It is no secret that humans are smart mammals. The world today has over 7. 4 billion people who are constantly thinking, discussing, building, and creating. The contributions that humans have made over their relatively short existence on this planet are impressive. This leads us to the question: are humans the only smart mammals?
Cognition is arguably one of the most difficult subjects to observe, document, and study. In studies on human cognition, researchers must rely on the test subject to be truthful and must trust that the test subject is in the proper state of mind to respond well to the study. However, what of animal cognition? Researchers have no form of verbal communication to confirm ideas, thoughts, and feelings with their animal test subjects. Human cognition, on its own, is one of the most widely mysterious fields that one can study. Animal cognition is, thus, even harder and more complex to study, document, and theorize about. With no verbal communication with the test subject, researchers must rely on behavioral patterns and the animal’s own language to try to determine what is going on inside the animal’s head.
In regards to animal cognition, memory, and behavioral study, one must first look at animal cognition as a whole. It is mysterious—hard to study and define. We know that animals can think, however we don’t know what or how they think. A number of animals display behaviors similar to our. From social learning it is logical to assume that, since animals are able to both acquire and use new behaviours, they must be intelligent in a number of way. There are 6 types of behaviour which suggest intelligence. These are imitation, self-recognition, social relationship formation, role-taking, deception and perspective taking. These 6 behaviours are referred to as the theory of mind.
The things that are essential to animals can be various from those that matter to humans. When studying animals, we must test them in situations that have meaning for their lives, not ours, and not merely look to see how much they resemble us.
It is no secret that
humans
are smart mammals. The world
today
has over 7. 4 billion
people
who are
constantly
thinking, discussing, building, and creating. The contributions that
humans
have made over their
relatively
short existence on this planet are impressive. This leads us to the question: are
humans
the
only
smart mammals?
Cognition is
arguably
one of the most difficult
subjects
to observe, document, and
study
. In
studies
on
human
cognition, researchers
must
rely on the
test
subject
to be truthful and
must
trust that the
test
subject
is in the proper state of mind to respond well to the
study
.
However
, what of
animal
cognition? Researchers have no form of verbal communication to confirm
ideas
, thoughts, and feelings with their
animal
test
subjects
.
Human
cognition, on its
own
, is one of the most
widely
mysterious fields that one can
study
.
Animal
cognition is,
thus
, even harder and more complex to
study
, document, and theorize about. With no verbal communication with the
test
subject
, researchers
must
rely on behavioral patterns and the
animal’s
own
language to try to determine what is going on inside the
animal’s
head.
In regards to
animal
cognition, memory, and behavioral
study
, one
must
first
look at
animal
cognition as a whole. It is mysterious—
hard
to
study
and define. We know that
animals
can
think
,
however
we don’t know what or how they
think
. A number of
animals
display behaviors similar to our. From social learning it is logical to assume that, since
animals
are able to both acquire and
use
new
behaviours
, they
must
be intelligent in a number of way. There are 6 types of
behaviour
which suggest intelligence. These are imitation, self-recognition, social relationship formation, role-taking, deception and perspective taking. These 6
behaviours
are referred
to as the theory of mind.
The things that are essential to
animals
can be various from those that matter to
humans
. When studying
animals
, we
must
test
them in situations that have meaning for their
lives
, not ours, and not
merely
look to
see
how much they resemble us.