When we look at our pets, we seem instinctively able to tell if our pet is happy, sad, tired…and the list goes on! However, when it comes to studying animal behaviour through scientific research–known as Ethology–these words can detract from the objective nature of an experiment. In other words, we must be careful not to immediately infer how animals are feeling. Ascribing human-based traits (such as happiness or sadness) to animals is known as anthropomorphism. Although it is impossible to directly ask animals if they are happy or sad, we can study animal behaviour in order to gain insight into the subjective states (or feelings) of animals. When researchers study animal behaviour, they describe behaviour instead of inferring behaviour, in order to avoid anthropomorphism. Let’s put this into context. Suppose we are watching a dog receiving a treat. We can see the dog wagging its tail, perking its ears and perhaps even drooling! Obviously, the dog must be happy! However, when documenting this behaviour during an observational study–an experiment involving no human contact or interference with the animal(s) being observed–writing down ‘happy’ would be avoidable. We cannot assume that the dog is happy, as the dog cannot directly communicate this. Rather, the observer would record the physical actions of the dog: tail wagged back and forth; ears faced towards the treat; drooling. During the analysis stage of the experiment, these behaviours would be associated with the dog receiving the treat. Since these specific behaviours (e.g. tail wagging, ears perked) have been observed with rewards (e.g. receiving a treat) in previous studies, we can conclude that these behaviours may be indicative of a positive state. get the best pet behaviour counselling The dog hub.
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