Optimising Emotional Health

Understand the concept of emotional health and stability / Understand concepts of emotional capacity, valence, arousal, resilience / Recognise the potential behavioural responses to negative emotional motivation / Understand the equal importance of behavioural responses

Define emotional stability

An individuals ability to remain emotionally stable and balanced.

Define emotional capacity

The level of emotional arousal that an individual can tolerate without significant or long-lasting negative outcome.

Define emotional valence

Describes the extend to which an emotion is positive or negative

ie. is it a positive or negative protective emotion

Define emotional arousal

The intensity of an emotional motivation.

Define emotional resilience

The ability to adapt to stressful situations and cope with life's ups and downs.

Why is the way we treat pregnant bitches and queens important with respect to behaviour of the progeny?

Stressors can affect the HPA axis of the mother → affects the exposure of stress hormones to their progeny → affects the health and future emotions of the babies

how can breeders affect the emotional stability of their puppies / kittens

• selection of breeding stock (genetic component)

• caring for pregnant bitches and queens

• early rearing of puppies and kittens

How can guardians ensure emotional stability of their animals?

-Provide physical and social environment according to species specific needs

-Provide opportunity for beneficial learning (classical conditioning, operant conditioning)

-Rewarding appropriate decision making in terms of selecting behavioural responses

What is classical conditioning?

Learning by association

eg. socialisation and habituation

What is operant conditioning?

A type of learning in which behaviour is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

What is the capacity of arousal of an animal determined by?

-Genetics

-Experiences <7-8 weeks old

-Experiences during the first year or so of life

What is emotional conflict in animals? Why can it cause problems?

more than one type of emotion happening at the same time

animal is unsure how to react → stress

eg. go to door, see person with bouquet of flowers but as they give them to u u realise its ur enemy - Gwyneth Paltrow. fuck u gwyneth paltrow u know what u did

How can emotions be drained out in animals?

Sleeping, chewing, grooming.

How much sleep does a domestic dog need in 24 hours? what about a puppy that’s less than 6mo? cats?

16-18 hours.

20 hours

12-15 hours

What is the significance of drainage behaviours in animals?

-Allows them to have better emotional resilience

-If no drainage behaviours, animals in a high state of emotional arousal may engage in these behaviours more intensely

What are displacement behaviours?

are they consciously controlled / voluntary?

Normal behaviours in an abnormal context (e.g. licking/chewing themselves, lip smacking, yawning).

animal is over-stimulated due to too much emotional input (emotional overflow)

not consciously controlled

When can emotional overflow occur?

-Small emotional capacity

-Too much emotional input (negative or positive) - justified or unjustified

-Poor emotional resilience

-Lack of recognition from their guardians of impending overflow

How can we prevent emotional overflow?

-Create adequate emotional capacity (appropriate breeding and rearing)

-Establish good socialisation and habituation (reduce intensity of everyday stimuli)

-Create positive associations with every day stimuli

-Create optimal emotional resilience (encourage drainage behaviours)

What is emotional intelligence?

The capacity to be aware of, control and express ones emotions and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

How should you respond to an animal experiencing a protective (negative) emotion?

-Remove the animal from the stimulus

-Make the stimulus move from the animal

-Limit the potential damage that can be caused by the stimulus (increase info known about the trigger)

How do animals attempt to remove a negative stimulus behaviourally?

Repulsion:

-Growling/snarling

-Hissing

-Snapping/swiping

-Biting

How do animals attempt to avoid the stimulus behaviourally?

-Bolting away on walks with loud sounds

-Moving away from people who want to engage with them

-Taking a wide berth around other dogs

-Hiding from visitors

Why may animals trying to avoid a negative stimulus be impeded in general life as a domestic species?

-Leads

-Crowded areas

-Cat carriers

-Human intervention to help them confront their fear

How do animals actively gather information about a negative stimulus behaviourally?

Attempt to show that they are not a threat and want to gather information (appeasement):

-Jumping up at people

-Attention seeking

-Urination on greeting

What is an animals goal with behavioural inhibition (freezing up)?

When one of the other responses to a negative stimulus is not possible:

-Passively gathers information about the trigger without delivering any information in return

seen in vet practice and often leads to misinterpretation that they’re relaxed or resting

When may behavioural inhibition occur? what can this be misinterpreted as by humans

-If a potential threat is overwhelming in terms of magnitude, speed of approach or proximity

-If another method of dealing with a negative stimulus is not possible

misinterpretation as affection eg. touch and smell gathering by licking, getting closer

Can an animal respond to a negative stimulus using a combination of different methods?

Yes.

eg. avoidance and inhibition (cat - back away and stare), avoidance and repulsion (back away + bark)

How can we combat protective emotions in practice?

Not aiming to get rid of protective emotions, just increase the balance of positive emotions (e.g. seeking/desire system by giving a licky mat)