Insights from the animal kingdom

Journal of Consumer Psychology

Volume 24, Issue 4, October 2014, Pages 572–585

Research Review

• Vicki G. Morwitz^{, 1,}

 

doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2014.01.004

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Abstract

Just as we have learned a great deal in consumer psychology by focusing on understanding how different sub-groups of humans think, this paper suggests that we can also learn from examining how different types of animals think. To that end, this manuscript offers a review of literature on topics in animal cognition that have also been investigated by consumer researchers. It first reviews research that has identified ways in which animals and humans are similar and then reviews research that has identified ways in which animals differ from humans, with a focus on ways in which some animals have been shown to outperform humans. The manuscript concludes with a discussion of opportunities for future research.

Keywords

• Animal cognition;
• Comparative psychology;
• Ani006Dal

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1

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful comments from Amitav Chakravarti, Anna Greenleaf, Eric Greenleaf, Leo Greenleaf, Geeta Menon, Sankar Sen, and the JCP reviewers and Research Review Area Editor. The author also thanks the Wildlife Conservation Society and her fellow volunteers and the staff at the Central Park zoo. This paper is based on the author’s Presidential address given at the 2012 Society for Consumer Psychology Conference.

Copyright © 2014 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.