# Do animals have cognitive functions?



## butus (Oct 17, 2015)

This questiun occured to me a few days ago while I was feeding my dog. I threw a bone right into his mouth from 1 or 2 meters. And he missed it. 

My question is, could that be because of that my dog has a weak Se? But is he Intuitive then? How do I find that out?

Or do animals' brains work in a different way? It can't be very different, since most of the dogs (or cats or horses) i met had different personalities. There must be something behind this, right?

But if they actually have cognitive functions, do they have all eight? That would mean there are introverted and extraverted animals out there. But again, how can we find this out? Animals don't talk...

Animals' personalities used to linked to their breed. (there are easily noticable differences between the french bulldog and the chihuahua for example)

But that would mean that personality is a genetical issue. Which isn't true in the human world (as I heard).
Plus there can be differences between two french bulldogs. It's noticeable by their different behavior. Which can be either caused by their training or their cognitive functions (if they have them). If it's only the training, there's no cognitive personality behind the behavior, and that means an animal's "personality" only depend's on its intelligence.

But does that apply to the human world? :confused2:
I mean, could that be true that cognitive functions develop via education? And does intelligence have anything to do with it?



TL;DR: can my cat be an introverted feeler? :lovekitty:


----------



## O_o (Oct 22, 2011)

> My question is, could that be because of that my dog has a weak Se? But is he Intuitive then? How do I find that out?



This question. Aw man. lol

This thread is one of the most peculiar and interesting things I've read on this forum section in a while.


----------



## reptilian (Aug 5, 2014)

read here: http://personalitycafe.com/nts-temperament-forum-intellects/668162-xntp-lounge-xntps-only-please-16.html

Ask


----------



## O_o (Oct 22, 2011)

Of course the xNTPs got to it first.


----------



## Whitewolf (Sep 21, 2015)

Sincerely, I thought a lot about it.
It will unleash a big pack of questions about animal intelligence and so on. So this is just my personal opinion.
Certainly animals think. Instinct is also in humans, but can't be linked to intuition, since intuition is basically abstract details.
Actually, animals can abstract and associate two concepts. Therefore, they have N. Sensing? Surelly they have. Thinking? they have got, for sure: analysis on objective basis is something wolves has got. Feeling? Of course they have. Also Fi: have you never seen a dog who was an ex guardian barking to you? To me happened. 

So, actually I think we can use MBTI to type animals. But we have two difficulties: 1 animals can't speak. Therefore, we miss also precious details 2 we cannot compare animal reasonment to human. Just an example: animals have got shame? Is an animal ashamed when he does something he shoudn't? before to say "yes", let me explain what I mean for shame: the mental process who says that something is wrong and you feel bad because other people will judge you bad for this. That's something animals doesn't got. They are sad for (like) pee on the floor but after they have done it. 
Therefore, you may say that animals can't be typed. This will mean that MBTI is a typing only for humans. I may agree with that, still I suppose that the principle is always valid: we interact with the world with a process of interpretation.
So, here's are some functions "beta version" (help is accepted) :
Fe: desire of share his feelings and love for cuddles
Fi: inner sense of right and wrong, who takes him/her to be sometimes restious
Te: love for organisation and personal boundaries
Ti: curiosity and love to solve problems (like "how take out that ball?")
Se: love for movement and a prettily "rude" nature
Si: love for pleasure, cuddles and soft movements. Likes routine
Ne: like for new experiences, desire of try new things
Ni: strong inner sense of situations, strong bond to specific objects

My cat, Mr Muzzle/Musetto, is an ISFJ: very quiet, loves strokes, is delighted to play with mosquitos...but when guys different from our four, granparents and (sometimes) our cousins come to our house...it's a complete disaster: he runs away :3


----------



## Kamfeth (Apr 16, 2015)

I have read somewhere that Shi-Tzu dogs are ISFPs, which could be accurate in that case. One time he is lovely small dog, who literally love every single person, but on the other hand he is very agresive towards bigger dogs than he is, even if the other dog was calm and nice. Also he is crazy, when he see a cars that are coming in front of him, charging towards them, lol. Also he love running etc. Like most of the dogs. Funny is that he can be agresive towards bulldogs and other bigger dogs, but when he found a dog of his size or maybe even smaller, he is still not sure and he seeme to be afraid of something.


----------



## bruh (Oct 27, 2015)

Lol no their minds aren't capable of complex ways of thinking such as that of a human


----------



## Tetsuo Shima (Nov 24, 2014)

My cats are an ISTP and an ESFP.


----------



## Captain Mclain (Feb 22, 2014)

bruh said:


> Lol no their minds aren't capable of complex ways of thinking such as that of a human


I think you think too highly of human cognition.  Dogs have not functional hands and vocal stuff to develop in the same way humans do. But does not mean they got some cognitive stuff going on that might include functions.


