How Studying Interactions Between Animal Emotions, Cognition, and Personality Can Contribute to Improve Farm - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 80

Chapter 3
How Studying Interactions
Between Animal Emotions,
Cognition, and Personality Can
Contribute to Improve Farm
Animal Welfare
Alain Boissy * and Hans W. Erhard †
*UMR INRA 1213 Herbivores, Centre de Theix, St-Gene ` s Champanelle, France; † UMR INRA
791 Mosar, AgroParisTech, 16 rue Claude Bernard, Paris Cedex 05, France
INTRODUCTION
The welfare of animals used for food production is a major concern for
society which stems from the recognition that animals are not only reactive
to their environments but also sentient. Since the Brambell Committee
(1965), it is clearly stated that animal welfare embraces both physical and
mental well-being. Consideration of the mental well-being of animals implies
that animals have emotional capacities, such that they attempt to minimize
negative emotions (e.g., fear and frustration) and to seek positive emotions
(e.g., pleasure and joy) ( Boissy et al., 2007b; Dawkins, 1990; Duncan,
1996 ). Nevertheless, while it is now well accepted that animals express
emotional reactions, there is still a persistent belief that we can do no more
than observe how the animals behave and that we could never know how
they feel. In addition, while the concept of welfare is based on a balance
between negative and positive experiences ( Dawkins, 1990; Duncan, 1996;
Mellor, 2012; Spruijt et al., 2001 ), current research in animal welfare is
mainly focused on identifying and preventing negative animal emotions and
bad welfare. However, preventing negative welfare in animals is not the
same as providing them with opportunities to experience positive emotions
and positive welfare ( Boissy et al., 2007b ).
In addition to emotions, which are by definition fleeting, welfare implies
more persistent affective states that influence the way in which the individual
reacts to his environment ( Lazarus, 1991 ). Repeated exposure to negative