Much has advanced in science since. We now know the role of various hormones and chemicals that influence our emotions. Oxytocin, adrenaline, etc. The trick to get out of anthropomorphization is to avoid being human-centric when making the observations. i.e. put on an alien hat and observe human behavior the way we might observe animal behavior, and then based on that say that one acts in a similar way to the other, and reason they may have similar motivations.