WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 2007 How Animals Communicate Quality of Life: The Qualitative Assessment of Behaviour F. Wemelsfelder Scottish Agricultural College Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/acwp_asie Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Behavior and Ethology Commons, and the Comparative Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Wemelsfelder, F. (2007). How animals communicate quality of life: the qualitative assessment of behaviour. ANIMAL WELFARE-POTTERS BAR THEN WHEATHAMPSTEAD-, 16, 25. This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. How Animals Communicate Quality of Life: The Qualitative Assessment of Behaviour F. Wemelsfelder Scottish Agricultural College KEYWORDS animal emotion, animal personality, animal sentience, animal welfare, qualitative behaviour assessment, quality of life ABSTRACT The notion ‘quality of life’ (QoL) suggests that welfare in animals encompasses more than just an absence of suffering; it concerns the quality of an animal’s entire relationship with its environment, of how it lives its life. Judgements of such quality are based on the integration of perceived details of how animals behave over time in different contexts. The scientific status of such judgements has long been ambiguous, but in recent decades has begun to be addressed by animal scientists. This paper starts with a brief review of qualitative approaches to the study of animal behaviour, which tend to address characteristics such as individuality, personality, and emotionality. The question then arises whether such characteristics involve a subjective, experiential aspect, and identify animals as sentient beings.