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Bendless Love · 10-20-2005, 04:51 AM

This is a bit off topic, but on the "yorkies understanding" theme

I took a behavioral psych class when I was still at Duke, (big mistake). We talked about why humans are special and mentally above other animals. These were 2 of the reasons 1) Humans display personality, while animals do not. 2) Humans are the only animals that have the idea of killing themselves. 3) They lack the ability to think complexly.

Well, I was very adamant about all of those being incorrect. Animals don't have personality? Heck, I've owned 4 dogs, a snake, and a sugar glider. All my dogs had different personalities, and they definitely got depressed. At the time of the class I only had a sugar glider named Raziel, that I had snuck into the dorm, but he was amazing! And, it is a widely known fact in the sugar glider community that they get depressed very easily and if they are depressed they starve themselves to death and/or gnaw themselves to death (especially males). As for the complex thinking, the example I used was Raziel playing with his toys. He had a barrel of monkeys in his cage, and he'd take the monkeys out and string them together arm in arm to make himself a swing. Then when he was done he'd put them back. Now...some children can't get the hang of this idea, but my sugar glider could. To me, that's complex thought. When I told my professor this he simply dismissed it, saying that it was instinct. I asked him if sugar glider parents have underground barrel o' monkey stores that humans don't know about. He didn't like me very much. He also told me that he'd never heard of sugar gliders and they could be fake for all he knew. Oh, and that it was impossible that they commit self-mutilation and suicide, because the book specifically said that didn't happen.

So, that just goes to show you... 35k dollar a year schools are not always the best. In fact, out of the 2 years I was there I had 3 good professors (out of about 20). I decided to leave...I was on scholarship, but the idiocy of the staff was outrageously obvious. My engineering professor started almost every class with an "oops, how did that porn get on my computer?" presentation on the big screen. Anyhow, now I'm at UF and they are much more knowledgable. Again...super off topic. Sorry.

10-20-2005, 04:51 AM	#10
Bendless Love Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 148	This is a bit off topic, but on the "yorkies understanding" theme I took a behavioral psych class when I was still at Duke, (big mistake). We talked about why humans are special and mentally above other animals. These were 2 of the reasons 1) Humans display personality, while animals do not. 2) Humans are the only animals that have the idea of killing themselves. 3) They lack the ability to think complexly. Well, I was very adamant about all of those being incorrect. Animals don't have personality? Heck, I've owned 4 dogs, a snake, and a sugar glider. All my dogs had different personalities, and they definitely got depressed. At the time of the class I only had a sugar glider named Raziel, that I had snuck into the dorm, but he was amazing! And, it is a widely known fact in the sugar glider community that they get depressed very easily and if they are depressed they starve themselves to death and/or gnaw themselves to death (especially males). As for the complex thinking, the example I used was Raziel playing with his toys. He had a barrel of monkeys in his cage, and he'd take the monkeys out and string them together arm in arm to make himself a swing. Then when he was done he'd put them back. Now...some children can't get the hang of this idea, but my sugar glider could. To me, that's complex thought. When I told my professor this he simply dismissed it, saying that it was instinct. I asked him if sugar glider parents have underground barrel o' monkey stores that humans don't know about. He didn't like me very much. He also told me that he'd never heard of sugar gliders and they could be fake for all he knew. Oh, and that it was impossible that they commit self-mutilation and suicide, because the book specifically said that didn't happen. So, that just goes to show you... 35k dollar a year schools are not always the best. In fact, out of the 2 years I was there I had 3 good professors (out of about 20). I decided to leave...I was on scholarship, but the idiocy of the staff was outrageously obvious. My engineering professor started almost every class with an "oops, how did that porn get on my computer?" presentation on the big screen. Anyhow, now I'm at UF and they are much more knowledgable. Again...super off topic. Sorry.