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Behavior Analysis and Farm Animal Welfare

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Abstract

This article demonstrates that there is a role for behavior-analytic techniques in the area of farm animal welfare and provides examples of the kinds of work that can be done. Behavior-analytic procedures, specifically those used in the study of psychophysics, preference, and demand, can provide answers to three questions people concerned with the welfare of farm animals are likely to ask: What can the animals detect? What do they like and dislike? What will they work to attain or preserve? Such information certainly is necessary for making reasonable decisions about animal welfare, although it is not sufficient in and of itself.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    T. Mary Foster & William Temple

  2. Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 49008, USA

    Alan Poling

Authors
  1. T. Mary Foster
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  2. William Temple
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  3. Alan Poling
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Correspondence to Alan Poling.

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Foster, T.M., Temple, W. & Poling, A. Behavior Analysis and Farm Animal Welfare. BEHAV ANALYST 20, 87–95 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392766

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