Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 48, Issue 4, Pages 957-960Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.010
Keywords
Attitudes; Prosocial behavior; Anthropomorphism; Animal welfare
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Recent research has demonstrated that people have an affinity for non-human entities that appear to have human qualities. The current studies build on this research, examining whether anthropomorphism can be used to promote animal welfare. In Study 1 (n = 42), participants read scenarios about dogs and reported more willingness to help the ones described with anthropomorphic language relative to those described with non-anthropomorphic language. In Study 2 (n = 57), participants rated dogs on either human or canine characteristics (e.g., good listener vs. good at listing to commands). Relative to the non-anthropomorphism condition, participants in the anthropomorphism condition reported more willingness to adopt dogs from a shelter, and more support for animal rights, animal welfare, and vegetarian and vegan attitudes. Moreover, these pro-animal attitudes fully mediated the effect of the anthropomorphism manipulation on willingness to adopt the dogs. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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