Animal cognition Animal cognition Animal cognition describes the mental capacities of non-human animals and the study of those capacities. The field developed from comparative psychology, including the study of animal conditioning and learning. It has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology, and hence the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term "animal intelligence" are also subsumed within animal cognition. Researchers have examined animal cognition in mammals (especially primates, cetaceans, elephants, dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cattle, raccoons and rodents), birds (including parrots, fowl, corvids and pigeons), reptiles (lizards and snakes),
The Moral Animal The Moral Animal The Moral Animal is a 1994 book by Robert Wright, in which the author explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology. Wright explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology. He provides Darwinian explanations for human behavior and psychology, social dynamics and structures, as well as people's relationships with lovers, friends, and family. Wright borrows extensively from Charles Darwin's better-known publications, including "On the Origin of Species" (1859), but also from his chronicles and personal writings, illustrating behavioral principles with Darwin's own biographical examples. "The New York Times Book Review" chose "The Moral Animal"