now known about their behaviour and to see whether this can be dismissed as simply the workings of unthinking, unfeeling automata, blindly going through a set series of actions with no hint of a mind to guide them or whether what they do is complex enough and unpredictable enough that it suggests the possibility – even a remote one – that somewhere a spark of consciousness has come alight. A stumbling block that many people have when they look at animals is that they see their behaviour as being the opposite of clever and complex. In fact, they see animals as essentially stupid.Less
The first part of human's quest for consciousness in other species is to look at what is now known about their behaviour and to see whether this can be dismissed as simply the workings of unthinking, unfeeling automata, blindly going through a set series of actions with no hint of a mind to guide them or whether what they do is complex enough and unpredictable enough that it suggests the possibility – even a remote one – that somewhere a spark of consciousness has come alight. A stumbling block that many people have when they look at animals is that they see their behaviour as being the opposite of clever and complex. In fact, they see animals as essentially stupid.
