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Common sense and the mental lives of animals

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... However, animal species might be a relevant determinant of the degree of anthropomorphism: Similarity to humans and cognitive abilities are attributed more to vertebrates than to invertebrates. Among vertebrates, mammals rank ahead of non-mammals, with pet animals and primates being at the top of this list (Eddy et al. 1993;Herzog and Galvin 1997). ...
... These findings are consistent with those reported previously, which showed a connection between the "agency dimension" (Gray et al. 2007) which includes similar higher-order capacities, and deserving punishment for wrong-doing, i.e. causing a person's death. While At first glance, other studies investigating the influence of the agency dimension on attitudes towards animal use did not find this effect, reporting no influence of the agency dimension on attitudes (Herzog and Galvin 1997;Potocka and Bielecki 2023). Instead, the construct of "Belief in Animal Mind" was used to investigate anthropomorphism and attitudes towards animals and discovered the opposite: since they are perceived to be more accountable for their own lives and have a reduced capacity to experience suffering. ...
... For the poultry subgroup, higher scores on this subscale were associated with a lower acceptance of specific keeping practices. This is in line with Herzog and Galvin (1997), who reported high scores on sentience and affection for animals to be connected to a positive attitude towards animals (and less support for animal use). Feeling a closer connection to animals by believing in their rights and feeling the ability to have a friendship with them also seems to be logically connected to disagreeing with measures that infringe on those animals' wellbeing. ...
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Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human-like qualities to non-human entities, can influence comprehension of the surrounding world. Going beyond previous research on the general assessment of anthropomorphism, the current study aimed to explore how anthropomorphising a specific animal species influences public acceptance of livestock keeping practices. Specifically, we focused on welfare-infringing practices that limit animals’ freedom, describe disruptive procedures, social isolation, or other stressful situations. Lacking experience in livestock keeping, it is likely that people project their own preferences to animals when judging livestock keeping practices. Questionnaire data from a sample of the Swiss German public (N = 1232) were analysed regarding their acceptance of livestock keeping practices, as well as anthropomorphism for three animals: cattle, pigs, and poultry. We showed that judgement of livestock keeping was related to an anthropomorphic view of animals. This takes two opposite directions: (1) anthropomorphising was connected to a more critical view of livestock keeping practices and (2) the attribution of more cognitive capabilities to cattle and poultry was associated with a higher acceptance of welfare-infringing livestock keeping practices. The tendency to anthropomorphise was species-dependent, with the two mammals eliciting a higher tendency to anthropomorphise than poultry. The results suggest that the tendency to anthropomorphise plays a significant role in shaping the public’s opinion on livestock keeping. We argue that, when activating the tendency to anthropomorphise in the media, advertisements, or political publicity (e.g. by highlighting human-like features), a certain level of caution should be taken to avoid undesirable outcomes.
... 9 It is generally accepted that animals believed to be self-aware, solve problems, and possess 'higher' mental abilities, are sentient. 10 Scholars have acknowledged that the attribution of sentience commonly results in species having a higher ethical status 11 and being more likely to receive care, individualised attention, or even 'love' in the laboratory and other settings. 12 However, as this chapter will reveal, differences in the way species are categorised are more complex than perceptions of sentience, and are a product of wider political and cultural factors. ...
... This research explored the rehoming of laboratory animals, to private homes, wildlife sanctuaries, zoos, aquariums, and farms. It involved 22 semi-structured interviews with 28 participants (four interviews were undertaken with two people) lasting between 30 minutes and two and a half hours with: animal research facility staff (17), such as researchers, Named Veterinary Surgeons (NVSs), Named Animal Care and Welfare Officers (NACWOs), and facility managers; rehoming organisation employees (8); and individuals who had rehomed laboratory animals (10). Some individuals belonged to more than one of these groups, such as facility staff who personally rehomed animals. ...
