Factors influencing human attitudes to animals and their welfare

By J. Serpell. Animal Welfare, 2004

468 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper reviews the literature on human attitudes to animals, and postulates the existence of two primary motivational determinants of attitudes labelled ‘affect’ and ‘utility’. It also proposes that the relative strengths of these key attitude dimensions are affected by various modifying variables including the specific attributes of the animal, the individual characteristics and experience of the person evaluating the animal, and a range of cultural factors. The role of science as a cultural modifier of human attitudes to animals is also discussed.

Subfields: Genetics, Small Animals, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fc096e3fab07a1cf1774e7782603acf8b9dbae7e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Genetics

1. Tigga Kingston
2. F. Cirulli
3. M. Borgi
4. P. Prokop
5. J. A. Griffin
6. N. Gee
7. S. McCune
8. Jana Fančovičová

In Small Animals

1. Tigga Kingston
2. P. Prokop
3. F. Cirulli
4. M. Borgi
5. Jana Fančovičová
6. J. A. Griffin
7. N. Gee
8. S. McCune

In Social Psychology

1. F. Cirulli
2. M. Borgi
3. Tigga Kingston
4. Jana Fančovičová
5. P. Prokop
6. Christoph Randler
7. J. Serpell

Citations in the corpus

• Cute, Creepy, or Crispy—How Values, Attitudes, and Norms Shape Human Behavior Toward Bats (2016, background): “Other motivational frameworks place additional emphasis on the role of emotions (Pooley and O’Connor 2000; Serpell 2004).”
• Attitudes toward Animals among Kindergarten Children: Species Preferences (2015, background): “however, there are large individual differences in attitudes that are partially independent of the animal’s intrinsic attributes (Serpell 2004).”
• An Exploratory Study of Domestic Violence: Perpetrators’ Reports of Violence Against Animals (2018, background): “” On the surface, these terms resemble standard American representations of relationships with dogs (Grier, 2006; Perin, 1988; Serpell, 1995; Serpell, 1986; Serpell, 2004; Serpell, 2009).”
• Can domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, show self-control? (2005, unknown): “Despite justifiable criticism of the perceived link between increasing cognitive complexity and consciousness, hence a greater capacity for suffering (Dawkins 2001), people generally make more positive value judgements regarding animals that show cognitive similarities to humans (Serpall 2004).”
• Current challenges to research on animal-assisted interventions (2017, background): “the fact that people vary greatly in both their attitudes to animals, and in the quantity and quality of their previous interactions with animals (Serpell, 2004), all of which are likely to influence their receptiveness to AAIs.”
• Practical Work at School Reduces Disgust and Fear of Unpopular Animals (2012, background): “Attitudes toward animals in contemporary humans are influenced by humananimal interactions in our evolutionary past (Herzog & Burghardt, 1988) as well as by direct benefits from the economic value of animals (Serpell, 2004).”
• Does colour matter? The influence of animal warning coloration on human emotions and willingness to protect them (2013, background): “, 2011) and social factors, such as property relationships or economic value (Serpell, 2004), are typical examples of cultural factors that influence the perception of animals.”
• The positive psychology of sustainability (2012, unknown): “conservation of natural resources (Serpell 2004).”