Rats Regret Their Bad Decisions, Researchers Find

[Bug MuIdoon]

I always see the regret in my rats eyes. Every now and then he wanders behind my speaker cabinet and I lure him out with a bag of chips (which he gets none of) before scooping him up and moving him to another room. Every time I see that look in his eye of "Noooo, I knew I shouldn't have come out! I could be chewing some wires instead right now"

 

[Nimcha]

No surprise here. Any pet owner that actually pays attention to their animals will know that emotions like regret are something they experience. Humanity really thinks that we are great because we are so smart, which we are, but it's folly to assume that we stand alone on this planet with the emotions we carry.

Actually, people with pets project their own emotions on their pets. Which is no surprise, given that they have an emotional connection with them. Which makes any statement people make about their pets inherentely unreliable. Sorry, but pets aren't intelligent just because you think yours is.

The rat's behaviour is dubbed 'regret', because it is analogous with human behaviour fueled by that emotion. That does not mean it's the exact same emotion that drives the rat's behaviour. We do not know if the rat actually 'feels' regretful.

Someone isn't paying attention to their pet...

Seriously, my dog would tell me when I got home from work if she had gone for a car ride. There was a different tone in the way she barked when she was super happy about something. Of course I didn't know she had been on a ride, but I asked my mom if she had anything special happen that day, and she said no. I then said that she was barking like she had been on a ride, and that's when my mom remembered that, in fact, the dog had been out for a car ride. She was telling me about it dude, and you're not convincing me that was me projecting a good mood on her.

Managing to catch your dog being excited isn't really that much of a stretch is it? Dogs are fairly intelligent, but not much more than say, a cow. Or a horse. Or a cat. Dogs are domesticated wolves, so most of their behaviour is specifically tailored towards exploiting human emotions.

Of course, dog people are more than happy to be under the illusion that their dog actually knows what the hell they're saying.

 

[Signa]

No surprise here. Any pet owner that actually pays attention to their animals will know that emotions like regret are something they experience. Humanity really thinks that we are great because we are so smart, which we are, but it's folly to assume that we stand alone on this planet with the emotions we carry.

Actually, people with pets project their own emotions on their pets. Which is no surprise, given that they have an emotional connection with them. Which makes any statement people make about their pets inherentely unreliable. Sorry, but pets aren't intelligent just because you think yours is.

The rat's behaviour is dubbed 'regret', because it is analogous with human behaviour fueled by that emotion. That does not mean it's the exact same emotion that drives the rat's behaviour. We do not know if the rat actually 'feels' regretful.

Someone isn't paying attention to their pet...

Seriously, my dog would tell me when I got home from work if she had gone for a car ride. There was a different tone in the way she barked when she was super happy about something. Of course I didn't know she had been on a ride, but I asked my mom if she had anything special happen that day, and she said no. I then said that she was barking like she had been on a ride, and that's when my mom remembered that, in fact, the dog had been out for a car ride. She was telling me about it dude, and you're not convincing me that was me projecting a good mood on her.

Managing to catch your dog being excited isn't really that much of a stretch is it? Dogs are fairly intelligent, but not much more than say, a cow. Or a horse. Or a cat. Dogs are domesticated wolves, so most of their behaviour is specifically tailored towards exploiting human emotions.

Of course, dog people are more than happy to be under the illusion that their dog actually knows what the hell they're saying.

That's just it: she was ALWAYS excited when I came home. The difference this time was a tone in her bark. It was higher pitched than normal, and it only was ever that higher pitched if she had something to be extra happy about. It's one thing to be a skeptic, but you're just making excuses now to prove you're not wrong by saying that I'm being exploited. Oh please.

 

[Nimcha]

No surprise here. Any pet owner that actually pays attention to their animals will know that emotions like regret are something they experience. Humanity really thinks that we are great because we are so smart, which we are, but it's folly to assume that we stand alone on this planet with the emotions we carry.

Actually, people with pets project their own emotions on their pets. Which is no surprise, given that they have an emotional connection with them. Which makes any statement people make about their pets inherentely unreliable. Sorry, but pets aren't intelligent just because you think yours is.

