Animals and Emotions

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Animals and Emotions
By: / Novice
Post # 1
New advances in the psychology of mammals lend credence to the claim that animals feel emotion, which for a long time was supported only by anecdotal evidence. They represent a new scientific perspective on animals: rather than observing their behavior as solely the consequence of environmental, biochemical and evolutionarily advantageous factors, we are also now perceiving them as capable of experiencing the same basic experiences as human beings do.

Jaak Panksepp, a professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University and head of neuroscience research at Northwestern University, has taken maps of the brains of many mammals - humans, dogs, rats, etc. - as well as birds. In doing so, he has discovered seven emotional paths that are common throughout all these species: SEEKING, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC/GRIEF, and PLAY. (In every paper he's submitted, he's written these emotions in all capital letters to indicate their importance and universality.) Not only are they experienced similarly, but they are also expressed in many of the same ways. Animals in a state of panic or grief suffer profound depression, whereas animals at play form strong friendship bonds that can span across species - though anyone who's ever owned and loved a dog, a cat or a rat could've told you that already!

Panksepp has even isolated what he believes to be a rodent's 'laughter,' chirped at a high enough range that humans have - until recently - never been able to hear it. This 'laughter' generates the same rush of pleasure-inducing hormones in a rat's biochemistry that it does ours and paves the way for rat-human friendships when it is generated through playful tickling. The effects couldn't be replicated with a machine, so we know it isn't a purely physical response; the rats only giggle and bond when engaged by another living creature in play.

So remember this the next time you're dealing with another animal, be they a pet, at a zoo, or in the wild: we have more in common with them than previously thought. Our experience of this world through emotion and social bonds is felt similarly in every mammal and bird on earth.

Blessed be.
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Re: Animals and Emotions
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Post # 2
The fact that they needed to do research to discover this disgusts me.
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Re: Animals and Emotions
By: / Novice
Post # 3

May I ask where you got this information from?

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Re: Animals and Emotions
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Post # 4
This is a very informative post, but I would appreciate it if you would put the source in which you got the information from as copying and pasting works is plagiarism and is against the terms of service on the site and can lead you to getting gagged/banned.

~Amora
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Re: Animals and Emotions
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Post # 5
I have always known about emotions in animals. They cry, laugh, and play. They even play jokes on each other. Some use this to survive. There's a bird who mimics a sound that merecats make to tell there's a preditor in the area. When the merecats run into their holes, the bird comes down and helps himself to a bit of the catch. This bird atys around these merecats, and the cats trust him. The bird is their warning alarm.
But yes, animals have emotions. They are not robots. They feel fear, friendship, sadness,etc. Oh that bird and merecat thing I saw on a documentary on wildlife.
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Re: Animals and Emotions
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Post # 6
I can look into my cats eyes and I know when she feels love and when she is sad. am sure we knew each other in a past life we just understand each other and she is just so human it is unreal. My dog also is very loving and when you shout at it, it is like a toddler and looks very sadly at you and apologetically. My animals are much more emotional or 'human' than most people I know.

My point is we should not try to distinguish between humans and animals, we are all animals. Just because we walk and talk does not make us more intelligent or feel more. We should not need psychological research to back this up, it should be known just like it was in ancient times.

Blessed Be.
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Re: Animals and Emotions
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Post # 7

A link needs to be shared of the article/journal this was copied from.

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Re: Animals and Emotions
By: / Novice
Post # 8
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/research_vcapp/Panksepp/

I'm paranoid about posting URLs on this site.

Anyway, that's Panksepp's personal website. Here's the article I was quoting from:

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/may/11-jaak-panksepp-rat-tickler-found-humans-7-primal-emotions#.UPQH6G_7I4t
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