Attitudes Toward Animals

Introduction

An informal taxonomy of the attitudes humans most commonly exhibit toward animals, as measured through their observable actions, would help describe how people actually think and feel about them. This in turn would help foster understanding and organize discussion of the dynamics between individuals and groups with differing worldviews.

While such a taxonomy could contribute to anthrozoology and other social sciences, it could also benefit a variety of animal welfare causes. As most people who work for such causes do so outside of academia, it would be useful to restrict the taxonomy to conventional terms and popularize those terms through non-academic channels.

The Animal Attitudinal Behavior Spectrum

A spectrum of common human attitudes toward animals can be broadly arranged according to how frequently people make significant sacrifices to put the needs of animals ahead of their own needs.

Fig. 1: Attitudinal Behavior Groups by Frequency of Significant Sacrifice

Sacrifice Freq.	Group Name	Short Name
Never	Animal Abusers	Abusers
Very Rarely	Animal Avoiders	Avoiders
Rarely	Animal Tolerators	Tolerators
Sometimes	Animal Enthusiasts	Enthusiasts
Often	Animal Altruists	Altruists
Very Often	Animal Advocates	Advocates
Constantly	Animal Fanatics	Fanatics

Fig. 2: Example of Attitudinal Behavior Groups for a Species (Housecat/Felis catus)

Sacrifice Freq.	Group Name	Characteristic Behavior
Never	Cat Abuser	Purposefully harms cats.
Very Rarely	Cat Avoider	Avoids cats when possible.
Rarely	Cat Tolerator	Has no strong feelings about cats.
Sometimes	Cat Enthusiast	Seeks and enjoys the company of cats.
Often	Cat Altruist	Treats cats like family/children.
Very Often	Cat Advocate	Regularly helps promote cat welfare.
Constantly	Cat Fanatic	Exhibits unhealthy obsession with cats.

Animal Abusers

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Never.

Animal Abusers take advantage of the vulnerability of animals, causing intentional harm for their own gratification or profit.

The lack of empathy required to intentionally harm an animal is so severe that it more often indicates a personality disorder or mental illness rather than specific attitudes toward animals.

Cruelty to animals is a sign of psychopathy, as those who abuse animals derive pleasure in causing pain, lack remorse, and often have little or no functional empathy for humans as well.

Animal Abusers are uncommon and their actions are so outside societal norms that these outliers don’t factor into many practical discussions of animal welfare except those involving curbing unethical or criminal behavior.

Examples

The various reasons why people abuse animals is diverse and beyond the scope of this paper, but some examples include:

• Poachers who kill for profit rather than survival.
• Dogfighting organizers and supporters.
• Puppy mill operators.
• Livestock farmers who do not follow ethical practices.
• Psychopaths who torture animals.

Animal Avoiders

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Very Rarely.

As the name suggests, Animal Avoiders seek to avoid a type of animal whenever possible.

Whether this behavior is based on dislike, fear, or health concerns, their impact on animals is the same: They very rarely put the needs of animals over their own because they purposefully prevent contact, giving themselves few opportunities to do so.

However, not only do they try to avoid animals, they also try to avoid harming those animals.

Similarly, many people who dislike children avoid them whenever possible, but still recognize their vulnerability and treat them considerately when forced to interact with them.

Examples

• People who develop aversions to or fears of animals as the result of traumatic experiences.
• Germaphobes or others highly concerned with cleanliness. (Their attitudes are not specific to animals; they also dislike children and messy people.)
• People with severe allergies to animals or other medical conditions which make animals a threat to their health.

Animal Tolerators

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Rarely.

Animal Tolerators neither seek out nor avoid animals. They may treat animals with kindness when they happen to encounter them, but do not think about them much outside of those interactions.

Attitude formation requires exposure to the species. For less common pet species, such as birds or horses, many people lack enough experience to form an opinion. For the most popular species, like dogs and cats, it’s hard to find people who haven’t interacted with these animals. However, some people can be regularly exposed to animals and still not care very much about them one way or the other. This happens frequently with people whose lives are so focused on something else that they have little energy to spare on holding strong opinions on animal welfare or countless other issues.

Examples

• Parents who get pets primarily because their children want them.
• Siblings or roommates of people with pets.
• People with severe health or financial problems.
• People with extremely demanding jobs.
• People who travel constantly.
• People with overwhelming family responsibilities.

Animal Enthusiasts and Animal Altruists

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Sometimes (Enthusiasts) / Often (Altruists).

UNFINISHED

Both Enthusiasts and Altruists enjoy the company of animals, often form strong bonds with them, and generally seek to ensure their well-being.

However, determining exactly which of the two groups a person belongs to can be challenging because there are so many similarities between them.

In fact, the line between Animal Enthusiast and Animal Altruist is so blurry that the groups can be most accurately described by comparing them to each other.

