Thesis idea - anthropomorphism

A

aldato_daz

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 February 2006
Messages
171
Visit site
Hi everyone!

I posted on the forum about this before but im not really any further! :/

My idea was based in anthropomorphism and people's perception on equine emotion.

I have plenty of literature to read thanks to some nice people on here!

So for my practical investigation, my idea was as follows:

I will develop a scale of anthropomorphism on to which I will place the people who take part. The scale will range from non-anthropomorphic to very anthropomorphic. So to place them on this scale I will ask them a number of questions to ascertain whether they are anthropomorphic or not. I havent yet decided what kind of questions I should be asking.

To prove that my scale is right I will then show the participants a number of images illustrating horses and I will ask them to describe what emotion they believe the horse is showing.

Am I on the right track here? Does anybody have any ideas as to what questions I could ask in the questionnaire? Or any other ideas at all?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Carrie
 
My brain is completely fried just reading that, and I don't even know how to say that big word, so no, I'm sorry but I can't help!!
 
I suppose it depends exactly how comprehensive the questions are to establish a scale. I think a lot of none anthropomorthic people use words such as cheeky, greedy, silly, to describe horses whilst being nothing like people who go really ott.
 
It would depend on what emotions you intend to picture, things like surprise, fear etc are not anthropomorphism but real and recognisable. To me anthropomorphism is things like describing the things your horse likes such as he prefers his red rug, he is holding a grudge because he had less hay, he doesn't feel like a ride today because his breakfast was in the wrong bucket etc
 
You might want to do some kind of pre study to give you an idea of how to calibrate your scale. (are you thinking of using a Likert scale?) Like asking how your subjects relate to a wider range of animals (is there anything 'special' about horses?) Is the end goal to develop a scale or to add evidence to another hypothesis?
You should maybe consider asking people how 'familiar' they are with horses. I'm certain there is a better way of framing those questions!
Will have a think.
 
Sounds an interesting idea. However, does ascribing an emotion to a horse make a person anthropomorphic? Horses do, I feel have emotions; fear or anxiety for example, and love e.g a mare with foal. Could you look at whether there are some characteristics uniquely human or uniquely equine? Would maybe asking what the horse is thinking open the debate up? Would you ask only horsey people? I wonder if to non horse people, all horses look the same? I read somewhere that dogs communicate with each other a lot through facial expression, which I thought was ridiculous, until I thought about my dog and realised that its true. But I don't think non doggy people could see that. And taking that a step further, horses do express emotions in there faces as well, e.g ears flat back,(warning) or snorting nostrils (fear) etc. Again non horse people may not know these signs. Sorry for ramble, but on phone so hard to review/edit.
 
mperson01 said:
Sounds an interesting idea. However, does ascribing an emotion to a horse make a person anthropomorphic? Horses do, I feel have emotions; fear or anxiety for example, and love e.g a mare with foal. Could you look at whether there are some characteristics uniquely human or uniquely equine? Would maybe asking what the horse is thinking open the debate up? Would you ask only horsey people? I wonder if to non horse people, all horses look the same? I read somewhere that dogs communicate with each other a lot through facial expression, which I thought was ridiculous, until I thought about my dog and realised that its true. But I don't think non doggy people could see that. And taking that a step further, horses do express emotions in there faces as well, e.g ears flat back,(warning) or snorting nostrils (fear) etc. Again non horse people may not know these signs. Sorry for ramble, but on phone so hard to review/edit.
Click to expand...

But do they really feel love, regret, guilt?
 
Anthropomorphism is attributing human emotion to non human things, like animals for example. I

I am hoping that non anthropomorphic people will not use human emotion adjectives to describe what they see and for anthropomorphic peopke to really describe the images as very human like emotions exactly like what Rebels said.

