Review : the roles of individuality and social life in shaping positive animal welfare in livestock species

Goursot, Charlotte (author), Hintze, Sara (author), Vilain Rørvang, Maria (author), Schmitt, Océane (author), Arney, David (author), Boivin, Xavier (author), Koni, Anita (author), Montalcini, Camille (author), Newberry, Ruth C. (author), Tallet, Céline (author), Zupan Šemrov, Manja (author), Goumon, Sébastien (author)

Positive animal welfare (PAW) emphasises “a good life“ marked by the experience of predominantly positive affective states, and the development of competence and resilience according to species-specific and individual capabilities. Even though the concept of PAW has received increasing attention in past years, guidance for shaping future PAW-friendly farming systems is lacking. As highly social species, farmed animals have the potential to experience a rich social life that can influence their welfare. This has often been studied through the lens of negative interactions. However, to advance research on PAW, a focus shift on how affiliative interactions can contribute to and maintain positive group dynamics is needed. Affiliative interactions are mostly based on social preferences that are, in turn, dependent on the individuals involved and their contribution to group cohesion. Acknowledging the uniqueness of each individual in their perception, cognition and appraisal is a challenge for ensuring PAW not only at the individual level but also at the group level. In this narrative review, we argue that combining the study of individuality and social life will generate practical knowledge that can be used for promoting PAW. We first examine how individual differences in sensory and cognitive capabilities shape vertebrate animals’ appraisal of their environment and influence PAW. We then discuss key features of (intraspecific and interspecific) social life, such as affiliative interactions, social facilitation and socialisation, and their relevance for PAW. Finally, we explore how the interplay between individuality and social life can create conditions conducive to PAW. For this, we focus on the concepts of sociability and social competence as promising future research areas. Collectively, this review illustrates a complex framework emerging from the interplay between individuality and social life, and paves the way for promoting PAW on farms and improving animal management.

• Language: English
• Keywords: conceptual framework, good life, social dynamics, individualized welfare, group-level welfare
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 20 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 20, issue 8, article no. 101878
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184873
• UDC: 636.08
• ISSN on article: 1751-732X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2026.101878
• COBISS.SI-ID: 282897155
• Publication date in RUL: 16.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Animal : the international journal of animal biosciences
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• ISSN: 1751-732X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2032008

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: European Cooperation in Science and Technology
• Project number: CA21124
• Name: LIFT: Lifting farm animal lives—laying the foundations for positive animal welfare