----------



## xraydav (Jan 3, 2013)

butus said:


> This questiun occured to me a few days ago while I was feeding my dog. I threw a bone right into his mouth from 1 or 2 meters. And he missed it.
> 
> * My question is, could that be because of that my dog has a weak Se? But is he Intuitive then? How do I find that out?*
> 
> ...


I'm sure there is a spectrum. There definitely has to be a spectrum. For example, bonobo monkeys are so genetically similar to us, that they probably have some form of higher function dimensions, but probably not all dimensions, and the number of dimensions gradually gets smaller and smaller the more dissimilar the species is to us humans. 

The bolded, I just don't see happening. Se is not about paying attention and working from there, all types are capable of utilizing their functions to pay utmost attention to a situation. It's where that focus tends to go, which matters. In which case, this would be like, what was the dog thinking of instead of the bone being thrown at him? Was he lost in his thoughts about x y z experiences? or was he lost in how his master felt about him and what values are being satisfied in x y z situation?

I don't even know if dogs are capable of such complex thoughts, but there has to be at least some dimensions right. I have to believe this is true. 

Maybe we should devise an experiment to test your hypothesis?


----------



## Exquisitor (Sep 15, 2015)

I think looking for the eight functions could possibly be a bit much, at least in the complex forms proposed for human psychology, but there are probably simpler preferences by which you could group them into, say, the four major temperaments.

That said, as a thought experiment, I'm going to try typing my family's pets. (Anthropomorphism incoming!)


Family half-collie: ENFJ (extremely quick on the uptake, very intelligent and very sensitive to the less obvious, quietly contemplative and responsible, highly affectionate in a poised way)
My childhood cat: INTJ (outwardly cold, judgemental, a little prissy, reserved and calculating, never shows vulnerability but gets extremely close to carefully selected individuals)
My sister's cat: ISTP (self-sufficient, fiercely independent, opportunistic, no-nonsense approach to tasks, physically competent to the point of being an escape artist)
Stray cat we adopted: ESFP (very affectionate, needs attention and affection, extremely self-indulgent, never takes his mind off getting people to give him treats)
Family shetland sheepdog: ISFJ (shy, engagement with the world is more out of anxiety than interest, quite gentle, extremely keen to please but perpetually confused)
Brother's cat: ENFP (very attached to my brother, almost doglike about it, idealises my brother no matter how little he gets in return, quite clever but with a lot of intense feelings)
Mum's cat: ISFP (highly anxious temperament, very sensitive to her physical environment, quite sweet and vulnerable underneath but often outwardly cold)

Thinking about it, applying the four dichotomies seems to make some sense.


----------



## Lord Fudgingsley (Mar 3, 2013)

This is a hugely interesting thread. I'll come back when I've something to say.


----------



## Piercie (Oct 25, 2013)

Do animals have cognitive functions? Let's ask, do they have the most human-specific function of all, Intuition?







In a sense, yes.

It's not a question of which functions they have or don't have; it's a question of how sophisticated their brains allow their 'functions' to become. We all start out having relatively simple functions as children, before our brains have developed and matured.
Rats learn the layout of a maze just 'cuz. Crows do a damned good job figuring out puzzles, perhaps even better than some of us humans.


----------



## Schizoid (Jan 31, 2015)

Only if we are able to figure out what is inside their brain, but like what one of the other posters mentioned earlier, animals aren't able to think as complex as humans brain. Animals would mainly think about basic survival stuff like food, water, sleep etc, but they don't have the ability to ponder about things in depth like the way humans' brains are able to.

So nope, animals doesn't have cognitive functions. Unless it's fictional animals that we saw on television that are able to talk and think like a human then yes, but real life animals? No! :laughing:


edit: Maybe the only exception is chimpanzees, perhaps they are the only animals who are able to think like the way humans do, because they exist on a higher level of consciousness as compared to other animals. But then again, we won't be able to figure out what chimpanzees are thinking unless we are able to dissect their brain and see what is inside their brain. So unless we can figure out a way to make them speak in human's language, we will never be able to figure out their cognitive functions because we have no idea what is going through their brain.


----------



## Convex (Jan 5, 2015)

It's always Generation Z.. though, to be fair, humans' tendency to anthropomorphize is great indeed.


----------



## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

Your example of your dog missing the catch isn't related to the functions. Because animal cognition is much simpler than human cognition, it can't really be compared. 

With that said, I believe that animals possess something akin to proto functions. I can see behavior in my cats that more closely resemble the types I believe are ESFP and ISxJ, probably ISFJ, but I realize that I'm fundamentally typing their behavior to see how it matches with the same behavior I see in humans being those types, hence I'm partially projecting patterns onto my cats.


