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Logical and illogical behavior in non-human animals
Posted on: July 13, 2007 - 9:51pm
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Logical and illogical behavior in non-human animals
Does anyone have an example of a non-human animal behaving illogically?
And what does it mean to behave illogically? I always considered illogical behavior to be action based on believing in things that are not percieved.
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That's an interesting question.
I've always been of the opinion that critters are pretty logical. We may not understand why they do things (like "miss" the litter box), but it makes sense to them. Plus, there's usually an instinctual explanation to a lot of their behavior.
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Interesting reply,
Instinct basically means 'fixed action pattern'. That being said, I wonder, are there species whose behavior is guided 100% by instinct? My guess is that yes, all plant species, I would say, must behave according only to a fixed action pattern and nothing beyond that. So we definitely could not consider plants as having any sort of capacity for being logical or illogical.
So what characteristic is it that combines itself with instinct, producing what we could consider at least a stepping stone toward logical and illogical behavior? I think memory is obviously a pretty important factor. I'll stop here and wait to here what others have to say.
If I get no replies, then guess I'll just continue on, as I've more to say on types of memory, cognitive maps, inductive and deductive reasoning, etc
indeed, very few animals are able to reason. Even fewer can simulate future actions in their minds using logic. In fact, the only animals that can do this are humans, dolphins, some apes and ravens. Ravens and crows in particular show an astounding use of logic and are able to learn easily. Most other animals, however, act mostly on instinct.
How about drunk monkeys?
I think natural selection, for the most part, severely limits the freedom most animals have to make illogical choices. Humans, for example, have escaped from many natural pressures, and so we don't risk our reproductive success by drinking occasionally, or by jumping out of a plane to get an adrenaline rush. Because we can protect ourselves from the dangers of our illogical actions, we have the freedom to do them in the first place. In the wild though, if a monkey runs around drunk, he could more easily get eaten by a predator, or hurt his reproductive potential. Likewise they can't make parachutes to keep them from dying when they jump from way up high. They might enjoy it, they just don't have the freedom to do it. And why do people do irrational things? I would propose because it makes them feel good, whether that's believing in an afterlife, or whether that's driving 150 mph on the highway. What drives you to have sex? Do you have sex solely to reproduce? Probably not. Is it illogical? Sure, but it makes us feel good. The same goes for eating; it serves a purpose, but the method that our bodies use to get us to do it are not logical, and we have learned to separate the purpose from the "reward" that happens in our brain, and even found new ways of getting that reward through behaviors that would otherwise have no purpose whatsoever. I think if given the freedom we have, many cognitive species would engage in irrational behavior much more often.
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As for deductive reasoning, I've seen examples of that many times with my critters.
For instance, if a cat has always had a chair close to the kitchen counter to allow him to jump up and then the chair is taken away, he will pace back and forth with his eye on the counter. You can see the little wheels turning! He will jump on other things and then guage the distance to the counter to see if it's do-able. If it is, he jumps. If it is not, he will jump down and try another path.
Although it's not really deductive reasoning up front, it's more like a trial and error line of reasoning.
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Meercat Manor - Yosarian
Yosarian is Zaphod's younger brother and former lover of Flower. He has remained with the tribe and quite often behaves highly erratically. His actions have put a number of pups in danger and Pancake was a mortality directly attributable to Yosarian's behavioral issues.
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Yes. Many animals use learning through trial-and-error. Very few species can actually reason deductively to find out what might be the correct action before they attempt it, in a novel situation that they've never seen.
Although, I wonder, can we even say that drinking and skydiving are irrational acts, without first determining what a rational act is? What, IYO, is a rational act? Is it an objective thing that we can all agree on? Or is it subjective, a personal thing?
So, my sense is that you regard logical behavior as that which is guided by the focused intention to impregnate, or be impregnated, not to mention, care for one's young?
I'm just wondering why you think being logical is neccesarily being focused on the successful reproduction of ones genes?
Yes, if we equate aesthetic enjoyment with irrationality, logic, at least in humans, often seems employed to make things as irrational as possible....