The problem with that research is that it’s shabby, I encountered this problem when dealing with the research on animal suicide and the one on animal emotions expands that trend.
Fundamentally, it’s a problem that can’t be studied unless you are able to metaphorically see as a bat, which you can’t, so I chose to think the closest thing we can do is treat it much like we do with other humans, assume their mental state based on their actions and act accordingly.
My point here isn’t necessarily that you’re wrong, but that you can make a stronger point by acknowledging and addressing the existing literature. Explain why you’ve settled on suicidal behavior as the best available indicator, as opposed to vocalizations and mannerisms.
This is important because, as gbear605 pointed out, most farms restrict animals’ ability to attempt suicide. If suicide attempts are your main criterion, that seems likely to skew your results. (The same is true of several other obvious indicators of dissatisfaction, such as escape attempts.)
Besides observations of behaviour, there are also neurological evidence (e.g. Do they have structures functionally similar to those important/responsible for emotions in humans and are they important/responsible for similar behaviour in these animals? Are they actually evolutionarily preserved structures?), and evolutionary/adaptive arguments, although these ultimately tie back to behaviour in some way, but sometimes specifically human behaviour, not the animals’ behaviour, although both together could strengthen the argument.
The problem with that research is that it’s shabby, I encountered this problem when dealing with the research on animal suicide and the one on animal emotions expands that trend.
Fundamentally, it’s a problem that can’t be studied unless you are able to metaphorically see as a bat, which you can’t, so I chose to think the closest thing we can do is treat it much like we do with other humans, assume their mental state based on their actions and act accordingly.
Most of the research is aware of that limitation. Either they address it directly, or the experiment is designed to work around it, assuming mental state based on actions just as you suggest.
My point here isn’t necessarily that you’re wrong, but that you can make a stronger point by acknowledging and addressing the existing literature. Explain why you’ve settled on suicidal behavior as the best available indicator, as opposed to vocalizations and mannerisms.
This is important because, as gbear605 pointed out, most farms restrict animals’ ability to attempt suicide. If suicide attempts are your main criterion, that seems likely to skew your results. (The same is true of several other obvious indicators of dissatisfaction, such as escape attempts.)
Besides observations of behaviour, there are also neurological evidence (e.g. Do they have structures functionally similar to those important/responsible for emotions in humans and are they important/responsible for similar behaviour in these animals? Are they actually evolutionarily preserved structures?), and evolutionary/adaptive arguments, although these ultimately tie back to behaviour in some way, but sometimes specifically human behaviour, not the animals’ behaviour, although both together could strengthen the argument.