Do you think animals experience emotions of their own?

Humans are animals.

Yes, I think they do.
They may not be as complex as ours, and the degree of emotion probably varies from species to species. But yes, many animals show definite (to me) signs of being happy, angry, lonely, sad, excited, ashamed, content, etc…

What you consider as emotion is more an action of environment.
The dog jumps up and down because food has come home.
The cat purrs as a calming response.
They have emotions, but we as humans experience them.
They do not give any thought to it.

My boyfriend’s cat experiences emotion. When my boyfriend or any of his roommates come down the stairs that lead to their apartment, he jumps up and runs to the door to greet them. His tail wags. And he is happy. When we sit in the red chair, he sits on us, gets petted, and makes a happy cat face. When he is in pain, he cries. When my boyfriend goes away for the weekend or week, he meows constantly, missing my boyfriend. Even though everyone pitches in to take care of the cat, he loves and misses his owner.

@ChazMaz

The same can be said for humans.

@ChazMaz Couldn’t you say the same thing about people?
For example- I am happy when my boyfriend is around because I know my basic needs of company, love, and food will be met.

most animals have emotions. humans (and maybe some primates) just have the rare ability to think about them.

That is true. And a very emotional statment. :-)

” because I know my basic needs of company, love, and food will be met.”
Because you know. That makes you human.

Your pet knows through conditioning.
If you ring a bell every time you feed your dog. Then you deiced to ring the bell but have no food. The dog will salivate.

And, you did not get your boyfriend because he said let me hug you and here is a box of candy. You put a great deal of thought into why. And, if he decided to kick you. It would be over. You kick your dog he forgets the first time you give him a cookie.

Is salivating an emotion? Don’t you know that the same sort of conditioning works on humans?

I love the way @ragingloli put it. I think that all animals experience the same kinds of feelings in terms of wants and needs (and they may be connected to other stimuli, like the conditioning @ChazMaz is talking about). I guess I’d say they become “emotions” when we’re cognizant of them. Humans certainly are, couldn’t judge for other species… But I’d bet on elephants, many other primates, and octopuses to name a few. Definitely cognizant of their feelings in such a way that they could say “I feel sad” if they were capable of speaking (which some apes are if you count sign language!).

@Ivan Very good. Yes, humans are animals.

Absolutely. I don’t see how anyone who has spent time with animals could even think otherwise.

But, humans unlike the lower forms of animals. Are cognizant (TY for the word)
We reason at a higher level of thought.
Animals function solely to survive.
We just put sweaters on them and call them “Pete” or “scruffy” or “benny”.
Making them more like who we are. Does not change what they are.

@ChazMaz Not true. When my dog wags his tail just because I look at him, that’s not an action of environment. I don’t get up and pet the dog when this happens, so there is no reward for him. He is just a faithful dog who loves his owner.

He is accustom to you. That is all.

Give him to a family down the street and now he will be “loyal” to them.

@ChazMaz Is anybody arguing that we don’t function at a higher level of thought? That’s not how I read everyone’s response. The question is about emotion, not depth of thought.

And your answer that he is accustomed to me makes no sense.

Apparently they experience a wide range of emotions link
They also appear to have a sense of right and wrong link
And grasp abstract concepts, just like us link

@BBSDTfamily @ChazMaz No one yet has argued that humans don’t operate at a higher level of thought, but I’m going to. I’d say we operate at a more complex level of thought. That use of the terms “higher” and “lower” make it sound like everything is evolving directionally (specifically in the direction of humans) and that isn’t so. Humans do have some unique cognitive abilities, but they’re not “higher” or “better” – just different, and adaptive for us.

@ChazMaz

No one is saying that there isn’t a difference between us and other species of animals. You just want to draw a dividing line between humans and “lower” species. In reality, it’s more of a progression. it isn’t that humans can reason and other animals can not. Humans can simply reason better than other animals.

