The way some folks react to being cautioned against anthropomorphising animal behaviour, I think thereâs often a misunderstanding about precisely what sort of anthropomorphism weâre talking about.
Yes, itâs true that at one time, pure behaviourism â i.e., the notion that non-human animals are basically meat robots executing simple stimulus-response programs and have no subjective experience of reality â was the norm in animal behaviour studies, and any suggestion that non-human animals have an internal life would have been dismissed as anthropomorphism.
However, in this context, âat one timeâ basically means âthe 1970sâ; if youâre operating on the assumption that pure behaviourism is still the dominant paradigm in the study of animal behaviour, your understanding of the field is literally half a century out of date, and thatâs typically not whatâs meant when folks talk about anthropomorphism.
Rather, when folks say you shouldnât anthropomorphise non-human animals, theyâre not talking about assuming that animals are experiencing any motivation at all for the things that they do: theyâre talking about assuming that animals are experiencing exactly the same motivation that a human would under comparable circumstances. The fact that a human and a non-human animal do the same thing in response to the same circumstance doesnât necessarily mean that theyâre doing it for the same reason, and failing to check your assumption they are can lead to some pretty serious problems.
assuming a dog or a horse is being spiteful for refusing to perform on command, or a snake wants to cuddle when itâs trying to seek warmth, or a lizard is bored when itâs basking, is dangerous anthropomorphism. itâs not a bad thing to understand that animals are complex and deserve respect and consideration and empathy. itâs a good thing to try and figure out what animals want and try to give it to them! but itâs a bad thing to ever assume that they want what a human would want.
humans are primates and fairly unique primates, at that. we want stuff that even our closest cousin, the chimp, doesnât always want. we can and should treat a hedgehog well, but we should take the time to learn what well is for an actual hedgehog and not for a tiny man with spikes on.
and so on.