... Inversely, women are more engaged in animal-welfare support and activism PART 1. Theoretical Frames Herzog, 1993;Peek et al., 1996Peek et al., , 1997. Very interestingly, women attribute more mind abilities (Herzog & Galvin, 1997) to animals, and as we will later explain, since mind attribution of animals is closely related to behaviors toward them (e.g., , it is plausible that the greater "tenderness" of women toward animals may lie in a different perception of their abilities (see Herzog & Galvin, 1997). presence of gender-gap in attitudes toward animal-experimentation is indubitable, and women are always more opposed to this practice than men are Eldridge & Gluck, 1996;Furnham & Heyes, 1993;Furnham & Pinder, 1990;Moore, 2003;L. ...
... Inversely, women are more engaged in animal-welfare support and activism PART 1. Theoretical Frames Herzog, 1993;Peek et al., 1996Peek et al., , 1997. Very interestingly, women attribute more mind abilities (Herzog & Galvin, 1997) to animals, and as we will later explain, since mind attribution of animals is closely related to behaviors toward them (e.g., , it is plausible that the greater "tenderness" of women toward animals may lie in a different perception of their abilities (see Herzog & Galvin, 1997). presence of gender-gap in attitudes toward animal-experimentation is indubitable, and women are always more opposed to this practice than men are Eldridge & Gluck, 1996;Furnham & Heyes, 1993;Furnham & Pinder, 1990;Moore, 2003;L. ...
Thesis
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As a general rule, we care about animal welfare, and we consider animal suffering to be morally unjustified. However, in certain circumstances animal exploitation and suffering appear to us as necessary to meet certain goals, and this could represent a real moral dilemma. This is particularly the case for medical and pharmaceutical animal experimentation, which involves the use of animals to assess the toxicity and ensure the safety of drugs intended for human consumption. Animal experimentation perfectly contrasts the considerations we have for an in-group (i.e., humans) to the ones we have for an out-group (i.e., animals) and although the inter-individual differences in opinion about this practice are not yet truly understood, they may simply reflect broader attitudinal and behavioral tendencies in intergroup relations. In addition, the health benefits of this practice come at the expense of animals that we would normally be motivated to protect from suffering, and therefore strategies should exist to streamline and facilitate the conduct of experiments. The aim of this work is to examine what are the individual and contextual determinants of attitudes and behaviors toward animal experimentation and laboratory animals. We hypothesize that individual dispositions (i.e., personality) effectively predicting interpersonal and intergroup relations may also guide attitudes and behaviors toward animal experimentation and laboratory animals. We also hypothesize that mechanisms that facilitate the conduct of harmful behaviors toward others may also appear in the context of animal experimentation and legitimize the use of laboratory animals. Thirteen studies using a wide and diverse range of data collection methods have been conducted and are displayed within six manuscripts. Results confirm that individuals’ characteristics and dispositions, such as gender, social dominance orientation, speciesist and empathic dispositions, predict not only the attitudes toward animal experimentation and laboratory-animals, but also the behavioral commitment to use them in the context of a harmful pharmaceutical research. Furthermore, our results also highlight the use of a motivated moral disengagement strategy such the denial of mind of laboratory animals to cope and rationalize with the paradox that represent the use of animals for research inquiries. Finally, in line with Milgram’s work, our results also demonstrate that scientific mindset, whether as a trait or experimentally induced, leads to a greater support for animal-experimentation in both in self-reported and behavioral measures. This thesis argues that the attitudes toward animal experimentation and laboratory animals merely reflect the way people perceive the social world in which they live and the way they perceive others. The study of animal experimentation thus seems heuristic for the analysis of humananimal relations and the intergroup dynamics that run through them.
... First, red meat comes from mammals, while white meat comes from birds or sea creatures. These species have very different degrees of phylogenetic relatedness to humans, and phylogenetic relatedness is associated with greater attribution of mental states (Herzog and Shelley, 1997) and empathy (Ingham et al., 2015). Therefore, human-like traits such as sensitivity and sentience or (7) ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.010, *p < 0.050. ...
