Sapolsky The Uniqueness Of Humans Analysis

In the article, “A Change of Heart about Animals”, by Jeremy Rifkin argues about how scientists have shown and proven that there are many similarities between animals and humans. Jeremy Rifkin believes animals should be treated with more empathy and that the animals should be treated more like humans. I agree with this statement and that they should be treated better with more animal rights.

Here we see Darwin acknowledge our biological relationship to animals that cannot be argued. However, he also extends the relationship between intellectually inferior animals and humans to our behavior. As mentioned in the above quote, natural animal instincts such as the will for individual survival and the protection of children can be found in all animals, including humans. Darwin also acknowledges that humans can sometimes revert to purely animalistic behavior. However

I have really enjoyed learning in this class and glad I took it because I found it to be very interesting. From learning all these different types of primates, from non-human to human primates, to even developing a better understanding of the evolution of primates and primate behavior. For my final paper, I will be going over and portraying the behavior of non-human primate and human primate. I will be comparing the primates behavior seen over the movies and literatures that we were assigned, to the understandings of evolution. Being able to learn and compare the behavior of non-human primate and the behavior of human primate, it can help further one understandings of how we are similar in physical and biological structures. According to the Wikipedia, “The primate lineage is thought to go back at least 65 million years ago”. (Wikipedia) With this one could say that the evolution of primates have been evolving for quite a while now, and even if we do not look like a non human primate we are similar than we think. The reading materials and the movies we had to watch for this class displayed the behaviors of non-human primate and human primate, some how differed. There are many question about evolution, and to how we were created? are there other reasons deeper than evolution? How much can we learn about evolution by just comparing the different behavior of the primates?

“What these researchers are finding is that many our creatures are more like us than we ever imagined. They feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love -- and these findings are changing how we view animals,” said by Rifkin. In Rifkin’s article, A Change of Heart about Animals, highlights the fact we should have empathy of the way we treat our creatures that we share the earth with. He supports his argument with examples of animals having adroitness such as human do. Rifkin also addressesthe brain anatomy and chemisty similar to us.

Jeremy Rifkin is a very talented writer. In his article, “A Change of Heart about Animals,” Rifkin states the many different examples and studies that prove his argument, which states, “…many of our fellow creatures are more like us than we had ever imagined.” Rifkin is completely correct in this and does a wonderful job of proving his point. Animals are a lot more like us than imagined.

Thesis: Humans differ from animals because humans have developed a complex language which gives man the ability to store knowledge, communicate complex ideas, and is not a hereditary skill.

Learning by observation is a type of learning in which an individual observes the behavior of others, sees the consequences of the behaviors, and then attempts to carry out the same behavior. Social learning is based on the standards of classical and operant conditioning and observational learning. It is a commonly shared belief that people have an instinctive ability to imitate the behavior of others. However, this ability is not unique to humans. Animals have also showed evidence of being able to mimic humans and other animals (Mazur, 2013). Chimpanzees, or Pan Troglodytes, have demonstrated social learning through many different experiments in different settings. Chimpanzees have shown the ability to observe the behavior of a model and reproduce the behavior. However, chimpanzees have also demonstrated the mental capacity of understanding when behaviors do not elicit a desired reaction and not repeating these behaviors under these circumstances. This paper will focus on chimpanzees and their ability to learn new behaviors through social learning.

We are all animals. Although we like to believe we are superior and justify many of our actions on this ideology. The truth is quite different. We share countless, undeniable similarities with “animals” and to pretend we are some super being that transcends animals status is foolish.

One argues that animals aren’t like humans but how can they prove that? People who disagree with Rifkin haven’t brought up any valid points, sources, or experiments to prove Rifkin wrong. Unlike the people who believe that animals aren’t like humans, Rifkin performs several experiments to prove how animals show humanity. I agree that animals are similar with humans because they’ve proven their sense of awareness in situations. In “A Change of Heart about Animals”, there was a study on pig behavior where Purdue University found that pigs crave affection

The rarity of human uniqueness no longer exists in the thoughts of scientists believing that human ability skills lie within the construction and use of tools. As declared by Goodall in which chimpanzees used straight sticks after removing the leaves and branches to collect termites or ants for consumption. (Goodall, 1986) Other species both primate and non-primate demonstrate successful abilities., which include a sense of self as well as the theory of mind, by which other species recognize that other individuals contain different information than themselves. Different species also have the ability to communicate symbolically to one another through the sounds of vocalization. (Sapolsky R. M., 2006)

We, the human species are unique. This is a phrase we all have heard at some point in our lives. We are "unique" compared to other animals in our language, movements, and emotions. We have our own language which the majority of animals do not, we stand on two legs while the majority of the animals are on four legs, and we are much more sensitive to our emotional reactions, making us complex animals. Now, where does all these differences come from? As the title suggest, our human brains are incredible in the way they process information. This article aims to discuss the differences of human brain compared to other animal brains, and what makes us humans so unique in our responsive reactions in how we process information. More specifically, this paper will examine the influences the environment has on our human brains and how the changing environment influences our brain evolution in how we respond.

passed on from one generation to the next. Because of this, these various cultures all carry and practice

For example, imitation and teaching explain that chimpanzee’s may watch their mother doing actions academically (problem-solving) she never gives her young enough feedback or just a simple look to reinforce his observation. He concludes by explaining that humans have a preexisting capacity that allows them to represent what they imagine by combining human elements (language) while, animals clearly do not.

Where there is humanity, there is logical thinking and individualism. I believe that this is what separates human beings from animal species. Each

Everything created has specie specific qualities. Human beings are closely linked to animals because of the similarities of these specie specific qualities, but these alone do not make humans animals or animals humans. While there are quite a few characteristics that are similar there are enormous differences. One is