No self awareness.

wildgoldenhoney said:

No self awareness.

End thread.

i think animals have lots of self awareness. animals learn from experience. without the experience of encountering a mirror, and understanding that mirrors 'reflect' things, animals will puzzle over the situation, unable to understand what's going on.

If u had never seen yourself.........I doubt that u would recognize your image in a mirror.

Most don't have self awareness, however...there are some that do, like elephants, orcas and dolphins, some birds and several primates.

[Edited 10/2/14 5:10am]

I'm not convinced with cats.

no vanity?

Ok, let me clarify. No self consciousness (and no conscience).

i don't think we can generalize like that, when we are still in the early stages of discovering what animals are capable of

if I'm not mistaken, some birds can

If they were self conscious, they woudl know that they were naked. And they do not have a conscience because they were not created that way. Humans were the only ones created with a conscience, whereas animals were created with instincts.

I'm not sure what you guys mean by them being self aware, do they know they exist? Can they conscioisly say when looking in the mirror, 'Wow, I'm sooooo good looking! The other ape girls are gonna be jealous. Gorillaz...'

I think that what you may think is self conscious, is that some animals are merely intelligent.

[Edited 10/3/14 14:49pm]

i try yo show my cat his face my phone he ignores it...but he likes to sit on it when it is charging...it is a little warm!

Graycap23 said:

Graycap23 said:

If u had never seen yourself.........I doubt that u would recognize your image in a mirror.

not immediately maybe but pretty soon you would.

I think the reason is animals see and sense the world differently that humans. they use smell. They also process visuals differently so to them it may not appear like anything.

wildgoldenhoney said:

JustErin said:

wildgoldenhoney said:

If they were self conscious, they woudl know that they were naked. And they do not have a conscience because they were not created that way. Humans were the only ones created with a conscience, whereas animals were created with instincts.

I'm not sure what you guys mean by them being self aware, do they know they exist? Can they conscioisly say when looking in the mirror, 'Wow, I'm sooooo good looking! The other ape girls are gonna be jealous. Gorillaz...'

I think that what you may think is self conscious, is that some animals are merely intelligent.

[Edited 10/3/14 14:49pm]

Nope, studies have proven that certain animals are self aware.

I doubt that they are self conscious.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Graycap23 said:

If u had never seen yourself.........I doubt that u would recognize your image in a mirror.

not immediately maybe but pretty soon you would.

I think the reason is animals see and sense the world differently that humans. they use smell. They also process visuals differently so to them it may not appear like anything.

That's a good point. They often see the motion in the mirror, and they are curious, but the lack of smell must mean a lot to them. Plus, they can't really touch the reflection. The whole concept is actually pretty abstract.

ufoclub said:

ufoclub said:

Wouldn't an animal that doesn't recognize themselves freak out because there is suddenly another animal near them? This happens with fighting fish and some young animals, but most animals like my cat recognize a reflection for what it is, a reflection. In other words, I think most animals recognize themselves in mirrors. [Edited 10/4/14 23:14pm]

I think they see something moving but don't because they can't touch or smell or eat it, they lose interest after a while. Animals definitely see themselves in the mirror, I doubt they know what it is.

NDRU said:

ufoclub said:

Wouldn't an animal that doesn't recognize themselves freak out because there is suddenly another animal near them? This happens with fighting fish and some young animals, but most animals like my cat recognize a reflection for what it is, a reflection. In other words, I think most animals recognize themselves in mirrors. [Edited 10/4/14 23:14pm]

I think they see something moving but don't because they can't touch or smell or eat it, they lose interest after a while. Animals definitely see themselves in the mirror, I doubt they know what it is.

Well that's not the case when my cat sees another cat through a window (with no touch or smell or even sound). She freaks out. Even if that cat is silent. For example my cat might be eating at her bowl at night and then look up to notice another black cat sitting outside the window (which reaches the floor level) motionless just watching. This cat look so much the same as ours that we used to think our cat got outside when we saw him. But as soon as my cat notices, she completely panics and starts making cat fight noises very loudly, and sometimes sends her bowl flying with food going everywhere. In this case she focusses past her reflection to realize another cat is there.

I think a lot of animals realize that their own reflection is non-threatening or not important. There are lots of reflections that happen in an animal's environment as they develop from birth. Especially domestic animals.

But some animals do think their reflection is another being. And a possible threat.

Some primates, whales (including dolphin), elephants, and birds have been shown to be self-aware in the sense that the recognize the mirror image is themselves.

I'm fascinated in primate use of sign language though. We now have primates that can sign up to 1300 words, and use to words to express feelings.

However, none have been able to use the words in a meaninful language, nor have any of the apes that can sign thought to use the words to actually ask a question. They never aske questions via sign language. Strange.