week 5 why we love some animals but eat others

how do humasn tend to rank animals in tends of likability/empathy

1 companion animals (pets)

2. appealing wild animals

3.food animals

4. unappealing wild animals

whats moral concern for animals shaped by?

mind perception-we care more about animals we think feel pain and have rich inner lives (sentience + intelligence)

apperance & similarity- mental shortcuts for judging moral worth

human assigned role-pets,food,pest,wildlife- label changes how much mind and moral worth we grant the animal

familarity & culture- animals that are familliar or culturally valued recieve more moral concern regadless of actual capacities

whats specisim- peter singer (1975)

"a prejudice or bias in favour of the interests of memebers of ones own species and againts those of members of other species."

belief system that:

positions humasn as superior to other animals

-assigns different moral value to animals,

legitmises different treatment based on species member ship and assigned roles

involves: moral hierachies among animals

what did Wilks et al 2021 find

-most adults prioritise human life over dogs and pigs and over multiple animals WHEREAS children prioritied animal life more especially with numbers

= speciesim may develop through socilisation, cultural norms shape hierachies over time

why we still eat animals: whats the meat paradox (festinger 1957 & Loughnan, Bastian & Haslam (2014)

most people disprove of animal suffering but still eat animals-creates psychological tension between our values and our behaviour

either

CHANGE behaviour- reduce/stop eating meat

CHANGE thinking-change how we think about animals and meat consumption.

whats cognitive dissonance

Psychological discomfort caused by inconsistency between values and behaviour

e.g i eat animals vs i care about them

how do people manage the meat paradox

avoidance strategies:

-wilful ignorance-avoid info about animal suffering or farms

-avoidance-choose not to think about it

-dissociation-keep the link between meat and the animal out of mind

direct reduction strategies:

-denying animal minds-see animals as less intelligent/less capable of suffering

-justifications (4 ns)-natural,necessary,nice

-dichotomization-see pets and livestock as fundementally different

=maintain current behaviour (eating animals)

why is it so easy to avoid acknoleging animal farming

modern animal farming is:

-geographically distant

-hidden from public view

-largely absent from everyday experience

avoids moral conflic by:

limiting emotional engagement

increasing psychological distance

what was found about information on avoidance? (leach et al 2022

Committed meat-eaters are more likely to avoid information about the intelligence of farmed animals — but not companion animals

what was found about information on dissociation (kunst hohle 2016)

two pics of cooked meat one with pigs head one without

removed head= less empathy, greater will to eat

two ads for meat with cooked food only and with cooked food + the animal next to it

living animal showed = more empathy, reduced willingness to eat meat

=dissociation makes meat consumption more morally conformtable

Whats dicotomization

animals divided into catergories which shapes how people think/treat animals.

e.g companions, food

what did bastian et al 2012 find about mind denial (seeing animals as less intellegient)

split animal into food condition vs non food condition descibing good life vs getting turend into food

findings: categorising animals as food reduces percived mind. food-less mind attribution-less moral concern

what was found about Selective Mind Denial and Moral Concern across Dietary Groups (Ioannidou et al., 2024):

aquatic animals were attributed:

-lower sentience

-lower moral concern than farmed animals

this pattern was also strongest among pescaterians

ALSO

pescetarians and vegetarians:

lower sentience

lower intellegience

lower moral concern

to dairy cows compared to beef cows, and to layer chickens compared to broiler chickens—despite these being the same species = moral concern shifted depending on which animal products ps consumed

what are the 4 Ns of justification

natural

normal

necessary

nice

whats the order of dietary groups from high speciesim/less animal concern to low

-omnivores

-flexitarian

-pescaterians

-vegetarians

-vegans

how does ideology shape whats on our plate (Dhont & Hodson

Right wing authoriatarism: values tradition and social order, respects authority, hostilicy to those who break norms(more likley to eat meat) = see vegetarianism as a threat as they break norms

social dominance orientation: favours hierarchy between groups, accepts inequality= have human supremacy belief= consume meat

what did salmen et al 2026 find about masculinity and meat consumption

showed the same picture but labeled one as plant based meat and other as regular meat

findings:

Plant-based labels reduced perceived masculinity

• Participants distanced themselves more from the food

• Plant-based dishes were evaluated less positively

• Effects were strongest among participants higher in hostile sexism