Unlocking the Animal Mind

Unlocking the Animal Mind
Author: Franklin McMillan
Publisher: Rodale Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004-10-20
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 9781579548803

From the man who pioneered the concept of feelings-based animal care-a revolutionary work about animal moods and emotions that shows us a totally new way to view and care for the beloved pets who share our lives. In this ground-breaking work, veterinarian and animal theorist Dr. Frank McMillan uses a wide variety of examples from his own practice with scores of scientific studies to construct a striking-and extraordinarily logical-depiction of the way your pet's mind works. Dr. McMillan presents a comprehensive look at how physical and emotional feelings are at the controls in guiding your animal's actions, from wanting to go for a walk to hiding from the vacuum cleaner to limping on a sore leg. Understanding the importance of your pet's feelings, according the Dr. McMillan, is the key to unlocking the animal mind. Dr. McMillan shows readers: · What the Pet Pleasure Principle is and why your pet wants you to always use it as your main guide in caring for him or her · Why feelings are the only things that your pet cares about · How profound an influence the mind has on every aspect of an animal's health · The importance of the Comfort Zone and how to help your pet reach it and stay in it · Why boredom can be devastating to your pet's emotional health and how to relieve it · What "stress" really is and how to give your pet the tools to deal with it in his or her life · Why the best veterinary medical care is based on your pet's feelings · Why a Safe Haven is the single most important factor for your pet's emotional well-being · How to determine your pet's quality of life and ways to maximize it For the 152 million people in the United States living with pets, Dr. McMillan explains why understanding your pet's feelings is essential for making every decision affecting his or her life, such as upbringing, conflicts with other animals, health care, and even the heartbreaking choice of euthanasia. He shows how feelings-based care offers your pet the greatest 20opportunity to enjoy the happiest, healthiest, and most emotionally fulfilled life possible.

Animal Minds

Animal Minds
Author: Donald R. Griffin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2013-03-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 022622712X

In Animal Minds, Donald R. Griffin takes us on a guided tour of the recent explosion of scientific research on animal mentality. Are animals consciously aware of anything, or are they merely living machines, incapable of conscious thoughts or emotional feelings? How can we tell? Such questions have long fascinated Griffin, who has been a pioneer at the forefront of research in animal cognition for decades, and is recognized as one of the leading behavioral ecologists of the twentieth century. With this new edition of his classic book, which he has completely revised and updated, Griffin moves beyond considerations of animal cognition to argue that scientists can and should investigate questions of animal consciousness. Using examples from studies of species ranging from chimpanzees and dolphins to birds and honeybees, he demonstrates how communication among animals can serve as a "window" into what animals think and feel, just as human speech and nonverbal communication tell us most of what we know about the thoughts and feelings of other people. Even when they don't communicate about it, animals respond with sometimes surprising versatility to new situations for which neither their genes nor their previous experiences have prepared them, and Griffin discusses what these behaviors can tell us about animal minds. He also reviews the latest research in cognitive neuroscience, which has revealed startling similarities in the neural mechanisms underlying brain functioning in both humans and other animals. Finally, in four chapters greatly expanded for this edition, Griffin considers the latest scientific research on animal consciousness, pro and con, and explores its profound philosophical and ethical implications.

The Secret Language of Dogs

The Secret Language of Dogs
Author: Victoria Stilwell
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2016-10-11
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 1607749521

The star of Smithsonian Channel’s Dogs With Extraordinary Jobs reveals how to both interpret and “speak” the hidden language of dogs. Recent studies into the minds of canines show that they have a rich social intelligence and a physical and vocal language as complex and subtle as our own. In this fun and fascinating guide, world-renowned trainer Victoria Stilwell explores the inner world of dogs. This book is your guide to understanding your pooch, communicating effectively, strengthening your bond, and helping dogs learn in the most effective way possible so they feel confident navigating the human world with success. Along the way, you’ll learn the answers to questions such as: • What do different tail wags mean? • What does being right-pawed say about my dog’s personality? • How can I tell the difference between boredom barking and warning barking? • What does it mean when my dog spins around, arches his back, or gives me the whale eye? • Do dogs feel guilt? • How do dogs perceive human faces? • Why do some scientists think dogs’ emotional experience is even greater than ours? Filled with adorable full-color photographs and instructive illustrations, this insightful “dog decoder” will soon make you dog’s best friend.

Inside the Animal Mind

Inside the Animal Mind
Author: Pamela Weintraub
Publisher: Centennial Books
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9781951274610

Elephants can count. Dogs read our expressions. Cows have personality. Fish feel Pain. What do animals know and feel? Are they creative, can they actually make art? Do they grieve or have agency - the ability to make decisions, intentionally manipulate other creatures (even us) or love? Animals have extraordinary abilities. Their feelings are much like ours, and some of their cognitive skills equal our own. Inside the Animal Mind unpacks their inner lives and their relationship to us. Animal consciousness has long been fascinating — but difficult to penetrate. Today, that is changing, and fast. Researchers say that each creature has evolved a suitable intelligence and emotional life for it’s own role in the world: Dogs have minds that race though time on the fast track, in line with their quick metabolisms. Cats have a detailed language of meows to communicate specifically with humans. The octopus, with eight interacting arms, has a wildly complex brain. Readers will learn about how dogs love us, the special skills of horse therapists, and the wisdom of communities of bees. We explore how animals remember, how they love, the nature of their self-awareness and moral codes — and how they have fun.

