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Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice

Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice

Published on: November 22, 2024

What is an animal emotion?

Frans B M de Waal¹

¹Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

|April 14, 2011

Summary

Animal behavior research should revisit emotions. Understanding animal emotions as mental and bodily states is key to explaining behavior and will be the next frontier in the field.

Area of Science:

Ethology
Animal Behavior
Neuroscience

Background:

Emotions are prevalent in animal behavior terminology but avoided in scientific discourse.
Neuroscience and studies on human emotional intelligence increasingly focus on emotions in humans and nonhumans.
The historical exclusion of animal emotions from research appears outdated.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the history of animal behavior research concerning emotions and instincts.
To advocate for the inclusion of emotions as a legitimate topic in animal behavior studies.
To propose a framework for studying emotions as functional states.

Main Methods:

Historical review of scientific literature in animal behavior, psychology, and biology.
Conceptual analysis of the role of emotions in behavior.

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Examination of the relationship between emotions, instincts, and behavior.

Main Results:

Historically, emotions were openly discussed alongside instincts in animal behavior research.
A renewed interest in animal emotions is supported by framing emotions as adaptive mental and bodily states.
Avoiding unanswerable questions is facilitated by viewing emotions as potentiators of behavior.

Conclusions:

The taboo on studying animal emotions in scientific discourse should be reconsidered.
Emotions should be viewed as crucial mental and bodily states that enable adaptive behaviors.
Investigating the emotional underpinnings of behavior represents a significant future direction for the field of animal behavior.