Saturday 10 March 2012

Psychology and Dogs




When I was studying psychology at university, one of the topics that came up was ‘the self’. In particular, this topic was applied to the early development of children. It described how, as babies grow into children and as they discover the world, they also discover themselves. For example, over time, they learn to recognise themselves in the mirror.

It’s been a couple of years since I finished my degree but I do remember one thing that stuck out for me during this module and this topic about ‘the self’. It’s something I’m reminded of time and time again, whenever my German Shepherd, Shadow, comes into my room. But before I go into that, I’ll start from the beginning.

Self-recognition. That’s what this is all about. The ability to look at yourself in your reflection and be able to say ‘hey, that’s me!’ (Not that we all greet our reflections in such a way – that would be weird...). This happens supposedly at around the age of 18 months. However, what stood out for me was how my lecturer noted how most animals don’t possess this self-recognition. Dolphins, they noted, and higher primates such as chimpanzees, were shown to – but most other animals, nope.

In my bedroom, I have a wardrobe with a full length mirror built on one of the doors – really helpful when I want to make sure that my top actually matches my jeans (though, most the time I wear the same old stuff so this is never really a problem). Now, I dare anyone to tell me that my dog, Shadow, does not recognise herself in my mirror.

Shadow, she’s my furry little monster who will pester me time and time again because she wants food or loves. She is extremely loving, to the point of irritation sometimes. But also, she’s extremely anti-social (a bit like me sometimes). Certain people she’s fine with, and she loves my other German Shepherd, Sacha – but Sacha was already here when Shadow was introduced to our family. Other dogs though, nope... Shadow really isn’t keen on other dogs, and that’s just out and about. The closer we get to home, the worse she gets. Another dog, in her territory? No way – Shadow would not like that at all.

And yet, here she comes, wandering into my room and there’s my mirror, with another dog in it. When she was younger, when she didn’t quite understand, there was a bit of confusion, but now – she doesn’t even bother. If Shadow truly doesn’t understand that the other dog in the mirror is her, why doesn’t she bark at it like she does at other dogs?

You could possibly say that she dismisses the mirror, like she does with the television – she knows it isn’t a threat, but that doesn’t mean she knows it’s her. But then, she doesn’t completely dismiss the mirror.

It’s hard to describe, but the way my bedroom is laid out: if my bedroom door is open and you’re out in the hall, you can see my bedroom mirror, and the way this mirror is positioned (at an angle) means if you look at the mirror, you can see me on my laptop. Vice versa, if I turn around and look in my mirror, I can see whoever is out in the hall (as long as they’re at the right angle). This includes dogs. So what am I getting at? Shadow will look at my reflection if she can’t see my face directly. She’ll meet my eyes through the mirror, and she knows it’s me, or at least, that it’s a reflection of me. Yes, I did fool her into thinking once that the reflection was actually me and the resulting reaction of confusion made me laugh so much. But dogs learn and they learn well, so she knows now that it was a trick.

So, if Shadow responds to my reflection in the mirror but not her own, what does that mean?

Her attention span is shorter than mine so that would make it incredibly difficult to perform tests like they did with the dolphins and chimps in order to see if they possessed self-recognition, so I’ve got no scientific proof that my dog also possesses this. I’ve only got my own belief, which wouldn’t hold up in psychological research, but is good enough for me.

Personally, all these studies about animals not recognising themselves in mirrors, I think they often forget one very simple thing – exposure. Surely it stands to reasons that the more someone or something is exposed to mirrors, the more they’ll come to understand how they work? Not all animals maybe, but I would say that it is ignorant to dismiss all animals simply because human beings are raised in a society filled with mirrors and reflections and animals, not so much.

Anyway... there’s a very random, non-writing related post for you. I promise, next post I post will be writing related... maybe.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Doubts


I haven’t been doing so well writing wise lately. Since finishing my latest fanfiction story, I’ve been struggling to concentrate. Part of this is because of a case of that infamous and dreaded ‘Writer’s Doubts’ that decided to creep up on me from behind and take me hostage. The ransom was too high so I had to fight my way free, though as many writer will tell you – when it comes to doubts, you are never fully in the clear. They’re always there, niggling at the back of your mind.

Consequently, it took me a little bit to convince myself that I’m not just deluding myself into thinking I can be a ‘proper writer’ like so many I admire. A lot of the time, it’s a matter of pushing on in the hopes that it’ll get better and that eventually you’ll get somewhere. Sometimes, you don’t truly believe the positive things you tell yourself, but you say them all the same because if you don’t, all those negative thoughts will gain too much control and you’ll find yourself in a downward spiral.

That’s kind of what I’ve been fighting against lately. It was made even worse when I tried to start some work on an old Nano story that needs completing – but before I can complete it, I need to rewrite what I’ve already written (all 50, 000 words of it) and remember where it was I was going in the first place. And it felt like a lot of work, as editing can be truly hellish work because it involves a much more critical eye than just writing.

So that didn’t work out. I couldn’t concentrate properly and I didn’t want to do a bad job of it because I felt like I should work on it. Instead, when I do edit it, I want to have my full concentration on it so that it’ll be the best it can possibly be for when the next stage of editing comes around.

Similar story with my latest Nano story too. Only, I tried to hold off on the editing and simply wanted to reread what I had already written for continuity’s sake. I didn’t want my main characters to have a backpack in one scene and then none in the next, or no backpack and then suddenly they have a magical one that appeared from thin air. That type of stuff can be evil to fix when editing (it really can!). Plus, I also needed to know how much I had already revealed to my main character and how much I had left to reveal...

I still want to do that. I still want to finish BOTH of these Nano stories and get them edited and ready to send out. But as my mind doesn’t seem to be in THAT place at the moment, with either of these stories, I’ve ended up putting both to the side, just for now.

Instead, I’m trying to concentrate on a new story. I’m hoping that something fresh, something new, will help kick-start my muse. I’m hoping this will be just what I need. I guess we’ll see.

In other news, I’ve finally started sending Nate out and I’m hoping something will happen with him this year. Whatever happens though, whatever doubts I run into, I won’t give up. Writers are writers for a reason. It’s in our blood and is impossible to deny.