Constructive anthropomorphism: a functional evolutionary approach to the study of human-like cognitive mechanisms in animals

Author:

Arbilly Michal1ORCID,Lotem Arnon2

Affiliation:

1. Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30022, USA

2. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 68878, Israel

Abstract

Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human cognitive processes and emotional states to animals, is commonly viewed as non-scientific and potentially misleading. This is mainly because apparent similarity to humans can usually be explained by alternative, simpler mechanisms in animals, and because there is no explanatory power in analogies to human phenomena when these phenomena are not well understood. Yet, because it is also difficult to preclude real similarity and continuity in the evolution of humans' and animals’ cognitive abilities, it may not be productive to completely ignore our understanding of human behaviour when thinking about animals. Here we propose that in applying a functional approach to the evolution of cognitive mechanisms, human cognition may be used to broaden our theoretical thinking and to generate testable hypotheses. Our goal is not to ‘elevate’ animals, but rather to find the minimal set of mechanistic principles that may explain ‘advanced’ cognitive abilities in humans, and consider under what conditions these mechanisms were likely to enhance fitness and to evolve in animals. We illustrate this approach, from relatively simple emotional states, to more advanced mechanisms, involved in planning and decision-making, episodic memory, metacognition, theory of mind, and consciousness.

Funder

Israel Science Foundation

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

Reference99 articles.

1. An introduction to comparative psychology.

2. Consciousness should be ascribed to animals only with extreme caution;Wynne CDL;Nature,2004

3. Modularity, comparative cognition and human uniqueness

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