Be honest. An apology, like an invitation to play, must be sincere—individuals who continue to play unfairly or send dishonest signals will quickly find themselves ostracized. This has far greater consequences than simply reduced playtime; for instance, Bekoff’s long-term field research shows that juvenile coyotes who do not play fair often end up leaving their pack and are up to four times more likely to die than those individuals who remain with others. Violating social norms, established during play, is not good for perpetuating one’s genes.
Fair play, then, can be understood as an evolved adaptation that allows individuals to form and maintain social bonds. Canids, like humans, form intricate networks of social relationships and live by rules of conduct that maintain a stable society, which is necessary to ensure the survival of each individual. Basic rules of fairness guide social play, and similar rules are the foundation for fairness among adults. This moral intelligence, so evident in both wild canines and in domesticated dogs, probably closely resembles that of our early human ancestors. And it may have been just this sense of right and wrong that allowed human societies to flourish and spread across the world.
This article was originally published with the title The Ethical Dog.
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66 Comments
Add CommentFascinating stuff. It would be interesting to track playful behavior through to "real life" behavior in a more comprehensive way--you mention the ostracized coyotes, but are there any further correlations between participation in "play" and success or failure in "real life"?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is surely a bit of a straw man argument? Is the premise *honesty* in social interactions or *conformity* - the two are not necessarily mutually inclusive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisComparing packs of dogs with human social groups is also misleading. Dogs live in small, clearly defined groups. What's the boundary of the human pack? Family? Immediate community? Country? World? We operate at many different social levels, often in packs of intolerable size, with conflicting mores and expectations.
Whether there's evidence to support human success being enhanced by *honest* conformity... I don't know - I guess it depends on the definition of "success" which also varies situation to situation. In a family setting, then honesty in conformity is likely to be of more value than it might be, for example, in business or politics... I'd hazard a guess that as any group grows in size, the honesty/conformity ratio will shift - honesty becoming less important, conformity moreso.
Humans, just like dogs, do nothing if not for personal gain.
Excellent reply! The social "standard" of slavery for instance was upheld by those who benefited from it. The social "standard" of religion rewards those with promises of pie-in-the-sky benefits for immediate conformity. So, the comparison to dogs has no roots in the ideology we humans use to gain power and control.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYup, but try getting an apology from a cat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, but try getting an apology from a cat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article. I participate in dog rescue and see the outcasts of dog society. This just made me think of how much we can learn from our dogs about ourselves.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the author does make a good argument, but I would limit the comparison to early humans as in small hunter-gathering bands. Once groups start to get larger, and the tight interdependence on their survival changes, then rules change.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhen you can start to benefit from my losses, I must play by different rules.
World religions try to extend these rules, not always successfully, beyond the genetically close local group, maybe? Also, human conscience has its aesthetic component: our taste for "poetic" justice, the idea of symmetry. To suppose these rules are somehow built into the fabric of nature is tantamount to religious faith: ethical monotheism, Hindu karma, Heaven and Hell, etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe authors clearly state that the comparison is to early human groups. They do not say modern society functions in the same way, only that our sense of fair play might be rooted in "pack" survival.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Yup, but try getting an apology from a cat."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCats apologise. The trouble is that we humans do not understand "cat" as well as we understand "Cat'. To apologise a cat lowers its eyelids, turns away, holds its tail aloft and allows you a good bottom sniff.
To all the human world looking like arrogance ;-( but to a cat it is an abject apology.
Cats are far nicer, more generous animals that most people give them credit for.
Cats apologise. The trouble is that we humans do not understand "cat" as well as we understand "Cat'.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry I should have said
"We humans do not understand "Cat" as well as we understand "Dog".
The authors are conflating the categories productive behaviour (relative to evolutionary success) and ethics. That's an interesting but ethically neutral query; it's as irrelevant to ethics as queries about the evolutionary success of this or that virus. The ethicist author (Pierce) might explain the logic of the shift from an empirical inquiry to conclusions about ethics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAuthors: thanks for your clear and practical article. I, as an adult, am still involved in unmonitored play in which virtually all your principles are displayed for virtually the reasons you describe.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMay I say this: I am endlessly irked by the use of "she" for illustrative purposes. Academics and some reporters seem determined to show us how broad, fair and compulsive they are. "She" is no less sexist than "he." The difference, however, is in the moralistic undertone usually sensed in the former. Mixing them up from paragraph to to paragraph just makes it clumsy. More fair, and a lot less annoying, is the use of "he or she" (okay--"she or he"?) by many publications.
