Studies show that many Animals are sensitive to the emotional states of other individuals. They seem to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and perspectives different from their own.
MARC BEKOFF: ‘Studies of the emotional lives of numerous and diverse nonhuman animals (animals) consistently show that some humans wrongly underestimate what they’re able to pick up from the behavior of other individuals. Two recent studies of chimpanzees and one on goats caught my eye because they reveal emotional capacities—emotional intelligence and emotional contagion—that show how emotionally aware individuals of these species truly are…
A study published in the journal Primates by the University of Michigan’s Rachna Reddy and John Mitani called “Research shows chimpanzees help those in need & goats show emotional contagion” shows, “When their mothers die, chimpanzees often adopt younger vulnerable siblings who survive with their care.”
A second study by Kyoto University’s Yutaro Sato and his colleagues published in Animal Cognition, “Spontaneous attention and psycho-physiological responses to others’ injury in chimpanzees,” shows that chimpanzees understand when other chimpanzees are suffering and emotionally respond when they see that another chimpanzee, or a familiar human, is injured…
Both of these studies show chimpanzees are able to understand when others are in distress. I look forward to further studies of how chimpanzees and other animals share emotional states and how they respond to individuals in need…
Goats also figure into this discussion of shared emotions. In a study published in Frontiers in Zoology by Luigi Baciadonna and his colleagues called “Goats distinguish between positive and negative emotion-linked vocalizations,” we learn that highly social goats display emotional contagion and are able to distinguish what others are feeling based on their calls…
All of these studies show that chimpanzees and goats are sensitive to the emotional states of other individuals, and that their emotions might function as social glue. (See “Dog, Cats, and Humans: Shared Emotions Act As “Social Glue.”) The results also have some bearing on questions about whether other animals display a Theory of Mind (ToM), or the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others and understand that others have beliefs, desires, and perspectives different from one’s own. There are data that strongly suggest they do’. SOURCE…
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