Awesome! I love seeing someone be skeptical of those studies. I'd seen a PBS show about those studies a few weeks ago and thought that it looked insufficiently controlled for them to make the claims they were making. But, I wasn't willing to be dismissive because often when they show how psychological studies are done some of the controls are not indicated clearly, so I didn't want to simply dismiss them. Your having taken your dog to the study gives an insiders view of how that lab operates.
But, I think you may be too hard on the difficulty of psychologists to isolate dog behavior in the lab. They would do well to get some people who really know dogs and are aware that dogs are social hierarchy pack animals. I think that the studies could be properly designed and executed, and finding good evidence for theory of mind in dogs seems likely to me. Having a theory of mind seems pretty valuable for that particularly kind of mammal. Cooperative behavior in the pack might be the key to the value of a theory of mind. I can only effectively cooperate with you if I can imagine what your perspective and opportunities in the situation is. Domesticated dogs are sensitive to humans meaning that the experiments need to have timing cues for everyone so that the dog is not getting signals from anyone. It could be done, IMO. Paul C. Bernhardt Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland -----Original Message----- From: Robin Abrahams [mailto:robina...@yahoo.com] Sent: Fri 8/27/2010 4:00 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Article on Marc Hauser's lab TIPSters-- This is my first piece for Salon, about the experiments at Marc Hauser's Canine Cognition Lab: http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/08/27/canine_cognition_lab_marc_hauser Robin Robin Abrahams www.robinabrahams.com My first book, "Miss Conduct's Mind Over Manners," is available now wherever books are sold! (Or if not, ask the bookseller to order more. Politely!) --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: pcbernha...@frostburg.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=4449 or send a blank email to leave-4449-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4455 or send a blank email to leave-4455-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
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