PSY362H5 Lecture Notes - Homing Pigeon, Anthropomorphism, Observer-Expectancy Effect
Document Summary
Used to be called comparative psychology: comparing humans and animals. We do not know what animals are thinking; whether they have emotions or morals. Self-assessment is one way of knowing: animals cannot self-assess. However, facial expressions are not always reliable. 3rd way of measuring happiness: physiological arousal, emotions, for example: sarcastic tone. People who have asperger"s syndrome cannot detect sarcasm. How do you determine a dog is happy: jumps up and down, wags tail. Attributing a subjective human trait to a dog: anthropomorphism. Changing the animal"s behavior to a human concept. As a human, your dog looks happy at least this is what it looks like to us. Brains have evolved from less complex to more complex in response to the organism"s changing environment. Darwin proposes that survival of the fittest not strongest misinterpretation. Fittest: ability to pass genes to next generation: produce viable offspring and most adaptive, fit = adaptation.
