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The Cognitive Animal Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition This PDF includes a chapter from the following book: The Cognitive Animal Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition © 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology License Terms: Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ OA Funding Provided By: The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding from Arcadia—a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The title-level DOI for this work is: doi:10.7551/mitpress/1885.001.0001 Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/677472/9780262268028_f000000.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Introduction There are as many approaches to studying ani- and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and mal cognition as there are definitions of cogni- Animals (1872). Consequently, both disciplines tion itself. This diversity is reflected in the essays are almost inextricably linked to the concept of that follow, to a degree that we believe is un- instinct. Darwin viewed instinct primarily in be- paralleled in any other volume that has been havioral terms and considered his ability to ex- produced on this subject. This diversity is philo- plain instinct through natural selection to be one sophical and methodological, with contributors of the most critical tests of his theories. Thus he demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or compared closely related species of bees to ex- disdain for terms such as ‘‘consciousness’’ and plain the evolution of hive building and closely various degrees of concern for the rigors of lab- related species of ants to explain the origins of oratory experimentation versus the validity of slave making. He also focused on domesti- naturalistic research. The diversity is also appar- cated species to show how human intervention ent in the wide range of species to be found be- and selection could have formed variants. His tween these covers. Of course there are many prime examples here were di¤erent breeds of chapters on primates, and especially the great dogs and pigeons. Soon, zoologists such as C. O. apes, reflecting our human-centered interest in Whitman, E. C. Poulton, Oskar Heinroth, Julian our closest relatives, but there are also chapters Huxley, and others began to exploit the com- that touch on cognition in animals as diverse as parative method to trace the evolution of even earthworms, antelopes, dogs, spiders, dolphins, the most complex social displays of animals. bees, fish, hyenas, snakes, sea lions, prairie dogs, This work inspired the development of ethology virtual organisms, parrots, rats, ravens, and primarily through the research and promotional squirrels, to name but a few. We think we have e¤orts of the Nobel laureates Konrad Lorenz produced one of the most wide-ranging menag- and Niko Tinbergen. eries of scientific studies of animal cognition ever Although when the Origin appeared in 1859 assembled. Yet it is humbling to realize that in Darwin deliberately discussed neither the evolu- terms of the diversity of life itself we cannot tion nor the behavior of human beings, he did, claim to have even scratched the surface. near the very end of the book, include this intri- One of our objectives in bringing such a di- guing passage: verse collection of research studies together is to show that whatever the ideological di¤erences, In the distant future I see open fields for far more im- portant researches. Psychology will be based on a new behavioristic psychologists and cognitive etholo- foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each gists have a lot to learn from each other and mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be from the neurosciences. Yes there are di¤erences thrown on the origin of man and his history. (Darwin of opinion about how to pursue the study of an- 1859, p. 488) imal cognition, but all sides stand to gain from listening carefully to the concerns of others. De- Note that this passage considers the psychologi- spite the di¤erences, there is in fact a great deal cal aspects of evolution as far more important, in of similarity among the di¤erent approaches, for the long run, than the morphological and taxo- they have, after all, evolved from the same start- nomic issues to which the Origin was largely de- ing point in the theory of evolution by natural voted. Most biologists have ignored the clear selection. evidence, found in Darwin’s early notebooks, The roots of both comparative ethology and that while Darwin may have loved natural his- comparative psychology are found in the writ- tory, his ultimate agenda was to explain the ings of Charles Darwin, particularly in the Ori- origin of perhaps the strangest species of all, gin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), ourselves. Thus, in his later writings Darwin Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/677472/9780262268028_f000000.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Introduction x applied the comparative method to show the 1984). This focus on parsimonious and fairly possible origins of facial expressions in human simple mechanisms to explain diverse abilities beings and speculated about many other aspects had salutary e¤ects in terms of systematizing of abilities typically considered to be uniquely quantitative research methodology and inter- human, such as conceptual thought, language, pretation when the field was young (see Boakes loyalty, love, and morality (the latter was to 1984). Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, was Darwin a social instinct). In this way Darwin among the first to develop quantitative and sta- sought to show that our di¤erences from other tistical means to study behavior. Nevertheless, species were not major qualitative leaps, but by the 1940s, the study of comparative cogni- were based on quantitative change that was due tion, especially in psychology in the United to basic evolutionary processes. Furthermore, States, had narrowed greatly; field and natural- these di¤erences in degree, not kind, were not istic research was disparaged and many impor- due to some external supernatural intervention or tant problems were ignored. The seminal volume a nonmaterial mind. Darwin thus tried to docu- of this period is useful in showing the stated ment that human behavior contained instinctive breadth and e¤ective narrowing of comparative roots that could be traced to our animal ances- psychology (Warden et al. 1935). These authors tors while at the same time arguing that the con- thoroughly criticized early work that was not ceptual, communicative, intellectual, emotional, based on laboratory experimental paradigms and social, and moral aspects of our behavior also concluded that most of it was virtually worthless, had roots in the behavior and psychology of being contaminated by anecdotal, anthropomor- other species. phic, and introspectionist errors. These later writings by Darwin greatly influ- Furthermore, few biology or zoology depart- enced the comparative psychology of the nine- ments incorporated behavior as an important teenth century. Many early writers, going back element in their scientific training and research. to Aristotle, Pliny, and even earlier, had com- European ethologists, with the primary excep- pared the abilities of people with those of other tion of von Uexku¨ll, von Frisch, and Lorenz, animals and pointed out the surprising abilities ignored the study of the higher levels of cogni- of the latter. However, it was Darwin who sys- tion and were especially suspicious of studying tematically set out to show that the gap between consciousness and subjective states. Tinbergen humans and other animals was smaller than pre- (1951) was adamant on this point, almost cer- viously thought, and even more important, how tainly because of the lingering vitalism con- the gap could be bridged by natural selection cerning instinct and mind found in so many and su‰cient time. Darwin’s notebooks from the scientists, including his countryman Birrens de 40 years preceding The Descent of Man showed Haan. Concerning play behavior, Tinbergen how influenced he was by the similarities of mon- (1963, p. 413) wrote: ‘‘Concepts such as play and keys and apes to human beings. learning have not yet been purged completely Darwin and his prote´ge´ in comparative from their subjectivist, anthropomorphic under- psychology, George John Romanes (see, e.g., tones. Both terms have not yet been satisfactorily Romanes 1883, 1892) often relied on casually defined objectively, and this might well prove collected anecdotes and an uncritical anthropo- impossible. .’’ morphism that troubled more experimentally However, the seeds of the conceptual and sophisticated scientists. Soon, the study of ani- methodological tools necessary to reexplore the mal intelligence and abilities was shaped by complex lives of animals were already in place. the writings and work of C. Lloyd Morgan and Wallace Craig (1918) had shown how to separate E. L. Thorndike (Burghardt 1985a,b; Dewsbury the motivational and cognitive aspects of instinct Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/chapter-pdf/677472/9780262268028_f000000.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 Introduction xi as well as the importance of sequential analysis, animal learning and comparative psychology primarily in his distinction between appetitive were ignoring the really interesting phenomena behavior and consummatory acts, a distinction presented by animals as a result of their narrowly now finally being formally recognized and ex- focused laboratory studies of a few selected tended in comparative cognition, as many chap- domesticated species. ters in this book acknowledge. Von Uexku¨ll Ethology, on the other hand, was falling under (1909/1985) gave us the concepts of Umwelt, the influence of behaviorists and ignoring the Innenwelt, counterworld, sign stimulus, search cognitive implications of the flexible and diverse image, and other useful means for approaching accomplishments their studies of animals were the behavior of other species from their per- uncovering.
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