Abstract
Terror management theory and research indicate that humans cope with concerns about mortality by believing we are more than nonhuman animals. The current studies investigated whether this motivation plays a role in believing humans are more intelligent than other animals. Study 1 had participants think about mortality or another unpleasant topic. The study found that after the death reminder, participants had more negative reactions to a scientific article describing dolphins as smarter than humans, but not to an article that merely focused on dolphins' intelligence. Study 2 had participants read an article about dolphins being smarter than humans or an article describing dolphin intelligence without a comparison to humans. Participants then completed a measure that assessed how close to consciousness thoughts of death were. Those who read that dolphins were smarter than humans exhibited higher levels of death-related thought. These results may have important implications for conserving intelligent animal species.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 469-489 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Society and Animals |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2018 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Creatureliness
- Death
- Mortality salience
- Terror management theory
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- veterinary(all)
- Sociology and Political Science