Mick Jondreau
An excellent and enjoyable article. Thank you. The use of the word "she" is refreshing and smoother than the clumsy "he or she" reference.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSexism is rooted in patriarchy and it would be difficult to defend the assertion that the use of the word "she" is sexist in the same way as the use of the word "he."
We've used the word "he" and "man" to mean "person" and "people" for long enough. I'm glad the author gave the lady coyote a chance to be "top dog."
Interesting, but I rather think the definition of morality, and a "moral sense", is a bit weak. Even as a scientist, I rather think this article immediately and mistakenly equates obedience to rules (which, of course, dogs do for hope of reward of food or attention) with "a keen sense of right and wrong" (which some humans follow even when the "right" is against their own immediate interests).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBowing because you bit too hard (an instantaneous instinct-response) has little to compare to human ruminating that rape or slaughter of the innocent is always wrong (or sitting down and feeling years of guilt about such things). Sitting down and agreeing that a golden rule is always right is something dogs will never do. Human societies across continents and centuries have generally agreed on certain moral principles. Are dogs capable of abstract thought and reasoning?
Sorry, even as a scientist, to me it seems that the sort of abstract moral reasoning a human does and the bowing and grimacing dogs do are light years away. But I enjoyed the article.
To learn more about Psychiatric Service Dogs please read my book, “Healing Companions:Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power To Transform Lives” which is the first book written about PSDs. The book includes compelling stories of veterans and others, a wealth of information and resources that will help you, a loved one or mental health professional learn more about how PSDs can transform people’s lives appropriately and ethically. Thanks so much. Warmly, Jane http://www.healing-companions.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo learn more about Psychiatric Service Dogs please read my book, “Healing Companions:Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power To Transform Lives” which is the first book written about PSDs. The book includes compelling stories of veterans and others, a wealth of information and resources that will help you, a loved one or mental health professional learn more about how PSDs can transform people’s lives appropriately and ethically. Thanks so much. Warmly, Jane http://www.healing-companions.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFair play works universally for everything with some form of social living requirements. When honesty (fair play) is compromised, social institutions of every kind break down and function less effectively. There are no examples in history, politically or with family and friends where dishonesty or lack of fair play will build a better long term functional group of people that can sustain any kind of intelligent interaction. Society always breaks down as anarchy increases. To believe some how that universal moral standards can be changed and that (religion or moral structure) of the basics, is bad some how, is somewhat laughable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course people or animals that don't live in the boundry of set truths of social functioning, cause trouble and break down society. Individuals that compromise and break the basic rules which apply to all, the ( 10 commandments) for example, which we have all broken at some time, I am sure. As such we must rectify those effects or destruction inches forward socially and materially.
Rogue religious groups preaching genocide of course are part of the problem, and are not living by the basic universal laws of most religions. Again it is about individuals and their ability to conduct themselves honestly without personal advantage and power being the main function of life. Hence to make things work we all have to try to do the right thing or through laws be made to function properly.
This does not mean every law put in place by governments or religions are correct or helpful. But the basic 10 commandments work well, the real problem is we don't, and someone always wants to try and use their power or advantage to gain more power and advantage, religious or not.
I fear men that have no religion at all the most, they can compromise everything at any time and do the most damage. They may be dressed in the clothing of religion or not but they do the most damage. Truth is communism and men with no religion have killed more people in the last 100 years than all other wars that were religious in the last 1000 years maybe more. China, Russia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Congo, Nazi Germany, and Burma to name a few. If put together their purging of religious influence in their countries to rule with their own power and reduce moral standards that would stand against their personal agendas, far exceeds maybe even all the wars religious or empire building in the last 1000 years.
