Do psychopathic traits predict public reaction against animal abuse better than empathy? (P039)

• In Event: Poster session

Abstract

The defence of animal rights is currently an issue of public interest. In Spain, animal abuse is an environmental crime included in the Criminal Code. Research has found that the personality variables most related to animal abuse are the psychopathic trait of callousness (Rock et al., 2021) and the lack of affective empathy (Plant et al., 2019). The aim of this study is to analyse whether psychopathic traits influences people’s perceptions and reactions to animal abuse more than empathy, and whether this relationship depends on the type of animal abused. Animal abuse is compared also with other environmental crime that does not directly involve living being, such as illegal dumping. Participants were 402 people of both genders, ranging from 18 to 88 years of age, living in a territory of high environmental protection. They were asked to rate ten scenarios, based on press releases, describing one of three types of transgression of environmental laws: abuse of protected animals, abuse of domestic animals, or illegal dumping. They answered using eight Likert-type scales: frequency, severity, justification, intentionality, indignation, punishment, personal intervention and calling the police. In addition, they answered to the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits and to the Basic Empathy Scale. The results show that the variable that explains the highest percentage of the variance in participant’s perceptions and reactions is the psychopathic trait uncaring, both for the two types of animals abuse and for illegal dumping. The psychopathic trait of callousness was related to participants’ reactions but not to participants’ perception, and only when the abuse was against domestic animals. Affective empathy was related to participant perception for abuse of protected animals. The percentages of explained variance highlight the need of studying the role of variables other than personality traits in explaining social perception and reaction against animal abuse.

Authors

• Andrea Vera, Universidad de La Laguna

• Rosario Marrero, Universidad de La Laguna

• Stephany Hess, Universidad de La Laguna

• Ana M. Martín, Universidad de La Laguna