Opinion
Theory of Animal Mind: Human Nature or Experimental Artefact?

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Current evidence suggests a widespread belief in the mental lives of animals, which has serious consequences for human–animal interactions.

The scientific community has been slow to investigate the mechanisms underlying our Theory of Animal Mind (TAM), due to oversimplification and limited objectivity.

By expanding the study of TAM to encompass a richer multidimensional approach, it is possible to more accurately theorise and empirically validate investigations of TAM.

Are animals capable of empathy, problem-solving, or even self-recognition? Much research is dedicated to answering these questions and yet few studies have considered how humans form beliefs about animal minds. Evidence suggests that our mentalising of animals is a natural consequence of Theory of Mind (ToM) capabilities. However, where beliefs regarding animal mind have been investigated, there has been slow progress in establishing the mechanism underpinning how this is achieved. Here, we consider what conclusions can be drawn regarding how people theorise about animal minds and the different conceptual and methodological issues that might limit the accuracy of conclusions currently drawn from this work. We suggest a new empirical framework for better capturing the human theory of animal mind, which in turn has significant political and social implications.

Section snippets

Thoughts on Animal Thinking

Scientific debate regarding the existence and nature of mental states in animals has a longstanding history 2, 3 and covers an extensive range of topics, from mirror recognition to numerosity (Box 1). Yet, the majority of people form beliefs about animal minds based on everyday occurrences, such as when caring for pets [4] or consuming animal products. Understanding how we construct this ‘Theory of Animal Mind’ (TAM) is therefore likely to reveal important insight, based on people’s

TAM As a Mechanism of Belief Formation

People’s views on animal mind have been speculated to reflect a simple accumulation of various disparate attitudes and beliefs that are often informed by general society. In essence, we suggest that TAM is more nuanced. It is based on a belief-generating cognitive mechanism that begins by drawing on multiple sources of experience and knowledge that are integrated to formulate a judgement (e.g., to what extent is this animal intelligent?) or belief (e.g., I am of the view that most animals are

The Theory of Animal Mind: Evidence of Influencing Psychological Theories

Given that views on the existence of animal mind are influenced by the idea of animals as social agents [7], we consider four theories, with origins in social psychology, and their supporting evidence: Simulation Theory (ST), Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CD), Terror Management Theory (TM), and Social Dominance Theory (SD).

Simulation Theory

In interacting with social ‘others’, we attempt to make sense of behaviour and predict future actions. Therefore, TAM, as the capacity to attribute mental states to nonhumans, is likely to be influenced by ToM capabilities. This is supported by evidence suggesting that, similar to human–human attributions [18], we confer greater mind to animals as we age 11, 19, most likely because we accrue more experiences on which to form the beliefs and/or judgements, and to specify the details of the

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Empirical evidence suggests predominant societal attitudes to meat eating underpin production animals being ascribed lower mental capacities, which is an attempt to reduce the cognitive dissonance arising from this ethically contentious yet widely adopted societal custom 27, 28. As such, these mechanisms of dissonance reduction are likely to impact TAM and manifest as opposing correlations between TAM and support for: (i) animal use (negative) [19]; and (ii) animal welfare (positive) [10].

Theory of Animal Mind: Innate or Acquired?

Having set out what we propose as a candidate mechanism that underpins TAM, as well as current theoretical proposals regarding TAM, we now consider a key question that all theories need to address, namely: is TAM innate or acquired? In other words, should a special status be attributed to the formation of TAM? From the theories reviewed, the basic mechanism of TAM is similar to other processes and/or theories of belief formation. However, the bank of perceived knowledge the mechanism uses is

Are there Limitations to Conclusions Drawn from Empirical Research on TAM?

To summarise, the effects of individual and social factors on the mechanism of TAM are clearly interactive and fluid, and warrant investigation. Yet, despite several variables, such as age, species of animal, and cultural background, being of consequence, based on the evidence we have at present, the direction and magnitude of effects is often disputed (e.g., meat consumption based on gender). Additionally, even for those factors considered influential, the variance in TAM they account for is

Targeting Issues and Improving Tools of Assessment

To align scale use with meaningful comparisons between studies investigating TAM, we propose a more focussed research program examining the construct formation in TAM. To achieve this, we propose a Reflective Measurement Model [52] (Figure 2). This model would allow movement away from considering TAM as a single dimension (supported by the results of 21, 35), allowing greater analysis of the role of specific mental capacities within an overarching belief in animal mentality.

We suggest the use

Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives

People’s views of the mental abilities of animals, and the resulting moral duty for their welfare, have considerable economic, social, and political consequences. Despite this, TAM has received relatively little scientific attention and the ambiguity in the results generated from work in this area may be attributable to the methods and tools used. More to the point, we propose that construct formation, a core component of the mechanism of TAM, has been particularly underexplored. Future

Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by an ESRC Grant (ES/J5000124/1) to the authors. We thank World Animal Protection for their support with the project. We also thank Jonathan Nelson, Guiomar Liste, Rebecca Adlem, the Editor and the reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts.

Glossary

Anthropocentrism
the belief that humans are the most important species in existence and source of all value, resulting in the interpretation of reality according to human values, needs, and experience.
Anthropomorphism
the attribution of ‘uniquely’ human characteristics to nonhuman entities; originally viewed as a hindrance to scientific methods, increasing understanding of animal cognition has generated issues in delineating anthropomorphism as the unjustified attribution of mental states versus

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