Blogspot - Companion Animal Psychology

New research finds four ethical orientations towards animals, and some surprising links to cat and dog ownership and to other behaviours such as eating “welfare-friendly” meat. We all have different views about what we think are ethical ways to treat animals. New research by Dr. Thomas Bøker Lund et al. (University of Copenhagen), published today in PLOS ONE, finds four different ethical orientations that are commonly held by the general public. The results show just how complicated our ethical beliefs about animals are – and include some surprising results. Two of the different orientations will probably be familiar: Anthropocentrism – the idea that “human beings matter most”. This view may stem from religious beliefs or from beliefs that humans and animals are different, with humans being considered rational and more important than non-human animals. Animal rights – this approach values all animals and argues that as sentient beings, animals also have rights and should be treated ...