Children Believe Pigs and Humans Should be Treated Equally, New Study Finds

Why do we love one, and eat another? Animal rights activists and researchers have been debating the thought process behind our moral dissonance for years. A new study “The development of speciesism: age-related differences in the moral view of animals”, published by researchers in Exeter and Oxford, observes that children believe farm animals deserve to be treated just as well as humans and that “speciesism” forms in adolescence.

The researchers studied the responses of children between the ages of 9 and 11, young adults aged 18 to 21, and older participants.

“We found age-related differences that are consistent with the idea that such moral judgments are learned across the lifespan,” the survey explains. “Children showed lower speciesism compared with adults, that is, a lower tendency to ascribe moral worth to individuals solely based on species membership.”

The study’s methodology included the categorization of pictures with types of animals under “pet”, “food”, or “object”.  Participants were asked to explain how these animals were treated, and whether they should be treated differently. While the children thought pigs should be treated the same as humans, they also believed dogs should be treated better than pigs. Adults, on the other hand, thought humans and dogs should be treated equally, while pigs do not deserve equal kindness.

The authors explain that the human mind is prone to developing “moral acrobatics”, where ethical ambiguities are rationalized and moral double standards employed. While research into moral acrobatics is more defined in the field of human relations, this report provides tactile evidence in its relation to animals. Lead author Luke McGuire sees an opportunity to intervene in the transition from childhood to adolescence and help form a different moral process.

“If we want people to move towards more plant-based diets for environmental reasons, we have to disrupt the current system somewhere,” he told The Guardian. “For example, if children ate more plant-based food in schools, that might be more in line with their moral values and might reduce the normalization towards adult values that we identify in this study.”

McGuire’s ambitions to normalize plant-based diets and the values of animal equality in the earlier stages of development correlate with American social psychologist Melanie Joy’s perception that the choice to eat meat is a result of social conditioning, and does not stem from a natural human process. Researchers have since sought to alter this sociological process by providing evidence that farm animals possess the same qualities we value so highly in our companion animals. In a 2017 review essay, cows were shown to be emotionally and intellectually complex creatures. Similar findings have been published about pigs, who seem to possess “complex ethological traits similar, but not identical, to dogs and chimpanzees” and chickens, who “are able to experience a range of complex negative and positive emotions, including fear, anticipation, and anxiety”.

“It’s important to note that even adults in our study thought eating meat was less morally acceptable than eating animal products like milk,” McGuire further explains. “So aversion to animals – including farm animals – being harmed does not disappear entirely.”

And with plant-based food and the general acceptance of farm animals as complex creatures becoming a norm, new generations may grow up within a social construct where speciesism defies all logic. Sign this petition to fight for animal ethics and against speciesism.

Related Content:

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• 10 Cruel Things Done to Farm Animals That No One Would Do to a Cat or Dog
• 10 Alarming Facts About the Lives of Factory Farmed Animals
• Duh! 6 Surprising Facts on the Intelligence of Farmed Animals
• Why Are So Many Farmed Animals Dying in Preventable Barn Fires?
• Fish: The New Factory Farmed Animals

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