Although the shapes make no sounds and don’t have any facial expressions, the individuals couldn’t assist however interpret their motion in intentional phrases and assemble a story regarding their “interactions”. This is a particularly egregious example of our anthropomorphic biases, which lead us to be inclined to interpret the conduct of entities (human, non-human, and beyond) in human-like terms. Scientists studying animal cognition are well conscious of this problematic tendency, and so they attempt to counter it by stressing the significance of avoiding anthropomorphism. Daniel Povinelli and colleagues , for example, found that chimpanzees outperform youngsters in a gaze-following task, but interpreted the children’s poorer efficiency as proof of their possession of superior cognitive capacities (see also Leavens, Bard, & Hopkins 2017).
- Money and Summers both subsequently pursued solo careers (though this pursuit was swiftly aborted in Summers’ case), Weider signed up with Family, and Burdon joined forces with a