If we just accepted language for what it is and also stopped projecting our prejudices onto it, we would accept that "he" is the correct word to use here, which covers both male and female, and not that aberration of "he or she".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisObviously the author has never seen how dogs act in mating. Firstly, the vicious fights among males to see who goes first and then the gang bang. If he could hear the screams of female dogs after they are attacked by dogs sometimes 3 times their size, he might have told a more balanced story.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt would be very interesting to see how generic natural group behavior might change with increasing population density. In general, successful human cultures that have developed in conditions of very high population densities have culturally encouraged increased cooperative and considerate display behaviors among individuals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI’m specifically referring to Japanese culture, compared with almost any other. This is not to say that Japanese individuals to not entertain similar deviant thoughts that others do, but in order to be successful in their interactions with others they must generally display great consideration.
Understanding this better may be crucial for humanity, especially if we cannot learn to more effectively live and procreate within the limits of Earth’s resources.
neelorath at 02:36 PM on 02/20/10
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this&Of course people or animals that don't live in the boundry of set truths of social functioning, cause trouble and break down society. Individuals that compromise and break the basic rules which apply to all, *the ( 10 commandments) for example, which we have all broken at some time*, I am sure. As such we must rectify those effects or destruction inches forward socially and materially.
There are plenty of the 10 commandments that, I for one, havent broken.
Frinstance, I have yet to kill anybody.
The primary key in response to your thoughts would be that -- on an evolutionary examination -- the problem relates to early hominid development. The likelihood that the play characteristics of the canids correlate well to the early human characteristics seems quite strong.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll the social development subsequent to the early family/clan structure for humans is a stronger reflection of the development of thinking skills and training. Evolutionary development is recognized in the last 10,000 years of history, but the more significant vector would be the development of the intellectual underpinnings of human society.
Oh, BS.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf that were true, 20 years of using "She" would place "He" into the sexist column then?
EQUALITY, not "turn about is fair play".
This sort of garbage rationalization is also applied to slurs for blacks in the US, and is invoked when calling a white person a slur.
BS! Equality, not "blah blah psycho blah blah babble".
Actually, there's extensive research to show that humans do tend to have a fairly strong altruistic component. It may be a self-interested altruism, but it's there nonetheless. The ability to support fellow group members, family members, etc., as opposed to an everyone-for-themselves model, makes it much more likely the group will succeed. Yes, humans do behave selfishly - but collectively we discourage this, in our own interests.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisScientific American had an article early last year about this - the ability of self-interested altruistic communities to contain the inevitable cheaters who evolve to take advantage of it. And numerous studies, articles, and even evoked potentials & other neurological research has been done to demonstrate altruism (and the oft-correlated empathy) in humans. There's a genetic component, as well, demonstrated via twin studies.
It seems to me that the altruism-based & cheating -based competing models in humanity are probably rather like the snail and the handedness of the Pareas snake predator, both adapting over time to the continuing adaptation of their prey/predator. Paradoxically, the removal of competition via universal altruism could very well remove the need for the altruism - and by evolving away from it, we might re-create the need for it yet again.
Actually, if you want to get technical about it, the word "she" includes the word "he," so it makes more sense to use "she" when you want to refer to either/both genders. Alternatively you could use "s/he."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRemember-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDog is God backwards...
Remeber-
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDog is God backwards...
The religious thread is extremely provocative. It makes me wonder if trying to rein in those who did not play fair required the creation of a powerful arbitrator, namely a God.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn interesting follow up study to this is how dogs adjust their behaviour to their play with humans, who do not understand many of the signs, although generally follow similar sort of rules.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost family pets learn the rules for play with other members of the family, and in reality the family learns the dog rules, without necessarily being concious of what they are doing.
Sandie: Post-modern deconstructionism is so 1980's!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll human social behavior falls on a spectrum of "conformity" or as I like to think of it: "Survival oriented cooperation." On the total conforming end is slavish unquestioning--as in "Tea baggers" or the non-conforming end, questioning authority and being on the "outside." All social groups have rules, both conscious AND unconscious.
