title: Assessing equine preference for food versus human contact: A replication

authors: Moss, Charlotte Jane

subjects: Behaviour

abstract: Horses have been trained through negative reinforcement for centuries. However, as studies show that positive reinforcement is an effective training technique for horses, it is important to discover what a horse finds rewarding. Food is the most-used positive reinforcer, but food is difficult to administer while riding a horse. I undertook a modified replication of Kieson et al. (2020) to investigate how rewarding horses find human contact compared to food. Eight horses were taught to touch a symbol (X for food and O for scratches) to access the reinforcer associated with the symbol. The number of touches on each symbol were counted and recorded. In the final preference assessment, the number of touches on each symbol were compared. All horses preferred a food reinforcer. A progressive ratio task was also performed by seven horses, where the schedule of reinforcement for the horses’ preferred reinforcer was thinned and the non-preferred reinforcer was offered on a FR1. Most of the horses continued to touch the preferred reinforcer at increasing response requirements, with one horse switching to their less-preferred option at FR3. Overall, the replication supported the original results in that the horses showed a preference for food over human contact. For most horses, this remained the case even when the reinforcer was thinned.

text: Assessing equine preference for food versus human contact: A replication Horses have been trained through negative reinforcement for centuries. However, as studies show that positive reinforcement is an effective training technique for horses, it is important to discover what a horse finds rewarding. Food is the most-used positive reinforcer, but food is difficult to administer while riding a horse. I undertook a modified replication of Kieson et al. (2020) to investigate how rewarding horses find human contact compared to food. Eight horses were taught to touch a symbol (X for food and O for scratches) to access the reinforcer associated with the symbol. The number of touches on each symbol were counted and recorded. In the final preference assessment, the number of touches on each symbol were compared. All horses preferred a food reinforcer. A progressive ratio task was also performed by seven horses, where the schedule of reinforcement for the horses’ preferred reinforcer was thinned and the non-preferred reinforcer was offered on a FR1. Most of the horses continued to touch the preferred reinforcer at increasing response requirements, with one horse switching to their less-preferred option at FR3. Overall, the replication supported the original results in that the horses showed a preference for food over human contact. For most horses, this remained the case even when the reinforcer was thinned.

year: 2022

title: The amendment to section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961: A case study in legislative change

authors: Austin, Geraldine Rachel

subjects: anti-smacking

abstract: In June of 2007 the New Zealand Government passed the Crimes (Substituted section 59) Amendment Act 2007, legally abolishing the right of parents to physically discipline their children and making New Zealand one of 29 States to have (so far) achieved full prohibition of corporal punishment. However the hypothesis of this thesis is that this process of abolishing corporal punishment can be characterised as a lost opportunity - the opportunity to engage in productive debate about the way in which our country’s children are viewed and raised and to address some of the underlying practices and attitudes which contribute towards our appalling rates of child abuse. Instead it degenerated into one of the most contentious debates in recent political history. Rational debate deteriorated into abuse, misunderstandings and deliberate thwarting of reasoned discussion. As a result in 2010 we are in a position where the boundaries surrounding permissible and impermissible discipline are arguably less clear than they were before. This thesis analyses the process of legislative change with a view to showing how, why and where things went wrong. It argues that this process was stymied by two crucial factors; firstly the influence of right wing lobby groups who garnered support for their religiously motivated viewpoints by capitalising on the public’s misplaced fears and underlying attitudes towards children ; and secondly the failure of the Government to adequately advocate for, and educate the public on, the law which it passed. Ultimately these two factors were heavily influenced by the fact that our collective and individual opinions on physical discipline have arisen as a result of the historically dominant construction of children as inherently evil – a construction which we inherited from Britain and which is intrinsically aligned with the practice of corporal punishment. The thesis then demonstrates that the negative repercussions of the debate process could be partially ameliorated through education and that lessons learned in this process can be utilised in the future

text: The amendment to section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961: A case study in legislative change In June of 2007 the New Zealand Government passed the Crimes (Substituted section 59) Amendment Act 2007, legally abolishing the right of parents to physically discipline their children and making New Zealand one of 29 States to have (so far) achieved full prohibition of corporal punishment. However the hypothesis of this thesis is that this process of abolishing corporal punishment can be characterised as a lost opportunity - the opportunity to engage in productive debate about the way in which our country’s children are viewed and raised and to address some of the underlying practices and attitudes which contribute towards our appalling rates of child abuse. Instead it degenerated into one of the most contentious debates in recent political history. Rational debate deteriorated into abuse, misunderstandings and deliberate thwarting of reasoned discussion. As a result in 2010 we are in a position where the boundaries surrounding permissible and impermissible discipline are arguably less clear than they were before. This thesis analyses the process of legislative change with a view to showing how, why and where things went wrong. It argues that this process was stymied by two crucial factors; firstly the influence of right wing lobby groups who garnered support for their religiously motivated viewpoints by capitalising on the public’s misplaced fears and underlying attitudes towards children ; and secondly the failure of the Government to adequately advocate for, and educate the public on, the law which it passed. Ultimately these two factors were heavily influenced by the fact that our collective and individual opinions on physical discipline have arisen as a result of the historically dominant construction of children as inherently evil – a construction which we inherited from Britain and which is intrinsically aligned with the practice of corporal punishment. The thesis then demonstrates that the negative repercussions of the debate process could be partially ameliorated through education and that lessons learned in this process can be utilised in the future

year: 2010

title: Food insecurity in urban New Zealand. The case of the Kopa family

authors: Graham, Rebekah Sarah

abstract: Poverty brings insecurity and chaos into the home, forcing families to develop strategies for navigating the difficulties of food insecurity. We document how one household, the Kopa family, responds to poverty in ad hoc and agentive ways that assist and hinder their attempts to keep themselves fed. This study is based on a series of eight qualitative interviews with family members, including photo-elicitation and go-along techniques, as well as extensive field notes from more casual research interactions such as shared meals. Our analysis demonstrates how food insecurity shapes this family’s culturally patterned social practices surrounding the procurement, consumption, and sharing of food.

text: Food insecurity in urban New Zealand. The case of the Kopa family Poverty brings insecurity and chaos into the home, forcing families to develop strategies for navigating the difficulties of food insecurity. We document how one household, the Kopa family, responds to poverty in ad hoc and agentive ways that assist and hinder their attempts to keep themselves fed. This study is based on a series of eight qualitative interviews with family members, including photo-elicitation and go-along techniques, as well as extensive field notes from more casual research interactions such as shared meals. Our analysis demonstrates how food insecurity shapes this family’s culturally patterned social practices surrounding the procurement, consumption, and sharing of food.

year: 2018