Essential Behavioural Needs: The Mixed Motivation Approach

Abstract

Although in recent decades it has been generally accepted that the motivation of behaviour is determined both by genetic and environmental factors, there is still a tendency to emphasise the one or the other component. This may be due to the fact that very little work has been done in the field of behavioural genetics in farm animals. There is no doubt that the statistical methods used in animal and plant breeding can be applied to ethological science as well, as has been shown in a wide range of studies in laboratory animals such as drosophila, rats and mice. The lack of corresponding studies in farm animals may be either because the number of experimental animals is often limited and insufficient for genetic analyses, or because detailed observation methods do not allow large numbers of individuals to be observed. It may be argued that genetic analyses of behaviour would lead to the neglect of the environmental effects. But, as the environmental component is an important prerequisite in quantitative genetics, the danger of overlooking the environmental effect is not high.