What Dogs can Teach us About Independence and Guilt

I just read an article I see as being about relationship between independence, guilt and feelings. It was about whether dogs really feel guilty. Scientists don’t like anthropomorphizing animals and assuming they feel and react like humans. In one way, I found that interesting because I think we often assume too much about humans think and feel. That’s what Trait Secrets is all about.

Anyway, the experiment involved having owners show their dogs a biscuit, tell the dog not to eat it, and leave the room. While the owner was gone, the experimenter either allowed the dog to eat the treat or removed it. When the owner returned, she was told either the dog had obeyed or not. Here’s where it got creative. Half the time, owners were told the truth, half not. Dogs that had obeyed were just as likely as ones that didn’t to exhibit one of nine behaviors associated with the “guilty look,” like avoiding eye contact, slinking away or offering a paw. They were actually most like to do that when an owner scolded an innocent dog!

The experimenter concluded that the behavior was because of anticipated punishment, rather than guilt. You can read the story at Hangdog Look.

My reaction was, what would most people do in a situation where they were totally dependent on someone else and had no possibility of explaining their innocence? Best just to be submissive and hope for the best. Is that guilt?

This struck me on several levels. I don’t think guilt is a productive emotion, it’s an attack on the self, coming from the mind in hopes of changing. It’s self judgment that doesn’t work because it’s aggressive and angry, and that always sets up resistance. Whenever we try to control ourselves, we set up a dynamic that is in a way holding tight to what we are trying to control. All our attention is there. We are getting angry at ourselves. A client recently said, “I’m trying to force myself to be positive.” The medium is the message. She needed to encourage herself to be more positive. The force in itself is negative and causes a rebound.

Remorse is different from guilt, it comes from the heart and occurs when you feel the pain a decision has caused and know you’ll never do it again. It indicates a transformation of awareness, a change of heart.

But sometimes, even remorse isn't appropriate. Sometimes, unlike dogs, we feel guilty when told we're to blame, and usually blaming is the behavior of judgment and oppression. The colonists had a new awareness of reality, instead of divine right of kings, all men are created equal. That perspective doesn't allow guilt or remorse, because it doesn't see ending oppression as wrong.

So happily, I don’t think the dogs were exhibiting guilt, in my definition, because I don’t think dogs go in much for self criticism. My personal experience is that animals can experience your unhappiness and disappointment and try to comfort you if they have, for example, destroyed a really nice shoe or you’ve just had a bad day at work. But when you say "Bad dog!" they think, "uh oh!," not "what a bad dog I am, how could I have been so stupid?"

What do you think? Can animals experience guilt or remorse, or is it something else?

Namaste,
Hedy
Awareness Transforms
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