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Empathy and compassion toward other species decrease with evolutionary divergence time.

Aurélien Miralles1, Michel Raymond2, Guillaume Lecointre3

  • 1Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, (UMR 7205 Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS UPMC EPHE, Sorbonne Universités), CP30, 25 rue Cuvier 75005, Paris, France. miralles.skink@gmail.com.

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This summary is machine-generated.

Human empathy for other species decreases as evolutionary distance increases. This suggests that shared traits, not just evolutionary relatedness, influence our affective responses toward diverse organisms.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Comparative psychology
  • Human-animal interactions

Background:

  • Humans exhibit varied affective responses to different species.
  • Understanding the factors influencing these emotional responses is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between human empathy/compassion and evolutionary divergence time from other species.
  • To explore the role of shared traits and anthropomorphic signals in human affective responses.

Main Methods:

  • Online survey with 3500 participants.
  • Assessment of empathic perceptions and compassionate reactions.
  • Utilized a wide range of organism photographs.

Main Results:

  • Strong negative correlation found between empathy scores and species' divergence time from humans.
  • Empathic perceptions plateau at a minimum level beyond a certain divergence threshold.
  • Compassion scores correlated with empathy and divergence time.

Conclusions:

  • Phylogenetic proximity influences human affective responses, likely due to shared traits and anthropomorphism.
  • Anthropomorphic signals may activate cognitive pathways for prosocial behavior towards related species.