Cannibalism, Vegetarianism, and Narcissism

Irvine, William B.

doi:10.15368/bts.1989v5n1.2

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…However, this does not corroborate previous studies in the field of meat consumption that propose that anthropomorphization reduces instrumental violence [ 10 , 11 , 13 , 14 ]. We reconcile this discrepancy in two ways: firstly, by suggesting that anthropomorphization may play a specific role in meat consumption, i.e., to avoid consuming beings that are similar to us and thus engaging in cannibalism [ 109 – 111 ]. Secondly, we propose that in previous studies, the function of anthropomorphization (perception of agency) was tested without controlling for perception of experience.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased perception of the experience dimension of the animal mind reduces instrumental violence against animals

Potocka,

Bielecki

2023

PLoS ONE

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In this study, we investigated whether the perception of animal experience capacities, enabling individuals to recognize animals as moral patients, decreases instrumental violence against animals. Additionally, we aimed to distinguish this effect from the influence of perceptions of agency capacities, referred to as anthropomorphization. To achieve this, we conducted an online experimental study (N = 471, 54% women). Participants performed a manipulation task that increased their perception of the experience dimension of the animal mind and completed online questionnaires as part of a manipulation check to measure acceptance and intentions of instrumental violence against animals. Regression and mediation analyses revealed that increasing perception of the experience dimension of animal mind decreases instrumental violence against animals, particularly intentions to commit such violence, and this effect is unique and distinct from the effect of perception of the agency dimension, i.e., anthropomorphization. The key capacities in lowering violence were homeostatic emotions (pain, fear, hunger, and thirst) which indicate suffering that humans would want animals to avoid. However, when people perceive homeostatic emotions, increased perception of more complex capacities (anger, joy, pleasure, personality) and anthropomorphization do not result in an additional reduction in violence. We interpret these results to mean that people limit violence by using perception of animal experience capacities as pre-violation justification. These findings expand our knowledge about the functions of perception of experience capacities and demonstrate that people diminish animal experience capacities not only to rationalize violence but also as pre-violation justification to facilitate instrumental violence against animals.

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