Animal Cognition: Evolution, Behavior and Cognition

by Clive D.L. Wynne, Monique A. R. Udell

What occupies the mind of an animal? To what extent do they experience consciousness? Is there such a thing as culture in the animal kingdom? For those new to this fascinating topic, this innovative text delivers an apt and comprehensive introduction to the rich and complex world of animal behaviour and cognition. Discover pivotal case studies and experiments that have irrevocably shaped how we view the psychological and social lives of animals and discover such key cognitive topics as memory, communication and sensory perception. Projecting an insightful scope into the cognitive world of animals, from considering the use of tools in birds to the dance communication system of the honey bee, Wynne and Udell analyse and explain the importance of the observations and studies that have led to the greater understanding of how animals learn, perceive social relations, form concepts, experience time and navigate space.

Written with the student-reader in mind, this text provides the ideal introduction to this excitingly progressive field in psychology to any undergraduate undertaking courses in animal behaviour and comparative psychology. This book is for those who desire to learn an up-to-date history of cornerstone theories in the field thus far and gain a comprehensive introductory understanding into the function and evolution of the broad range of cognitive and behavioural faculties in animals.

New to this
- 'Focus on the data' boxes in-text exploring the scientific foundation of theories and debates
- Authors have taken care to ensure that this 2nd edition has been thoroughly expanded and updated according to the latest results in research

Genres: Psychology, Science, Animals, Biology, Dogs, Nature, Nonfiction

346 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2013

About the author

Clive D.L. Wynne is a founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. He has published pieces in Psychology Today, New Scientist, and the New York Times, and has appeared on National Geographic Explorer, PBS, and the BBC.

Reviews

[Gavin]

As an educator animal cognition is my field.

[ayesha :oo · Rating 4 out of 5]

is definitely a textbook ,, it’s digestible and interesting 👍

[Christie Bane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a page-turner. It’s exactly what it claims to be — a review of the current state of knowledge in the field of animal cognition. Each chapter covers a different aspect of cognition, such as imitation, social learning, communication, etc, and reports on the most critical experiments done in that area. The book as a whole also explains the difficulty of assessing animal cognition. Everything humans do is naturally done from a human viewpoint, and just because we decide to call this thing or that thing intelligence doesn’t mean that it is. All species evolved differently and all of them evolved to do the things THEY need to do and not what WE need them to do, so accurately assessing different species’ intellectual abilities is always going to be very difficult.

[theimprecisemoonjelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

read the whole textbook for a class <3 reviewing for the bit. i finished a fiction book the same day as i finished this, and this was better.

by virtue of being a textbook, it was kind of painful to get through sometimes, especially when you're faced with 200 pages and an exam in two days, but, as far as textbooks go, i liked it! some very fascinating facts and cool further readings. i cannot wait to jump down a few rabbit holes with their guidance over the summer.

[Carolize Haupt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read!

Extremely thought provoking. Offers insight into the minds, lives, perceptions and abilities of many animals and offers a wide range of additional reading material and website links to study further if you'd like to. Highly recommend this book!

[Valentine Obiasogu · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insight into the world of animal cognition

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Higher emphasis on how animals behave and think. Each chapter lists a cognitive function, followed by list of scientific experiments describing how cognitive function works in different animals, followed by summary at end of chapter. Friend pointed out that book would be more interesting with biological workings of why animals behave/think certain ways. Still interesting book, if you want to know what your dog can do and (hint) if it really feels guilty when it gives you the guilty face, how chimps differ from humans, what animals can use magnetic, electric, and UV-detecting sensory systems to navigate and hunt...reminder that not everyone sees the world like a human does. Reminder of perception's diversity.

[Deyanira Villalta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand writing on the cognition of animals.