Indeed, the very idea of chicken psychology is strange to most people. Chickens are misperceived as lacking most of the psychological characteristics we recognize in other intelligent animals and are typically thought of as possessing a low level of intelligence compared with other animals (Eddy et al. Therefore, even considerations of birds in general may not apply very well to chickens.Īnd while many factors are involved in determining attitudes toward other animals, a number of studies have shown that belief in sentience or “mind” is a strong predictor of attitudes toward different types of animal use (Hills 1995 Knight and Barnett 2008 Knight et al.
When asked to rate the typicality of chickens as a member of the more general category of birds, raters usually give chickens a low score indicating that they are not considered typical birds (Malt and Smith 1984). Animals are typically classified according to the kinds of attributes they possess (Mervis and Rosch 1981), and the contexts in which we usually encounter animals shape our views of how representative we think they are of a more general category (Malt and Smith 1984).
Thus, arguably, perceptions of chickens shape their use as commodities which, in turn, then reinforces those original perceptions. Unlike many other birds, chickens are categorized as a commodity, devoid of authenticity as a real animal with an evolutionary history and phylogenetic context. Rather, the answer may lie with the context in which we usually encounter them and how their use interacts with perceptions of their intelligence. Why? With over 19 billion worldwide, chickens are the most abundant of all domesticated animals (UN Food and Agricultural Organisation 2011), so this perception of chickens is not due to unfamiliarity with them per se. And when people see photographs of domestic chickens behaving like other birds (e.g., roosting in tree tops), it is often cause for surprise and amusement. When asked to think of an example of a bird, most people do not think of chickens ( Gallus gallus domesticus) (Malt and Smith 1984). My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas, and that there is a need for further noninvasive comparative behavioral research with chickens as well as a re-framing of current views about their intelligence. In this paper, I examine the peer-reviewed scientific data on the leading edge of cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities in these areas with other birds and other vertebrates, particularly mammals. Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence.
At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity.
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