Une nouvelle étude montre que les enfants diffèrent radicalement des adultes dans leurs opinions morales sur les animaux.
Des chercheurs de l’Université d’Exeter ont interrogé des enfants âgés de 9 à 11 ans sur le statut moral et le traitement des animaux de ferme (cochons), des animaux de compagnie (chiens) et des personnes.
Contrairement aux adultes, les enfants disent que les animaux de ferme devraient être traités de la même manière que les personnes et les animaux de compagnie, et pensent que manger des animaux est moins moralement acceptable que les adultes.
Les résultats suggèrent que le “spécisme” – une hiérarchie morale qui accorde une valeur différente aux différents animaux – est appris pendant l’adolescence.
“La relation des humains avec les animaux est pleine de doubles standards éthiques”, a déclaré le Dr Luke McGuire, de l’Université d’Exeter.
“Certains animaux sont des compagnons domestiques bien-aimés, tandis que d’autres sont détenus dans des fermes industrielles pour des raisons économiques.
“Les jugements semblent largement dépendre de l’espèce de l’animal en question : les chiens sont nos amis, les cochons sont de la nourriture.”
L’équipe de recherche – dont le University of Oxford – surveyed 479 people, all living in England, from three age groups: 9-11, 18-21, and 29-59.
The two adult groups had relatively similar views – suggesting attitudes to animals typically change between the ages of 11 and 18.
“Something seems to happen in adolescence, where that early love for animals becomes more complicated and we develop more speciesism,” said Dr. McGuire
“It’s important to note that even adults in our study thought eating meat was less morally acceptable than eating animal products like milk.
“So aversion to animals – including farm animals – being harmed does not disappear entirely.”
The study also found that, as people age, they are more likely to classify farm animals as “food” rather than “pets” – while children were equally likely to consider pigs to fall into either of these categories.
While adjusting attitudes is a natural part of growing up, Dr. McGuire said the “moral intelligence of children” is also valuable.
“If we want people to move towards more plant-based diets for environmental reasons, we have to disrupt the current system somewhere,” he said.
“For example, if children ate more plant-based food in schools, that might be more in line with their moral values, and might reduce the ‘normalization’ towards adult values that we identify in this study.”
The paper, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, is entitled: “The development of speciesism: Age-related differences in the moral view of animals.”
Reference: “The development of speciesism: Age-related differences in the moral view of animals” 11 April 2022, Social Psychological and Personality Science.
DOI: 10.1177/19485506221086182
