Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals [Paperback]

Clive D. L. Wynne (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0333923960 | ISBN-13: 978-0333923962 | Publication Date: March 8, 2002

Covering a wide range of key topics, from reasoning and communication to sensation and complex problem-solving, this engagingly-written text presents a comprehensive survey of contemporary research on animal cognition. Written for anyone with an interest in animal cognition, but without a background in animal behavior, it endeavors to explain what makes animals tick.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Extremely readable, particularly for undergraduates...the first book of its kind that is well-suited for an advanced undergraduate course rather than for a graduate course." --Professor Tom Zentall, University of Kentucky

"Wynne writes clearly, engages the reader well, and gives lots of examples and anecdotes but does not sacrifice rigor." --Professor Michael Corballis, University of Auckland

About the Author

Clive D.L. Wynne is Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (March 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333923960
• ISBN-13: 978-0333923962
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #511,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor Choice For Your Classroom, June 1, 2009

By 

Vegan-Analysis (from parts unknown) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals (Paperback)

This is a textbook on the subject of animal intelligence, which is a much better book than the author's popular level book, Do Animals Think? The text includes very lucid descriptions of animal "IQ tests." I have to say that Dr. Wynne has a remarkable ability to explain academic matters in very simple English. However, the book is strangely personal and jaded for a classroom textbook. At one point in this textbook, the author tells a story about a friend bringing him a newspaper article about dolphins having sex just for fun. He tells his friend that the article is "ridiculous." He goes on to say why he thinks the article is "ridiculous" but never states why the article makes such an assertion about dolphins. In other words, he never addresses the researchers' reasons for thinking the dolphins have sex just for pleasure. Of course, he could be correct on all of his points, but I'm warning you before you spend good money on his books: This animal researcher has a strangely hand-waving, dismissive, cynical attititude towards the whole idea of animal intelligence and emotion. It really is very odd. He seems determined to expose what he calls the foolishness of popluar opinion about animals. He wants to say that the scientists or philosophers who believe in animal rights and intelligence (a growing number) are just idealogues, or they are being politically correct. If you are a cynic yourself, check out the "Smart Crow" videos over at Youtube.

Now "Vegan-Analysis" is going to get himself in hot water again, but I must tell you the truth. You can take it or leave it. Here it goes: Dr. Wynne teaches at the University of Florida, which is a notoriously conservative institution that propagates Republican thought in economics, political science, religious studies, etc. I'm sorry to have to say this, but it is a well-known, little-advertised fact about UF. I'm sorry but I sincerely want you to know this before you pull out your credit card - Dr. Wynne has a bias, too - which he has been known to admit to at times. If you shop around, you will see that there are some very objective and readable books out there such as Animal Learning & Cognition, 3rd Edition by Dr. Pearce, Minds of Their Own by Lesley Rogers, The Cognitive Animal (multiple authors), Animal Intelligence by Dr. Zhana Reznikova, The Smartest Animals on the Planet by Dr. Sally Boysen, and Cognition, Evolution & Behavior by Sara Shettleworth.

As I said, the author is an excellent writer. His thoughts are clearly expressed without academic jargon. This textbook on animal intelligence is probably the most readable textbook on this subject currently in publication. However, his analysis is awful. For example, concerning the mark mirror recognition test on chimps, he argues that mirror recogntion does not indicate self-awareness, because one could imagine a robot being programed to identify itself in a mirror! What a stupid remark! His critique of mirror recognition in dolphins is equally pathetic. He says nothing about positive results (disputed results, however) from research on birds, dogs and pigs. His interpretation of signs of self-awareness in other animals is that they have an "own-body concept." I see this as a clear avoidance of the conclusion that animals have consciousness. You will notice how annoyed the author is at the concept of apes and humans being genetically near identical. He actually attempts to argue that this universally accepted conclusion is incorrect. His work is hyper-critical and selective.

5.0 out of 5 stars A students perspective, December 4, 2010

By 

Sondre Skarsten - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals (Paperback)

This will be a very hasty review, which i will get back to and actually do justice to once this semester ends and i will have some time. For now all i will say is that this book was a thoroughly enjoyable read (it is the only university textbook i have sat down and read cover to cover even before the semester started) which gives a brief and well balanced introduction to animal cognition. With the focus being on well balanced. If you want to read about how amazing it that capuchin monkeys can show envy, then this is probably not the book for you, but neither is it the book for those who want to read skinnerian stimulus-response account of animal behavior.

This book does what any good textbook should do and that is stick to what is the accepted norm within research on animal cognition. As we learn more, this perspective will change, and so will this textbook, however for now, it maintains a perspective which i believe to be well balanced for a basic introduction to animal cognition.

Another commenter commented on its associations to UF, now i can not say anything on the school as a wholes political agenda, but was i will say, as a norwegian left wing liberal, who thinks the democrats are atrociously conservative and the republicans a joke, not once while reading this book did i feel myself being preached to.