Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations

Signs of Change: Estimating the Impact of Animal Cruelty Billboards on Plant-Based and Dairy Milk Consumption in the UK

Christopher Bryant, Charlotte Flores — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0800

We present a field experiment to evaluate a social marketing campaign encouraging people to try plant-based milk. We ran six anti-dairy billboards for one month in a city in the UK. The billboards featured a photo of a suffering dairy cow, a link to a website with information about dairy cow suffering, and an appeal to try plant-based milk. To estimate the impact of the billboards on plant-based and dairy milk consumption, we triangulated three novel data collection methods. First, we compared changes in regional vs. nationwide sales data from two plant-based milk companies. Second, we evaluated the proportion of dairy-free orders from six cafes in the city where we ran the billboards (‘Billboard City’) before, during, and after the campaign. Third, we compared changes in the proportion of household waste representing plant-based or dairy milk in the Billboard City vs. another UK city with no intervention (‘Control City’). Although descriptively, our results appear to be in line with some positive impact of the billboards, ultimately the study design and data were too limited to support a general claim about the impact of the billboard campaign. There were logistical challenges with each data source, as well as too many extraneous factors for the design to account for adequately. We discuss the challenges of field research, the strengths and weaknesses of each novel data collection method, and present considerations for future research.

Editorial

Christopher J. Hopwood — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0800

Psychology of Human-Animal Intergroup Relations (PHAIR) Ombudspersons’ Evaluation of Articles Published in 2022 and 2023

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0800

Diet Predicts Mind and Moral Concern Towards a Broad Range of Animal Categories

Elise Hankins, Rob Jenkins, Ellen Bousfield, Matti Wilks — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0800

A compelling body of research demonstrates that diet (e.g. vegetarianism) plays an important role in the moral concern people grant to animals. However, this research has focused mostly on ‘food’ animals, leaving us with limited understanding of the scope of this effect. We investigated how vegans/vegetarians (veg*ns) and omnivores attribute mind (Study 1) and moral standing (Study 2) across a wide range of animal categories. In Study 1, veg*ns perceived greater mental capacities for most animal categories. Both veg*ns and omnivores gave some categories lesser ratings than others (e.g. evolutionarily distant vs. close to humans), suggesting that veg*ns and omnivores follow similar patterns of mind perception. In Study 2, however, veg*ns both attributed animals greater moral standing overall and gave similar ratings across categories (e.g. toward ‘liked’ animals such as rabbits and ‘disliked’ animals such as rats), whereas omnivores drew sharper distinctions between categories. These studies demonstrate that meat avoidance is a meaningful factor not only in the perceptions of animals that people eat, but also other animals.

Meating of the Minds: Who Denies Animal Mind in Response to the Meat Paradox?

Nicholas P. Tan, Brock B. Bastian, Luke D. Smillie — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Most people abhor animal cruelty but choose to eat meat. To resolve feelings of conflict associated with this so-called “meat paradox”, meat-eaters appear to downplay the capacity of animals to think and feel. However, the strength of animal mind denial seems likely to vary between individuals—according to one’s concern for animal welfare or enjoyment of meat, for instance. Across two pre-registered studies (S1: N = 355, S2: N = 251), we examined personality traits, attitudes, and beliefs that may predict the strength of animal mind denial in relation to the meat paradox. Results suggest that those lower in openness/intellect or emotion regulation ability, or higher in meat-commitment, deny animal mind more strongly when reminded of the link between meat eating and animal suffering. We discuss the degree to which these findings align with dissonance-based explanations for animal mind-denial in response to the meat-paradox.

Dissociation of Dairy From its Animal Origin and the Role of Disgust to Reduce Dairy Consumption

Julie M. E. Pedersen, Steve Loughnan — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Human consumption of cow milk dairy is detrimental to both animal welfare and maintaining climate stability. In two studies, we investigated the relationship between dairy consumption and features of cow milk associated with disgust and food rejection: its animal origin as a bodily fluid and pathogen susceptibility. Specifically, we examined whether emphasising these features through the link between cow milk and lactate would reduce willingness to consume dairy through increased disgust. In Study 1 we conducted an online experiment (N = 155; between-persons) manipulating the salience of these features (reading about lactation vs. digestion in cows) and measured the effect on disgust towards cow milk and willingness to consume cow milk and derived dairy products. Compared to the digestion manipulation, the lactation manipulation significantly increased disgust towards dairy, which fully mediated a reduction in self-reported consumption willingness. Study 2 was a conceptual replication with an in-person experiment (N = 76; within-persons) using the same manipulation (reading about lactation in cows) and measuring disgust towards cow milk and behavioural intentions to eat dairy milk chocolate (serving size). We found a similar increase in disgust towards dairy but no effect on milk chocolate serving size. We conclude that emphasising the bodily nature of lactation increases disgust towards cow milk, but this does not reliably decrease intended consumption.

Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS)

Nora C. G. Benningstad, Hank Rothgerber, Jonas R. Kunst — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Many individuals like eating meat but condemn causing harm to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins is one way to avoid the cognitive dissonance this ‘meat paradox’ elicits. While the significance of meat-animal dissociation for meat consumption is well-established, a recent literature review suggested that it consists of two distinct tendencies. First, people may differ in the degree to which they passively disassociate meat from its animal origins. Second, they may differ in the extent to which they actively dissociate to decrease dissonance. By developing and validating a scale in three pre-registered studies using samples of American and British meat-eaters, the present investigation aimed to quantitatively establish whether these two proposed tendencies constitute distinct constructs with different relations to dietary preferences, meat-related cognition, and affect. Study 1 (n = 300) provided initial support for a normally-distributed scale with two orthogonal dimensions that were systematically and differently related to a range of individual differences and dietary preferences. In Study 2 (n = 628), both dimensions were non-responsive to short-term cues that highlight the animal-meat link but predicted dietary preferences independent of them. Finally, Study 3 (n = 231) showed that the dissociation dimensions predict dietary preferences even in people working in the meat industry who have long-term exposure to cues that connect meat with its animal origins. Together, the results of the three studies supported the notion that people’s dissociation tendencies can be divided into two qualitatively distinct tendencies. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Speciesism and Perceptions of Animal Farming Practices as Predictors of Meat Consumption in Australia and Hong Kong

Katherine Northrope, Matthew B. Ruby — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Many people care about animals and do not wish to cause them harm yet continue to eat them. Past research, largely in Western cultural contexts, has found that people’s meat consumption is negatively related to how much they know about animal farming practices, and positively related to their endorsement of speciesism (the assignment of moral worth based on species membership). Little is known, however, about how these variables are related to meat consumption in non-Western samples. The present study aimed to determine to what extent perceptions of farming practices and speciesism predict meat consumption among people living in Australia and Hong Kong. Participants were recruited through Facebook advertising and asked to complete a questionnaire that measured speciesism, animal farming perceptions, meat consumption, and meat reduction intentions. Speciesism and perceptions of animal farming practices significantly predicted meat consumption and meat reduction intentions in the Australian sample, but only predicted some of the outcomes in the Hong Kong sample.

Prejudice Across Species Lines: Testing for a Link Between the Devaluation of Humans and Non-Human Animals

Bastian Jaeger — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0700

People who are prejudiced against one social group also tend to be prejudiced against other social groups, that is, they show generalized prejudice. Many scholars have noted parallels between the devaluation and exploitation of certain human groups (e.g., racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice) and the treatment of non-human animals (often referred to as speciesism), suggesting that generalized prejudice may even extend across species lines. I tested this hypothesis using panel data with large and demographically diverse participant samples and different operationalizations of the devaluation of humans and animals. Study 1 (56,759 participants from 46 European countries) revealed a positive association between human-directed prejudice and human supremacy beliefs and this association was still observed when controlling for various socio-demographic factors (e.g., gender, educational attainment, religiosity, political orientation). Study 2 (1,566 Dutch participants) revealed positive associations between human-directed prejudice and a host of attitudes, beliefs, emotional responses, and behaviors related to meat consumption. For the majority of tests, this positive association was still observed when controlling for socio-demographic factors. Thus, both studies suggest that people who devalue human groups also tend to devalue the welfare and interests of animals. The current findings support recent theorizing on the common psychological roots of human-directed and animal-directed prejudice and attest to the generality of generalized prejudice.

Exploring Public Support for Farmed Animal Welfare Policy and Advocacy Across 23 Countries

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Farmed animal policy and advocacy efforts both attempt to generate and depend upon public support. However, relatively little is known about the factors that predict support for animal protection legislation and advocacy across the globe. We analyse data from a large international survey (23 countries, n = 20,966) alongside other data sources on animal advocacy to investigate knowledge of factory farming, the connection between attitudes towards animals and the strength of animal protection legislation, attitudes towards animals based on their food status in different countries, and the connection between personal support for policy, animal advocacy, civic activism, and animal advocacy organisations. We found that higher support for animal welfare is associated with stronger farm animal protection legislation across countries and that concerns about specific animals can vary depending on cultural and religious factors. Contrary to study hypotheses, we did not find greater support for advocacy in countries with more advocacy organisations, suggesting important opportunities to pursue advocacy in relatively neglected regions. Results are interpreted in terms of how farmed animal advocates can take advantage of and potentially generate support for animal welfare throughout the world.