Xander I have not yet found out how I will develop this scales, but I will definitely look at what you suggested. My end goal is go develop a scale and the use the images as evidence that my scale is accurate...I think :/
 
I can't remember where I read about this, but there was an article about human brains and animal brains - the point I picked up was that only humans and some of the large apes have the necessary structures in their brain which produce feelings such as guilt, and (if memory serves), no animal has a prefrontal cortex which is the bit of our brain which lets us think in abstract. Which means that horses can only live in the moment and don't brood on things or plot revenge like we do!
 
I think you need to pin down the difference between people who can recognise when a horse is showing an emotion but don't assume human traits, people who use words for human emotions as a sort of easy shorthand for describing behaviour, and people who actually ascribe those emotions to the horse.

I do think horses can feel and express a lot of emotions, so you'll need to choose carefully. You'll also have to think about how some things might differ between humans and horses.

Is it possible for a horse to be "greedy", for example, when they don't know or understand that eating too much is wrong?
 
I think horses do express so very basic emotion, mainly for survival purposes, such as fear, dominance, aggression etc.

What I may discuss in my thesis is whether they have a conscience.

However, trying to find out whether horses have emotions is not really what i want to do....I want to investigate more around anthropomorphism itself and people's perceptions. Does this make sense? I did find this really hard to explain to my lecturer!
 
What would your overall aim be?
To come up with a reliable scale may be a thesis aim in itself. How would you test the scale was repeatable etc? The horses couldn't verify the emotions? Would you focus on certain parts of expression? Eg eyes alone, mouth, nostrils, ears, head position or overall picture of horse?

It sounds really interesting but you may be best to speak directly to some equine behaviourists at the vet schools. There may already be some work in the area which could help you shape your question.

Good luck.

Just a thought, could you use photos of people's expressions as a control?
 
Last edited:
Theocat, that is kind of along the same lines as what I was thinking but im hoping that my scale and then the images test will segregate these people? Would I be right?
 
With all due respect, it does sound as though you're devising a test to see whether people agree with your beliefs about animal emotions :)

In order for it to be a valid and reliable test of anthropomorphism, you first need to agree what exactly anthropomorphism is (and what it is not), and then you need to work out what emotions can actually be identified in the animal. I think you will find a lot of consistency in behavioural scientists in terms of correctly identifying emotions such as fear, anxiety and anger in horses (given good photographs - and allowing that photographs show only a snapshot of an evolving situation). You will find much less agreement on happiness, frustration and irritation, for example, although most will agree that they exist and do indeed motivate animals to behave. And then you'll find completely random ratings on whether images portray horses displaying jealousy and love.

However, your problem arises in terms of whether a response can identify the responder as either (a) anthropomorphic, (b) a very good reader of animal emotions or (c) wrong - since you will find an equal disagreement when they are asked to rate human emotions from photographs :D
 
aldato_daz said:
Hi everyone!

I posted on the forum about this before but im not really any further! :/

My idea was based in anthropomorphism and people's perception on equine emotion.

I have plenty of literature to read thanks to some nice people on here!

So for my practical investigation, my idea was as follows:

I will develop a scale of anthropomorphism on to which I will place the people who take part. The scale will range from non-anthropomorphic to very anthropomorphic. So to place them on this scale I will ask them a number of questions to ascertain whether they are anthropomorphic or not. I havent yet decided what kind of questions I should be asking.

To prove that my scale is right I will then show the participants a number of images illustrating horses and I will ask them to describe what emotion they believe the horse is showing.

Am I on the right track here? Does anybody have any ideas as to what questions I could ask in the questionnaire? Or any other ideas at all?

Any help greatly appreciated!

Carrie
Click to expand...

Cant think of any exact questions but will have a think about it and get back to you.D

ont forget you will have to produce a huge sample of questions initially to trial on a small group and remember to flip the questions so they are the same question asked in different ways, then test the validity of the questions and end up with the top 20 (ish) for your final scale questionnaire.
 
Hi brightbay...

I dont think im trying to devise a test to prove what I think :s I thought I was being unbiased! I dont want to try and prove anything about whether horses have emotions or not, I dont think im smart enough or have enough time for that, lol, I was just trying to focus on peoples perceptions because it is something that really intrigues me as I know that I am very anthropomorphic myself! So I wanted to know about other people, such as leisure riders, professional riders, dealers, breeders, vets etc. To get a wide range of responses.I have an idea if what I would expect from this range of people.
 
