Work

Avoiding Animal Suffering and Preserving Human Lives: Mind Perception and Speciesism in Moral Judgments of Torture and Killing

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: = 472), torturing animals was perceived as worse than killing, but this was significantly reduced or reversed for humans. This was partially explained by mind-perception (agency or experience), and also by an aversion to the loss of human lives over and above this (speciesism). Study 1 provided evidence that the moral wrongness of torturing a hypothetical animal was worse than killing, but killing was worse for human targets. Study 2 partially replicated and extended these results across different species. Ratings were predicted by mind perception, and speciesist preference to avoid human death. Study 3 used pairs of species, separating torture and killing judgments, showing that while speciesism is important for explaining the greater weight people place on human lives, it played a smaller role in judgments about suffering after accounting for mind-perception.

Source: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

DOI: 10.1177/01461672251367841

Authors: Simon Myers, Jesse L. Preston, Adam Sanborn

Institutions: University of Kent, University of Warwick

Language: English

Topic: Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900

Funder: University of Warwick