Public Perceptions of Mental States and Sentience in Social Cognition Animals: An Interview-Based Dataset on Monkeys

This dataset contains interview transcripts and/or coded responses collected from Indigenous and Mestizo communities in the Calakmul region, Campeche, Mexico, regarding their perceptions, beliefs, and attributions of consciousness, sentience, and mental states in monkeys. Participants were asked about topics such as awareness, subjective experience, emotional capacity, and social cognition in non-human primates living in or near their local environment. The dataset contributes to research at the intersection of ethnobiology, anthrozoology, cognitive anthropology, and animal cognition. It is particularly relevant for studies on how cultural background and proximity to wildlife shape folk beliefs about animal minds, and for animal welfare and conservation policy in Mesoamerican contexts.