I don't quite get it, can you give more examples of exactly how this will work.

So horses do have some emotions, e.g. fear, aggression, and sometimes these are expressed in their body language. Some people read these emotions correctly, some do not.

You will ask people questions trying to determine whether they attribute the correct emotions to horses. For example, you will assume that horses do not feel guilt, you will ask a question such as "If a horse has taken more than its fair share of food, what does it feel?" and if the response is 'guilt' then you will conclude that person is anthropomorphosizing.

Is that right so far?

Why do you expect to find a scale rather than a sharp distinction? How do you expect the scale to go (which emotions will be wrongly attributed by most people and which by some)?

And how does this first part with the questions relate to the second part with the images? How does showing people an image of a horse looking 'guilty' prove anything about the results above?
 
Hi booboos..

Im not looking for the 'correct' emotion, im just looking for their own perception of what emotion they believe is bring portrayed.

I guess the idea of the scale and then the images is to see if the results correlate. To prove whether I have determined whether they are anthropomorphic or not? You may actually be right about making a clear distinction rather than a scale.

My initial question ideas were questions like, "do you think your pet/horse misses you?" "Do you think your pet/horse appreciates you?" "Do you talk to your pets?"

I was unsure as to whether or not to ask them about their pets or focus on the horse, for the purposes of the questionnaire.

Perhaps I am totally wrong here, maybe bitten off more than I can chew? Probably too late to change my idea now :/
 
aldato_daz said:
Anthropomorphism is attributing human emotion to non human things, like animals for example.
Click to expand...


For me, anthropomorphism is used to describe wrongly attributing human emotions to non human things. I don't know if that is the dictionary definition but it is the general usage.

The problem I have with the proposed study is that it is now widely known that animal do share a number of emotions with humans. Fear and excitement are clear, but some animals (apes and elephants) appear to mourn their dead, for example.

I think this study as proposed will be almost impossible without brain scanning the horses involved for signs of genuine emotion, to see when the human is simply anthropomorphising.



OP I think you might be better off with a questionnaire approach asking questions like:

"does your horse ever do anything just to show you up in public?"

I'm sure we can rack our brains for more questions like that if you want us to.
 
aldato_daz said:
Hi booboos..

Im not looking for the 'correct' emotion, im just looking for their own perception of what emotion they believe is bring portrayed.

I guess the idea of the scale and then the images is to see if the results correlate. To prove whether I have determined whether they are anthropomorphic or not? You may actually be right about making a clear distinction rather than a scale.

My initial question ideas were questions like, "do you think your pet/horse misses you?" "Do you think your pet/horse appreciates you?" "Do you talk to your pets?"

I was unsure as to whether or not to ask them about their pets or focus on the horse, for the purposes of the questionnaire.

Perhaps I am totally wrong here, maybe bitten off more than I can chew? Probably too late to change my idea now :/
Click to expand...

No, I think it's a good idea (if a difficult one), because it allows you to go in a number of different directions. You'll be able to firm this up as you go.
As I understand it, you are looking for some indicators as to how humans perceive and relate to other animals (specifically horses in your case but could apply to other animals)? We are animals too and restricted by our own understanding and conditioning.
It's OK to research and write up something that produces interesting new questions, btw. I also think it's natural to think OMG - what am I doing. :) , so don't worry.
 
The difficultly is you'd need a definitive list of actual emotions a horse can experience, such as fear, & a list of emotions that horses don't feel, such as a desire for material wealth. I'm sure everyone would agree those two examples are easy to place as being an emotion a horse does feel & pure anthropomorphism. But many emotions aren't so easily defined, & as far as I'm aware there is no proof either way for many emotions, its all based on personal opinion & experience. And the language we use to describe it. To prove someone is attaching non existent human emotions to a horse you'd have to first know which emotions aren't experienced, & I don't think that for many there is conclusive evidence either way.
 
