Beyond the Brain: How Body and Environment Shape Animal and Human Minds - Hardcover

Barrett, Louise

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691126445 ISBN 13: 9780691126449

Verlag: Princeton University Press, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

A new approach to understanding animal and human cognition

When a chimpanzee stockpiles rocks as weapons or when a frog sends out mating calls, we might easily assume these animals know their own motivations--that they use the same psychological mechanisms that we do. But as Beyond the Brain indicates, this is a dangerous assumption because animals have different evolutionary trajectories, ecological niches, and physical attributes. How do these differences influence animal thinking and behavior? Removing our human-centered spectacles, Louise Barrett investigates the mind and brain and offers an alternative approach for understanding animal and human cognition. Drawing on examples from animal behavior, comparative psychology, robotics, artificial life, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, Barrett provides remarkable new insights into how animals and humans depend on their bodies and environment—not just their brains—to behave intelligently.

Barrett begins with an overview of human cognitive adaptations and how these color our views of other species, brains, and minds. Considering when it is worth having a big brain—or indeed having a brain at all—she investigates exactly what brains are good at. Showing that the brain's evolutionary function guides action in the world, she looks at how physical structure contributes to cognitive processes, and she demonstrates how these processes employ materials and resources in specific environments.

Arguing that thinking and behavior constitute a property of the whole organism, not just the brain, Beyond the Brain illustrates how the body, brain, and cognition are tied to the wider world.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Louise Barrett is Professor of Psychology and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of Lethbridge. She is the author of Baboons and the coauthor of Cousins, Walking with Cavemen, Human Evolutionary Psychology, and Evolutionary Psychology.

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"Louise Barrett's latest book is a beacon of hope for anyone who worries that the study of the evolution of cognition is being reduced to nothing but sensationalistic claims about the nature of the animal mind. With delightful prose, she makes a strong case that overinflated notions regarding how human minds work have tragically distorted our view of other animals. Barrett's book is a highest-priority must read for the next generation of scientists interested in the evolution of cognition."--Daniel J. Povinelli, University of Louisiana

"A delight to read, this very ambitious book furnishes a fresh perspective on animal behavior. Barrett synthesizes a broad literature from fields as diverse as ethology, ecological psychology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and philosophy, and masterfully weaves the different strands together into an iconoclastic but coherent view of cognitive behavior. A reader could not wish for a clearer guide into this new field."--Carel van Schaik, Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich

"This is an excellent book about comparative cognition, how minds and brains evolve, and how to think about the minds of animals."--Nicola S. Clayton, University of Cambridge

"Clear and engaging, this thought-provoking book is an excellent synthesis of new directions in cognitive science and evolution. The use of everyday and humorous examples is effective, and the scholarship is impressive in its breadth and rigor, combining ideas from ecological psychology, robotics, cognitive science, and evolutionary biology. A stimulating read, it will have scientists questioning conventional wisdom about the nature of cognition and species difference."--Robert Barton, Durham University

"Arguing that observed animal behavior is substantially organized by both an organism's physical structure and environmental affordances, this book raises interesting questions about the role of cognition in behavior and the attribution of complex behaviors to cognitive processes similar to those purportedly supporting human behavior. An intriguing and engaging book."--Bennett Galef, McMaster University

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"Louise Barrett's latest book is a beacon of hope for anyone who worries that the study of the evolution of cognition is being reduced to nothing but sensationalistic claims about the nature of the animal mind. With delightful prose, she makes a strong case that overinflated notions regarding how human minds work have tragically distorted our view of other animals. Barrett's book is a highest-priority must read for the next generation of scientists interested in the evolution of cognition."--Daniel J. Povinelli, University of Louisiana

"A delight to read, this very ambitious book furnishes a fresh perspective on animal behavior. Barrett synthesizes a broad literature from fields as diverse as ethology, ecological psychology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and philosophy, and masterfully weaves the different strands together into an iconoclastic but coherent view of cognitive behavior. A reader could not wish for a clearer guide into this new field."--Carel van Schaik, Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich

"This is an excellent book about comparative cognition, how minds and brains evolve, and how to think about the minds of animals."--Nicola S. Clayton, University of Cambridge

"Clear and engaging, this thought-provoking book is an excellent synthesis of new directions in cognitive science and evolution. The use of everyday and humorous examples is effective, and the scholarship is impressive in its breadth and rigor, combining ideas from ecological psychology, robotics, cognitive science, and evolutionary biology. A stimulating read, it will have scientists questioning conventional wisdom about the nature of cognition and species difference."--Robert Barton, Durham University

"Arguing that observed animal behavior is substantially organized by both an organism's physical structure and environmental affordances, this book raises interesting questions about the role of cognition in behavior and the attribution of complex behaviors to cognitive processes similar to those purportedly supporting human behavior. An intriguing and engaging book."--Bennett Galef, McMaster University

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BEYOND THE BRAIN

How Body and Environment Shape Animal and Human MindsBy Louise Barrett

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2011 Princeton University Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-12644-9

