week 8: psychology animals and society

what do human-animal relationships consist of?

human attitudes/behaviours towards animals

what are key areas to consider when exploring human-animal rels?

animal assisted intervention

pets, health and wellbeing

link between animal abuse and domestic violence

psychology of eating meat

what is animal assisted intervention?

structured goal oriented introduction/inclusion of animals in therapy

what can less formal animal assisted interventions look like?

cat cafes/petting zoos etc

how is psychology involved with animal assisted intervention?

design/delivery of intervention

evaluation - objectives/methods/ethics

development/debate

publicity

what are the 3 types of human-animal relationship?

parasitic

commensal

mutualisticd

define a parasitic human-animal relationship

benefits humans at the expense of animals

define a commensal human animal relationship

benefit humans in ways which don’t impact animals

define a mutualistic human animal relationship

provide benefits to humans and animals

define anthropocentrism

humans are the most important species

what is the moral consideration ladder?

some animals are morally considered above others

normally cute and cuddly or typical pet animals higher than farm animals

define the anthropocene

earth’s most recent geological period where humans control the planet over all other species

what 5 geological characteristics of the anthropocene exist?

carbon spheres

leftover radioactive elements from nuclear weapon tests

plastic pollution

nitrate and phosphate in the soil from farming fertilisers

chicken bones in the soil

what is cognitive dissonance?

we hold two or more contradicting beliefs/ideas/values which causes discomfort

we seek to resolve this by ceasing action or rationalising it

what is the meat paradox?

most people eat meat but feel discomfort when this meat is then directly linked to the death of animals

give 3 ways in which the meat paradox is resolved by meat eaters

minimising harm

denying responsibility

diffusing identity

how can minimising harm solve the meat paradox?

when we eat meat animals don’t suffer the same way that we would or understand what happens

animals have a good life before we eat them

how would denying responsibility solve the meat paradox?

the 4 ns - eating meat is

normal

natural

necessary

nice

how would diffusing identity solve the meat paradox?

buffering our identities from the meat paradox

others are extreme for not eating meat/eating lots of meat, the self is moderate

deepening personal understanding of meat is good

how are meat and masculinity related?

farm animals frequently portrayed as feminised

men’s gender identities portrayed as entwined with excessive meat consumption

othering of vegan/vegetarian men

define carnism

ideology allowing people to deny animal suffering caused by meat production by normalising meat consumption

reduces the need to solve the meat paradox and justifies overconsumption