Taking a real look at social attention

The eyes of others are important to us, and we care about where they are directed. Lab-based studies often fail to capture this intuition because the studies are so simple and controlled that the situational complexity that is critical to social attention is lost. A research approach called cognitive ethology begins its investigation at the level of naturally occurring phenomena before moving into the lab. In doing so one can maintain the link between lab research and the phenomena it seeks to understand. Instances of lab failures that are offset by a cognitive ethology approach are presented and discussed.