While anyone with sense can see "conformity" is a basic need to "get-along," humans, due to language and symbolic meanings has a spectrum of extreme, unthinking conformity, (think "Tea-Baggers & Fundamentalists,) on one end, and non-conformists on the other, (questioners of authority & status quo.) Humans need to be much more flexible to survive!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan anyone explain why, when I try to link to this article from Facebook, the thumbnail image is of Obama? Seems odd, and slightly offensive, so I won't be posting it unless that's resolved.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo dogs actually have a "keen sense of right and wrong"? The guilty look appears to be human expectation/interpretation and a reaction to scolding, not the knowledge on the part of the dog that it has done something wrong, according to "Horowitz et al. Disambiguating the 'guilty look': Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour". (Behavioural Processes, 2009).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding the he/she of the top coyote: In canine packs, the top dog is a she. So the article is not addressing the lack of a gender-neutral single third person pronoun in English.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Obviously the author has never seen how dogs act in mating. Firstly, the vicious fights among males to see who goes first and then the gang bang. If he could hear the screams of female dogs after they are attacked by dogs sometimes 3 times their size, he might have told a more balanced story."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis person must be thinking of stray dogs not wild canids --wolves, coyotes, foxes, do not rape the females. Domestic dogs are perversions of normal members of the dog family thus do not reflect "natural" behavior anyhow. In addition, this author was referring to coyotes in at least one case, and comparing them to early humans not modern humans. Reading comprehension is low around here. Too many people also seem to be objecting being compared to dogs rather than actually having valid scientific arguments to refute this author. This is species-ism if i have ever seen it [ lame!]. Modern humans have erected an intellectual justification artifice on top of what they naturally know is "fair play" not the other way around.
I don't think it's a good idea to define morality so broadly that it applies to animals lacking free will.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMorality is not just "other-regarding behavior." It can be argued that it is not even primarily "other-regarding behavior."
Only creatures possessing free will and lacking instinctual behavior need a set of principles to guide their actions. And they need such principles whether alone on a desert island or in a social setting.
The authors of this study should avoid such anthropomorphism and just use the term "other-regarding behaviors."
As an atheist, I find your comment highly offensive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAllow me to quickly address your obviously ignorant statement of the ten commandments and the Biblical texts themselves. The first commandment: You shall believe in no other God before me. This is against the freedom of religion advocated in the Constitution.The second commandment, interpreted literally, punishes a man's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and perhaps even great-great grandchildren if the man has sinned by serving other Gods. Spreading the responsibility for one person's sin onto innocent descendents was common in the ancient Middle East. However, most contemporary ethical systems -- both secular and religious -- hold a person responsible only for their own actions. Punishing innocent children widely considered a seriously immoral act. The fifth commandment requires that children honor their parents. Many would feel that it is unreasonable to expect a child to honor a parent who was a sexual molester, a physical abuser or was guilty of neglect. The tenth commandment treates women as property and condones slavery (as the Bible does numerous times)
Not to sound arrogant but I am more Christlike than most Christians. To say athesist are amorral shows obvious lack of experience with atheists themselves as opposed to the demonized view spread by christians.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin:
"How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments."
And those of Thomas Jefferson:
"If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? ...Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God."
I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789 (Richard Price had written to TJ on Oct. 26. about the harm done by religion and wrote "Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?")
That's soo cool!!! It's absolutely right, dogs share an amazing range of similarities with humans. Researchers always make headlines with news about the likeness between chimpanzies and humans. However, dogs having a sense of justice is really advanced, eye-popping, and similar to advanced humans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat about the bully?They always play unfairly,causing as much pain as they can both mentally and physically,never forgive,and then end up being the pack leader.How do they fit in to this picture?Something is missing in this article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you fear women that have no religion? I just wondered.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you fear women who have no religion at all?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWrong gravitation defeat's Einstein Alien ufo
