What animals are self aware?

Question

How can you figure out if one is self aware? Are any domestic pets self aware?

Answer 1

Nice. Good question Simone. That kind of question is known as the "The Distribution Question". Because what your trying to explore is, "can we know which animals beside humans are conscious?" It's one that is controversial and STILL arguments on this matter from different perspectives.

Self awareness can be defined as,  "....understanding of one's subjective internal state of mind". It's philosophical in nature. Jeremy is appealing to one of the philosophical theories that falls under arguments against animal consciousness. Under that, one of several sub-arguments known as, "Arguments from the absence of self-consciousness". The "mirror test" by Gordon Gallup (1970) who developed it argues for the "arguments from the absence of self-consciousness."

However, the "mirror test", like all arguments, have an inadequate test due to its limited understanding of the concept of self awareness. Every perspective has its limited understanding. What "....Gallup (1970; 1984) and others have argued that behavior directed towards bodily marks visible only in a mirror may serve as an operational definition of “self-awareness.” According to this definition, Gallup would claim that only humans, chimpanzees, orangutans, and perhaps gorillas may be labeled “self-aware.” But, DeGrazia and others ("arguments for animal consciousness) disagree because the problem with that definition is that it is limiting to one form of test of self awareness because animals are self-aware in one form or another. 

I. There are different types of self-awareness:

 I don't want to give to much info, so I'll give you at least two types of self awareness among others given by David DeGrazia, Professor and Chair Department of Philosophy at George Washington University, specializing in bioethics and animal rights. He argues that one of the forms that animals display self-awareness is by "Bodily self-awareness" and "Social self-awareness" which human beings have in common too. I encourage you to look further by getting an overview and detail explanations of the arguments for and against animal self awareness from Allen's "Animal Consciousness".

 

Sources:

Allen, Colin, "Animal Consciousness", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition)Edward N. Zalta (ed.). 28 February 2013

<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/consciousness-animal/>.

Robert W. Lurz (ed.), The Philosophy of Animal Minds. Cambridge University Press (2009).

Mirror use of Pigeons. Psychology Department. Lafayette College. Web. 28 Feb 2013.

 

 

 

Answer 2

Like all great questions in science, the answers are found best when we agree upon the definition of our topic. First, lets define consciousness as it is often confused with self-awareness. There as many definitions of consciousness as their are theories about what makes something "conscious." For our purposes here, I will define consciousness as "an aroused state" (Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, 2018). To simplify, consciousness is our light switch turned "on." Awareness and self-awareness are properties of consciousness (Gallup, 1977). If consciousness is our light switch turned "on" (an aroused state), self-awareness would be our ability to realize we are "on." Furthermore, it is our ability to self-recognize that we are us and separate from other objects or beings.

To determine which animals are or are not self-aware, we need to further define the criteria for what we will agree does or does not constitute self-awareness. Then, we must conduct a test to see which animals meet the criteria. The most iconic example of this is known as the "rouge test" or the "mirror test." Originally developed by Gallup in 1970, this test involves placing a spot of red dye on the face of an animal and presenting the animal with a mirror. If the animal sees the red dye mark in the mirror and touches it, that animal is considered to demonstrate visual self-recognition - or - self-awareness. In the 1970 study, Gallup noted that chimpanzees began to use the mirrors to look at areas of their own bodies that they normally cannot see.

As others mentioned, this is not the only way of defining or identifying self-awareness. Cognitive Ethicist, Dr. Marc Bekoff, has long proposed applying an evolutionary perspective to self-awareness. He suggested an alternative to making the extent to which primates can demonstrate self-awareness (e.g. rouge test) as the gold standard to which all animals are held (Bekoff, 2003). This means considering how each animal demonstrates its own ability to self-recognize according to how it has evolved to survive and what needs it has relative to survival. For example, dogs can use scent to recognize their own urine. An animal can defend itself when it recognizes its body is being attacked. Some birds can identify their own songs. My pet tarantulas use scent to sense their general territory and to understand when another tarantula wants to mate. According to Bekoff, who takes an empathetic approach to animals, our traditional definitions of self-awareness have been unfair to some animals and cause us to overlook their amazing innate abilities.

To recap, self-awareness is the ability to recognize one's own self in some capacity relative to its need to survive and thrive in its environment. As to what animals can do this - that all depends upon the criteria you set for testing and defining self-awareness.

References

Bekoff, M. (2003). Consciousness and self in animals: some reflections. Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science, 38(2), 229–245. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9744.00497

Gallup, G. (1970). Chimpanzees: self-recognition. Science. 167. 86-87. 10.1126/science.167.3914.86.

Gallup, G. (1977). Self-recognition in primates: a comparative approach to the bidirectional properties of consciousness. American Psychology. May 1977. 330-338. Retrieved at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/32d2/dd1fb12aaf89a1bfdfb115479ac0fe07ecc2.pdf

Pastorino, E. & Portillo, S. (2019). What is psychology? : foundations, applications, and integration. Australia: Cengage.

Answer 3

Self awareness in animals

 

I recommend two books:  the first one Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall and second one is  de Waal, F. B. M., & Ferrari, P. F. (2012). THE PRIMATE MIND: Built to Connect With Other Minds. Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press.

 

These books address the animal perception and their self-awareness abilities.

 

Naina B

Answer 4

The most common test for finding out if an animal is self aware is what is known as the mirror test. If an animal is able to identify itself in a mirror, that is a sign that the animal is self aware. Most domestic pets are not self aware. For example: If you were to place a mirror in front of a dog, they would most likely think that there was another dog in the room. 

Answer 5

Actually the animals that can pass the mirror test are all the great apes (Bonobos, Chimpanzees, Orangutans and Gorillas) also Bottlenose dolphins, Orcas, Elephants and the only non-mammal to pass the test, European Magpies.