Anecdotal cognitivism

Anecdotal cognitivism is a method of research using anecdotal, and anthropomorphic evidence through the observation of animal behaviour.^[1]

A psychological methodology that attributes mental states to animals on the basis of anecdotes and on the observation of particular cases, other than those observations made during controlled experiments. The purpose is to understand by what means animals interpret external stimuli from the world around them, and subsequently how and why they act on that information.^[2][3] Charles Darwin devised this method in the late nineteenth century, naming it anecdotal cognitivism. This method proved controversial within the academy for the first half of the twentieth century, as Behaviourist methods were favoured at this time. Behaviourists maintain that controlled experiments are necessary to measure stimuli and record observable behaviour. From the middle of the twentieth century ethology and later, cognitive ethology became increasingly important within the scientific and academic milieu.

After the introduction of natural history documentary film production in the 1960s animal behaviour became popular in the general population.^[4] Presenters, such as David Attenborough on BBC England and George Page on PBS America, used anecdotes and anthropomorphic rhetoric thus providing access to a wider audience, increasing awareness and interest in animal behaviour and their relationship with humans and nature.