Children think farm animals deserve to be treated as well as human beings but lose this belief in adolescence, a groundbreaking study has found.
Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford asked a group of British children aged nine to 11, young adults aged 18 to 21 and older men and women about their attitudes to different sorts of animals.
In general, the children said farm animals and human beings should be treated the same and found eating animals less morally acceptable than both sets of adults. The findings suggest that “speciesism” — a moral hierarchy that gives different value to different animals — is learned during adolescence, according to the study.
Photo: AFP 照片:法新社
“Humans’ relationship with animals is full of ethical double standards,” said the lead author, Luke McGuire, a lecturer at the University of Exeter who specializes in social and moral development. “Some animals are beloved household companions, while others are kept in factory farms for economic benefit. Judgments seem to largely depend on the species of the animal in question: dogs are our friends, pigs are food.”
The report says an important aspect of the human mind is “moral acrobatics”: people can hold ethical values that contradict each other and employ moral double standards. But the origins of moral acrobatics relating to animals is poorly understood and the researchers say this new study provides some of the first evidence examining the differences in how children and adults think about animal treatment.
Among other tasks, participants in the study were presented with pictures including a farm animal and companion animals and asked to categorize them as “food”, “pet” or “object”. They were asked how animals were treated, and how they should be treated.
Photo: Reuters 照片:路透
Children did not judge all animals to be equal. They concluded, in fact, that dogs ought to be treated better than pigs — but also that pigs ought not to be treated differently from humans.
The two sets of adult groups said pigs ought to be treated less well than dogs, while humans and dogs ought to be treated the same.
McGuire said the study suggests that while children think farm animals and humans ought to be treated equally well, by adulthood people believe that companion animals and humans ought to be treated better. He said children rated eating animals as significantly less permissible than young adults and adults did.
The paper, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, is titled “The development of speciesism: age-related differences in the moral view of animals.”
(The Guardian)
一項開創性的研究發現,兒童認為我們應像對待人類一樣來好好對待養殖場的動物,但青少年時期以後卻不再這麼認為。
艾希特大學及牛津大學的研究人員調查了一組九到十一歲的英國兒童、十八到二十一歲的年輕人,以及老年男性與女性,詢問他們對各種動物的態度。
總體而言,兒童表示養殖場動物與人類應受同等對待,且與其他兩組相比,兒童更覺得吃動物在道德上無法接受。研究結果顯示,「物種歧視」──賦予不同動物不同價值的一種道德階級制度──是在青少年時期習得的。
「人類與動物的關係充滿了道德雙重標準」,該研究主要作者、專研社會與道德發展的艾希特大學講師路克‧麥奎爾表示。「有些動物是家中受寵愛的朋友,而別的動物則是為了經濟利益而飼養在工廠化的農場中。判斷似乎大多取決於動物的種類:狗是我們的朋友,豬是食物」。
該報告稱,人類思想的一個重要面向是「道德技巧」:人可以有相互矛盾的道德價值觀,並採取雙重道德標準。但與動物相關的道德技巧,我們對其源起知之甚少;研究人員表示,這項新研究檢驗了兒童與成人在對待動物上的觀念差異,提供了一些初步證據。
問卷其他題目還包括請受試者看圖片,其中有養殖場動物及伴侶動物,並令其將這些動物歸類為「食物」、「寵物」或「物件」。還問受試者對待動物的方式,以及該如何對待這些動物。
兒童並不認為所有動物都是平等的。他們得出的結論其實是,狗應該得到比豬更好的待遇──但豬所受的待遇不應與人類有別。
兩個成人組則表示,豬的待遇應次於狗,而人與狗應受同等待遇。
麥奎爾說,這項研究顯示,雖然兒童認為養殖場動物與人類應受同等對待,但成年後則認為伴侶動物與人類應受較好的待遇。他表示,與年輕人及成年人相比,兒童明顯較不能容忍吃動物。
該論文發表在《社會心理與人格科學》期刊上,標題為「物種歧視的發展:動物道德觀之年齡差異」。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures. On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life and for the people and economies that rely on reefs. WHAT ARE CORALS? Corals are invertebrates that live in colonies. Their calcium carbonate secretions form hard and protective scaffolding that serves as a home to many colorful species of single-celled algae. The two organisms have evolved over millennia to work together, with corals providing shelter to algae,
In Taiwan, a quick stop at a local convenience store allows you to grab a hot dog whenever you want. But have you ever wondered how this popular snack got its unique name and became a leading light of American cuisine? First, the name “hot dog” is actually a combination of different ideas. Vendors called the sausages “red hot” to get customers to buy one fresh off their grills. As for the “dog” part, it’s a playful joke to compare the meat of the sausage to that of a dog—specifically , a dachshund. This small, long dog breed was
A: Also, police seized seven pornographic videos featuring minors that entertainer Mickey Huang purchased in his hard disc. B: That’s just outrageous! A: His ex-girlfriend entertainer Little S and some others are calling for a legal amendment to increase the penalty. B: The buyers and sellers should both be punished heavily. A: But the porn sellers’ Web sites are mostly overseas, so they are hard to catch. A: 此外警方也在黃子佼的硬碟裡,查到7部他買的未成年色情片。 B: 真是令人火大! A: 他的前女友小S等人,還呼籲修法,加重相關的罰則。 B: 購買者和販賣者雙方都該重罰。 A: 不過色情網站大多設在海外要抓也不容易吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
A: Entertainer Mickey Huang’s #MeToo scandal has kept snowballing. B: Didn’t Huang just escape prosecution on several sexual misconduct charges due to a lack of evidence? A: He has now been accused of raping a woman identified as "Miss K." B: It’s like one trouble follows another! A: His decent “persona” in the showbiz has totally collapsed. A: 藝人黃子佼的#MeToo事件真是沒完沒了。 B: 他的性騷擾案不是因為證據不足獲得不起訴? A: 但他又被某位「K小姐」指控性侵。 B: 天啊,真是一波未平,一波又起! A: 他在娛樂圈的優質「人設」都崩壞啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)