What do Greys really feel?

[DavidH]

Here's a new game/experiment we can all participate in:

 

What do Greys feel? I thought it might be fun and instructive to make a little catalogue of Grey emotions with examples. No one has yet researched the whole array of Grey emotions, and it may not even be possible to do. We can only make our best guesses based on behavior and communication.

 

So there are no wrong answers here. But the best responses will be the ones with the most persuasive examples. If I say, Shanti screamed like a banshee when the vet toweled him, that’s a pretty good example of the emotion of fear. But if I say, I can tell by the way Shanti blinks his eyes that he loves me, you’ll probably be more skeptical.

 

Here is a list of emotions to get us started. I will tally it up in a few days, and we can see how many and which ones we cover.

 

Acceptance

Affection

Anger

Annoyance

Apathy

Anxiety

Awe

Boredom

Compassion

Contempt

Curiosity

Depression

Desire

Despair

Disappointment

Disgust

Ecstasy

Empathy

Envy

Embarrassment

Euphoria

Fear

Frustration

Gratitude

Grief

Guilt

Happiness

Hatred

Hope

Horror

Hostility

Hysteria

Joy

Jealousy

Loathing

Love

Pity

Pride

Rage

Regret

Remorse

Sadness

Shame

Suffering

Surprise

Wonder

Worry

[she]

Acceptance

I think they show acceptance daily.After all they accept us keeping them as companions in a very different world than is natural for them.They accept being caged when needed and accept a far less veried diet than they would in the wild..they also accept humans as friends, something a wild parrot would not do.

[Mistyparrot]

That list sounds like me after i have been on a bender ! (not since I have had Misty by the way)

Two emotions not listed that I know Misty has is a sense of mischief and a sense of humor, if you count those as emotions.

 

More later.

 

Steve n Misty

[Luvparrots]

Playfulness: Ana Grey loves to sit on her swing and sway back and forth. She also playfully tosses her ball for me to retrieve knowing I will retrieve it again and again.

[Luvparrots]

Another feeling is submission, Ana Grey bends her head down until she is touching whatever she is standing on, whenever she wants a skritch (or tickle as I call it) on the top of her head.

[danmcq]

Some of the items listed are actually the same emotion, I believe.

 

Jealousy - If one of us gives our Conure attention and Dayo is not with one of us. He will fly over and chase the Conure off.

 

Anger - Plays in to the above also. Sometimes he becomes enraged and will relentlessly pursue the Conure and literally begin screaming while flying after him. This is one that seems to tie in with Hate being very similar and hard to separate between the two.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2009/02/20 16:03

[Luvparrots]

Stubborness, if Ana Grey does not want to wear her harness, which is always, she stubbornly moves her head away from me over and over again until I eventually win.

[Lyric]

Vanity- Lyric loves to look at his reflection in a mirror. He gives himself kisses and his eyes pin and he moves his head around to look at himself better. I really do think he knows its his reflection and not another bird because he's scared of most other birds or intimidated by them. I'll ask him if he wants to go see how pretty he is and everytime he lifts his foot for me to show he's ready to go!

[bluekkiwi]

Bella is very stubborn also, if she does not want to do something, it is very hard to make her. Such as going to bed when she was not done with her cuddle!

[Luvparrots]

Confidence, Ana Grey is very sure of herself. If she wants to go to her cage, she just hops off of her playstand in the living room or kitchen and waddles off to her cage in the office, climbs in and goes about her business.

[DavidH]

Someone mentioned that the emotion categories are somewhat repetitious. That's true. There's a lot of overlap, and psychologists who work on classifying emotions are not always in agreement, even regarding human beings.

 

Sometimes it's a glass half full/half empty kind of thing too. Is it annoying that s/he's stubborn or gratifying that s/he has such perseverance?

 

Sometimes you can have different emotions at the same time, some in the background, others in the foreground. For example, when Luvparrots talks about confidence in Ana Grey, she might also be feeling euphoric or relaxed or bored while expressing the confidence.

 

Has anyone observed compassion or empathy? Does your Grey ever show concern about YOUR feelings? Some people think only humans and maybe other great apes show empathy.

[bandits_mom08]

Hostlity: Unfortunantly Bandit has not been around as many people as I would like him to be but the one person he is very hostil towards is my brother.

 

Any time my brother comes to visit and he gets within about 5 feet of Bandit and I it is guarantee that Bandit jumps and goes after him, squawkin' his head off, biting every bit of flesh he comes in contact with. Surprisingly he still comes to visit. My little guard bird hasn't ran him off yet!

 

I do find it a bit funny. {Feel-good-0002006E}

 

The last time my brother came over was the first time since I was adopted by Bandit (5 months) that he didn't get attacted.

[danmcq]

DavidH wrote:

Has anyone observed compassion or empathy? Does your Grey ever show concern about YOUR feelings? Some people think only humans and maybe other great apes show empathy.

 

David - This is turning out to be a very interesting Topic. Thanks for starting it. :-)

 

Your question on compassion and empathy is a very tough one. Especially on empathy......

 

Are they simply acting differently because we or someone else is acting differently than normal or are they truly showing empathy towards the circumstances?

 

I know I do see behavioral changes in both my Dogs and my Parrots when Kim is sick for example. This is observed by them being seemingly more comforting by touching, laying or caressing in their own ways. But, is it truly empathy? ........ Thats a tough one.

 

Is it just more of "Concern" over the change in their loved one or flock/pack member or is it truly empathetic such as "I know how that feels and I am truly sorry you are going through this"?

 

Very, Very tough one to prove, I believe, even in the Apes.

 

I believe animals, birds and critters are empathetic at times, but have no way of truly proving it. :-)

[DavidH]

Yes, Dan, empathy is a difficult aspect of animal consciousness to grasp or measure. Hell, sometimes I'm not even sure humans have it

 

I think though that there's a lot of evidence that elephants, apes and long-life social animals grieve, maintain life-long relationships of caring, nurture their young for many years, and so on.

 

Plus, it's clear that our emotional equipment has evolved biologically from other emotional species.

 

Here's an interesting piece on research on empathy in mice: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211082354.htm

 

A lot of work on empathy gets stuck on "theory of other minds." Can non-human animals have a model in their heads of other selves with their own intentions, desires, needs -- or do they just go on instinct?

[lovethatgrey]

Wonderment.