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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 29, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Comparative social cognition.

Nathan J Emery¹, Nicola S Clayton

¹School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom. n.j.emery@qmul.ac.uk

Annual Review of Psychology

|October 4, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Animals excel at understanding behavior (ethology) but struggle with mental attribution (psychology). Studies with high ecological validity, like those on chimpanzees and corvids, offer the best evidence for animal cognition regarding social understanding.

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Area of Science:

Comparative psychology
Ethology
Animal cognition

Background:

The concept of theory of mind, or mental attribution, is often considered uniquely human.
Decades of research have yielded conflicting evidence regarding animals' capacity for mental attribution.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the evidence for and against theory of mind in non-human animals.
To determine if animals possess psychological understanding of others' mental states.

Main Methods:

Review of existing scientific literature on animal cognition and behavior.
Analysis of studies with varying degrees of ecological validity.
Focus on research examining social competition and resource protection strategies.

Main Results:

Animals demonstrate strong ethological skills but generally poor psychological insight.
Studies with high ecological validity, particularly concerning food competition in chimpanzees and cache protection in corvids, provide compelling evidence.
Current research trends focusing on prediction over explanation may hinder deeper understanding.

Conclusions:

While animals are adept observers of behavior, attributing complex mental states remains debated.
Future research should prioritize ecologically valid methods to uncover the extent of animals' understanding of conspecifics.
The mechanisms of animal social cognition may range from simple associations to sophisticated mind-reading.