2011-12-30 -
Animals and empathy
"Some research has suggested that some animals, including mice, may be
able to experience “emotional contagion,” or the basic mirroring of
another individual’s painful or pleasurable experiences. Mice may lick
their own paws after seeing compatriots’ paws pricked by researchers’
needles, for example. But emotional contagion isn’t the same thing as
empathy – it’s more a kind of a precursor or steppingstone to it. And
until this December, no research had been published showing that animals
such as mice or rats were capable of correctly understanding and
reacting to the experiences of others, a common definition of true
empathy."
