Many questions have been asked since the beginning of time. Questions still remain, but one we have been unable to answer is: What separates us from other living beings? In the definition from Merriam-Webster, it is stated that a human is “of, relating to, or characteristics of human”. This could mean many different things such as the ability to ask questions, acting on emotions, and the ability to create using our imagination.
The ability to ask questions is almost second nature to most people. When we go to ask our question, most of us don’t really go through the entire process of asking the question. As it turns out, we are the only species on the planet that can ask a question and understand an answer completely. During a research study …show more content…
We are the only species that understands emotions and can comprehend them. We show many different emotions such as anger, happiness, and sadness. While it is undeniable that animals show emotions, there is, however, one difference between us and animals, such as dogs. A dog doesn’t have the same amount of complexity with emotions as humans do. Dr. Stanley Coren, a neuropsychologist that has dedicated his life to researching the psychology of dogs states, “...a dog will have all of the basic emotions: joy, fear, anger, disgust and even love. However based on current research it seems likely that your dog will not have those more complex emotions like guilt, pride and shame.” Dogs have the ability to show sadness like us, but do not have the ability to feel other forms of sadness like self pity, guilt, along with many other forms. Another big difference between a dog's emotions and a person’s emotions, is the fact that humans can read emotions of other animals. People can see the fact that a dog is sad based on certain factors like it has stopped eating, loses interest in things like taking walks or playing catch, and other factors. No other animal is able to do this. Yes, they are able to tell if an animal in their own species is happy. For example, a dog is able to tell if another dog is happy based on the way it barks, but a dog can’t tell when a gorilla is happy. However, a study done in 2016 says that a dog can tell the emotions of people. Though, if someone looks in to the article, the people doing the study state that the dogs can’t tell specific emotions. Dogs can only differentiate between positive and negative emotions based on facial expression and tone of voice. Animals can’t tell that someone is frustrated about something that happened at school. Dogs are able to have emotions, but there are many other factors that separate us from man’s best
The ability to ask questions is almost second nature to most people. When we go to ask our question, most of us don’t really go through the entire process of asking the question. As it turns out, we are the only species on the planet that can ask a question and understand an answer completely. During a research study …show more content…
We are the only species that understands emotions and can comprehend them. We show many different emotions such as anger, happiness, and sadness. While it is undeniable that animals show emotions, there is, however, one difference between us and animals, such as dogs. A dog doesn’t have the same amount of complexity with emotions as humans do. Dr. Stanley Coren, a neuropsychologist that has dedicated his life to researching the psychology of dogs states, “...a dog will have all of the basic emotions: joy, fear, anger, disgust and even love. However based on current research it seems likely that your dog will not have those more complex emotions like guilt, pride and shame.” Dogs have the ability to show sadness like us, but do not have the ability to feel other forms of sadness like self pity, guilt, along with many other forms. Another big difference between a dog's emotions and a person’s emotions, is the fact that humans can read emotions of other animals. People can see the fact that a dog is sad based on certain factors like it has stopped eating, loses interest in things like taking walks or playing catch, and other factors. No other animal is able to do this. Yes, they are able to tell if an animal in their own species is happy. For example, a dog is able to tell if another dog is happy based on the way it barks, but a dog can’t tell when a gorilla is happy. However, a study done in 2016 says that a dog can tell the emotions of people. Though, if someone looks in to the article, the people doing the study state that the dogs can’t tell specific emotions. Dogs can only differentiate between positive and negative emotions based on facial expression and tone of voice. Animals can’t tell that someone is frustrated about something that happened at school. Dogs are able to have emotions, but there are many other factors that separate us from man’s best