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Animals and Humans behavior

Over the years people have tried to better understand animal behavior, maybe hoping that this will bring

answers to many questions raised by biologists, or even by psychologists. Evolutionary psychology has

been influenced by Charles Darwins theory of natural selection, which suggested that the physical

characteristics of animals and humans evolved because they were useful, or functional. !he functionalists

were convinced that Darwins theory applied to psychological characteristics too. "ecause, as someanimals have developed strong muscles to allow them to run fast, the human brain must have adapted to

serve a particular function in human e#perience. !herefore, researches done on animals have developed

during the years, because it has been proved that $animal studies provide unique opportunities to

e#amine biological, genetic, and environmental bases of personality and to study personality change,

personality%health lin&s, and personality perception.' ()syc*+O Database -ecord (c /01/ A)A

Although, we, humans, consider ourselves as being a special $breed', we might ta&e into account the fact

that animals are able to develop s&ills and abilities similar to humans. !hey have proven, over the years

that they are able to use tools, to solve problems, or to create artistic wor&s. As 2tephanie )appas, a

contributing writer for 3ive 2cience, has underlined in her article $Animals and Humans', there are many

animal species able not only to mimic human behavior, but also to create their own and to do the same

activities as humans do. or e#ample, the result of a research published in +ovember 14th/01/ in the

5ournal 2cience, &atydid ears are arranged very similar to human ears and are able to translate sound

waves into mechanical vibrations the brain can process, as human ears do.

Another underlined topic is the research done on the Asian elephant and its ability to mimic human words.

Despite the fact that the elephant does not &now e#actly what the words meant, it could say $hello',

$good', $no', $sit down' and $lie down' by using its trun& and throat. 2cientists thin&s that he may have

learned the sounds because for almost seven years he was the only elephant in that 6oo, and in that way

he could bond with humans more easily. !herefore, besides trying to mimic our behavior, animals are

trying to connect with humans and to adapt to our needs and e#pectations. And this is a behavior very

similar to the one that children or even adults have.

*n her article from 3ive 2cience, 2tephanie )appas tries through the seven documented stories, from

which * have given the e#amples above, to prove that the behavior and brain activity of animals have

many similarities to those of humans.

"ut that is not all. -esearch by 3iverpool 7ohn 8oores 9niversity (3789 has discovered that animals

may share many of the same emotions that human e#perience in everyday life. Dr ilippo Aureli, reader in

Animal "ehaviour and co:director of the -esearch Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and

)alaeoecology at 3789 has discovered that emotions which represent a valid topic for scientific

investigation in animals have helped researchers to understand how animals behave. As he said, $or

e#ample self:directed behaviours, such as scratch :grooming, obviously have a hygiene function, but they

also reflect motivational ambivalence or frustration.' !his means that animals respond to the environment

in similar ways to humans, reacting emotionally to others and to the environmental factors, suffering from

stress or even an#iety due to dangerous situations.

2tudying animals is an important factor in understanding more about the phenomena of emotions.

Despite the fact that they cannot e#press their feelings linguistically, researchers have discovered that

their emotions can be e#press through actions, which is also similar to humans behavior.

2ources; http;

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