We humans are naturally inclined to attribute minds to other animals because mind-speak is so deeply embedded in our everyday thinking about other people. Philosopher Daniel Dennett refers to this as the "intentional stance": we assume that other minds are like our own, which allows us to reflect intuitively, even if not explicitly, on our own mind-states. But what kinds of minds do animals have, and how do they compare with ours? Psychologists have spent the past century or so exploring the mind. In the course of this, we have learned a great deal about memory and learning, how animals solve problems or find their way around mazes. And the burden of all this effort is that most animals are pretty much of a muchness when it comes to basic cognitive processes, with the possible exception of humans.
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