Bridging the Gap: Human Emotions and Animal Emotions

Abstract

AbstractOur experiences of the conscious mental states that we call emotions drive our interest in whether such states also exist in other animals. Because linguistic report can be used as a gold standard (albeit indirect) indicator of subjectiveemotional feelingsin humans but not other species, how can we investigate animal emotions and what exactly do we mean when we use this term? Linguistic reports of human emotion give rise toemotion concepts(discrete emotions; dimensional models), associated objectively measurable behavioral and bodilyemotion indicators, and understanding of theemotion contextsthat generate specific states. We argue that many animal studies implicitly translate human emotionconcepts,indicatorsandcontexts, but that explicit consideration of the underlying pathways of inference, their theoretical basis, assumptions, and pitfalls, and how they relate toconscious emotional feelings, is needed to provide greater clarity and less confusion in the conceptualization and scientific study of animal emotion.