Siewert Viktoria, Kaiser Sylvia, Sachser Norbert, Richter S Helene
Institute for Neuro- and Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Badestr. 13, Münster, 48149, Germany.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2025 Jun;100(3):1152-1162. doi: 10.1111/brv.13178. Epub 2024 Dec 23.
Originating from human psychology, the concepts of "optimism" and "pessimism" were transferred to animal welfare science about 20 years ago to study emotional states in non-human animals. Over time, "optimism" and "pessimism" have developed into valuable welfare indicators, but little focus has been put on the ecological implications of this concept. Here, we aim to bridge this gap and underline the great potential for transferring it to behavioural ecology. We start by outlining why "optimism" and "pessimism" can be considered as aspects of animal personalities. Furthermore, we argue that considering "optimism"/"pessimism" in a behavioural ecology context can facilitate our understanding of individual adjustment to the environment. Specifically, we show how variation in "optimism"/"pessimism" can play a crucial role in adaptation processes to environmental heterogeneity, for example, niche choice and niche conformance. Building on these considerations, we hypothesise that "optimists" might be less plastic than "pessimists" in their behaviour, which could considerably affect the way they adjust to environmental change.
“乐观”和“悲观”的概念源于人类心理学，大约20年前被引入动物福利科学，用于研究非人类动物的情绪状态。随着时间的推移，“乐观”和“悲观”已发展成为有价值的福利指标，但对这一概念的生态影响关注较少。在此，我们旨在弥合这一差距，并强调将其应用于行为生态学的巨大潜力。我们首先概述为什么“乐观”和“悲观”可被视为动物个性的方面。此外，我们认为在行为生态学背景下考虑“乐观”/“悲观”有助于我们理解个体对环境的适应。具体而言，我们展示了“乐观”/“悲观”的差异如何在适应环境异质性的过程中发挥关键作用，例如生态位选择和生态位顺应。基于这些考虑，我们假设“乐观者”在行为上可能比“悲观者”可塑性更低，这可能会极大地影响它们适应环境变化的方式。