Contents

Acknowledgments.......................................................ixChapter 1 Removing Ourselves from the Picture.........................1Chapter 2 The Anthropomorphic Animal..................................20Chapter 3 Small Brains, Smart Behavior................................39Chapter 4 The Implausible Nature of Portia............................57Chapter 5 When Do You Need a Big Brain?...............................71Chapter 6 The Ecology of Psychology...................................94Chapter 7 Metaphorical Mind Fields....................................112Chapter 8 There Is No Such Thing as a Naked Brain.....................135Chapter 9 World in Action.............................................152Chapter 10 Babies and Bodies..........................................175Chapter 11 Wider than the Sky.........................................197Epilogue..............................................................223Notes.................................................................225References............................................................251Index.................................................................269

Chapter One

Removing Ourselves from the Picture I'm personally convinced that at least chimps do plan for future needs, that they do have this autonoetic consciousness. —Mathias Osvath, BBC News, March 9th 2009 I saw only Bush and it was like something black in my eyes. —Muntazer al-Zaidi, Guardian, March 13, 2009

In March 2009, a short research report in the journal Current Biology caught the attention of news outlets around the globe. In the report, Mathias Osvath described how, over a period of ten years, Santino, a thirty-one-year-old chimpanzee living in Furuvik Zoo, Northern Sweden, would collect rocks from the bottom of the moat around his island enclosure in the morning before the zoo opened, pile them up on the side of the island visible to the public, and then spend the morning hurling his rock collection at visitors, in a highly agitated and aggressive fashion. Santino was also observed making his own missiles by dislodging pieces of concrete from the floor of his enclosure once the supply of naturally occurring rocks began to dwindle. Santino's calm, deliberate, and methodical "stockpiling" of the rocks ahead of the time they were needed was interpreted by Osvath as unequivocal evidence of planning for the future.

Future planning has long been seen as a unique human trait because it is thought to require "autonoetic consciousness." Autonoetic means "self-knowing," which Osvath defines as "a consciousness that is very special, that you can close your eyes [and] you can see this inner world." More precisely, it is the idea that you can understand yourself as "a self," and that you can, therefore, think about yourself in a detached fashion, considering how you might act in the future, and reflecting on what you did in the past. Osvath argued for this interpretation of Santino's stockpiling behavior on the grounds that it simply wasn't explicable in terms of Santino's current drives or motivation, but only on the assumption that he was anticipating visitors arriving later in the day. In addition, over the ten or so years that Santino was observed behaving like this, he stockpiled the stones only during the summer months when the zoo was open. For Osvath, this spontaneous planning behavior—so reminiscent of our own—suggested that chimpanzees "probably have an 'inner world' like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come."

Of course, having a large rock flung at your paying customers by a hefty male ape is not particularly good for business, and the zoo staff were a little less impressed by Santino's antics than the scientists were. Given the suggestion that Santino possessed a highly developed form of consciousness, and an "inner world" much like our own, one might suppose that the solution to a problem like Santino would capitalize on his advanced cognitive capacities: given the ability to plan ahead and understand the consequences of his own actions—given, in other words, Santino's rationality— it would seem possible to reason with him by some means, so that he would understand why his behavior was problematic. But no. The zookeepers decided that the best way to reduce Santino's aggressive tendencies, and so his rock-flinging antics, was to castrate him.

Coincidentally, the consequences of some other unwanted missile throwing were reported in the press that same week. Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, was sentenced, by a court in Baghdad, to three years in prison for throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference held three months previously. Despite the fact that al-Zaidi's actions—unlike those of Santino—were apparently not premeditated but, by his own admission, reflected his inability to control his emotions, no one (thankfully) concluded that castration would be an appropriate way to curb al-Zaidi's missile throwing. So why the difference in the chimpanzee's case?

What's Wrong with Anthropomorphism?

Whenever you feel like criticizing someone, first walk a mile in his shoes. Then, when you do criticize that person, you'll be a mile away and you'll have his shoes. —Anonymous

Leaving aside the question of whether observations of one particular individual in a highly artificial setting are good evidence for forward planning—let alone autonoetic consciousness—the ambivalent nature of Santino's humanlike status and the difference in response to the same behavior in chimpanzee and human is instructive. Santino's behavior was taken to indicate the presence of a "humanlike" inner life, and yet he lives under lock and key, on a moated island, his aggressive tendencies curbed by an irreversible operation. All this suggests that, despite his humanlike cognitive skills, no one expected Santino to understand why his actions were troublesome, nor did they expect him to control his behavior appropriately according to human standards of conduct. When you get right down to it, no one regarded Santino as humanlike in any way that really counted, and it remains unclear to what degree we should assume his "inner life" is anything like our own. Are we perhaps guilty of selectively "anthropomorphizing" Santino's stockpiling behavior? Are we attributing human thoughts and feelings to him simply because his behavior looks so familiar to us, and not because we really have any good evidence that he sees the world exactly as we do? Are we missing out on discovering what really makes animals like Santino tick—and what governs the behavior of many other species besides—because we're blinkered by our own human-oriented view of the world?

My answer to all those questions is yes, but let me be clear. In our everyday lives, our tendency to anthropomorphize other animals does no harm. Quite the contrary. Assuming that our dogs love us and are "happy" to see us in the exact same way that we are happy to see them can increase our sense of well-being, and it certainly benefits the dogs themselves, who are well treated and cared for as a consequence. It is also true that dogs form strong and loyal attachments to their...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0691126445
• ISBN 13: 9780691126449
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 270
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar