Humans' perceptions of animal mentality: ascriptions of thinking

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Animal cognition
• Human-animal studies

Background:

• Understanding attributions of mental capacities is crucial for human-animal interactions.
• Previous research suggests a hierarchy in perceived animal sentience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how students attribute common human mental operations to animals and children.
• To identify distinct levels of cognitive attributions.

Main Methods:

• 294 students rated the capacity of dogs, cats, birds, fish, and children for 12 mental operations.
• Factor analysis was used to identify levels of cognitive attributions.
• A pilot study with animal behavior professionals corroborated the findings.

Main Results:

• Two levels of attributions emerged: simple thinking and complex thinking.
• All target types (animals and children) were attributed simple thinking.
• Complex thinking was predominantly ascribed to children, with notable exceptions in specific mental categories.
• Certain mental categories like 'emotion' were universally seen as simple, while 'conservation' was universally complex.

Conclusions:

• Students differentiate between simple and complex mental capacities when attributing them to animals and children.
• The study highlights a human-centric bias in attributing higher-order cognitive abilities.
• Findings have implications for understanding interspecies empathy and ethical considerations.