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAccording to these year me to natural exploration .Discovered that the Earth simply does not have the attraction Newton's gravitation is wrong The Earth should for push by sun's radiationThe radiation also pushes the material Earth ,Supposition one Is iron ball which the equal capacity basketball court region accommodates Place Hydrogen bomb Side [5--10 meters ],Then lights the hydrogen bomb ,At this time starts to have the nuclear fusionThe temperature is rapid Enhances ,The radiation will push the iron ball to the remote place ,If between hydrogen bomb and iron ball Existence material ,The radiation will advance the material the iron ball surface. Because iron ball not easily by very high temperature destruction Will be pushed is moving This is only on the Earth demonstration occurs on the solar body one time very small nuclear fusion experiment ,The sun does not stop occurrence nuclear fusion ,Nuclear fusion which demonstrated a moment ago enlarges to the solar nuclear fusion degree Iron ball's quality enlarges to Earth's quality that is the Earth is pushed by sun's radiation.The sun is equal to 1,000,000 Earth .The comet hits the sun the reason comet is the supernova detritus .For example bomb and hydrogen bomb simultaneously Ignition ,Between them the distance must be suitable Hydrogen bomb's detritus will be radiated to bomb's among. Not only Earth including each planet, solar system, Milky Way Is lets the radiation push The Earth revolves Is because around solar system And has is bigger than the solar quality the star pushes the Earth again Because the star positionTherefore the Earth is circles sun by the ellipse to revolve. The plate movement is the radiation causes The black hole black hole is one kind of visual error actually, when several is similar the Milky Way size the galaxy to be away from quite near time may have this kind of condition we to know that the universe early time was a volume very small pellet temperature has more than 100 hundred million degrees after passing through 13,700,000,000 to form billions to be similar Milky Way's galaxy temperature also to reduce many have also been possible to say was the high temperature radiation shoves open the universe, but this condition was continuing for instance, in the universe edge galaxy was being separated from the space center by the extremely quick speed, but in universe center, because between the galaxy was away from is very near In universe center, because between the galaxy is away from is very near. Looks like the Milky Way this kind of galaxy temperature is the solar temperature several ten million degrees is even higher, a temperature higher radiation is stronger, when several galaxies were away from very recently had formed the black hole. If admits the material the black hole if is not melted by the high temperature, it to will be made by the prompt radiation a galaxy. According to the biological clock discovered that the earth rotation speed is reducing speed year by year. This confirmed the universe edge's galaxy is far away from the space center, thus reduces between the galaxy the radiation[repulsion], but creates around solar system's star to terrestrial radiation reduction. Therefore the earth rotation speed is reducing speed. will talk about this also to have first including dark material, the dark energy foresight return to, atomic, thepractice now need the development facility the help quark, I need the development facility now the help My present's situation is very difficultThe material is by the atomic composition, the atom is composed of the atomic nucleus and the electron, the atomic nucleus is composed of the proton and the neutron, the proton and the neutron are composed of the quark, the quark is not the separable granule. Then the light is also the granule composition. If the sun is the combustion hydrogen releases the helium, this is only 4,600,000,000 year condition, the Earth and the sun equally is the combustion hydrogen releases the helium 4,600,000,000 years ago. Is only the sun wants the big multi-cooling rate to be quite slow, the Earth is the sun 1/1000000 thinks that this is any concept, the Earth experiences 4,600,000,000 years to become present this condition. But the sun only cooled one. The sun-spot should be the material which the sun cools produces. Now the sun releases should be the nitrogen element We knew that the earth's surface majority is the nitrogen also has the oxygen and the carbon dioxide as well as some noble gases. In Earth's center is the temperature in several thousand degrees Celsius rock magma, in rock magma above is the rock which heats up, but above the rock is also the water, by now will form part of moisture to radiate to the earth's surface, in the winter the ground water was hot this is the rock magma radiation creates. The moisture can absorb a part of nitrogen element to form the oxygen, the sea water accepts the solar radiation to form the oxygen. The ozone layer will be will have the rank stink in the nitrogen element and the moisture intersection point, in the earth's surface 1000 meters below moisture will be quite many, therefore the oxygen will be quite many. The moisture are more upward less, because the moisture cannot be so high by the rock magma radiation. In the South Pole area, because accepts solar radiation[nitrogen]Few, the rank stink is small, therefore takes for is the ozone layer is empty. We must treasure the ground water, whole world temperature increment are the massive extraction ground water create this has including dark material, dark energy predict that gets back to passing by, atom, quark, alien life state in the future. I need practice to need help of the research institution now. Telephone number 15836004391 Please rescue me quickly I will be crazy soon, because will live in the countryside of China, here either despises or controls the scientific attitude, the person around me repels me very much, it is too deep that perhaps it is that I love science. I am interested in nothing and only like science now. Perhaps I am possessed by the Devil to science. Hope you can give me one to devote one's own chance, I firmly believe that can develop the UFO within 10 years, my structure to UFO form thinking already in brain, I lack on practice now.