When my dad died, my mom’s three dogs laid at the foot of the side of the bed, where dad laid, and didn’t move. One dog, the one that followed him around, didn’t eat for 2 days. Even after two days, she still was acting different and wouldn’t acknowledge anyone. She still sleeps on the floor, next to his side of the bed. Before he passed away, she slept at the foot of the bed.

I believe animals (dogs) experience emotions.

There are many animals who have reasoned far better than humans, @Ivan…After all, humans need a huge handicap when trying to catch most animals; traps, lures and weapons. And how many man-eaters outwitted humans until finally the humans only chance was to fight many humans against the one animal.

@Ivan . . .I don’t want to frighten you but I agree with you 100% on this.

Well put.

@fireinthepriory Agreed.

@BBSDTfamily :)

Every time we try to draw a line between humans and other animals, the line gets crossed out. Anyone remember when we were taught that the difference between humans and animals was that humans use tools? But then, it came out that animals do use tools.

So now we are trying to say that the difference between humans and the rest of the animals is that humans show emotions and animals don’t. However, it appears that current research is showing that animals do feel and show emotions.

So what is the difference between humans and other animals? Is it the use of language? If you are a linguist you might say yes, it is. But if you are an animal behaviorist you would say no, animals do use language. These viewpoints are summarized here.

Maybe the only difference between humans and other animals is one of degree. We all use tools, have emotions, and use language, but humans are just better at it.

In any case, I firmly believe my cats and dogs have and show emotions, including happiness, fear, jealousy, contentment and more.

Ina very primitive way, but animals are too practical to lose sleep over it. They just live day to day, hour to hour, and minute to minute like we are supposed to..according to those self-help books at least. We could learn a lot from watching animals.

It has been observed that elephants form extremely close and lifelong bonds with each other which continue even after death. Out in the wild, elephants have been filmed gathering aroundn the bones of others of their herd, long since dead, and lovingly caressing them and turning them over with their very sensitive trunks.

Are they just remembering, mourning, honoring them? Obviously something complex is going on since there is no material reward (such as food) involved. The logical conclusion is that they derive some sort of emotional reward for this act of remembrance. And the theory of day to day or hour to hour also goes out the window—this is YEARS later.

There was a book that came out a while ago called “Why Elephants Cry” or something like that and while searching for it, I came across this article. It provides a lot of insight into the question at hand.

The science is conclusive: animals are emotional beings By Marc Bekoff

http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3702

MARC BEKOFF is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. All of this material is discussed in his book The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy—and Why They Matter (New World Library, California, 2007)

Well, it seems that I got the exact title of the book a little scrambled, but same idea. Here it is. I bought this and read it quite a while ago and it’s sitting somewhere in one of my storage units after several moves.

When Elephants Weep The Emotional Lives of Animals
Susan McCarthy,

A brief review in the listing I found

“This national bestseller exploring the complex emotional lives of animals was hailed as “a masterpiece” by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as “marvelous” by Jane Goodall.The popularity of When Elephants Weep has swept the nation, as author Jeffrey Masson appeared on Dateline NBC, Good Morning America, and was profiled in People for his ground-breaking and fascinating study. Not since Darwin’s The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals has a book so thoroughly and effectively explored the full range of emotions that exist throughout the animal kingdom. From dancing squirrels to bashful gorillas to spiteful killer whales, Masson and coauthor Susan McCarthy bring forth fascinating anecdotes and illuminating insights that offer powerful proof of the existence of animal emotion. Chapters on love, joy, anger, fear, shame, compassion, and loneliness are framed by a provocative re-evaluation of how we treat animals, from hunting and eating them to scientific experimentation. Forming a complete and compelling picture of the inner lives of animals, When Elephants Weep assures that we will never look at animals in the same way again.”

The limbic brain is the kind of brain in most mammals and is the center of emotions. Therefore all mammals are as capable of emotion as humans. Like has been said, they just don’t necessarily dwell on them as much as primates do.