The rat's behaviour is dubbed 'regret', because it is analogous with human behaviour fueled by that emotion. That does not mean it's the exact same emotion that drives the rat's behaviour. We do not know if the rat actually 'feels' regretful.

Someone isn't paying attention to their pet...

Seriously, my dog would tell me when I got home from work if she had gone for a car ride. There was a different tone in the way she barked when she was super happy about something. Of course I didn't know she had been on a ride, but I asked my mom if she had anything special happen that day, and she said no. I then said that she was barking like she had been on a ride, and that's when my mom remembered that, in fact, the dog had been out for a car ride. She was telling me about it dude, and you're not convincing me that was me projecting a good mood on her.

Managing to catch your dog being excited isn't really that much of a stretch is it? Dogs are fairly intelligent, but not much more than say, a cow. Or a horse. Or a cat. Dogs are domesticated wolves, so most of their behaviour is specifically tailored towards exploiting human emotions.

Of course, dog people are more than happy to be under the illusion that their dog actually knows what the hell they're saying.

That's just it: she was ALWAYS excited when I came home. The difference this time was a tone in her bark. It was higher pitched than normal, and it only was ever that higher pitched if she had something to be extra happy about. It's one thing to be a skeptic, but you're just making excuses now to prove you're not wrong by saying that I'm being exploited. Oh please.

Again, picking up on the fact that your dog is more excited than normal says more about you than about your dog. You are able to pick up on the difference. Not weird, since you have an emotional connection with your dog.

Nothing about that suggests dogs are capable of experiencing full human emotions.

 

[Signa]

No surprise here. Any pet owner that actually pays attention to their animals will know that emotions like regret are something they experience. Humanity really thinks that we are great because we are so smart, which we are, but it's folly to assume that we stand alone on this planet with the emotions we carry.

Actually, people with pets project their own emotions on their pets. Which is no surprise, given that they have an emotional connection with them. Which makes any statement people make about their pets inherentely unreliable. Sorry, but pets aren't intelligent just because you think yours is.

The rat's behaviour is dubbed 'regret', because it is analogous with human behaviour fueled by that emotion. That does not mean it's the exact same emotion that drives the rat's behaviour. We do not know if the rat actually 'feels' regretful.

Someone isn't paying attention to their pet...

Seriously, my dog would tell me when I got home from work if she had gone for a car ride. There was a different tone in the way she barked when she was super happy about something. Of course I didn't know she had been on a ride, but I asked my mom if she had anything special happen that day, and she said no. I then said that she was barking like she had been on a ride, and that's when my mom remembered that, in fact, the dog had been out for a car ride. She was telling me about it dude, and you're not convincing me that was me projecting a good mood on her.

Managing to catch your dog being excited isn't really that much of a stretch is it? Dogs are fairly intelligent, but not much more than say, a cow. Or a horse. Or a cat. Dogs are domesticated wolves, so most of their behaviour is specifically tailored towards exploiting human emotions.

Of course, dog people are more than happy to be under the illusion that their dog actually knows what the hell they're saying.

That's just it: she was ALWAYS excited when I came home. The difference this time was a tone in her bark. It was higher pitched than normal, and it only was ever that higher pitched if she had something to be extra happy about. It's one thing to be a skeptic, but you're just making excuses now to prove you're not wrong by saying that I'm being exploited. Oh please.

Again, picking up on the fact that your dog is more excited than normal says more about you than about your dog. You are able to pick up on the difference. Not weird, since you have an emotional connection with your dog.

Nothing about that suggests dogs are capable of experiencing full human emotions.

I never said that any animal has "full human emotions," just that they experience them as well. Animals are clearly unable to grasp the full weight of the situations they are in, so they won't get as upset about something bad, but most people will attribute no emotions to animals, or pass them off as acting entirely on brainless instinct. Usually, that's what I see as justification for killing them when they are being annoying or something dumb like that. I'm not some PETA loving hippy or anything, but those people clearly lack either observation skills or perspective.