This presentation for Aggie Behavior Network, a Texas A&M University Organization, was created to teach students about Anthropomorphism from an animal behavior centered view. The power point contained an activity at the end to illustrate critical vs classical Anthropomorphism.
3. What are human
characteristics?
Emotion- Love, happiness, sadness
Reasoning- Wants to run, Feels the need to bark
Qualities- Loyal, Patient, Caring
And many, many more
5. The Onion actually did a good satire of Anthropomorphizing….
“I am not a human. I am a dog. I can't talk. I can't say a full sentence. Not even close. ... I have no idea that my name is
Gerald. I can't even write, people, so please stop this anthropomorphizing business this instant.
The amusement you get out of this unoriginal, overused—what shall I call it?—this fetish simply boggles the mind. What is
your fascination with having animals speak? I'm a dog, for crying out loud. My brain weighs three-and-a-half ounces.
Three-and-a-half ounces. I can barely understand what's going on around me, and what little knowledge I do possess
is based primarily on smell. So tell me, why do you keep putting me at poker tables and making me dance and sing the
blues? I do not wear hats and I certainly did not receive my doctorate in media criticism from Harvard University. I can
assure you, if I were ever given a diploma, I would eat it. So, I beg you, for the last time, stop this right now.
It's silly and trite and it demeans us both.”
http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/stop-anthropomorphizing-me-11459
6. Why a little
humanity isn't
always bad
Viewpoints are changing
Possibility the animal might actually be “feeling”
something
After all, an emotion is just a series of
chemicals
But this is subjective, and thus, can be bad
science
7. How should we use
Anthropomorphism?
There have been more and
more scholars and intellectuals
persisting the need to to not
dehumanize animals in
ethology, but how can we
remain unbiased if we apply
human characteristics?
8. One solution: Critical
Anthropomorphism
From Gordon Burghardt in the mid 1980’s
It is anthropomorphism, however in the context of the
animal. It takes into account the the animal’s
biology/anatomy, life history, and what is known about
related species.
Important to realize that this is not applying human
characters to animals, but rather using human characters as a
means to describe animal behavior.
9. Isn’t that Behaviourism?
Not according to Bughart:
1) critical anthropomorphism is not by itself intended
to be a description and explanation of behavior, but
rather as a heuristic for generating testable
hypotheses
2) critical anthropomorphism can and has been used
to avoid ill-conceived studies of animal behavior
3) denying our status as animals and that we might
share similar experiences of the world with
nonhuman species is itself erroneous
4) mentalistic explanations of behavior are not, equal
to supernatural ones.
Burghardt, G.M. (2004). "Ground rules for dealing
with anthropomorphism". Nature. 430: 15.
doi:10.1038/430015b.
10. That said, How can we
use it and make sure
we don’t overstep our
boundaries?
Don’t look for the answer. Instead look for an answer.
Check yourself. Does the data, anatomy, and life history of the animal back this up?
-It's easy to say a bee is happy when it reaches a flower, but if she doesn't have the neurological processes for
emotion then can she feel happiness?
Ask a peer.
12. Game time!!
Classical or Critical?
I want you guys to tell me if
something is classical or critical
anthropomorphizing and if it is
classical reword it to be critical.
14. Obvious classical! Stating that your dog loves you is bad anthropomorphizing!
How would you change it?
“Canids contain remarkably similar neurological pathways to humans, and additionally
when dogs look at their owner their brain responds in a similar fashion to that of a
human staring at their spouse. For that reason, It is plausible that dogs have the
capability for love.”
16. This is classical conditioning and making an incorrect assumption about chimpanzee
behavior. Chimps “smiles” may look like humans, however it is actually a fear
response, not a joyful one.
17. Elephants mourn the
death of even non-
familial individuals, or
in some cases across
species (e.g. elephant to
human).
18. This is still classical. The sentence structure and the statement provide no context as to
why elephants mourn and purely makes assumptions.
19. Iguanas, and other
ectotherms, prefer heat
even during periods that
may result in serious
injury. If conditions are
not adequate, often pet
iguanas will choose to sit
on heat sources to the
point that they would
burn and blister their
stomachs. In this scenario
iguanas want to be warm,
despite the risk of injury.
20. This is Critical Anthropomorphizing.
Although there are human traits listed -
“...prefer heat...will choose to sit...iguanas want
to be warm...” - the context of these traits are
listed in terms of iguanas, not humans.
Additionally, great care has been taken to
address why this scenario would play out.
“Iguanas, and other ectotherms, prefer heat…”
“If conditions are not adequate,...”
“In this scenario…”
