What makes the human mind unique? What makes the minds of other animals unique? How does each species understand its social and physical world? Krupenye’s research employs noninvasive experimental approaches, from eye-tracking to behavioral tasks, to understand the cognitive abilities of humans and other animals. He is especially interested in theory of mind, social and physical knowledge, mental time travel, the representations and processes involved in social decision-making, and the origins of politics and morality. By comparing humans with our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, his work seeks to identify the foundational shared traits that were present millions of years ago in our common evolutionary ancestors, and that can operate in the absence of human language and socialization. Research with other species, especially domestic dogs, examines how various evolutionary histories and patterns of socialization shape animal minds.