Measuring Social Needs

Question 1

What 4 things does social environment comprise of?

Answer 1

1) Social structure
2) Social relationship
3) Social cues
4) All associated internal states experienced by an individual

Question 2

How does the Animal Welfare Act 2006 define social needs?

Answer 2

Social needs = To be with or apart from other animals, as appropriate

Question 3

What does it mean by “ at a minimum appropriate quality of social environment to avoid poor welfare according to evolutionary adaptions, where animals cannot otherwise appropriately adapt”

Answer 3

The quality of social environment is the nature of the social environment the animal finds itself in
Evolutionary adaption refers to:
- Group living animals finding it hard to live alone
- Asocial animals may find it hard to live with other animals
This is because the animals may not be able to cope with changes in their social environment

Question 4

What 5 things are social needs influenced by?

Answer 4

1) Adaptions to group vs solitary living
2) Differences in social structure
3) Differences in requirement for social learning
4) Differences in strength and nature of social relationships
5) Possible differences in complexity of social cognition and emotions

Question 5

True or false

Social needs do not differ between species

Answer 5

False

Social needs differ between species

Question 6

Within individuals what sorts of things modify social needs?

Answer 6

Sickness
Pain
Injury
Specific social attachments
Reproductive status
Age
Experience

Question 7

True or false

If an animal is sick it may want to be away from others or it may want care from others

Answer 7

True

Question 8

True or false
If the individual has formed a specific social attachment with another individual then those can influence the needs associated with that particular bond and whether or not it can adapt to separation

Answer 8

True

Question 9

True or false
With reproductive status the animal may be solitary most of the time but needs to interact with another individual to achieve fitness outcomes

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What 5 things could inappropriate social environment lead to?

Answer 10

1) Absence of socio-positive opportunities
2) Frustrated motivation and fearfulness
3) Impacts on normal development and deficits in learning
4) Social stress, physical injury
5) Depression

Question 11

True or false
Social environment can also impact individuals through social transmission of emotions and/or the experience of complex social emotions if the species is capable

Answer 11

True

Question 12

True or false

It’s important to establish what we need to monitor and what makes a good social environment

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What 3 things do we need to establish in terms of what we need monitor and what makes a good social environment?

Answer 13

1) We need to establish what the animals social needs and wants are
2) We also need to establish the impacts of provision and non-provision of the animals social wants and needs
3) Understanding capacities for emotional contagion/social transmission, social cognition and social emotion to comprehensively identify risks to welfare

Question 14

True or false

All species are not flexible in adapting to differences from free living

Answer 14

False

Some species are more flexible than others in adapting to differences from free living

Question 15

True or false
If we know natural social structure and flexibility, quality of social relationships and the animals capacity for negative and positive social emotions we can formulate hypothesises about how welfare could be impacted
To test hypothesises about how welfare could be impacted you use social and non-social welfare indicators to look at how that might more widely impact the animal

Answer 15

True

Question 16

True or false
When we’re thinking about the importance of aspects of social environment we can use the idea of motivation to access or avoid these in order to help us develop our ideas about that

Answer 16

True

Question 16

True or false
When we’re thinking about the importance of aspects of social environment we can use the idea of motivation to access or avoid these in order to help us develop our ideas about that

Answer 16

True

Question 17

What is social reinstatement a measure of?

Answer 17

Social reinstatement is considered a measure of sociality or the tendency of a particular species to associate in social groups

Question 18

True or false

Social reinstatement can vary between individuals

Answer 18

True

Question 19

True or false

Social reinstatement can not be genetically selected for

Answer 19

False

Social reinstatement can be genetically selected for

Question 20

Explain how a social reinstatement test works

Answer 20

In a social reinstatement test a subject animal is put in a box and is released to join a group of conspecifics
You would then measure:
Latency to reach companions after being released from the start box
Duration running on a treadmill to retain contact with companions

Question 21

True or false
Social reinstatement is quite telling in terms of response to social isolation and how motivated an animal is to get back to a group of animals

Answer 21

True

Question 22

True or false

Social reinstatement tests suffer from the same limitations as any preference tests or approach avoidance test

Answer 22

True

Question 23

What do you need to think about when doing a social reinstatement test?

Answer 23

We also need to think about access time in terms of reward

When doing a social reinstatement test we need to think about what elements of access beyond just getting contact with the reward are important and rewarding to the animal
This is done to sufficiently represent the type of test that we want to address

Question 24

What do social preference and avoidance tests allow you to assess?

