ABSTRACT
During the last 10–15 years, psychology and ethology have developed parallel and complementary interests in the cognitive mechanisms of animals. Psychologists have focused upon cognitive mechanisms such as memory and selective attention in attempting to explain the results of various experiments in laboratory learning situations. Ethologists, particularly behavioral ecologists, have become increasingly concerned with the effects of such cognitive mechanisms under natural conditions. The theme of this chapter is that the research and theories of psychologists interested in animal cognition could be improved by incorporating ethological concepts and methods (for the other side of the coin, benefits to ethologists of using psychological concepts and methods, see Kamil, in press; Kamil & Yoerg, 1982).
