Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.2
3.0
Journals
Animals
Special Issues
Emotional Contagion in Animals
share announcement

Emotional Contagion in Animals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 9880

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Andrew C. Gallup

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences Program, The State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY, USA
Interests: brain thermoregulation; contagious behavior; laterality; threat detection; yawning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The automatic and reflexive tendency to match the emotional states of others, i.e., emotional contagion, has been documented across a wide range of species, both in the field and in the laboratory. Depending on the context, emotional contagion can result in different behavioral reactions and neurophysiological changes that serve to align the affective states of the observer with the demonstrator. As a building block of empathy, understanding the mechanisms of emotional contagion has been of considerable interest to researchers in the fields of comparative cognition and neuroscience. Moreover, from an evolutionary perspective, the propagation of emotions likely holds important functions in promoting behavioral synchrony and affiliation in groups, and thus is of general interest in the study of animal behavior and evolutionary psychology.

Researchers are invited to contribute to this Special Issue that aims to bring together the latest advances in our understanding of emotional contagion in animals. This Special Issue welcomes literature reviews, empirical papers, and opinion pieces, especially ones regarding (but not limited to):

  • Psychological and behavioral correlates of emotional contagion in humans and animals;
  • Proximate mechanisms and physiological markers of emotional contagion;
  • Adaptive/functional significance of emotional contagion in social aggregates;
  • New techniques and methodologies for assessing emotional contagion in animals;
  • Challenges and future directions in the study of emotional contagion in animals.

Dr. Andrew C. Gallup
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • affective science
  • arousal
  • collective behavior
  • empathy
  • mimicry

