Episode 99: Animal Emotions – Does Your Pet Really Have Feelings?

Michael — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:58:02 +0000

Does your dog have thoughts and feelings? How about your cat? In this episode we find out what scientists have to say about how we should study this question. I also review a fascinating new study by Dr. Alexandra Horowitz of Barnard College who studied whether or not dogs who have that guilty look actually do feel guilty. We take a look at the idea of anthropomorphism and your dog in this episode of The Psych Files.

Resources on Anthropomorphism and Animal Emotions

The research I reviewed in this episode is entitled, "Disambiguating the “guilty look”: Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour" in Behavioural Processes, Volume 81, Issue 3, July 2009, Pages 447-452 by Alexandra Horowitz.

Here’s where you can find more information about Dr. Horowtiz and her Dog Cognition Lab can be found here.

Here’s a link to the article entitled "It’s an Owner’s Scolding That Makes a ‘Guilty’ Dog" that appeared in the New York Times

Science Daily also wrote an article reviewing Dr. Horowitz’ research on the Guilty Dog look entitled "What Really Prompts The Dog’s ‘Guilty Look‘"

What are Animals? Why Anthropomorphism is Still Not a Scientiﬁc Approach to Behavior, Clive D. L. Wynne, Comparative Cognition and Behavior, 2007, vol 2, pp 125-135.

Critical Anthropomorphism, Uncritical Anthropocentrism, and Naïve Nominalism, Gordon M. Burghardt, Comparative Cognition and Behavior, 2007, vol 2, pp 136-138.

The Psych Files Podcast » Anthropomorphism

Episode 99: Animal Emotions – Does Your Pet Really Have Feelings?

Resources on Anthropomorphism and Animal Emotions