Animals feel human emotions

Question

Excerpt from OpenMind Article (claim bolded):

But scientists have been criticized for misattributing human traits to animals in their research. Barbara King, an anthropologist at William & Mary, says she has been accused of anthropomorphizing in her studies of animal grief and love. When King described an orca named Tahlequah swimming for 17 days with her dead calf as a whale in mourning, she was rebuffed by some colleagues who felt she was taking the comparison to humans too far. Although King supports careful research on animal emotions, she counters that the anthropomorphism criticism is often leveled unfairly. She says that many times, the accusation comes from other scientists who worry that using emotional terms like “grief” dilutes the rigor of the science. 

“Largely in my work, I have felt that [the charge of] anthropomorphism is weaponized as a dismissal,” King says. 

Accusing people of anthropomorphism is also sometimes used to deny the existence of emotions that animals genuinely seem to have. Valli Fraser-Celin, an animal welfare consultant who previously studied African wild dogs, argues that researchers need to find a balance—recognizing animals as individuals, yet ones we can’t fully know. Although humans and other animals have many similarities, “they do have their own capacities and their own lived experiences and their own ways of living in the world,” he says.

Answer 1

As early as 500BCE, great mind like Pythagoras posited that animals felt the full range of human emotions, just as humans do. Author of numerous animal rights essays, Dr. Marc Berkoff states that "rats, mice and chickens display empathy and feel not only their own pain but also that of other individuals" (Berkoff). Scientists can agree that human emotion has contributed to the survival and success of our species. Thus, it is only natural to assume the same for other living creatures. Using modern technology, animals can be observed in their natural habitat, unimpeded by human presence. There, they have been observed eliciting emotional responses to triggering events. Empathy in animals is described as "an evolutionary reaction to maintain social cohesion" by Johns Hopkins University Professor Dr. James C. Harris. Animals have been observed exhibiting the complex human emotion of empathy. Rats in a 2011 study saved fellow rodents from drowning by pulling a lever, allowing their furry friend to escape to land (NIDA). In doing so, the rat gave up their chance at a treat, displaying their value of another life over their own needs. Researchers at the University of Chicago conducting this rat study found that “acting on empathic feelings to help another in need is a biological…mandate” (Mason et al.). Prove of empathy in animals logically leads to the assumption that all human traits are felt in animals. Emotions are no longer a uniquely human trait, and can be found all over the animal kingdom.

https://online.uwa.edu/news/empathy-in-animals/

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/rats-show-empathy-too

Comments

Great response! Very easy to read, with great information and credible sources! I especially like how you sourced actual studies as well!

Answer 2

I think this is a very interesting claim and one that piques my interest. As an animal lover myself I find myself being emotional towards animals. There is no doubt that animals experience emotions, but the level of extent animals can feel human emotion is something of question. I found this really good article that dives into the psychological aspects of animals and how they deal with emotions. The truth is that animal emotions vary from species to species, based off of intelligence and natural instinct. Animals that because accustomed to human tendencies and environments can experience some human emotion. When they are wild animals in the nature it is most likely they cannot feel human emotions.

How do we know what emotions animals feel?

Comments

This is a pretty good fact check; however, I think there needs to be less personal emotion and more factual information included. You answer touches on all the topics in the claim to fact check whether it is true or not. Your source that you chose to include is very scholarly as it is from a news cite, but maybe choosing a scientific article would be even more beneficial.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6041721/
Including a source like this would be more believable and scientific.

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Hello! This is an interesting fact-check. I like hearing about your experience but I would love to hear more concrete evidence. I would love to know what animals feel human emotions vs. which animals don't as much. But great job connecting the article and your personal stories to each other!

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Please provide further data points or information to support your fact-check. That would strengthen your case. Thanks!

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Your thoughts are really engaging, and I love how you bring in your personal perspective as an animal lover—it makes the comment relatable. One thing you could do to strengthen your argument is include a specific point or example from the article you mentioned. It would add more depth and show how the article backs up your point about animal emotions varying by species and environment. Also, you could consider exploring a bit more on what you mean by “human emotions” versus animal emotions—like, do you think animals might feel things like grief or joy, just in a different way than humans do? That might help clarify your perspective even more!

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Your fact check on this was very interesting, and I think adding a personal aspect was a good touch. One thing I would recommend when fact-checking is to make sure that you are adding comments that you have credible sources, such as being able to back up your personal experiences with more concrete evidence backing it. Adding that scientific level is going to make your claim a lot stronger and give it more of a stronger pull for the readers.