ChazMaz’s assertion that a dog forgets that you kicked him the first time you give him a cookie is not necessarily correct. It might not be a matter of him/her “forgetting” but forgiving. A dog that has been systematically tortured does NOT forget. Fighting dogs are angry all the time and hate nearly everything because of how they were treated and trained. They most assuredly are not forgetting!

It seems obvious that animals even within the same species vary in intelligence and temperament, just as humans do.

Using tools is not necessarily the end all and be all of intelligence. We are the “naked” animal, we neither have our own built-in tools or warm coverings so we have to make them. Most animals are blessed with their own and use them as needed, without need for others.

There’s a nice little story about the Creator handing out gifts to all his creations and the human was the last in line, so he got the booby prize of being smart enough to make tools and body coverings from his environment but never having any of his own.

We can actually watch animals experiencing emotions, for example by using fMRI brain scans. And compare this what we see in human brains.

I am not denying that animals have emotion. I love my dog. My dog “loves” me.
I can see the “joy” and “happiness” in his face when he hops on my chest with his toy and wants to play catch.
But it is not, as much as it appears to be and might generate the same type of stimuli to the brain, the same.

Like what was said earlier, they live for the moment. They are not aware of their actions, their instincts plan for what needs to be done tomorrow. We make their emotional expression
out to be more then it is. This does not mean we do not respect them as other creatures, deserving of respect. Besides, they are cute and cuddly.

But, OUR emotional state of mind will make us have decisions that are and can be at times, contradictory to our purpose and survival.
” I think therefore I am. “You will not see that in a lower form of animal species. Because that behavior would eventually cause extinction of that species.
As “human” as some animals will behave, like chimps using sticks to eat ants and such. It is pure action of instinct in order to survive.
They will never decide one day to make that stick into a cart. That is un productive to the species.

If my dog goes into to an environment preventing him (preventing being a human concept) from playing catch. He wont mope around saying, “gee I do miss playing catch.”
He is just fine eating, and licking his butt. And, mate if the opportunity comes around. He wont fall in love, he just wants to plant his seed. I am sure it feels
good too. But not like wanting to go out on a friday night to get some. You will find that domesticated dogs that have got loose will gather together developing a pack mentality. Basically, without the restraints of domestication they go right back to pure survival. Hunting, eating, procreating and dominating. Domination for the only purpose to provide the healthiest off spring. All hard wired behavior.
On that note, some species mate for life. Those species, due to how they operate have to, otherwise they would not be able to find enough “random” mates to keep the species going.

What elephants do, or Chimps do, or penguins do for that matter. We can see there is an “emotional” action occurring. But, not the the type we express or feel as much as you want to see it that way.
I am not degrading or disrespecting your love of animals.
As far as animals out smarting humans. Not because they are smarter, but because we want to see them as “humanistic” so we go into their territory or we think they can “relate” to us as our pets do, and you end up getting bit or worse. Why, because of the bottom line.
No matter how trained and cute and loving your pet is. Or any animal for that matter they are operating on instinct and survival. It has taken many many years of breading to get you dog or cat so under control. Modification of actions to make them more like a friend.

Otherwise, when you walk into a savanna or swim into a swamp. They would take the time to reason. That is the key. Coming to a civil conclusion.
Instead, you get warned. Only out of their fear of not knowing who you are. Sometimes. Then all bets are off. You then become food, so they can stay alive and keep their species
healthy. They will have no remorse, gulping down the last piece of your humanism.

“As “human” as some animals will behave, like chimps using sticks to eat ants and such. It is pure action of instinct in order to survive.
They will never decide one day to make that stick into a cart. That is un productive to the species.”
they don’t just use them, they modify them. which is a more rudimentary form of “making that stick into a cart”

Yes that is true. Not to become greater or to impress apon. But to get food.
You see it as an action of advancment.(humanisem) It’s Just a knee jerk survival action.

And what do you think the first human tools were (sharpened sticks, sharpened stones)? an action of advancement? Or also just a “knee jerk survival action”?

I see humans perform a lot of knee jerk survival actions all the time.