2015-2018

Investigating a new social identity: Is it possible to identify with animals as a social group?

This research project was our first to investigate the notion of identification with animals; we started by focusing on the dimension of solidarity with animals. Solidarity with animals represents people’s psychological bond with, and commitment to, other animals. In a series of studies using correlational, quasi-experimental, experimental and longitudinal designs, solidarity with animals predicted more positive attitudes towards animals, over and above other particularly inclusive social identities (e.g., identification with all of humanity and with nature). Solidarity with animals was associated with more flexible and inclusive mindsets and individual differences such as an increased tendency to anthropomorphise animals, greater empathy, and lower bias toward human social groups (i.e., lower ageism). Pet owners (compared to non-pet owners) as well as vegetarians (compared to omnivores) also reported higher solidarity toward animals. Experimentally activating similarities between humans and animals, or spontaneously perceiving such similarities, predicted higher solidarity with animals. Moreover, a series of studies showed that perceptions of human-animal similarity were associated with a lower tendency to perceive that humans are superior to other animals, and that this negative link between human-animal similarity and human superiority operated via an increased identification with animals. Finally, correlational studies revealed that contact with pets was associated with increased identification with animals in general as well as lower anxiety toward animals in general; these psychological mechanisms predicted, in turn, more positive attitudes towards animals (e.g., lower speciesism).

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