Is it true that we empathize with animals more than humans

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Research shows that animal suffering can make us more empathetic than human suffering. But everything is not so simple.

What Science Says About Our Animal Empathy

In 2017, American sociologists Jack Levin and Arnold Arluck conducted an experiment at Northeastern University in the United States. 256 students were asked to read one of several versions of an article about severe beating. There were four types of text in total. In the first variant, the victim was an adult, in the second - a child, in the third - an adult dog, and in the fourth - a puppy. After reading, students were asked to rate their level of empathy by answering a questionnaire. The results showed, on average, the following order of distribution of compassion (from highest to lowest):

• Child.
• Puppy.
• Dog.
• Adult.

At the same time, sympathy for an adult was significantly lower than for others, and the levels of empathy for a child and a puppy (and an adult dog to a slightly lesser extent) turned out to be almost the same.

Also in their study, Levin and Arluk refer to other famous precedents where animals evoked more empathy than humans. So, in 2015, Lambert V was launched in the UK. Why do people donate to dog charities when children are dying? The Telegraph has two versions of one PSA: "Would you give £ 5 to save Harrison from a long and painful death?" The first banner featured a photo of eight-year-old Harrison Smith suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and the other a dog. The second image received twice as many clicks.

Sociologists also cite the story of Ye Hee Lee M. Mauling of boy spurs debate over pit bull’s fate as an example. USA Today, which happened a year earlier. Then Internet users collected money for the services of lawyers in order to save a pit bull who crippled a four-year-old child from Arizona from euthanasia. Within a couple of weeks, the dog protection Facebook page had 40,000 likes - as opposed to 500 likes on the boy's support page.

Why it happens

Specialist in the field of anthrozoology A scientific discipline about the interaction of humans and animals. - Approx. author and prevention of violence against animals by Arian Matamonas, commenting on Nastasi A. Why do people seem to care more about the suffering of animals than humans? Hopes & Fears mentioned the above cases, noted a different approach to coverage of these events. In her opinion, in the media, the emphasis is more often on the perpetrators of the crime, and not on the personal stories of the victims. This, says Arian, makes us less susceptible to human tragedy. It also plays a big role in whether we are aware of the victim's vulnerability and innocence.

In addition, the greater the number of victims, the less compassion a person has for them.

Cathy Pinto, a member of the Department of Sociology at the University of California, adds to this the fact that we still believe that the victims (people) are to blame for what happened to them, and we condemn them for it. That is, if we have no doubts that a child or an animal did not deserve violence, then in relation to adults, we often think that they themselves run into trouble. All of this makes our response to animal cruelty more acute.

Why we love animals

We really love animals - in some cases even more than people.

A special role in this belongs to the process of breeding companion animals - pets. Better living conditions than in the wild, and many years of selection led to the manifestation of neoteny in them - the preservation of children's features in appearance and character in adults. Neotenic signs include drooping ears, large eyes, a rounded forehead, playfulness, and less aggressiveness.

At the same time, one of the theories claims that neoteny played a significant role in the evolution of man as a biological species. Therefore, pets awaken in us the same maternal and paternal feelings as children. This has been confirmed, for example, by MRI studies.

Also, their behavior has a great influence on our affection for pets. Animals are much more willing and more visual than humans to demonstrate their reactions and expectations. This gives us confidence in their loyalty - although cats and dogs can be just as friendly and affectionate with strangers.

Why our empathy for animals is selective

Animal abuse news spreads quickly across the web, drawing a lot of attention and generating violent reactions.

The high-profile story took place in 2015 in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Then the lion Cecil was killed - a real pride and a living attraction of the park. He was shot by a lover of trophies, dentist Walter Palmer, who paid 50 thousand dollars to professional hunter Theo Bronkorst for the opportunity to kill the beast. The animal was first wounded with a bow, and after 40 hours, finished off with a gun. Then the lion's head was cut off and its skin was removed. There were no legal consequences for Palmer and Bronkorst, since the trophy collector was licensed to hunt.

Earlier, the public was alarmed by the news that in Danish zoos, giraffes unable to reproduce were being killed and fed to lions.

But these are only isolated cases. Many manifestations of everyday violence against animals remain outside of human attention: circuses, dolphinariums, kindergarten. In fact, according to Nastasi A. Why do people seem to care more about the suffering of animals than humans? Hopes & Fears Society and Animals editor Kenneth Shapiro, we only have compassion for pets and individual victims: a tiger killed by poachers, a whale washed ashore, and so on. And the vast mass of animals raised on meat farms, or those on which cosmetics are tested, most of us rarely empathize. All of this suggests that our love and empathy for animals is selective.

What is spessishism and why does it raise doubts about our sympathy for animals

Katie Pinto states Nastasi A. Why do people seem to care more about the suffering of animals than humans? Hopes & Fears, that there are many complex issues in society about the attitude of people towards animals, on which there is still no consensus. Is it possible, without killing wild animals, while making them perform in circuses? Is it ethical to raise animals just to eat them? What animals can you hunt, and what not, and why? Is it possible to get, give and sell pets without worrying about their future fate?

The recognition of the inequality of relations between animals and humans served as the basis for the theory of specialism, or species discrimination. According to her, man as a biological species infringes upon the interests and rights of other biological species - animals and plants.

Spessists believe that there is and should not be any superiority of man over other biological species, and they also criticize anthropocentrism - the idea that only man has free will and the ability to think and feel.

The concept of specialism emerged from Ryder R. All beings that feel pain deserve human rights. The Guardian in the 70s of the XX century in the writings of Peter Singer and Richard Ryder, who criticized anthropocentrism. They argue that the principle of equality should apply not only to humans, but to all living beings. And accordingly, the existence of rights only among people equates Pavlova T. N. Bioethics in higher education. - M., 1997 spessishism, according to his supporters, to racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination.

Speciesists consider Cameron J. Peter Singer on Suffering and the Consequences of "Speciesism" to be manifestations of such oppression. Decoded Past animal experimentation, industrial animal husbandry and slaughter, sadistic sports (such as bullfighting or rodeo), fur and skin extraction.

Spessishism, despite the fact that it is criticized from both scientific and philosophical positions, poses an important question for humanity:

“Why do we treat, for example, dogs with love and compassion, but do not feel the same feelings for the cows we eat? What is the fundamental difference between them?"

What is our relationship to animals really

To say that animal suffering worries us more than human suffering is wrong, says Nastasi A. Why do people seem to care more about the suffering of animals than humans? Hopes & Fears Kenneth Shapiro.

As an example, we can cite the case of millions of Danish minks destroyed by N. Ermolaeva. In Denmark, all mink infected with coronavirus were destroyed. RG.ru recently. Are they to blame for contracting the coronavirus? No. But what does it matter if they were supposed to be furred anyway? This whole story would not have received such publicity if they simply continued to be systematically used for fur coats and hats. If you look at the situation as a whole, then there is no need to talk about more compassion for animals than for people.

And regardless of our attitude to animals, we still do not have a convincing answer to the question: "How are we so significantly different from them?" In the end, the realization that animals are also intelligent creatures and they can experience suffering makes us more human ourselves.