Title Blog Entry <br>
According to these year me to natural exploration .Discovered that the Earth simply does not have the attraction Newton's gravitation is wrong The Earth should for push by sun's radiationThe radiation also pushes the material Earth ,Supposition one Is iron ball which the equal capacity basketball court region accommodates Place Hydrogen bomb Side [5--10 meters ],Then lights the hydrogen bomb ,At this time starts to have the nuclear fusionThe temperature is rapid Enhances ,The radiation will push the iron ball to the remote place ,If between hydrogen bomb and iron ball Existence material ,The radiation will advance the material the iron ball surface. Because iron ball not easily by very high temperature destruction Will be pushed is moving This is only on the Earth demonstration occurs on the solar body one time very small nuclear fusion experiment ,The sun does not stop occurrence nuclear fusion ,Nuclear fusion which demonstrated a moment ago enlarges to the solar nuclear fusion degree Iron ball's quality enlarges to Earth's quality that is the Earth is pushed by sun's radiation.The sun is equal to 1,000,000 Earth .The comet hits the sun the reason comet is the supernova detritus .For example bomb and hydrogen bomb simultaneously Ignition ,Between them the distance must be suitable Hydrogen bomb's detritus will be radiated to bomb's among. Not only Earth including each planet, solar system, Milky Way Is lets the radiation push The Earth revolves Is because around solar system And has is bigger than the solar quality the star pushes the Earth again Because the star positionTherefore the Earth is circles sun by the ellipse to revolve. The plate movement is the radiation causes The black hole black hole is one kind of visual error actually, when several is similar the Milky Way size the galaxy to be away from quite near time may have this kind of condition we to know that the universe early time was a volume very small pellet temperature has more than 100 hundred million degrees after passing through 13,700,000,000 to form billions to be similar Milky Way's galaxy temperature also to reduce many have also been possible to say was the high temperature radiation shoves open the universe, but this condition was continuing for instance, in the universe edge galaxy was being separated from the space center by the extremely quick speed, but in universe center, because between the galaxy was away from is very near In universe center, because between the galaxy is away from is very near. Looks like the Milky Way this kind of galaxy temperature is the solar temperature several ten million degrees is even higher, a temperature higher radiation is stronger, when several galaxies were away from very recently had formed the black hole. If admits the material the black hole if is not melted by the high temperature, it to will be made by the prompt radiation a galaxy. According to the biological clock discovered that the earth rotation speed is reducing speed year by year. This confirmed the universe edge's galaxy is far away from the space center, thus reduces between the galaxy the radiation[repulsion], but creates around solar system's star to terrestrial radiation reduction. Therefore the earth rotation speed is reducing speed. will talk about this also to have first including dark material, the dark energy foresight return to, atomic, thepractice now need the development facility the help quark, I need the development facility now the help My present's situation is very difficultThe material is by the atomic composition, the atom is composed of the atomic nucleus and the electron, the atomic nucleus is composed of the proton and the neutron, the proton and the neutron are composed of the quark, the quark is not the separable granule. Then the light is also the granule composition. If the sun is the combustion hydrogen releases the helium, this is only 4,600,000,000 year condition, the Earth and the sun equally is the combustion hydrogen releases the helium 4,600,000,000 years ago. Is only the sun wants the big multi-cooling rate to be quite slow, the Earth is the sun 1/1000000 thinks that this is any concept, the Earth experiences 4,600,000,000 years to become present this condition. But the sun only cooled one. The sun-spot should be the material which the sun cools produces. Now the sun releases should be the nitrogen element We knew that the earth's surface majority is the nitrogen also has the oxygen and the carbon dioxide as well as some noble gases. In Earth's center is the temperature in several thousand degrees Celsius rock magma, in rock magma above is the rock which heats up, but above the rock is also the water, by now will form part of moisture to radiate to the earth's surface, in the winter the ground water was hot this is the rock magma radiation creates. The moisture can absorb a part of nitrogen element to form the oxygen, the sea water accepts the solar radiation to form the oxygen. The ozone layer will be will have the rank stink in the nitrogen element and the moisture intersection point, in the earth's surface 1000 meters below moisture will be quite many, therefore the oxygen will be quite many. The moisture are more upward less, because the moisture cannot be so high by the rock magma radiation. In the South Pole area, because accepts solar radiation[nitrogen]Few, the rank stink is small, therefore takes for is the ozone layer is empty. We must treasure the ground water, whole world temperature increment are the massive extraction ground water create this has including dark material, dark energy predict that gets back to passing by, atom, quark, alien life state in the future. I need practice to need help of the research institution now. Telephone number 15836004391 Please rescue me quickly I will be crazy soon, because will live in the countryside of China, here either despises or controls the scientific attitude, the person around me repels me very much, it is too deep that perhaps it is that I love science. I am interested in nothing and only like science now. Perhaps I am possessed by the Devil to science. Hope you can give me one to devote one's own chance, I firmly believe that can develop the UFO within 10 years, my structure to UFO form thinking already in brain, I lack on practice now. <br> Post Entry Cancel
