How much do you look like your dog?

Charles Darwin. Do you know the name? If not, have you ever heard about evolution theory? We can summarize it in this way: what we are as a human species is the result of a series of adaptations to the environment. This is valid for all species including animals and plants. Throughout the ages, species have acquired and lost physical and behavioural characteristics to overcome the challenges that the environment gave them. Sounds cool. But what does psychology have to do with this?

Christine reads the post:

One of Darwin’s book is "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals". In this, Darwin compares how humans and animals express emotions. Seeing similarities in these behaviors, he concludes that expressions of emotions have an evolutionary origin (shared with our ancestors).
Example. You are very angry. Your nose curls, your lips curl, your mouth is half open, your fists are tight. Now your dog is angry. It shows you all his teeth, it barks, and it is ready to attack you. Do you see the similarities?

Among the species, man is the only one to have an articulated language (with grammar and syntax). So man can communicate an emotion, but we’ve seen that emotions can also be expressed through facial expressions and posture. Emotions are messages. And recognizing emotions increases your survival chances. Would you try cuddling an angry dog? Probably not, you would be more likely keep your distance.
The psychology field that studies behavior, analyzing it from an evolutionary point of view, is called Evolutionary Psychology. Important topics of Evolutionary Psychology are mating strategies and parental behaviors.

A small, but important note. In the text, I talked about man and animals. However, the human species - as a living being - belongs to the animal kingdom. If I wanted to be very technical, every time I have written "animals," I could have written "non-human animals."  It would have been clear that I was comparing the human species with another animal species other than human species.

I’m going to talk more about evolutionary psychology because I’m a Psychologist with a degree in Natural Sciences. An interesting question,  have you ever thought that your behavior is similar to your dog, your cat, or your goldfish?

 

If you want me to describe in my own words a topic of psychology, please request it in the comment section.

Cited sources: Darwin - On the Origin of Species. Darwin - The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.