WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)
Not a member yet
6323 research outputs found
Sort by
COP27 - Can We Move Forward
Get PDFUnder the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) opened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on November 6 and runs through the 18th. World leaders, climate campaigners, and climate stakeholders are gathered amid challenging world economic dynamics, including the global impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the resulting energy crisis in Europe, fluctuating energy prices, and ongoing extreme weather events. The individuals gathered in Sharm el Sheikh will be attempting to create a realistic path forward that has some chance of success in addressing climate change
The Puzzling Relationship Between Pet-Keeping and Happiness
Get PDFThe $100 billion pet products industry promotes the idea that getting a pet makes people happier. Yet, more than a dozen studies have found that pet owners are not any happier than people who do not live with a companion animal. A psychological process called hedonic adaptation explains why pet-keeping is usually not associated with an increase in overall happiness. New research, however, has found that playing and interacting with pets does result in temporary increases in the happiness of their owners
Does Your Dog Really Have a Better Life Than Other Dogs?
Get PDFIn a recent study, subjects rated the welfare of dogs, ranging from street dogs and fighting dogs to show dogs and personal pets. Nearly everyone thought their dog had a better life than other types of dogs—including other peoples\u27 pets. This finding could be due to a cognitive bias called the Lake Wobegon Effect —the tendency for people think they are above average
The Donkey: An Unsung Hero of Human Civilization
No full textDonkeys receive little respect but provide critical support and livelihood for millions of people worldwide
International Finance Corporation - Improving Animal Welfare in livestock Operations
No full texthttps://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/boocov/1034/thumbnail.jp
Invertebrate Sentience Annotated Bibliography
Get PDFThe bibliography identifies and summarizes over 60 scientific reports on the development and possible presence of sentience (the capacity to feel positive and negative states) in a range of invertebrate species. The summaries provide a useful snapshot of what capabilities might be required to identify the presence of sentience in a specific invertebrate
The Well-Being of Wildlife
Get PDFThe Wild Animal Initiative is a project to improve the well-being of wildlife. The project recognizes that improving the well-being of wildlife is very challenging but is, nonetheless, taking a proactive approach to the issue. Several members of the Initiative were speakers at the recent Botstiber Conference for Wildlife Fertility Control (the 9th such international conference held from May 23-25, 2022, in Colorado Springs –see companion article in this newsletter). Their presentations prompted the following thoughts on promoting the well-being of wildlife and on traditional lethal approaches to managing growing human-wildlife conflicts
The science of animal sentience and the politics of animal welfare should be kept separate
Get PDFAlthough linked historically by Rowan et al., the scientific study of animal sentience and political campaigns to improve animal welfare should be kept separate, for at least two reasons. First, the separation makes it clear that standards of evidence acceptable for ethical or political decisions on animal welfare can be lower than those required for a rigorously scientific approach to animal sentience. Second, it helps to avoid confirmatory bias in the form of giving undue weight to results that are in line with pre-conceived ideas and political views
Happiness – Concept, Measurement and Promotion
Get PDFWhile interests in issues pertaining to happiness have been long-standing, we have witnessed recently an increasing focus by both scholars and members of the general public. ‘Subjective well-being (SWB) is an extremely active area of research with about 170,000 articles and books published on the topic in the past 15 years’ (Diener et al. 2018, Abstract). Not only psychologists (e.g. Kahneman et al. 1999, Diener et al. 2010, 2018) and sociologists (e.g. Veenhoven 1984, 1993, 2010, 2017), but also economists have made substantial investigations.1 After about 2–3 decades of gestation since the first publication on happiness issues by an economist (Easterlin 1974), contributions from economists has mushroomed over the last two decades or so.2 I published a paper (Ng 1978) four years after Easterlin and continue to maintain interest until now. In this book, I hope to show how an individual and a society/country may increase happiness. Despite the fact that happiness has a genetic element (Lykken & Tellegen 1996, Lyubomirsky & Layous 2013, Minkov & Bond 2017), it can be increased (Lyubomirsky 2005, Carrillo et al. 2020);3 one may even learn or be trained to be happier (e.g. Loveday et al. 2018, Rowland & Curry 2018, Ruch et al. 2018, Liu et al. 2020). At least for myself, my happiness has increased by many times since its low (but still positive) during my early thirties. I hope that many readers may learn from this book to achieve the same or even larger successes. My advice is not just based on my personal experience, but also on the research findings of many researchers from whom I have learned enormously. I believe that this book is useful not only for an individual wishing to increase happiness, or for a government willing to do good for the people, but also for a happiness researcher and an economist if she wants her economics to contribute to social welfare. (On the other hand, the concern for the danger of a paternalistic government should also be kept in mind; see, e.g. Frey 2018).https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/ebooks/1030/thumbnail.jp
Unresolved issues of behavioral analysis in invertebrates
Get PDFCrump et al. (2022) provide a framework for determining the presence of sentience in organisms. Their target article is interesting and thought-provoking, but it does not consider the many unresolved issues related to behavioral analysis – especially when it concerns invertebrates. We feel that no real progress can be made until such fundamental issues as the need for a consistent definition of conditioning phenomena, the lack of a generally accepted behavioral taxonomy, and the use of cognitive terms to explain invertebrate behavior are examined critically