Group items tagged

phenotypes

My goal is to convince skeptics that a combination of “hard” and “soft” interdisciplinary research is necessary to advance the study of animal emotions.

broadly defined as psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control

It is important to extend our research beyond the underlying physiological mechanisms that mask the richness of the emotional lives of many animals and learn more about how emotions serve them as they go about their daily activities

emotions are real and that they are extremely important,

René Descartes

B. F. Skinner

Why then are there competing views on the nature of animal emotions? In part, this is because some people view humans as unique animals, created in the image of God

researchers studying animal behavior came to realize that there was too little in studies of animal emotions and minds that was directly observable, measurable, and verifiable, and chose instead to concentrate on behavior because overt actions could be seen, measured objectively, and verified

Most researchers now believe that emotions are not simply the result of some bodily state that leads to an action

William James and Carl Lange

Walter Cannon's criticisms

drugs producing bodily changes like those accompanying an emotional experience

do not produce the same type of conscious experience of fear

Primary emotions, considered to be basic inborn emotions

Natural selection has resulted in innate reactions that are crucial to individual survival.

are wired into the evolutionary old limbic system (especially the amygdala), the “emotional” part of the brain

substrate

. Each is connected to the other two but each also has its own capacities

current research (LeDoux 1996) indicates that all emotions are not necessarily packaged into a single system, and there may be more than one emotional system in the brain.

Secondary emotions are those that are experienced or felt, evaluated, and reflected on. Secondary emotions involve higher brain centers in the cerebral cortex.

ethologists

cognitive ethologists want to know what it is like to be another animal.

concerns how emotions and cognition are linked

A sense of self in the act of knowing is created,

various brain structures map both the organism and external objects

I am inclined merely to delete it [the mental realm] from biological explanation, because it is an entirely private phenomenon, and biology must deal with the publicly demonstrable.”

abanac postulated that the first mental event to emerge into consciousness was the ability of an individual to experience the sensations of pleasure and displeasure

Examples of animal emotions

Studies of the chemistry of play support the idea that play is enjoyable.

rats enjoy being playfully tickled.

grief in geese

grief and depression in orphan elephants is a real phenomeno

It is unlikely that romantic love (or any emotion) first appeared in humans with no evolutionary precursors in animals

No one discipline will be able to answer all of the important questions that still need to be dealt with in the study of animal emotions

However, research that reduces and minimizes animal behavior and animal emotions to neural firings, muscle movements, and hormonal effects will not likely lead us significantly closer to an understanding of animal emotions.

studies of the behavior of captive animals

Field work also can be problematic. It can be too uncontrolled to allow for reliable conclusions to be drawn.

Emotions are an integral part of human life, so why not for other animals?

in many instances, differences in degree rather than differences in kind.