For years scientists have been interested in whether animals experience emotions. There are different theories. However, the whole issue is difficult to discuss because it is difficult to define what emotion is, in the first place.
What is Emotion, and Can the Concept be Applied to Animals?
There is an opinion that emotions involve thinking, physiological changes, and expressing themselves in behavior. Accordingly, there are theories, such as the James-Lange theory or the Facial Feedback theory, which try to explain why and how emotions are experienced. Scientists do not agree in their opinions. Consequently, since it is difficult to apply the existing theories to people’s behavior, it is even more difficult to apply any of them to that of animals.
Considering that emotions involve expressing themselves in behavior, it can be assumed that animals do experience emotions. For example, dogs seem to be happy when they are playing and wagging their tails. When an animal is sick, it looks pathetic and sad. Many animals seem to care about the safety of their family, protecting and defending little ones. So, it can be assumed that animals express their emotions through behavior.
However, in the article “How Pet Psychics Work” at HowStuffWorks.com Tracy V. Wilson outlines that many scientists see these kinds of behaviors as instinctive, but not related to what people call emotions in relation to humans. This view suggests that animals simply respond to different incentives correspondingly, as their instincts prompt them.
Research Proves that Animals Have Emotions
There is another point of view. Researchers of the University of Texas claim that animals can experience emotions such as love, fear, jealousy or grief. Even more: dogs, for example, can observe how human emotions are expressed in behavior and physiological changes, and apply the example in expressing their own feelings.
The biologists of the University have defined four dimensions of dog’s personality that are very similar to those of people’s personalities. They are affection, sociability, emotional stability and competence.
In a 2008 LiveScience.com article “Dogs Feel Envy” Andrea Thompson describes the experiments conducted at the University of Vienna in Austria. The experiments have proved that dogs can experience envy. The animals refused to follow instructions if they saw that their mates were being rewarded for performing the task, while they were not.
Emotions that Animals Feel
It has been stated that animals, just like people, respond differently to different environments and situations. A 2005 InnovationsReport.com article by Shonagh Wilkie “Animals and Humans Experience the Same Emotions” states that animals emotionally respond to external stimuli, and, similarly to humans, can be stressed or anxious in extreme situations.
Animals help and comfort each other, feel empathy. Besides, in his TheBark.com article “Do Animals Have Emotions?” Mark Bekoff, PhD, even argues that animals can be moral creatures, that they understand the difference between good and bad. Though different animals experience and express emotions differently, the fact defined by the scientists is that they do experience emotions
So, thought animals cannot explain what they feel, they can show it. Maybe animals do not realize why or how they experience emotions, but they express emotions in their look and behavior. In the same manner emotions and personal preferences (likes and dislikes) shape an animal’s behavior and response to the external world. The body language, facial expression, or voice tone can tell a lot about how a particular animal is feeling at the moment.
Alla Kondrat - Alla Kondrat+ is a Feng Shui topic editor at Suite101.com, as well as a full time freelance writer and translator (Russian and Ukrainian). ...
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