Comments on: Dogs Catch Yawns From Their Owners. Does That Mean They Empathize with Us? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/15/dogs-catch-yawns-from-their-owners-does-that-mean-they-empathize-with-us/ Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Chispa http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/15/dogs-catch-yawns-from-their-owners-does-that-mean-they-empathize-with-us/#comment-32863 Chispa Thu, 17 May 2012 01:28:13 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=37103#comment-32863 Does this mean that dogs have mirror neurons that coordinate with those of humans? Probably. Why not? Contemporary science is rediscovering what ancient tribes and many country folk already know; and validating it as real by slapping a Latin term on the concept. Does this mean that dogs have mirror neurons that coordinate with those of humans? Probably. Why not? Contemporary science is rediscovering what ancient tribes and many country folk already know; and validating it as real by slapping a Latin term on the concept.

]]> By: floodmouse http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/15/dogs-catch-yawns-from-their-owners-does-that-mean-they-empathize-with-us/#comment-32862 floodmouse Wed, 16 May 2012 14:45:02 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=37103#comment-32862 "What looks like empathy could be something simpler, or something else entirely." - I've noticed this a lot when dealing with my coworkers, and other (human) social pretenders. Expressions of empathy can be either a knee-jerk herd mentality reaction, or an attempt to manipulate the situation. I personally have confidence that "dog empathy" is more reliably empathic than the human variety, since most dogs have never learned to lie . . . I continue to mock "objective scientists" who try to pretend that other mammals can't share "human" prerogatives. I still believe this is a carryover by recovering Christians, who were taught to believe that humans were special, and not a truly objective scientific point-of-view. Any animals with as much shared DNA as humans and dogs are bound to have a similar underlying emotional matrix. Sure, there will be variations, but that doesn't mean there are no legitimate similarities. “What looks like empathy could be something simpler, or something else entirely.” – I’ve noticed this a lot when dealing with my coworkers, and other (human) social pretenders. Expressions of empathy can be either a knee-jerk herd mentality reaction, or an attempt to manipulate the situation. I personally have confidence that “dog empathy” is more reliably empathic than the human variety, since most dogs have never learned to lie . . .

I continue to mock “objective scientists” who try to pretend that other mammals can’t share “human” prerogatives. I still believe this is a carryover by recovering Christians, who were taught to believe that humans were special, and not a truly objective scientific point-of-view. Any animals with as much shared DNA as humans and dogs are bound to have a similar underlying emotional matrix. Sure, there will be variations, but that doesn’t mean there are no legitimate similarities.

]]> By: Revereche http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/05/15/dogs-catch-yawns-from-their-owners-does-that-mean-they-empathize-with-us/#comment-32861 Revereche Tue, 15 May 2012 23:08:25 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=37103#comment-32861 The extremely social nature of dogs should corroborate this. The extremely social nature of dogs should corroborate this.

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