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

11 pages, 1981 KiB  
Article
Emotional “Contagion” in Piglets after Sensory Avoidance of Rewarding and Punishing Treatment
by Ye Zhang, Xuesong Yang, Fang Sun, Yaqian Zhang, Yuhan Yao, Ziyu Bai, Jiaqi Yu, Xiangyu Liu, Qian Zhao, Xiang Li and Jun Bao
Animals 2024, 14(7), 1110; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14071110 - 04 Apr 2024
Viewed by 697
Abstract
In the pig farming industry, it is recommended to avoid groups when treating individuals to reduce adverse reactions in the group. However, can this eliminate the adverse effects effectively? Piglets were assigned to the Rewarding Group (RG), the Punishing Group (PG), and the [...] Read more.
In the pig farming industry, it is recommended to avoid groups when treating individuals to reduce adverse reactions in the group. However, can this eliminate the adverse effects effectively? Piglets were assigned to the Rewarding Group (RG), the Punishing Group (PG), and the Paired Control Group (PCG). There were six replicates in each group, with two paired piglets per replicate. One piglet of the RG and PG was randomly selected as the Treated pig (TP), treated with food rewards or electric shock, and the other as the Naive pig (NP). The NPs in the RG and PG were unaware of the treatment process, and piglets in the PCG were not treated. The behavior and heart rate changes of all piglets were recorded. Compared to the RG, the NPs in the PG showed longer proximity but less contact behavior, and the TPs in the PG showed more freezing behavior. The percentage change in heart rate of the NPs was synchronized with the TPs. This shows that after sensory avoidance, the untreated pigs could also feel the emotions of their peers and their emotional state was affected by their peers, and the negative emotions in the pigs lasted longer than the positive emotions. The avoidance process does not prevent the transfer of negative emotions to peers via emotional contagion from the stimulated pig. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Contagion in Animals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1445 KiB  
Article
The Role of Empathic Concern and Gender on Interspecific Contagious Yawning in Humans
by Andrew C. Gallup and Sabina M. Wozny
Animals 2023, 13(10), 1700; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13101700 - 20 May 2023
Viewed by 1860
Abstract
Interspecific contagious yawning (CY), whereby yawns from one species trigger yawning in different species, has now been reported across various taxa. This response to human yawning appears common among animals in captivity and has been interpreted as an empathic response towards human handlers/caregivers. [...] Read more.
Interspecific contagious yawning (CY), whereby yawns from one species trigger yawning in different species, has now been reported across various taxa. This response to human yawning appears common among animals in captivity and has been interpreted as an empathic response towards human handlers/caregivers. A recent study found that humans also display interspecific CY, though this response was not modulated by proxies of empathic processing (i.e., phylogenetic relatedness or social closeness to the animals). Here, we explored this relationship more explicitly by assessing how interspecific CY to yawns from common household pets relates to self-reported empathic concern. Participants (N = 103) completed a survey measuring empathic concern and then reported on their yawning behavior following exposure to a control condition or yawning images either from domesticated cats or domesticated dogs. The results provide further evidence for interspecific CY in humans, but empathic concern was negatively predictive of this response. There was also no sex difference in interspecific CY, though when comparing the sexes across CY conditions, women reported a higher frequency of yawning in response to dog yawns, and men reported a higher frequency of yawning in response to cat yawns. Overall, these findings do not support a strong connection between interspecific CY and empathy or emotional contagion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Contagion in Animals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2918 KiB  
Article
Electroencephalogram and Physiological Responses as Affected by Slaughter Empathy in Goats
by Pavan Kumar, Ahmed Abubakar Abubakar, Muideen Adewale Ahmed, Muhammad Nizam Hayat, Mokrish Ajat, Ubedullah Kaka, Yong Meng Goh and Awis Qurni Sazili
Animals 2023, 13(6), 1100; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13061100 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3092
Abstract
Recent advances in emotions and cognitive science make it imperative to assess the emotional stress in goats at the time of slaughter. The present study was envisaged to study the electroencephalogram and physiological responses as affected by slaughter empathy in goats. A total [...] Read more.
Recent advances in emotions and cognitive science make it imperative to assess the emotional stress in goats at the time of slaughter. The present study was envisaged to study the electroencephalogram and physiological responses as affected by slaughter empathy in goats. A total of 12 goats were divided into two groups viz., E-group (goats exposed to slaughter environment, n = 6) and S-group (goat slaughtered in front of E-group, n = 6). The electroencephalogram and physiological responses in male Boer cross goats (E-group) were recorded in a slaughterhouse in two stages viz., control (C) without exposure to the slaughter of conspecifics and treatment (T) while visualizing the slaughter of conspecifics (S—slaughter group). The exposure of the goat to the slaughter of a conspecific resulted in a heightened emotional state. It caused significant alterations in neurobiological activity as recorded with the significant changes in the EEG spectrum (beta waves (p = 0.000491), theta waves (p = 0.017), and median frequency MF or F50 (p = 0.002)). Emotional stress was also observed to significantly increase blood glucose (p = 0.031) and a non-significant (p = 0.225) increase in heart rate in goats. Thus, slaughter empathy was observed to exert a significant effect on the electric activity of neurons in the cerebrocortical area of the brain and an increase in blood glucose content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Contagion in Animals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 510 KiB  
Article
“It Almost Makes Her Human”: How Female Animal Guardians Construct Experiences of Cat and Dog Empathy
by Karen M. Hiestand, Karen McComb and Robin Banerjee
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3434; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233434 - 06 Dec 2022
Viewed by 3131
Abstract
Understanding how humans perceive and construct experiences of non-human animal empathy (hereafter, ‘animal/s’) can provide important information to aid our understanding of how companion animals contribute to social support. This study investigates the phenomenology of animal empathy by examining how humans construct sense-making [...] Read more.
Understanding how humans perceive and construct experiences of non-human animal empathy (hereafter, ‘animal/s’) can provide important information to aid our understanding of how companion animals contribute to social support. This study investigates the phenomenology of animal empathy by examining how humans construct sense-making narratives of these experiences, with the hypothesis that anthropomorphic attributions would play a key role in these constructions. Comprehensive, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants, using established interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology to facilitate deep examination of how they interpreted and reacted emotionally. Participants were consistent in reporting changes to their companion animals’ normal behaviour as the key to the identification of animal empathy experiences, yet they were highly paradoxical in their constructions of perceived internal drivers within their dogs and cats. Explanations were highly dichotomous, from highly anthropomorphic to highly anthropocentric, and these extremes were combined both within individual participant narratives and within some thematic constructs. This research demonstrates that experiences of companion animal empathy can be powerful and meaningful for humans, but the inconsistent mixture of anthropomorphic and anthropocentric reasoning illustrates the confused nature of human understanding of animals’ internal states. Insight into how humans construct animal empathy has implications for the moral status of these animals and an application for companion animals used explicitly for social support, such as in animal-assisted therapy and emotional support animals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Contagion in Animals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Nuancing 'emotional' play: does play behaviour always underlie a positive mood?
Authors: Elisa Demuru; Giada Cordoni; Ivan Norscia
Affiliation: Università degli Studi di Torino, Turin, Italy

Back to TopTop