The Philosophy of Animal Minds

The Philosophy of Animal Minds
Author: Robert W. Lurz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2009-09-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139481029

This volume is a collection of fourteen essays by leading philosophers on issues concerning the nature, existence, and our knowledge of animal minds. The nature of animal minds has been a topic of interest to philosophers since the origins of philosophy, and recent years have seen significant philosophical engagement with the subject. However, there is no volume that represents the current state of play in this important and growing field. The purpose of this volume is to highlight the state of the debate. The issues which are covered include whether and to what degree animals think in a language or in iconic structures, possess concepts, are conscious, self-aware, metacognize, attribute states of mind to others, and have emotions, as well as issues pertaining to our knowledge of and the scientific standards for attributing mental states to animals.

The Animal Mind

The Animal Mind
Author: Kristin Andrews
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781315771892

The study of animal cognition raises profound questions about the minds of animals and philosophy of mind itself. Aristotle argued that humans are the only animal to laugh, but in recent experiments rats have also been shown to laugh. In other experiments, dogs have been shown to respond appropriately to over two hundred words in human language. In this introduction to the philosophy of animal minds Kristin Andrews introduces and assesses the essential topics, problems and debates as they cut across animal cognition and philosophy of mind. She addresses the following key topics: what is cognition, and what is it to have a mind? What questions should we ask to determine whether behaviour has a cognitive basis? the science of animal minds explained: ethology, behaviourist psychology, and cognitive ethology rationality in animals animal consciousness: what does research into pain and the emotions reveal? What can empirical evidence about animal behaviour tell us about philosophical theories of consciousness? does animal cognition involve belief and concepts; do animals have a 'Language of Thought'? animal communication other minds: do animals attribute 'mindedness' to other creatures? moral reasoning and ethical behaviour in animals animal cognition and memory. Extensive use of empirical examples and case studies is made throughout the book. These include Cheney and Seyfarth's ververt monkey research, Thorndike's cat puzzle boxes, Jensen's research into humans and chimpanzees and the ultimatum game, Pankseep and Burgdorf's research on rat laughter, and Clayton and Emery's research on memory in scrub-jays. Additional features such as chapter summaries, annotated further reading and a glossary make this an indispensable introduction to those teaching philosophy of mind, animal cognition. It will also be an excellent resource for those in fields such as ethology, biology and psychology.

Chaser

Chaser
Author: John W. Pilley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-11-03
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 1780747039

Chaser has a way with words. She knows over a thousand of them—more than any other animal of any species except humans. In addition to common nouns like house, ball, and tree, she has memorized the names of more than one thousand toys and can retrieve any of them on command. Based on that learning, she and her owner and trainer, retired psychologist John Pilley, have moved on to further impressive feats, demonstrating her ability to understand sentences with multiple elements of grammar and to learn new behaviors by imitation. John’s ingenuity and tenacity as a researcher are as impressive as Chaser’s accomplishments. His groundbreaking approach has opened the door to a new understanding of animal intelligence, one that requires us to reconsider what actually goes on in a dog’s mind. Chaser’s achievements reveal her use of deductive reasoning and complex problem-solving skills to address novel challenges. Yet astonishingly, Chaser isn’t unique. John’s training methods can be adopted by any dog lover. Through the poignant story of how he trained Chaser, raised her as a member of the Pilley family, and proved her abilities to the scientific community, he reveals the positive impact of incorporating learning into play and more effectively channeling a dog’s natural drives. John’s work with Chaser offers a fresh perspective on what’s possible in the relationship between a dog and a human. His story points us toward a new way of relating to our canine companions that takes into account our evolving understanding of the way animals and humans learn.

Wild Minds

Wild Minds
Author: Marc Hauser
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2001-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780805056709

" ... an essential examination of how animals assemble the basic tool kit that we call the mind: the ability to count, to navigate, to recognize individuals, to communicate, and to socialize."--Jacket.

Animal Minds and Human Morals

Animal Minds and Human Morals
Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801482984

Sorabji surveys a vast range of Greek philosophical texts and considers how classical discussions of animals' capacities intersect with central questions, not only in ethics but in the definition of human rationality as well.

Animals Make Us Human

Animals Make Us Human
Author: Temple Grandin
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2009
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0151014892

The author of "Animals in Translation" employs her own experience with autism and her background as an animal scientist to show how to give animals the best and happiest life.