Subjectivity, Objectivity & Bias In Welfare Measurements Flashcards
Define subjective
Subjective = An individual’s perception of reality
What does subjectivity deal with?
Your reality
Your judgement
What you perceive to be really happening
Define objectivity
Objectivity = reality can be defined and agreed on
Absolute truth which we can empirically prove/see in the same way
Everyone perceives it in the same way
Define anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism = the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal or object
What is anthropomorphism an element of?
Perspective taking
What is perspective taking?
Perspective taking = being able to understand another humans perspective and empathise with their experience
What has perspective taking allowed humans to be successful in?
Social species
Cooperation
How has perspective taking also been argued to be an adaptive ability?
Being able to guess what the animal is thinking made it easier to hunt and domesticate animals
What is Watanabe 2007’s definition of anthropomorphism in psychology?
The explanation of animal minds through introspection of researchers
What does Watanabe 2007’s definition mean?
Anthropomorphism is an internal reflection about what we think the animals internal/mental experience is
This means that it’s not the animals actual mindset but the researchers subjective take on what the animal is actually thinking
There is no common object of research among researchers so this violates objectivity
What are the 3 problems with anthropomorphism in welfare?
1) We might be wrong about the animals internal experience
2) Humans might be better at accurately assessing function than feelings
3) Introspective nature of anthropomorphism means it doesn’t convince others with different perspectives q
Give an example where “we might be wrong about the animals internal experience”
Clever Hans
Hans was a horse that was thought to be able to count
People would tell Hans a number and he’d count to that number by pawing at the ground
A psychologist then did a study on Hans where they noticed that Hans was actually paying close attention to his owners micro-movements in his expression and body movements
When Hans was given a number his owner would tense up nervously
Hans would then start counting till his owner relaxed at the correct number
So in assuming Hans could count the truth could’ve been ignored
Why can anthropomorphism between humans be hard and what does this mean for applying anthropomorphism to animals?
Even between humans anthropomorphism can be hard due to behavioural expression varying
So when applying anthropomorphism to animals it can be really hard
Prey species are much less likely to express emotional states than predators, especially if it shows weakness
What are one of the methods humans use to process huge amounts of information rapidly?
One of the ways in which humans can reduce the cognitive effort associated with processing information is by using ‘short cut cues’ or ‘heuristic rules’
What are heuristic rules?
A commonsense rule (or set of rules) intended to increase the probability of solving some problem
How do heuristic rules make anthropomorphism hard?
We may have learned assumptions in daily human-human interactions which are not applicable to animals but we use them as a reflex anyways
The reason this is bad is because animals see and perceive the world differently to humans due to different perceptual abilities
This is because animals have evolved to fit different habitats and so have different priorities to humans
Due to how bad heuristic rules can be when anthropomorphising what can be argued about species less similar to humans?
As a result of heuristic rules it can be argued that species less similar to humans are harder to anthropomorphise due to:
- different anatomies - behavioural differences - what we perceive to be complexity
Why might we be wrong in our anthropomorphising?
It’s hard to determine emotions in other humans
Humans tend to use ‘short cut cues’/’heuristic rules’ which may not apply to animals
Animals perceptual abilities and biological properties differ from human ones
Humans can’t justify for other species
Name and describe a study that shows humans might be better at accurately assessing function than feelings
Lynn Snow et al 2005
In the experiment children and caretakers were asked to rate the impact of a chronic physical condition of pediatric patients in terms of:
- health and physical ability
- emotional states
The children and caretakers rated the health and physical aspects of the condition as the same
The caretakers also underestimated the emotional impacts of the condition
This shows human proxies rate human physical systems more accurately than internal experiences
What does “introspective nature means it doesn’t convince others with different perspectives” mean for anthropomorphism?
Anthropomorphism is a single individuals judgement, meaning other people may or may not believe it
Anthropomorphism when applied to animal welfare can potentially be dangerous in what 2 different ways? And who came up with these problems?
Meagher 2009
1) Unthinkingly assuming animals think and feel as humans do
2) Blindly denying the possibility of a shared attribute
What is educated anthropomorphism?
Educated anthropomorphism = being conscious about the potential impacts of different sensory perceptions, biological properties and the limitations associated with anthropomorphism
What 3 ways can educated anthropomorphism be useful?
1) Alerting us that an animal might be suffering or hold untested cognitive abilities
2) Fueling our compassion so we care enough to act
- Butterfield et al 2012
- Anthropomorphism makes us care about an animals welfare even if sentience hasn’t been scientifically proven
3) Generating hypothesises that we can scientifically test
- However, anthropomorphism is not measuring welfare or can it be used as evidence to study the hypothesis
Define objectivity
A characteristic of scientific practice expressing the idea that bias, personal interests or values should not influence methods or results