... Finally, our theoretical framework considers that animal species are attributed ethical values depending on how humans perceive them. While this is in line with previous research explaining that differences in the moral status of different species are mainly due to the affective or anthropomorphic proximity that animal species share with humans (Herzog and Shelley, 1997;Ingham et al., 2015), we did not test this auxiliary hypothesis or include variables that represent this mechanism. The present study and others in the field have, so far, failed to consider how anthropomorphic and affective proximity may interact with underlying personal or cultural factors that influence the acquisition of differential patterns of animalrelated moral values. ...
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Prior research suggests that personality traits are associated with meat consumption. However, this association is not uniform across all types of meat. For instance, Big Five personality traits such as openness and agreeableness are negatively associated with red meat consumption but positively associated with fish. Using a large sample of Chilean university students (N = 1,149), we examined whether these differential meat consumption patterns can be explained by an intermediary variable of animal-related ethical values. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized associations. The results suggest that animal-related ethical values mediate the effect of certain personality traits on the consumption of beef and poultry.
... Now, the above stipulation of this inclination goes under the name of anthropomorphism, a position deemed untenable in the days of behaviourism (ROLLIN 1998). Despite renunciation of anthropomorphism the above analysis of mirror self-recognition as well as empirical research suggest that people actually anthropomorphise when dealing with questions of mental states in nonhumans HERZOG/GALVIN 1997;. Though, even if some scientists and non-scientists do adopt anthropocentric criteria, it is not obvious that they should do so or is it? ...
Thesis
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The objective of the present work is to analyse and discuss the underpinnings of a naturalistic-evolutionary approach to consciousness with special attention to the demarcation of a concept of consciousness that applies to the evolutionary perspective. The thesis aims at unravelling characteristics of the operationalised concept of consciousness with special emphasis on 1) controversies characteristic of consciousness and 2) implications on an evolutionary concept of consciousness.
... By the turn of the millennium, coincident with the rise of AZA's WZAM program, the question was also on the minds of wildlife management agencies. It had become commonly known that how people develop or express concern for animal and nature rights tends to be linked to their predisposition to be willing to protect those environmental entities (Herzog & Galvin, 1997;Jamieson, 2006). With a desire to help wildlife management agencies understand how these predispositions could apply to various policy initiatives, a series of studies coordinated at Colorado State University developed a scale for measuring wildlife value orientations (WVO) as a way of characterizing how residents in the western United States might express concern for types of environmental management strategies (see Manfredo et al., 2009Manfredo et al., , 2018Manfredo, 2008;Teel et al., 2005;). ...
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Zoos and aquariums seek to be a trusted community resource for promoting wildlife and environmental conservation behaviors. While demographic data suggest that attendance at zoos and aquariums is demographically representative of the communities where they reside, the series of studies presented here suggest that zoo and aquarium visitors are psychographically different than non-zoo and aquarium goers in their communities. The three studies employed two pre-validated studies to compare zoo and aquarium visitors’ environmental and wildlife values and ethics with non-visitors. The results demonstrated that zoo and aquarium visitors are psychographically different from non-visitors, being more likely to view wildlife as part of an extended family and as deserving of rights for protection rather than having purely utilitarian value to human society. These findings demonstrate that zoo and aquarium goers are even more likely than either their neighbors or the broader US population to support the conservation of wildlife for their own value as well as their intrinsic value to the environment. These data offer zoo and aquarium professionals new information for fine-tuning visitor programs and communications to more effectively link visitors’ values to desired social outcomes.KeywordsWildlife value orientationsEnvironmental ethicsZoo-visitor psychographicsConcern for natureZoosMuseumsAquariumsAnthropomorphismHuman dimensions of wildlifeConservation psychologyEthical beliefs
... Secondly, we found that participants who identified as female scored significantly higher on beliefs in animal sentience and confidence in complex dog emotions compared to participants who identified as male (note that no participants identified as nonbinary or a different gender). This supports previous studies (Cornish et al., 2018;Herzog & Galvin, 1997;Knight et al., 2004). However, gender identity did not impact emotion identification accuracy for either species, in contrast to previous work that found that females were more sensitive to affective information (e.g., Schirmer et al., 2013). ...
