principle of parsimony

The principle of parsimony, often associated with Occam's razor, suggests that explanations should be as simple as possible. In animal psychology, this means interpreting animal behavior at its most basic and immediate level, avoiding complex explanations when simpler ones suffice.1

This principle is applied in fields like evolutionary biology, where the method of maximum parsimony seeks to construct evolutionary trees requiring the fewest changes. However, it's important to note that evolution doesn't always follow the simplest path, and oversimplification can occur. Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, explores animal behavior through their mental processes for information processing, examining how animals perceive, learn, remember, and make decisions.23