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This was a great fact check. you did a good job in providing a lot of details in my you believe animals have the same emotions. You can improve by plugging in data or source's to you argument. doing this would add a backbone to your stance. But overall this is a good response

Answer 3

Its very intriguing to wonder if animals can feel emotions like we do. According to a report from the University of West Alabama, "In fact, researchers have observed empathy in them, as well as grief, fear and other complex emotions often associated primarily with humans." With that being said they also talked about the fact that these emotions are likely not at the same degree as humans. Along with that an article from the oxford academic explains that not all animals appear to have the capacity to feel emotions. They explain that a living organism needs a certain brain structure in order to have these emotions and not all animals have that. Overall, it appears that some animals are able to feel emotions but not to the same level as humans.

https://online.uwa.edu/news/empathy-in-animals/

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/50/10/861/233998

Comments

I really like reading your sources and how they come from universities and academic journals and how you did your own research outside of the original claim. However, who are the sources within those academic journals that make them credible? In addition, wouldn't you say that the claim was exaggerated/misleading instead of true since you said that animals do not feel emotions to the same level as humans which means that the original claim was exaggerated?  What about sources that claim animals do feel human emotions as strongly as we do?

Answer 4

Animals can have anthropomorphisms similar to humans. The article that was provided gave good conclusions and facts that animals can feel human emotions. We all have anthropomorphism and tend to share it and express it with animals. Animals can feel common emotions that humans feel. That’s why scientists experiment on animals since, “Animal studies in science are experiments that control an animal's behavior or physiology for study, often to serve as a model for human biology where testing on humans is impractical or unethical” (Science Alert Staff). We have similar anthropomorphize to animals, allowing us to have a similar sense of emotions on the reactions that animals receive in test labs and more. We also live in a society where people have emotional support animals that “decrease stress, blood pressure, anxiety levels and depression symptoms” (Pasols). We have come to rely on animals for us to be able to overcome our own emotions and allow us to function with ourselves. We have many different kinds of animals that allow us to handle our emotions which can lead us to be negative with ourselves. 

Guide To Emotional Support Animals – Forbes Advisor

Why Do Scientists Experiment on Animals? : ScienceAlert

Answer 5

Research supports the idea that animals can experience a wide range of emotions. This theory has been explored by both behavioral and neurological studies. A study by Marc Bekoff found that animals can experience a range of emotions, from joy, sadness, and fear to more complex emotions such as jealousy, love, and grief. Bremhorst et al. observed animal behaviours such as body language, facial expressions, and vocalisations that have been interpreted to be associated with emotional states. Similarly, neurological studies such as that carried out by Zablocki-Thomas et al. have used brain imaging to interpret emotional responses of animals to social contexts. They identified that animals had significant similarities in the brain structures and processes to those involved in human emotional responses, suggesting that animals experience emotions in similar ways to humans. These findings are widely attributed to evolution, with emotions serving as biological tools that help animals adapt to and better interact with their environments. Darwin theorised that ‘the differences among many animals are in degree rather than in kind’, suggesting that emotions aren’t unique to humans and vary greatly across the animal kingdom. Despite the evidence, anthropomorphism can lead to overinterpretation of animal behaviour or the assumption that animals experience emotions in exactly the same way humans do. In reality, emotions are inherently nuanced and experienced differently even by individuals of the same species, let alone between species.

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/50/10/861/233998?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781032153346-12/animal-sentience-animal-emotions-human-animal-interactions-annika-bremhorst-catia-caeiro-anna-zamansky-sabrina-karl

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https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/behavioral-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.994504/full

Answer 6

This claim is partially true. Research shows that many animals (like elephants, dolphins and primates) experience emotions such as grief and joy. however these emotions are not exactly the same as human emotions. They happen in ways that fit each animals own brain and behavior, saying they feel " human emotions" is an oversimplification.

Comments

I like your answer to the post! It's important to note that animals' emotions may not be equal to what humans think of when talking about emotions. Consider adding links to sources you've consulted, along with brief summaries of the sources; it would really strengthen your claim!

Answer 7

After reading multiple articles, excerpts, and statistics I can confidently confirm that this claim is true. Just as humans, animals feel strong emotions of fear, grief, happiness, and excitement just as intensely. They also depend on their environment and those around them to determine their emotions. Animals aren't as easy to study, however. 

A study conducted at the University of Rennes in France, Martine Hausberger used horses to study how animals retain emotion. Using brain waves that portray emotions, she found similar emotions found in humans. As humans, we produce waves called theta waves, which are thought to reflect well-being and calmness. She also found same exact waves, theta waves, when horses were out of their stalls, roaming outdoors and gazing as they pleased. In contrast, she found gamma waves in horses when they were locked in solo stalls, which are associated with anxiety and stress (Katsnelson). 