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Humans are adept at extrapolating emotional information from the facial expressions of other humans but may have difficulties identifying emotions in dogs. This can increase risk for compromised dog and human welfare. Experience with dogs, and beliefs in animal minds, may influence interspecies emotional communication, yet limited research has investigated these variables. In this study, participants (n = 122 adults) were asked to identify human and dog emotional facial expressions (happiness, fearfulness, anger/aggression) through an online experimental emotion recognition task. Experience with dogs (through dog ownership and duration of current dog ownership), emotion attribution (through beliefs about animal mind), and demographics were also measured. Results showed that fear and happiness were more easily identified in human faces, whereas aggression was more easily identified in dog faces. Duration of current dog ownership, age, and gender identity did not relate to accuracy scores, but current dog owners were significantly better at identifying happiness in dog faces than non-dog owners. Dog ownership and duration of ownership related to increased beliefs about, and confidence in, the emotional ability of dogs. Additionally, belief in animal sentience was positively correlated with accuracy scores for identifying happiness in dogs. Overall, these exploratory findings show that adult humans, particularly current dog owners and those who believe in the emotionality of dogs, can accurately identify some basic emotions in dogs but may be more skilled at identifying positive than negative emotions. The findings have implications for preventing negative human-animal interactions through intervention strategies that target animal emotionality.
... Some studies find that people support animal use in research less if those animals are perceived as having "higher" mental abilities that enable them to use tools, solve problems, and be self-aware (Herzog & Galvin, 1997;Knight & Barnett, 2008)abilities all revealed by scientific study including comparative psychology research in the past century. Indeed, of all animal species, humans rate nonhuman primates (i.e., apes and monkeys) as having life experiences and cognitive abilities that are most similar to those of humans (Eddy et al., 1993). ...
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This year marks the 100th anniversary since the inception of the original Journal of Comparative Psychology. This review highlights the evolution of Journal of Comparative Psychology and the field of comparative psychology over the past century through the lens of the field's contributions in the realms of science practice, science policy, and public opinion. The review culminates with a look ahead to the next 100 years, with both challenges that are likely to remain as well as potential paths to continue growth and success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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The role that working equids play in both rural and urban communities in low and middle-income countries is invaluable. They contribute to daily tasks such as carrying food, water and people, support income generation, and are of social and cultural importance. Despite their importance, global standards of working equid welfare are low. Many variables can impact the welfare status of animals under human care, but often specific factors are explored in isolation. Factors can include, but are not limited to an owner’s socioeconomic status and their attitudes and beliefs towards animals. In this study we assessed the relationships between 1.) Attitudes and belief in horse sentience, 2.) Owner’s socioeconomic status (including household income, coverage of needs and education) and 3.) Horse welfare status. The study, consisting of an owner questionnaire and a welfare assessment of their horses, was conducted in three regions in Senegal; participants included 299 owners and their horses. Overall, our findings show that a more positive attitude towards horses, stronger belief in horse sentience, a higher standard of living and a greater ability to cover the needs of the household was associated with more positive horse welfare. A stronger belief in horse sentience was a significant predictor of horse’s body condition, larger households and those with a higher income were more likely to own a horse in good general health. Our findings demonstrate a complex relationship between working horse welfare, their owner’s attitudes, and their socioeconomic status. It is the first study we are aware of that has explored the relationships between these different variables. The findings from this study provide valuable insights into the interconnected factors which impact upon working equid welfare in Senegal and potentially more widely.
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