The idea of anthropomorphism is one that I instinctively reject as an unsound idea.YET,my practical experience causes me to doubt. I fully understand that a horse hasnt the capacity to think the way we do ,but I question the comparison. My experience is that horses "think"in a far more visual manner than we do. They have a photographic memory and simply compare photographs,it has changed ,is it a threat!iT HAS CHANGED SO i WILL RUN.I have observed far too many instances of what could be construed as serious plotting and thinking by horses ,to dismiss their rather different way of thinking.
 
I am a little confused by your definition of anthropomorphism as I always thought it was attributing human characteristics not emotions to animals. The two are not interchangable Beatrix potter stories were anthropomorphic where animals took the role of humans and adopted their characteristics. Animal Farm by George Orwell was another example. How do you get from characteristics to pure emotions. Anthropomorphism would be calling a horse your baby, treating it as a baby, expecting it to love you, expecting a human response to you so able to be devious and plotting, to be able to make complex decisions not just simple ones like whether to run or not or whether to flee or fight or make instinctive reactions.
As much as many people would like to believe it a horse does not tip its water over to pee you off or refuse to be caught when you are in a hurry because it is trying to annoy you. It wont be caught because it senses your tension because you are in a hurry and it is afraid.
 
Hi! I am writing this response with my lecturer hat on! It's not meant to harsh, it's meant to be helpful - hope it helps!

aldato_daz said:
Hi booboos..

Im not looking for the 'correct' emotion, im just looking for their own perception of what emotion they believe is bring portrayed.
Click to expand...

Yes you are. Correct emotions are emotions that should be correctly attributed to animals because they can experience them. Incorrect emotions are emotions that are incorrectly attributed to animals by extension from what humans experience - this seems to be your definition of anthropomorphism (in the work start with a very clear definition). You will need to start off by listing the correct and incorrect emotions (with references to the literature showing evidence for all these claims).

aldato_daz said:
I guess the idea of the scale and then the images is to see if the results correlate. To prove whether I have determined whether they are anthropomorphic or not? You may actually be right about making a clear distinction rather than a scale.
Click to expand...

The questionaire tells you what emotions people think horses have in the abstract - they can be right or wrong about their attributions.
The image reading tells you what emotions people think they can read off a horse's picture - they can be wrong in two ways, i..e theoretically attributing the emotion to the horse and/or practically reading it off the horse. No correlation possible between the two yet. E.g. Some people will incorrectly think horses can feel guilt and/or incorrectly read fear in a photo as guilt. The results of one questionaire will show nothing about the results in the other. Talk to your tutor about this to clarify how the two link.


aldato_daz said:
My initial question ideas were questions like, "do you think your pet/horse misses you?" "Do you think your pet/horse appreciates you?" "Do you talk to your pets?"
Click to expand...

The phrasing of the questions will be crucial, you need to work on this with your tutor. To start you need to group your questions into real and anthropomorphic emotions (then you mix them up for the actual questionaire and repeat some etc as per questionaire design theory, but to start they need to be clear in your mind). Q1 is good. Q2 is good. Q3 does not reveal anything about emotions so be careful what you ask.

aldato_daz said:
I was unsure as to whether or not to ask them about their pets or focus on the horse, for the purposes of the questionnaire.

Perhaps I am totally wrong here, maybe bitten off more than I can chew? Probably too late to change my idea now :/
Click to expand...

Leave the other pets out of it, you have enough to do already.

You'll be fine, just work at it a lot at the preparation stage. If it's all clear now, it will work, if you go in unsure what you are doing or why you will have more difficulties.
 
Oh dear...I am very confused now! I can now totally see how I have taken the wrong approach to this my lecturers never pointed any of this out to me.

You have all been such a great help! I will go in and see my tutor tomorrow and show her all of this thread and then maybe we can work out a way of taking a different direction.

Have you any idea of exactly what direction I should take this? Like what would you do? Booboos, are you a lecturer yourself?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top