Answer 24

Social preference and avoidance tests allow us to assess relative preference of different social stimuli

Question 25

Give examples of different social stimuli

Answer 25

``` Access to: Males vs females Familiar animal vs unfamiliar animal High ranker vs low ranker Young vs old Own offspring vs others offspring Related vs unrelated Degrees of familiarity Group vs individual Conspecific vs allospecific ```

Question 26

What is a strength of social preference and avoidance tests?

Answer 26

We can introduce a cost to the preference test These types of tests can allow us not just to look at whether or not animals prefer particular types of social stimuli but also whether they will avoid or are aversive towards particular types of social stimuli

Question 27

What are the 3 ways of examining avoidance tests?

Answer 27

1) Active avoidance 2) Passive avoidance 3) Titration against another resource

Question 28

What happens in an active avoidance test?

Answer 28

``` The animal needs to do something to get away or avoid the social stimulus Examples of what you'd measure are: Latency to move away Speed of movement away Work to move away/avoid ```

Question 29

What happens in a passive avoidance test?

Answer 29

Passive avoidance tests are where you get the animal to stop doing something or not to do something to avoid the negative stimuli This is often a useful measure for animals that are likely to react to a frightening stimuli by freezing This is because if they freeze then they're incapable of doing something active to avoid the stimuli In passive avoidance tests you can measure the latency to access an area where the stimulus resides

Question 30

What happens in a Titration against another resource test?

Answer 30

You can titrate against a resource by looking at the relative importance You can look at if the animal is: - Slower to access or stops accessing a preferred resource to avoid exposure to the social stimuli Or - Faster to access or keeps accessing social stimulus despite associated exposure to an aversive stimulus

Question 31

What are the 6 potential indicators relevant to establishing social needs?

Answer 31

1) Sociability 2) Distress calls when separated from the group or particular members of the group 3) Oxytocin (or Mesotocin) 4) Synchrony 5) Social play 6) Agonistic behaviour

Question 32

What is agonistic behaviour?

Answer 32

Agonistic behaviour are all behaviours associated with conflict which includes fighting, threat behaviour, displacement behaviour, and conflict appeasing behaviour

Question 33

What 5 situations do agonistic behaviour increase?

Answer 33

1) Social disruption in a group 2) Competition of a resource 3) Inappropriate socialisation 4) Pain 5) Inescapable stress

Question 34

Why do we need to be careful when measuring agonistic behaviour?

Answer 34

This is because like any other behaviour it has the same disadvantages and advantages However in terms of agonistic behaviour function it may also change seasonally and be more likely to occur during some activities than others depending on species

Question 35

True or false | Some species show conflict reducing behaviour which may be indirect evidence of conflict

Answer 35

True

Question 36

What can we predict that negative states are also associated with in relation to agonistic behaviour?

Answer 36

We can predict that negative states are also associated with: - social defeat - absence of predictability and control - inability to avoid agonistic behaviour

Question 37

What do we measure in terms of agonistic behaviour?

Answer 37

With agonistic behaviour you'd usually measure frequency/duration of different types of agonistic behaviour This can then measure variation in severity of agonistic behaviour We can also measure the outcomes of agonistic behaviour If it's not possible to measure the actual behaviour then we can measure the consequences of the agonistic behaviour as an indirect measure However this method may not be as sensitive

Question 38

What are affiliative behaviours?

Answer 38

Affiliative behaviour is a tendency to associate with and interact positively with others, usually members of the same species

Question 39

Give examples of behaviours that people have used to indicate affiliative behaviour?

