Ep 220: More Evidence That Animals Think and Feel
In episode 217 I asked you to be frank with yourself: does your animal really think? It's easy to believe they do, but if you're going to study this issue scientifically you have to eliminate our human tendency to anthropomorphize - to want to believe that animal actions are motivated by internal states. Well, here's a roundup of a few articles I found in my PsycExplorer app (PsycExplorerHD for iPad) which show exactly what psychologists are doing to find out what exactly is going on (if anything...) in the minds of dogs, cats, rats, chickens and yes fruit flies. Are they really thinking in there? Well, maybe so. These examples certainly convinced me, although it might all depend on what you mean by "thinking" and "feeling". We also find out how we react to those sudden thoughts that jump into our minds - what do they mean? Are thoughts that jump into our mind more significant than thoughts that we actively think about?