What are Animals Thinking? (Not nearly as much as Carl Safina thinks)

I must preface this post by saying that while I respect Mr. Safina's beliefs, I think that he has become to attached to his subjects to have a valid and objective opinion on  what animals "think and feel." So many times during the course of his talk I found myself rolling my eyes and groaning at the ridiculous connections he was desperately trying to make between animal behavior and human emotion. It's almost laughable that he would bring up anthropomorphism as a valid scientific explanation of what animals are doing, and I don't think many would back up his assertions.

Perhaps the biggest mistake that Mr. Safina makes is his constant confusion of instinct for emotion. I've read many pieces about animal intelligence and actions that seem similar to those of humans, and never have any of them led me to believe that what was driving those actions was a human thought-process. What absolutely differentiates emotion from instinctual action is the language of experience that only humans have. Unlike Mr. Safina's assertions, the impact of language on human emotion, understanding, and action has been well documented and understood. The words we use and have available in the language we speak colors the experiences that you have, and can completely change one's emotions about or understanding of those experiences.

It is this development of complex language systems that can be encoded with extreme amounts of detail and emotion that truly differentiates us from animals. It's not even remarkable that other animals "teach" their young. That makes sense and has nothing to do with love or any other emotion, only survival. What sets us apart is that the language we use to pass on information has so many words for emotions, feelings, and other things that animals will never be able to understand or feel. In face, I read not too long ago about a whole list of German words for emotions that we feel but have never had the proper vocabulary to describe. We'd never known we'd felt a certain way until these words were presented to us. This is what separates instinct and emotion. Instinct is automatic, there is no time to ponder the "why" of the action, it's just an action. Emotion is understanding one's instinct on  the level beyond the instinctual, therefore rendering it something beyond instinct.

I have no doubt that dog owners desperately want to believe that their beloved pet feels the same way about them, but I don't believe that lie in the slightest. Why does a dog roll over when it wants it's belly scratched? Hey, here's an idea. Maybe it's not because it understands the concepts of love and trust and recognizes your face,  maybe it just wants its belly scratched because it feels good. That's an instinct, not an emotion, and Mr. Safina could do well to learn that.