----------



## Wisteria (Apr 2, 2015)

That is a curious question, although I have to admit it made me laugh when I saw it at first. (now I'm beginning to think my cat in an Intj...) Actually thinking about it though, I think it is possible in some sense. It is hard to compare though because animals communicate in different ways, and value different things in order to survive. For example some species learn to be altruistic, while others are all out for themselves. A biology teacher once told me that animals can sense that the weather is about to change, causing them to stay indoors in advance. She called it "predictive dormancy". Anyway most animals are not as social as people, and somehow I can't associate F/T with animal cognitivity as I can with people.


----------



## Flaming Bassoon (Feb 15, 2013)

I've definitely seen extroverted/introverted and feeling/thinker traits in animals, but the other two are much more complicated.

That being said, my dog is such an ESFP.


----------



## Piercie (Oct 25, 2013)

To some of the other people responding in this thread... simplicity of behavior is not an argument that there is no function behind it. It's especially clear in Socionics, but even in MBTI functions are variable things that can be either complex or simple. _A dog is about as intelligent as a 2 year old human._


----------



## reptilian (Aug 5, 2014)

Schizoid said:


> Only if we are able to figure out what is inside their brain, but like what one of the other posters mentioned earlier, animals aren't able to think as complex as humans brain. Animals would mainly think about basic survival stuff like food, water, sleep etc, but they don't have the ability to ponder about things in depth like the way humans' brains are able to.


What would the "inside the brain" answer be? Science has little space here, its about the being, ontological.


----------



## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

Must be an intuitive dog, 'cuz everyone knows that you can't catch a ball without Se.

:dry:


----------



## Lunaena (Nov 16, 2013)

My dog is an INFJ/ESTP fluctuating. My cat is an ISFP.

"Animals don't talk" - not with words like humans, but they definitely communicate.

Animals definitely have personalities. Every animal I have interacted with has different personalities.


----------



## Joe2718 (Jul 21, 2015)

I just noticed that my dog is happy when i'm happy. 
So he's got Fe going on. 
He always likes to be around people, so he's an E.

He uses single strategies when he's with me out in the woods. He's always taking a different path but going to same location and his method doesn't really change too much. He also doesn't figure things out by himself; his process is get me for everything. S instead of N. He does seem happier than dogs.

My dog is ESFJ maybe.


----------



## Raawx (Oct 9, 2013)

Huh, it's funny. I've always thought most people thought the conception was nonsense, but it's always made a degree of sense to me that, yeah, they might have smaller brains, but they still have very distinct personalities. We have 6 cats in our house, and it's honestly fascinating to observe the relationships between the little muppets.

Cat 1: prissy, exclusive and picky. he's extraordinarily whiny but will rarely ever manifest his whininess. he'll just sit there, against his will for ages, meowing. he seems to be an fi user because he has very decisive emotional states--sometimes he'll come and say hi and cuddle, other times he'll have his mind made up and want to go outside/be left alone. outside, he spends too much time and never really comes back when he should. i think he loses track of time easily. he's really bad around people and gets uncomfortable in high stress situations (se polr). I think he's an INFP.

Cat 2: bossy, dominant, and sweet. he's a nice cat. great with strangers; friendly and cuddly. he's not affectionate though. when one picks him up, he'll purr by default--as if he's aware that purring makes people more friendly and inclined to do his own thing. he's got a very strong sense of self. i mean, its weird to be saying that, but he does. he's the alpha cat if there ever were any. rarely will he hiss or swipe. he's strong so he'll just force his way out of any situation where he feels uncomfortable. i believe he's an ESTP.

Cat 3: timid, excessively affectionate and loyal. he's a very fearful cat, trusting very few people. that being said, he is extremely affectionate with my mother and has distinct periods of time where he just sits on her and cuddles her. hes also a bit dramatic and paranoid pretty easily, running away at the sight of anything remotely scary, which makes me think ne inferior. his timidity and almost overbearing love for her make me think ISFJ.

Cat 4/5: meh, annoying, havent paid attention to and dont care tbh.

Cat 6: oh god do i love this cat to death. she never lets anyone pet her. ever. she's not very trusting of people, but she always sits down and just watches when she feels as though its safe and comfortable. its strange, because instead of running away and hiding when shes afraid, she just moves back a little into a safer position. i think she could be an INTJ tbh.

lol


----------



## Another Lost Cause (Oct 6, 2015)

It seems every animal would need a way of taking in information (perceiving) and a way of acting on that information (judging). Could instinct be a rudimentary form of judging?


----------



## Inveniet (Aug 21, 2009)

The Jungian cognitive functions are made for humans.
If you want to ascribe cognitive functions to animals I'm sure you could do that.
But better sit down with each species as their brain has different structure.
Some of the comments in this thread seem to forget that simple little fact.


----------

