Humans Vs Animals

7 Commentsby   |  03.20.11  |  Beginning of Scientific Psychology (Part III)

Thinking about the theory of evolution and what kinds of impact it has today on society, I thought of the movie “Planet of the Apes” in particular. (Mostly because of the movie clip that was shown in departmental chapel before Spring Break) In that film, the apes rule the world and the humans are slaves. I started to think about all the theories that have sprang up over the years about how we as humans evolved into who we are today. Many have said that we come from apes and that we were once what they called “cave men”, which is between ape and man. The movie showed what would happen if we reverted back to that in a way. The apes were smarter than humans. This got me thinking. Are we as humans any different than animals emotionally? I’m not saying that we are, but if you look at our behaviors, they have similarities. Take anger, for example. When we are angry, our natural instinct is to fight, correct? Now look at the animal kingdom. When two animals are aggressive toward one another, it usually ends in a fight of some sort, whether that is over food, a mate, or even territory. The same could be said for the human world. Men have fought for centuries over land, women, and even the right to lead a country. All of this goes to say that while we may not have evolved from animals, I believe that God gave both humans and animals the capacity for emotions and the minds to deal with it in their own way. Humans, however, have more intelligence to use other means of dealing with the emotions and don’t always revert back to the violence of animals. Just a thought.

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7 Comments

  1. LeeAnn Green
    1:32 pm, 03.21.11

    I agree that many animals show signs of similar emotions to humans. However, these emotions are basic and instinctual in animals and in humans we have the ability to control our emotions. I think that is because we have the ability to reason.

  2. Lawton Pybus
    3:07 pm, 03.21.11

    Definitely. Speaking purely physiologically, much of our emotions are processed in the amygdala and cerebellum, which are brain structures that many animals also have. However, our brains are more highly evolved and have structures that the vast majority of animals do not have such as the frontal lobe, which controls much of our inhibitions.

  3. Garrett Beach
    4:03 pm, 03.21.11

    While emotions might be similar, I believe that humans are more able to control them. With emotional control humans are better able to show restraint. That is the difference.

  4. Taeyanna Pannell
    4:39 pm, 03.21.11

    So true. I mean both animals and humans have the same emotions we are just more evolved causing us to have better control over them in most cases. I mean we are mammals so we are animals and a lot of our emotions are instinctual when one of our friends are in danger we have there backs etc. They only difference I believe is that we can control or suppress our emotions better.

  5. Emily Pennington
    6:11 pm, 03.21.11

    I totally agree. And it brings up the debate over whether or not animals have minds and actually understand what is going on around them or if they’re just mechanic beings that eat, poop, and sleep, you know? So if we evolved from animals, it makes you wonder when humans became “human” and suddenly developed a conscience or whether animals have it too.

  6. Adrienne Lackey
    8:18 pm, 03.21.11

    I also agree that God gave both humans and animals the capacity for emotions, but humans just have to ability to control said emotions, whereas animals do not. This is both a blessing and a curse, because instead of being able to act out in the ways nature would have us behave, we have to consider our upbringing, and follow through with whatever is socially acceptable. Sometimes I think this sort of desensitizes us, and many people become “numb” becasue they are not fully able to express their emotions.

  7. Jodi Bell
    11:29 pm, 03.21.11

    I can’t imagine two apes saying lets talk this one out instead of fighting over it. I agree with you that I dont think we were made as apes but humans were designed with a purpose. Its interesting that we dont physically fight as the animal world does. It speaks of our higher intelligence and also our capacity for emotions like you said.

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