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Dogs on the ‘Net

Only a few minutes today to get out a few interesting links, because I’m busy writing up an IACUC proposal. First, a post on dogs from one of the Psychology Today blogs.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Only a few minutes today to get out a few interesting links, because I'm busy writing up an IACUC proposal.

First, a post on dogs from one of the Psychology Today blogs. I think he's mostly wrong. And will probably spend some time over the weekend writing a post about it.

Second, another post on dogs from Jesse Bering's blog at Scientific American, Bering in Mind. This one I can get behind.


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Why do I have dogs on the mind so much this week? Because I'm prepping for a short "mini-course" I'm teaching to Intro Psych students this Fall, on dog cognition. Here's the summary I wrote up:

How do dogs think about the world, and how can studying canine cognition tell us about human cognition? This mini-course will explore cognition in dogs, with special emphasis on social cognition, and how artificial selection through domestication may have produced a better model for human cognition than even our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos.

Should be a fun class to teach.

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.

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