Range of emotions perceived by species
I heard someone on TV say that empathy is what differentiate us, humans, from animals. It didn't seem right. I knew that apes could feel empathy. Dogs too can understand your feelings, know when you feel down, and maybe even try to help you when you are in trouble. So empathy is obviously not a human only emotion. I don't know if cats or mice can really feel empathy. If they can it is certainly a less strong or developed feeling than dogs, dolphins, elephants or primates. Empathy is a feeling shared by higher mammals. Interestingly, autistic people cannot empathise (much) with others.
This made me wonder what emotions and feelings were really felt exclusively by humans, and what was the gradation of emotions through evolution.
Fear is probably the most basic of all emotions, the one most necessary for an animal's survival. The tiniest insect and the stupidest fish will experience fear. Only brainless species of animals, like molluscs or jellyfish do not know fear.
Anger could be seen as a natural reaction to provocation or aggressive behaviour. It is closely linked to fear. They are in fact the two facets of the fight-or-flight response. It can be felt by every animal species who can sense fear.
Joy, which we often think of as another basic emotion, is in fact much more advanced. Cats do not express joy with facial expression, but only via their behaviour and by purring. Dogs can show joy on their face though. All mammals can probably feel some kind of joyful feeling or excitement. So do birds, some of which can communicate it well by singing. Reptiles seem to be the evolutionary limit where joy ceases to exist. In other words, anything more primitive than mammals or birds (both descended from the reptiles) cannot feel joy.
Although it is the opposite of joy, sadness appears a bit more evolved. I am not sure cats can feel sad, for instance. Dogs certainly do. Most animals can feel distressed (closer to fear) or miserable (e.g. if deprived from freedom in a cage). But that isn't the same as sadness. Higher mammals, once again, tend to express more grief at the loss of a child. Insects, fish or even reptiles wouldn't feel anything at all, and have been known to eat their offspring. Birds and mammals are more protective of their family and will be emotionally upset at the loss of a close one. Some species of birds have been known to feel grief at the loss of their life partner, and even die soon after, as can also be the case with humans, or with a dog losing his/her master. It is difficult to assess the evolutionary limit of sadness because it is not always expressed on one's face, even in humans. I would say that most mammals and birds can experience it at varying degrees depending on their brain size.
Trust is another emotion that can bind us with our canine friends. In fact just about any mammal can become a companion once you have gained their trust. Trust is harder with birds, and even more with reptiles, but not impossible. Alligators can develop a sense of mutual trust with humans who feed them, so that they won't attack them and will let themselves be approached, touched and even handled. Or maybe is it just acceptance. Trust requires memory, which is why small-brained reptiles and fish won't develop any long-lasting trusting relationship, even between themselves.
Contempt is an emotion hard to perceive in animals. It is sometimes said that cats can feel contempt, but that is probably just content and serenity. Contempt leads to rejection and segregation. It requires an understanding of one's own capabilities in relation to others. It is surely one of the most "evolved" emotions, one that only primates and a few other social mammals (dolphins, wolves) can really feel. Even among primates, it may be limited to apes or bigger-brained monkeys. Contempt is also linked to social hierarchy and exclusion. Apes, wolves and dolphins all have a developed social hierarchy, and can punish, seclude or exclude members from the group, just like humans.
Disapproval is a bit similar to contempt, in the sense that it can lead to the punishment of a group member. It requires deeper thinking, memory and learning. It is based on judgement from past experiences. I would say that it is even more complex than contempt, because it needs a way of expressing it in an accurate enough way to express one's mind. It requires language, so it is limited to humans, and possibly apes (sign language) and cetaceans (if dolphins and whales can communicate ideas efficiently with their language, but we have no idea).
Love is common among mammals and birds, but cannot really be said to exist in other animals. It requires a sufficient level of memory (at least to remember one's mate) and trust. Naturally, love is felt more strongly and in a more complex way in more intelligent animals.
Hate is more complex, because it does not rely so much on biochemistry. Hate, and its milder version 'disgust', arises from the memory of strong negative experience towards another individual or group or species. It is felt more strongly in species (or individuals) who are more emotionally sensitive and have a strong emotional memory. Camels are said never to forget (nor forgive) someone who hurt them. Dogs can be trained to become vicious by instilling them negative feelings. Cats, though, will remember to fear someone or something, but not 'hate' it. Hate and disgust are restricted to some higher mammals, and strongest of all in chimpanzees and humans (the only two species that wage wars against their own kind).
Boredom is another emotion that seem to distinguish cats from dogs. Felines never seem to be bored, while dogs often do if they stay many hours alone or without stimulus. Boredom is certainly felt more strongly in species that evolved a certain neoteny (retention of juvenile character in adults), and therefore playfulness, like dogs (but not wolves) and primates (especially humans).
Loneliness is a sort of feeling of boredom mixed with insecurity or sense of exclusion. It is limited to social mammals.
Sentimentality is another feeling that seems linked to neoteny. Even in human children are usually more sentimental than adults. Dogs are among the rare animals that never behave like adults because we selected them to behave this way. That's why a dog will be sentimental about his/her toys or blanket and carry it around all the time or cry if he/she doesn't have it, just a like a human child. The same is true with young chimps, but much less with adults.
Shame can only be felt by social mammals that can feel disapproval, contempt or rejection from other group members. Solitary animals, like cats, have no sense of shame, because they do not have social rules. All primates and dogs can experience shame, and possibly elephants and some other big social mammals.
Disappointment is a kind of sadness resulting from a failed anticipation (negative surprise). It requires the ability to foresee predictable events or understand the principle of rewards. Again it is something that cats cannot really feel, but that dogs can. If you show some food to a dog, make him/her feel like you are going to give it to him/her, then eat it yourself, the dog will be disappointed, and maybe sigh or sulk. A cat won't understand and will keep meowing or just look surprised or annoyed. Apes can feel disappointment with a disarming poignancy. But can a horse, a cow, a camel or a sheep really be as disappointed as a dog or a chimp ? I have never seen any (or maybe horses, but in a more subtle manner).
Guilt/remorse is possibly the only common emotion that is exclusive to the great apes and humans. It required deep thinking and the faculty to imagine how things could have been if we had acted differently, and envisage the future consequences of one's acts, while understanding that we had the power to do things differently if we had been more thoughtful or careful.
Pride and humiliation are two emotions that go hand in hand. They require a sense of self, but also a social status within the group. It is therefore only something that intelligent social animals can feel. It is pretty much limited to great apes and humans though. Other animals do not have to rely enough on their learned skills to socialise.
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Originally Posted by LeBrok
