Empathy and attitudes to animals

Taylor, Nicola; Signal, Tania

doi:10.2752/089279305785594342

Cited by 292 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Developing an emotional affinity toward the natural environment can bolster one's motivation for environmental protection (Kals, Schumacher, & Montada, 1999). Others researchers have found that empathic concern correlates with pro-environmental attitudes, including attitudes towards animal welfare (Schultz, 2000;Taylor & Signal, 2005). Although these investigators used scales that assess feelings of empathy towards humans, the results suggest that empathic concern can also be felt toward the environment, hence motivating people to protect it (Berenguer, 2007;.…”

Section: Background Factors: Sex and Empathic Concernmentioning

confidence: 67%

Using the theory of planned behavior to identify key beliefs underlying pro-environmental behavior in high-school students: Implications for educational interventions

Leeuw

Valois

Ajzen

et al. 2015

Journal of Environmental Psychology

849

565

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Keywords:Theory of planned behavior Environmental behavior Sustainability Empathic concern High school students Beliefs a b s t r a c t This study relied on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify the beliefs that influence young people's pro-environmental behavior. High-school students completed a questionnaire regarding the performance of pro-environmental behaviors early in the school year and reported on their behavior toward the end of the year. In addition to the standard TPB constructs, the initial questionnaire assessed descriptive norms, moral norms, sex, and empathic concern. Results revealed an excellent fit for the standard TPB model; attitudes, descriptive subjective norms, and perceptions of control made independent contributions to the prediction of intentions, and intentions together with perceived control predicted behavior. Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs predicted, respectively, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Empathic concern influenced intentions and behavior indirectly by its effects on behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Examination of the effects of specific beliefs revealed important implications for designing effective behavior-change interventions.

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Section: Background Factors: Sex and Empathic Concernmentioning

confidence: 67%

Using the theory of planned behavior to identify key beliefs underlying pro-environmental behavior in high-school students: Implications for educational interventions

Leeuw

Valois

Ajzen

et al. 2015

Journal of Environmental Psychology

849

565

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Previous literature suggests that females in general show greater empathy toward animals (Taylor and Signal 2005;Phillips et al 2011), show more positive attitudes toward animals (Ascione and Weber 1996;Kruse 1999;Mariti et al 2011), and are more willing to attribute secondary (complex) emotions to animals (Walker et al 2014b) than males. Conversely, the results of this research suggest that when respondents are attributing emotions to their own companion animals, men and women do not differ in the frequency or complexity of emotions attributed.…”

Section: The Influence Of Owner Demographicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Emotional Lives of Companion Animals: Attachment and Subjective Claims by Owners of Cats and Dogs

2016

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There is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the existence of emotions in nonhuman animals. Companion-animal owners show a strong connection and attachment to their animals and readily assign emotions to them. In this paper we present information on how the attachment level of companion-animal owners correlates with their attribution of emotions to their companion cat or dog and their attribution of mirrored emotions. The results of an online questionnaire, completed by 1,023 Dutch-speaking cat and/or dog owners (mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium), suggest that owners attribute several emotions to their pets. Respondents attributed all posited basic (anger, joy [happiness], fear, surprise, disgust, and sadness) and complex (shame, jealousy, disappointment, and compassion) emotions to their companion animals, with a general trend toward basic emotions (with the exception of sadness) being more commonly attributed than complex emotions. All pet owners showed strong attachment to their companion animal(s), with the degree of attachment (of both cat and dog owners) varying significantly with education level and gender. Owners who ascribed human characteristics to their dog or cat also scored higher on the Pet Bonding Scale (PBS). Finally, owners who found it pleasant to pet their dog or cat had a higher average PBS score than those who did not like to do so. The relationship between owners' attributions of mirrored emotions and the degree of attachment to dogs was significant for all emotions, whilst for cats this relationship was significant only for joy, sadness, surprise, shame, disappointment, and compassion.

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“…Within the growing body of research which addresses human-animal relationships, one particular aspect of personality which is beginning to receive substantial attention is human-directed empathy (e.g., Ascione and Arkow 1999;Taylor and Signal 2004). More specifically, researchers have posited an association between violence towards humans and/or animals and a lack of human-directed empathy, with empathy being proposed as a mediating factor in aggression to both humans and animals (Miller and Eisenberg 1988;Hastings et al 2000;Taylor and Signal 2005). Whilst debate exists within the literature as to whether empathy is a learned ability (i.e., distinct from personality factors), a relatively stable personality trait (e.g., Daly and Morton 2003) or a combination of these (i.e., a personality trait mutable by experience, e.g., Preston and de Waal 2002), in the current study it is treated as the latter and defined as the ability to understand and share in another's emotional state (Eisenberg and Strayer 1987).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an earlier paper, it was reported that within a student sample there was a moderate, significant correlation between aspects of human-directed empathy and attitudes towards the treatment of non-human species (Taylor and Signal 2005). The tool used to assess human-directed empathy was the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a self-report measure which assumes that empathy is a learned ability consisting of both cognitive and affective skills (Davis 1980).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude to Animals and Empathy: Comparing Animal Protection and General Community Samples

Signal

Taylor

2007

Anthrozoös

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Although a number of studies have examined a range of demographic and personality variables that may impact upon attitudes towards the treatment of non-human species, little consensus has been reached within the literature. The aim of the current study was to evaluate and assess levels of human-directed empathy and attitudes towards the treatment of animals in two diverse populations, namely the general community (n = 543) and those within the animal protection field (n = 389). Both groups of participants completed the Attitude Towards the Treatment of Animals Scale (AAS) and the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a measure of human-directed empathy. Comparisons between the two samples indicated that those within the animal protection community scored more highly on both the animal attitude and human-directed empathy measures. Correlational analyses revealed a positive relation between AAS and IRI scores for both samples, whilst the strength of the correlation was greater for those within the animal protection sample. These findings are discussed.

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Empathy and attitudes to animals

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 292 publications

References 31 publications

Using the theory of planned behavior to identify key beliefs underlying pro-environmental behavior in high-school students: Implications for educational interventions

Using the theory of planned behavior to identify key beliefs underlying pro-environmental behavior in high-school students: Implications for educational interventions

The Emotional Lives of Companion Animals: Attachment and Subjective Claims by Owners of Cats and Dogs

Attitude to Animals and Empathy: Comparing Animal Protection and General Community Samples

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