@sandie dent: they are comparing canid groups to early hominid groups, not modern man.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"But our work has suggested that wild canine societies may be even better analogues for early hominid groups"
@sandie dent: they're comparing canid groups to early hominid groups, not to modern human society. to make a valid argument, you have to use valid statements.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"But our work has suggested that wild canine societies may be even better analogues for early hominid groups"
ok, apparently to everyone: they're comparing canid groups to early hominid groups! i think they meant early human groups. if they meant hominid, then we're talking early ape, not early human. either way, they're talking pre-agricultural hominid, not modern new yorker. you're making comparisons based on your own premises, not those laid out in the article itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDogs are such wonderful, adorable pets. I consider my dogs as my family. Thanks to Sciam, I am able to see the solid research based proof of what I always felt about my dogs!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJohn W. Bales said: "Only creatures possessing free will and lacking instinctual behavior need a set of principles to guide their actions."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou clearly operate under the assumption that humans have free will but dogs don’t, and that dogs have instinctual behavior but humans don’t.
These are very odd and completely unsupported assumptions to make.
They're way ahead of us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey're way ahead of us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShouldn't this article give credit to Schleidt and Shalter (2003):
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.uwsp.edu/psych/s/275/Science/Coevolution03.pdf
Although dogs do consistently play by the rules (The Ethical Dog, Mark Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, Mar 19 2010) in observational studies, the contention that the roots of human morality may lie within the other-regarding behaviors of pre-domesticated and modern canids is problematic. From the genetic perspective, the fair and sociable behavioral repertoire of the modern non-hunting family-friendly dog have long been favored as desirable in the venerable history of selective breeding by humans-certain breeds possess predictable sociable temperaments, including being able to get along with other dogs. Even presuming early hominids did learn the rudiments of morality from sociability traits innately present in the first domesticated wild dogs (this remains at best speculative), innumerable generations of deliberate breeding have accentuated such behaviors in modern dogs. In terms of environmental and upbringing factors, some dogs undergo behavioral training in their formative juvenile period in order to be able to get along with their canine and human companions. Dogs are supervised in fenced play parks, with watchful owners quick to reprimand those who misbehave. The question then arises as to whether it is the human owners who have imprinted or imparted sociability and fairness traits to their dogs, not the other way around.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisjysting, you seem to have gotten a different impression than I did about what is being contended here. As I understand your comment, you seem to think that the authors are saying that humans learned morality from dogs or that sociability and fairness traits were somehow imprinted, imparted or transferred to us from them. Is that your interpretation?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry if I’ve misread your intent, but I think the idea of this article is to argue that innate canine fairness traits resemble innate human fairness traits to such a degree that it is worthwhile to use canine behavior as a useful study analogue. There’s no indication in this article (as far as I can tell) that humans learned or acquired fairness from dogs. Ours is innate due to our own evolutionary legacy.
I have a pack of 6 rescue dogs of various ages and breeds. I see these behaviors in my pack all the time. Most of the dogs are big - over 75 lbs - but I just adopted a little mix that is only 40 lbs. She loves to wrestle the big dogs and they allow her to pin them occasionally.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only instances when I do not see these "ethical" behaviors is with my pitbull. She may respond to a request to play but always needs to be the alpha. And with no warning she can turn from play to an attack if she feels the other dog has overstepped boundaries. Most of the other dogs have stopped playing with the pit because of serious fights (and injuries). Only the small new dog will still play and so far has sustained no injuries, possibly because the pit understands this is a young (under a year), and small dog.
It has been my experience that most pitbulls are a breed apart in their interactions with others of their kind.
