“He’s so annoyed.” “She loves this park.” “Just look how pissy he’s acting.” “She’s pouting again.” “He’s the biggest worrywart.”
“He’s so annoyed.”
“She loves this park.”
“Just look how pissy he’s acting.”
“She’s pouting again.”
“He’s the biggest worrywart.”
I’ve heard people describe their pets as everything from elated and excited to resentful and manipulative. One of my own dog’s many nicknames is “Forlorna” because of the pitiful face she makes whenever she’s left behind.
Many dogs look happy while they are playing, while some cats can appear aloof or jealous of other animals. In her book “What the Animals Tell Me,” pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick describes animals as beings that “experience and vocalize emotions and reflect on their feelings.” But scientists disagree on whether outward appearances are proof of true emotions.
Emotions on the whole can be difficult to define, and researchers, philosophers, psychiatrists and medical doctors don’t always agree on how they work, even in humans. Since animals can’t verbalize what they feel in a way that we can clearly understand, it’s even more difficult to study their emotions.
Although hormone and neurotransmitter levels can make it appear as though an animal is experiencing emotions, these chemicals don’t “create” feelings. For example, in most mammals, hormones like oxytocin promote attachment between mothers and their offspring. Because of this chemical reaction, a doting mother dog might appear to “love” her puppies. But ultimately we are the ones that interpret her need to feed, bathe and care for her litter as love. This makes many scientists reluctant to use animal behavior as proof of emotional capacity.
Some recent studies do suggests that animals experience basic emotions like joy, anger and grief. They also feel pain and experience stress. Neuroscientist Jaak Panskipp has conducted experiments that suggest that animals can feel other emotions as well, including:
- Separation anxiety
- Drive to play
- Desire to be nurtured and to care for others
In a review published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers describe a model that correlates mood to decision making. For example, an animal that adopts a “safety first” stance to a rustle in the forest is probably feeling pessimistic, while a more optimistic one would likely interpret the same rustle as a sign of prey.
Here are a few other interesting reads to check out:
- The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff
- Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals by Jonathan Balcombe
- Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
- What is your cat saying?
In a word, what would you say your pet feeling right now?