can any one state that they believe their pets have no personality? as in this snake has a disposition to be snappy and aggro, or this one is calm and placid? i find it difficult to believe you can have a personality with out emotion and from a reading on personalities the attributes that define a personality are themselves defined by the emotions from actions taken by an individual.
so do those of you that claim your pets have no emotion also claim they have no personality?
Short answer. Yes. What a ridiculously human concept, reptiles have personality. You see what you want to see. You look for what you want to find. You interpret programmed response behaviours using human concepts such as personality and emotions, really. I'll just go and grab one of my dragons out of their enclosure and give it a kiss. If it doesn't bite me I will declare to all on this forum it is returning my kiss and that as a consequence it loves me. Possible proof that reptiles have emotions and personality. If it bites me or tries to escape I will find a human concept to explain that away as well. Could not possibly be a normal behaviour, could it? Of course not. I know my dragon loves me.
What some of you need to understand is that there are thousands of researchers all over the world in hundreds of universities, institutes and other research facilities right now as I write this, conducting thousands of experiments with all kinds of different species trying to prove that animals other then humans have emotions. This research has been going on for decades if not even longer. Guess what, to this very day NO DEFINITIVE PROOF that any animal, has emotions let alone the capacity for abstract thought.
Sure there are several researchers who "claim" they have the definitve proof. Then they turn around and publish their research result in a manner that in many cases is ambiguous in its arguement, very often incorporating skewed data and usually always with a closing comment for more research to be undertaken before a definitve conclusion can be drawn. You only have to go to the field of taxonomy for examples of how this process works. Ah, but I digress.
I myself read a recent study involving chimpanzees conducted by Japanese researchers at a Japanese facility where the chimps were given joystick controllers and then presented with problems they needed to solve using the josticks. As a result of their research these scientists proudly proclaimed they had proof positive that their chimps were using abstract thought to problem solve. Why then has this research not been heralded as ground breaking and lauded throughout the world.
Simple answer, because the experiments cannot demonstrate a freedom of bias in all matters needed to demonstrate such a profound conclusion as abstract consciousness in an animal. Even my untrained but inquiring mind could find questions that were not satisfactorily addressed. I will not go into the problems with the experiments, but the very existence of even one problem that can bias an outcome makes any conclusion questionable at best and depending on the bias, irrelevant or worthless at worst.
What I find interesting about all this research is the amount of it being conducted to try and find evidence of what more then two thirds of people in this thread already believe to be the case (and a percentage of that number again, claim is definately the case), that animals have emotions and personalities. Interesting in that I am unaware of and there appears to be nowhere near the same amount of energy, effort or research going into proving that animals are behaviourial in responses to stimuli and do not have the capacity for abstract thought. I have no doubt there is some being done or been done but the bulk of what is happening is focussed on proving that animals do have emotions. No doubt what I said earlier applies even in the case of researchers. "You look for what you want to find".
Longqi, you really have thrown a cat in amongst the pigeons by starting this little debate. I am still trying to work out whether you are sitting back, tongue in cheek, having a giggle stirring the pot or you are actually fair dinkum with some of the comments you have posted. Every single arguement I have seen presented by every single person who has posted an example of a behaviour they have witnessed from one of their animals or some other animal elsewhere, I could reasonably argue demonstrates nothing more then a behaviourial response.
The problem for me is the fervour and conviction that comes through with some of the topic posters in the affirmative on this subject is, that it is almost religous in its zeal. I have sat out of this debate for days because of it. You cannot argue with believers and that is the problem with this debate. Too many people are basing there opinions on what they want to see and believe. It appears everybody has a point of view on this subject hence the small number in the poll who have declared that they do not know. Some opinions are well balanced, some are well researched, some are educated, some are emotional, some are silly to others and to others they are not. I guess if I can be pragmatic about this discussion the right response from all of us on this subject is the one chosen by the fewest of us. I agree with your comment and surprise earlier in the topic when you pointed this out. But then that in itself says something about us as humans.
Please don't get me wrong her. Nothing would give me greater pleasure then to know that when I hold my staffy's head in my 2 hands and look into her eyes and tell her how much I love her, that I could actually know, rather then feel that she is giving me back the same love with the look in her eyes towards me. But I know that right at that point in time there is no scientific evidence that she does anything other then just stay still and look back into my eyes devoid of any emotion. What she will be doing is looking for signs in my demeanor towards her (through facial expression or other means) of how the current situation will likely pan out for her. If I smile she will relax. If I start laughing and speaking excitedly to her she will start to wag her tail and get excited. If a frown comes on my face she may try to look away. If I give off a gutteral growl with she will most likely try to move away. I think you follow my thought process. But hey that does not mean that I don't "feel" her love. I feel it because that is what I want to feel.
. They definitley have distinct characters, so one could argue that if reptiles don't have emotions, wouldn't they all have the same personalities?