Answer 39

``` Allogrooming Resting in contact Playing Synchronising activities Maintaining proximity Reinstatement behaviour when separated Greeting behaviour when reunited ```

Question 40

True or false Affiliative behaviour is thought to promote cohesion in a group This has evolutionaryly advantages for the group in terms of terms of fitness

Answer 40

True

Question 41

True or false | Affiliative behaviour is thought to be associated with socio-positive states

Answer 41

True

Question 42

True or false | To measure affiliative behaviour at a group level you can measure frequency/duration of affiliative behaviour

Answer 42

True

Question 43

True or false Affiliative behaviour may be reduced or absent in situations that increase aggression However we do need to be aware that affiliative behaviour may occur post aggression to help deescalate and calm situations

Answer 43

True

Question 44

True or false | Affiliative behaviour can also indicate the presence of complex social bonds

Answer 44

True

Question 45

How do Newberry & Swanson 2001 define social bonds?

Answer 45

A social bond is a mutual positive social attachment that is relatively long lasting and survives temporary separation

Question 46

True or false We are less likely to see affiliative behaviour between individuals with social bonds than between individuals that happen to live in the same group

Answer 46

False We are more likely to see affiliative behaviour between individuals with social bonds than between individuals that happen to live in the same group

Question 47

True or false | A social bond is characterised by affiliative behaviour directed by 1 or both parties towards the other consistently

Answer 47

True

Question 48

True or false | Social bonds are considered to be associated with more positive affective states

Answer 48

True

Question 49

True or false | We can also use affiliative behaviour to investigate evidence of types of relationships or social bonds

Answer 49

True

Question 50

Give examples of biochemicals used to make and maintain social bonds

Answer 50

Oxytocin Vasopressin Prolactin Opioids

Question 51

True or false Research has also indicated that individuals with strong social bonds perform affiliative behaviour accompanied by reduced heart rate and elevated Beta-endorphins We may also expect to see certain behaviours that are consistently performed towards particular individuals where social bonds exist This means time spent in proximity and/or number of positive interactions should be greater than chance and depend on strength of the relationship

Answer 51

True

Question 52

How can you examine time spent in proximity and/or number of positive interactions in terms of affiliative behaviour?

Answer 52

We can examine this by looking at association indices or social network analysis

Question 53

What do you record when using social network analysis?

Answer 53

You will record standard measures of behaviour when using social network analysis You will usually record 'contacts' between individuals in some form This allows you to create a matrix of relationships within the group

Question 54

What are social network analysis used to indicate?

Answer 54

You use social network analysis to indicate quality of relationships collectively and pairwise, as well as the importance of particular group members in the group We can look at this in terms of: Transmission of information/disease As central/peripheral to the group As links to other groups

Question 55

What is Edgar et al 2015's definition of social buffering?

Answer 55

Social buffering = The process by which presence of a conspecific can ameliorate an individual's response to a stressor

Question 56

True or false | Social bonds seem to buffer individuals against the experience of stress

Answer 56

True

Question 57

True or false | Social buffering is not distinct from termination of social isolation

Answer 57

False | Social buffering is distinct from termination of social isolation

Question 58

What 2 things may social buffering depend on?

Answer 58

Social buffering may depend on the conspecific mood state of the other animal via social contagion Quality of social relationship may also be important for social buffering to occur

Question 59

What can short term separation from individuals with social bonds be associated with?

Answer 59

Locomotion (searching) and vocalisation with intermittent bouts of energy conserving lethargy Altered feeding and sleep patterns Absence of play Elevated corticosteroid levels Alterations in heart-rate and core body temperature These last 2 indicators may be associated with greater activity so you need to control for that when using them

Question 60

What can long term separation from individuals with social bonds be associated with?

Answer 60

Adaption Short term responses wane Non-adaption This is where the individual doesn't forget the other individual and short term responses don't reduce in frequency These responses would suggest a more complex longer term type of relationship Non-adaption can present as: Grief like behaviour Cognitive impairment Depressed immunity

Question 61

What kinds of animals show behaviours associated with long term separation from individuals with social bonds?

Answer 61

These types of responses tend to be reported in long lived intelligent mammals and monogamous birds

Question 62

True or false In understanding how animals process and perceive information about their social environment we are able to identify potential risks to welfare We can then hypothesize and then test these potential risks to welfare in terms of a number of different factors

Answer 62

True

Question 63

Give examples of ways to look for possible risks to welfare by understanding social cognition and social emotion

Answer 63

``` Information encoded in communication Individual recognition Social memory Understanding of another's experiences Understanding of social constructs such as fairness or jealousy ```

Question 64

True or false There are different levels of social transmission of emotions involving different degrees of cognitive processing sophistication

Answer 64

True

Question 65

What does emotional contagion require?

Answer 65

Emotional contagion requires that an individual sees the emotional state of another individual and that results in a matching emotional state within the observer

Question 66

What 3 things is emotional contagion associated with?

Answer 66

Low cognitive load Suggested as a basic form of empathy Being adaptive as it is a more flexible strategy than behavioural mimicry

Question 67

What 2 things does demonstrating social transmission of emotional state from 1 individual to another require?

Answer 67

1) Exclusion of non-social transmission explanations | 2) Demonstration of the same emotional state

Question 68

Another more complex way of emotion arising in individuals as a result of observing and understanding emotions in others is perspective taking What is perspective taking?

Answer 68

Perspective taking is a form of cognitive empathy Cognitive empathy is where an animal observes an emotional state in another individual and understands it from their perspective without necessarily matching the emotional state Due to this cognitive empathy allows the animal to not be crippled by the response to that emotional state and help the other individual

Question 69

Another complex social cognition is inequity aversion | What is inequity aversion?

Answer 69

Inequity aversion is where an animal demonstrates understanding of the concept of fairness This has implications for how animals should be managed because if 1 animal gets something another animal doesn't then there are potential negative states associated with that