Library:The Development of Speciesism - Age-Related Differences in the Moral View of Animals (research)
The Development of Speciesism - Age-Related Differences in the Moral View of Animals is a research article published in the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science" on April 11, 2022. It is authored by Luke McGuire, Sally B. Palmer, and Nadira S. Faber. The study investigates the development of speciesism, which is the belief that moral worth is determined by species membership, across samples of children (9–11 years old), young adults (18–21 years old), and adults (29–59 years old; total N = 479). The findings suggest that there are key age-related differences in our moral view of an animal worth that point to socially constructed development over the lifespan. Children show less speciesism, are less likely to categorize farm animals as food than pets, think farm animals ought to be treated better, and deem eating meat and animal products to be less morally acceptable compared with young adults and adults. These findings imply that there are key age-related differences in our moral view of an animal worth that point to socially constructed development over the lifespan.
Methodology
The study was conducted with a total of 479 participants, divided into three age groups: children (9-11 years old), young adults (18-21 years old), and adults (29-59 years old). The study used several measures to assess age-related differences in speciesism, animal categorization, animal treatment, and food evaluation. The speciesism scale was adapted from Caviola et al. (2019) to use language accessible to children as well as adult participants. The animal categorization task asked participants to assign pictures of farm animals, companion animals, animal food products, non-animal food products, and unrelated objects into one of three boxes labeled “food,” “pet,” or “object.” The animal treatment task asked participants to evaluate how a range of targets (rats, chimpanzees, dogs, pigs, and other humans) are usually treated by humans and how they should be treated by humans. The meat and animal product evaluation task asked participants how morally permissible it is to eat animals and animal products. The study was preregistered on AsPredicted and materials and data are available on the Open Science Framework.
Conclusions
The study found that there are key age-related differences in our moral view of animals. Children showed less speciesism compared to young adults and adults, meaning that they were less likely to ascribe moral worth to individuals solely based on species membership. With age, participants were more likely to categorize a farm animal as food rather than as a companion animal. Furthermore, children did not perceive pigs ought to be treated any differently than humans or dogs, whereas young adults and adults reported that dogs and humans ought to be treated better than pigs. Older participants evaluated both eating animals and eating animal products as more morally acceptable than children did. These findings suggest that the process of attributing moral value based on species membership is learned across the lifespan and that humans become more likely to categorize farm animals as food and reconcile their eating habits and moral concerns by reporting that food animals ought not to be treated as well as other animals.