Many Enthusiasts and practically all Altruists feel love for animals, at least for their own pets.

However, the differences between the ways these two groups love animals can be observed in how their feelings manifest in behavior.

In general, Enthusiasts treat animals well, but not as well as they treat people. Altruists, on the other hand, exhibit a level of compassion toward animals similar to that more typically given to human children.

Enthusiasts treat pets with [loving] kindness; Altruists treat pets like family. // Enthusiasts view pets as friendly companions; Altruists view pets as family.

Accordingly, Altruists make frequent and significant sacrifices for their pets, indicating the kind of selfless, unconditional love that in other groups is reserved for one’s own offspring.

These are generalities, The line between the two groups can be blurry, because people may exhibit behaviors from both groups and this behavior can change over time,

Play

Enthusiasts play with animals when convenient primarily because they enjoy it, while Altruists play with animals even when they don’t feel like doing so because they know animals need it.

Petting

Enthusiasts enjoy petting animals, but don’t think too deeply about the animal while they’re doing it.

Altruists watch for feedback and adjust their technique accordingly when petting animals, making a conscious effort to ensure the animals enjoy it.

Relationships / Feelings

When Enthusiasts have multiple pets, their feelings toward may become generalized and they may treat them as a unit/group—giving them attention/play only as a group, even punishing them as a group when one misbehaves. (As many middle children can attest to, this happens frequently with large families as well.)

Altruists have a conscious sense of having a separate relationship with each pet that they think about even when not interacting with them. Altruists regard animals as individuals and are concerned with making sure their unique needs are met.

Pet Care

Both groups make an honest effort to take good care of their pets, but their perception of what constitutes good care is different.

For Enthusiasts, this means providing all the essentials—like adequate food, water, and shelter.

For Altruists, this list also includes making sure the animal is as comfortable as possible and has sufficient attention, exercise, and mental stimulation.

For Altruists, providing good care also means becoming a bit of an expert in animal health by researching proper diet, activity requirements, and how to interpret animal behavior so they can better understand how their pets are feeling.

When Enthusiasts fall a little short of providing good care, they feel bad, but they do not dwell on it excessively long and it doesn’t affect their self-esteem.

When Altruists discover they’ve accidentally left their animals without water for the day, they feel like terrible people and feel guilty for a long time.

Enthusiasts will take their pets to a veterinarian when they are obviously sick.

Many Altruists have the urge to take their pets to the vet every time they’re acting abnormal and agonize over whether doing so would be worthwhile or in the animal’s best interest, especially when the cost would be a hardship.

Similarly, when an expensive treatment option would strain their finances, Altruists are more likely to make the sacrifices required to afford it, while Enthusiasts may prioritize other necessities for their households.

Still, some Enthusiasts will spare no expense keeping a pet alive because they are so attached to their animals.

Altruists, on the other hand, will primarily do what they believe is in the best interests of the animal, including forgoing painful treatments or even euthanizing them, despite knowingly breaking their own hearts in the process.

Not just medical decisions, Altruists agonize over seemingly mundane details like ideal water bowl height, because they want their pets to be as happy and healthy as possible.

Altruists constantly lament the fact that animals cannot communicate directly and seek to divine their preferences through their behavior, similar to how parents act with children before they can speak.

Talk: Minor point, but Enthusiasts don’t worry too much about waking a sleeping animal for their own convenience or companionship.

Altruists look at sleeping animals and get happy, because they know their loved one is at peace, and that makes them happy because they provided that peace.

Altruists consistently do nice things for their animals because they think it will make them happy. (Like a parent would do for a child.)

Animal Advocates

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Very often.

Animal Advocates regularly make conscious efforts to promote the welfare of many animals, not just their own pets.

Advocates typically spend a significant amount of their time or money helping animals; in fact, practically all the work in the realm of animal welfare is done by Advocates.

As for Advocates’ place on the spectrum, it is important to note that while Altruists who dote on their pets may frequently prioritize the needs of their own animals, they are likely still sacrificing less overall than people who have no pets but volunteer at an animal rescue one weekend per month.

Examples

• People who volunteer for animal welfare charities.
• Many who work in the field of veterinary medicine.
• Ethical vegans.

Animal Fanatics

Description

Frequency of significant sacrifice: Constantly.

Fanatics are characterized by an unhealthy obsession with animals that drives them to exhibit radical, often dangerous behavior.

These outliers constantly sacrifice either through excessive habitual behavior or by bringing lifelong consequences upon themselves through extreme actions.

Fanatics hold an animal-centric worldview that is incompatible with almost everyone else’s and often militantly persecute those who don’t share their beliefs.

Fanatics tend to do more harm than good, ultimately hurting themselves, other people, the animals they try to help, or the causes they ostensibly support.

Examples

• Animal hoarders who take in more animals than they can care for properly.
• Extremist activists, such as those who commit terrorist acts against those they view as enemies of animals. militant