ANECDOTES, TRAINING, TRAPPING AND TRIANGULATING - DO ANIMALS ATTRIBUTE MENTAL STATES

Three methods (anecdote collection, conditional discrimination training and trapping) used to investigate the possibility that primates attribute mental states are evaluated with reference to recent studies employing these methods. No convincing evidence of the phenomenon is found, and it is argued that none of these current methods could provide such evidence. In each case, behaviour consistent with the attribution of a mental state to an interactant could also be the result of associative or inferential learning about observable properties of the interactant's appearance or behaviour. A fourth method of investigation, which triangulates on mental state attribution using conditional discrimination training followed by transfer tests, is recommended as having the potential to provide evidence of mental state attribution in animals. It is argued that progress in this field has been hampered by a lack of full recognition that animals may learn inferentially about observables, and engage in associative learning without explicit training; and by misconstrual of the relationship between 'behaviourism' and mental state attribution. © 1993 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. All rights reserved.