Last Thursday Josh shared with us his most recent presentation entitled “ You and me Ain’t Nothing but Mammals “

Josh shared that there are certain similarities in behavior when comparing humans and the animal kingdom. 

I learned that there are three parts to our brain;

1) Inner most part ( or reptilian) which is where we get our “ fight or flight “ response to certain situations.

2) the Familial part of the brain, which includes social behaviors, emotions or memory

3) the Neo-cortex, which contains higher functions, emotional regulation, and language. 

Josh shared that we share similarities in a large portion of our brain when in comparison with some animals. 

He also focused on Primates, which it seems have the most similarities with humans. He shared that Primates are fairly aggressive. All behaviors have a reason behind them, and will also tend to be passed along in your genes. 

Primates also have a dominant hierarchy, which is similar to the type of pecking order that we humans experience in our work environments. 

We humans tend to be very social animals, and animals like us are also social animals. For example, if someone has been mean to you and treated you badly, more than often that person will eventually apologize. 

We probably like to think that we are cooperative in most situations, however sometimes we humans can be very selfish. 

Josh also spoke of altruism, which is important and may help to get more cooperation in the animal kingdom and with humans. 

     He also shared that some negatives we may share with other animals are fear, anxiety and stress. As we often times have the ability to be anxious about things in our future, some animals might share this ability as well. 

Some positives we share with some animals are reconciliation, and empathy. 

  Since humans are very social, we tend to do well in inter-group activities. Such as engaging in our DBSA group every Thursday evening. We will tend to be more trusting with others that we know better. 

Sociality is a positive thing for us, even though sometimes we may struggle with this. When it comes to morality, both humans and animals share this trait. 

There can also be cultural differences within groups of animals, as there are with humans. 

Josh shared that one of the main differences between humans and animals is that we build on certain behaviors, whereas animals do not.

I learned quite a bit from Josh’s presentation, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from him!