9.26.2022

Animal Minds: Pain and Fear

 AGENDA

  1. Zoo presentation (SLIDES)
  2. Temple Grandin on animal pain and fear

Zoo presentation
  1. Write down one thought or question during the presentation, addressed to ONE presenter.
  2. My question for the presenters: our last two authors talk a lot about animal moods as well as pain and fear. How would you describe the mood of the animals you observed?


Temple Grandin



The Reading
Temple Grandin, Chapter 5 (Pain and Suffering), Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior

INTRO (1-5)
We're going to continue eating meat so need humane slaughterhouses
  • that's why she is exploring pain and emotions in "livestock"  (sheep, cows, and other "prey" animals)
  • animals tend to "mask pain" but especially prey animals
  • vets may not supply painkillers after neutering

DO ANIMALS HURT? (6-8)
  • mammals, fish, and birds all feel pain
  • Evidence of pain in fish
    1. nociceptors--specialized neurons that respond when body is damaged
    2. injury-guarding--avoid using body part that's injured
    3. take pain-killers--they drink the bad tasting liquid that contains analgesics instead of a tasty alternative
    4. altered behavior--see Braithewaite study below




HOW MUCH DOES PAIN HURT? (8-11)


 Pain vs. Suffering
  1. sensory pain -- I have a pain in my elbow
  2. suffering (or affective pain) -- It's really bothering me/it's not really bothering me
 Hypothesis: Animals have pain but they suffer less than humans
        
        Leucotomy Argument:
    1. Leucotomy patients still have pain but suffering less.  (Their frontal lobes are disconnected from the rest of the brain.)
    2. Animals have smaller frontal lobes than humans to begin with.  THEREFORE,
    3. Animal pain involves less suffering.
Grandin, p. 11


AUTISM AND PAIN (11-14)

Autism Argument 


Her personal experience--what does she do after having a hysterectomy?

 

FEAR IS WORSE THAN PAIN (14 -19)

       Hypothesis:  fear is worse than pain in animals but pain is worse than fear in humans.

  1. Empathic understanding based on her being autistic 
  2. Observations of animals she works with

Is this news you can use? How would you treat your pets differently if you were convinced of this? 

FREEDOM FROM FEAR (19-22)

FEARLESS GUPPIES (22-25)

STAYING ALIVE (25-29)

Elliot--the man without emotion, due to brain damage--how is he affected? 

USING EMOTIONS TO PREDICT THE FUTURE (29-35)

Animal Minds worksheet