James C. Harris at John Hopkins University describes it as "'an evolutionary mechanism to maintain social cohesion.” In other words, animals that rely on a group for survival must be more sensitive to what those around them are feeling, whether they’re human or non-humans" (Harris). 

Science News Today also states that animals that are held captive often show signs on anxiety. When animals are deprived of social contact, stimulation, etc., they start showing physical signs of stress such as pacing repetitively. Such responses mirror physical anxiety in humans as well, such as those with anxiety disorders. 

Multiple sources have shown that yes, animals experience emotions just as humans do. The studies may not be as frequent or as simple as human emotion studies, however evidence shows that emotions are no longer unique to humans, and are actually shown in animals as well. 

Answer 8

Yes, animals can feel human emotions, for the most part. A study done by a few professors at Cornell University has shown that animals, will have a reaction, internal or external, to emotions that are shown to them. This reinforces the idea that animals have the ability to understand the complexity of human emotions. Another study done by the National Institute of Health, looked into a dog’s ability to recognize human’s emotions and act upon it. They found that dogs/animals do understand your emotions, but may not have the complete mental capacity to act upon them. Dogs also have the ability to know how humans are feeling based on the tone of their voice. 

Sources:

Cornell University

National Institute of Health

Answer 9

The claim that “animals feel emotion” is true, because of many many factors. After doing research I can confirm that animals do have emotions like us humans. In the 1800s Charles Darwin did research on how animals and humans shared common ancestry due to humans evolving from homo sapiens, showing how if we have the ability to think and have emotion animals around us do too. “There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in the mental facilities”(UWA Charles Darwin). As well as centuries after the understanding of the inner thoughts of animals have grown tremendously since thinking animals had no emotions until they were able to do scans on the animals mind, “Emotionally charged sounds, such as crying or laughter, also prompted similar responses, perhaps explaining why dogs are attuned to human emotions”(BBC). With adding to this Pavlov rats were classically conditioned with shocks to create a fear response, clearly showing they are able to fear things, “After training, the CS elicited two different conditioned fear responses from rats: a passive freezing response, and an active turning response”(PMC). When thinking about why animals react the way they do it can be seen that they have emotions as well as us humans because of many standpoints pointing to where evolution has taken humans as well as animals. Humans are mammals, meaning we are animals, and when looking through that viewpoint we can clearly see that we have emotions and animals do as well but potentially not as much/complex. 

Answer 10

A Cornell University study from November 19, 2024, titled “Researchers assess whether animals feel emotion” (https://as.cornell.edu/news/researchers-assess-whether-animals-feel-emotion), explains that while it is absolutely true that animals feel emotions, there were limits they found within their study:

“One challenge for the 100 animal researchers surveyed is which biological markers to measure and how to adequately describe and quantify something as complex and variable as emotions. They may include everything from instinctual reactions of disgust or fear to deep feelings of affection and empathy for others. Animal studies are further complicated by the fact that researchers can’t ask an animal how it’s feeling. And while experiments with animals in labs can be tightly controlled, the results may be skewed since the animal is not interacting within its natural environment. Animal behavior experiments in the wild provide valid social and ecological contexts but they are challenging to design and to control.”

This vice article from 2017 (https://www.vice.com/en/article/would-someone-born-and-raised-in-solitary-have-any-emotions/), titled “Your Emotions Are a Social Construct” consults Lisa Feldman Barrett, the director of Northeastern University’s Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory:

“‘Emotion requires something more than affect,’ Barrett says. ‘It requires making meaning out of that affect. That’s not something, if a child was born and grew up in the wild, with no other humans around, that would develop.' They would instead feel more vague sensations like pleasantness or unpleasantness; arousal or calmness—similar to the way that infants feel at a young age, or even the type of ‘emotion’ we see in animals (that we often ascribe deeper meaning to).”

Many human emotions are likely created by social constructs. Anthropomorphism skews our perspective, and makes us see animal emotions through the lens of our feelings. Animals definitely feel emotions and are able to create deep bonds with each other within and across species (“Individuals with a service dog exhibited significantly better psychosocial health including higher social, emotional, and work/school functioning” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6625941/) but it is impossible for us to know if they are the same as ‘human’ emotions. 

In short, animals do not experience emotions in the same way we perceive them. It is currently impossible to know for sure the extent of their understanding of words, feelings, whatever, but there is clear evidence they feel basic emotions: clearly stuff like hunger and anger and discomfort (some dogs have sensory issues), fear, excitement, relief, and play. Further study is necessary to discover the extent of some of their capabilities for these emotions, and there are outliers, but it is safe to say that animals cannot feel human emotions in the sense humans can, as the claim suggests.