Dogs are not wolves, and do not live in small discrete , clearly defined packs. Feral dogs have been studied, and their groupings tend to be less tightly bonded than the family packs of wolves, they are fluid and more resemble the way people group than wolves, who still might be more fluid than you think too, at least sometimes, depending on the circumstances.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisto Jack123, fighting dogs have been bred to ignore the signs of submission from other dogs, in the past, a dog that showed less 'mercy' and killed in a fight would have been prized and bred more than a dog that won but did not kill. So, some bullies seem to not recognize dog signals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, lets not stereotype, many people today breed bullies as pets and I've known many that play nicely.
Judging by the way humans are breeding 'like rabbits' and poisoning their own environments in an effort to greedily take more and more resources, I guess they lack free will too, they seem to obey their instincts of lust without understanding the consequences of procreation, they seem to abuse resources so that their own children are hurt by their greedy use and in general despite an ability to talk about foresight can't truly act with it. Humans are just another animal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSurely a lot of dog behaviour is a result of being socialised by humans
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt has been said that the dog is the only thing in the world that loves you more than he loves himself. He also is fairer to you, kinder and more rational than most humans are to one another, it would appear. There is a lot we can learn from our canine companions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhen man would become as honest as dog, we'd be in Heaven.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting article. I would suggest that morality is far better explained with God than dog (or the evolved behavioral characteristics of ANY animal).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree, a group, or in this case a pack, provides protection and to ensure its functioning it must have certain, as you say, moral or egalitarian rules, that need to be followed by the members of the pack. And play is the perfect way to ensure such rules are learned (or relearned to members if they are inherited?) by the new generation. If the rules are not followed, the member who violates them will not live in the pack pure and simple, losing all the benefits.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow, I am interested in to how was that conceived as an idea in the minds of packs of dogs, coyotes and other canid mammals? Doggie intuition? But whatever the reason perhaps there is more to the saying that dog is a man's best friend, as we might have learned this model of moral and egalitarian rules of behavior from dogs themselves, whom we kept close to our sides in the early stages of our conscientious development. We trained the dogs, but have we pondered the thought that maybe the process was mutual?
Dog owner should be careful about their dog.We should remember that Dogs are not always helpful.<a href="www.bathtubs.co/">bathtubs</a>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDog owner should remember that Dogs are not always helpful.Feeding them has some problems.<a href="www.bathtubs.co/">bathtubs</a>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough dogs do consistently “play by the rules” (The Ethical Dog, Mark Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, Mar 19 2010, New York Times) in observational studies, the contention that the roots of human morality may lie within the other-regarding behaviors of pre-domesticated and modern canids is problematic. From the genetic perspective, the fair and sociable behavioral repertoire of the modern non-hunting family-friendly dog have long been favored as desirable in the venerable history of selective breeding by humans-certain breeds possess predictable sociable temperaments, including being able to get along with other dogs. Even presuming early hominids did learn the rudiments of morality from sociability traits innately present in the first domesticated wild dogs (this remains at best speculative), innumerable generations of deliberate breeding have accentuated such behaviors in modern dogs. In terms of environmental and upbringing factors, some dogs undergo behavioral training in their formative juvenile period in order to be able to get along with their canine and human companions. The question arises as to whether it is the human owners who have imprinted or imparted sociability and fairness traits to their dogs, not the other way around.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough dogs do consistently “play by the rules” (The Ethical Dog, Mark Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, Mar 19 2010) in observational studies, the contention that the roots of human morality may lie within the other-regarding behaviors of pre-domesticated and modern canids is problematic. From the genetic perspective, the fair and sociable behavioral repertoire of the modern non-hunting family-friendly dog have long been favored as desirable in the venerable history of selective breeding by humans-certain breeds possess predictable sociable temperaments, including being able to get along with other dogs. Even presuming early hominids did learn the rudiments of morality from sociability traits innately present in the first domesticated wild dogs (this remains at best speculative), innumerable generations of deliberate breeding have accentuated such behaviors in modern dogs. In terms of environmental and upbringing factors, some dogs undergo behavioral training in their formative juvenile period in order to be able to get along with their canine and human companions. The question arises as to whether it is the human owners who have imprinted or imparted sociability and fairness traits to their dogs, not the other way around.
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