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I've heard people object to anthropomorphizing animals before, and it's always seemed like a very odd objection to me. Dogs and cats react very similarly to us
by veridies 8y ago
I've heard people object to anthropomorphizing animals before, and it's always seemed like a very odd objection to me. Dogs and cats react very similarly to us when it comes to things like threats or fear or play. That makes sense given that a lot of the evolutionary constraints on any predatory animal are going to be similar. Additionally, dogs absolutely co-evolved with humans, with us adapting to understand and build relationships with them and them evolving to incorporate themselves into our communities.
I'm not saying pets are exactly the same as humans, but I do think that you're going to be hard-pressed to find a better heuristic for dog behavior than thinking about what a non-verbal human would do in their situation.
(I know you didn't make a particularly strong statement here; I'm just responding to other objections I've heard).
- esquivalience 8y agoGiven the results, perhaps the studies show that non-dog-owners have an unreliable viewpoint due to strong impulse to object to anthropomorphization. ;)
- Retra 8y agoThe problem is that people don't even consider other mental models. It's easy to say "I can't do that", but that doesn't mean a dog can't do it: it has a dog brain, so it is obviously not limited to feeling what humans would feel in situations. It's a justifiable heuristic, but it is still a heuristic, and it's we choose because we are very biased toward human conceptualizations. So we shouldn't say it is a good heuristic, and we should be wary when relying on it to make decisions.