Abstract
Simple SummaryWith the general goal of increasing knowledge about how individuals perceive and evaluate different animals, we provide normative data on an extensive set of open-source animal images, spanning a total of 12 biological categories (e.g., mammals, insects, reptiles, arachnids), on 11 evaluative dimensions (e.g., valence, cuteness, capacity to think, acceptability to kill for human consumption). We found that animal evaluations were affected by individual characteristics of the perceiver, particularly gender, diet and companion animal ownership. Moral attitudes towards animals were predominantly predicted by ratings of cuteness, edibility, capacity to feel and familiarity. We hope this free resource may help advance research into the many different ways we relate to animals.There has been increasing interest in the study of human-animal relations. This contrasts with the lack of normative resources and materials for research purposes. We present subjective norms for a set of 120 open-source colour images of animals spanning a total of 12 biological categories (e.g., mammals, insects, reptiles, arachnids). Participants (N = 509, 55.2% female, MAge = 28.05, SD = 9.84) were asked to evaluate a randomly selected sub-set of 12 animals on valence, arousal, familiarity, cuteness, dangerousness, edibility, similarity to humans, capacity to think, capacity to feel, acceptability to kill for human consumption and feelings of care and protection. Animal evaluations were affected by individual characteristics of the perceiver, particularly gender, diet and companion animal ownership. Moral attitudes towards animals were predominantly predicted by ratings of cuteness, edibility, capacity to feel and familiarity. The Animal Images Database (Animal.ID) is the largest open-source database of rated images of animals; the stimuli set and item-level data are freely available online.
Highlights
Non-human animals have been ever-present as evolutionary partners with whom humans share the planet
We developed a database of 120 open-source colour images of animals, spanning a total of 12 biological categories and had each image rated on 11 evaluative dimensions
At the macro-level, we examined associations between the 11 evaluative dimensions across the entire set of animals and contrasted rater evaluations as a function of perceiver characteristics and biological classification
Summary
Non-human animals have been ever-present as evolutionary partners with whom humans share the planet. We may care for some species, while perceiving others as inconsequential. The mere thought of eating some animals is disgusting, whereas others are deemed highly appetizing. Animals are treated in varied ways within and across cultures. Some animals are kept as companions, whereas others are used for a myriad of purposes such as work, clothing, entertainment and nourishment. While others are met largely with indifference. People’s perceptions, emotions and attitudes toward non-human animals tend to be diverse, complex and sometimes even paradoxical [1,2]
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