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“The inconsistencies that haunt our relationships with animals also result from the quirks of human cognition. We like to think of ourselves as the rational species. But research in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics shows that our thinking and behavior are often completely illogical. In one study, for example, groups of people were independently asked how much they would give to prevent waterfowl from being killed in polluted oil ponds. On average, the subjects said they would pay $80 to save 2,000 birds, $78 to save 20,000 birds, and $88 to save 200,000 birds. Sometimes animals act more logically than people do; a recent study found that when picking a new home, the decisions of ant colonies were more rational than those of human house-hunters. What is it about human psychology that makes it so difficult for us to think consistently about animals? The paradoxes that plague our interactions with other species are due to the fact that much of our thinking is a mire of instinct, learning, language, culture, intuition, and our reliance on mental shortcuts.”

ThinkingPsychologyBehaviorEthicsLogicCharityDecision MakingParadoxAnimalsCognitionRationalismIllogicalRational Thought
Book:Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
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“Psycholinguists argue about whether language reflects our perception of reality or helps create them. I am in the latter camp. Take the names we give the animals we eat. The Patagonian toothfish is a prehistoric-looking creature with teeth like needles and bulging yellowish eyes that lives in deep waters off the coast of South America. It did not catch on with sophisticated foodies until an enterprising Los Angeles importer renamed it the considerably more palatable "Chilean sea bass.”

NamesLanguageFoodLinguisticsFoodieEating Animals
Book:Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
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“For some researchers and animal protection organisations, the connection between animal cruelty and human violence has become a moral crusade pursued with missionary zeal. Some researchers, however, have come to question simplistic Link thinking. They worry that Link advocates and the media are perpetuating an irrational moral panic among the public. Link skeptics don't argue that we should ignore animal abuse. Rather, they believe that we should treat animal abuse as a serious problem in its own right, not because it turns children into adult psychopaths.”

PsychologyAnimalsSociology
Book:Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
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“Scientists have reported that elephants grieve their dead, monkeys perceive injustice and cockatoos like to dance to the music of the Backstreet Boys.”

MonkeysElephantsAnimal BehaviorBackstreet BoysAnimal ResearchAnthrozoologyAnimal ConsciousnessAnimal CognitionCockatoosEmotions In Animals
Book:Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
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“What the new science of anthrozoology reveals is that our attitudes, behaviors, and relationships with the animals in our lives- the ones we love, the ones we hate, and the ones we eat- are, likewise, more complicated than we thought.”

SciencePsychologyAnimalsHuman BehaviorHasHuman Animal RelationshipsAnthrozoologyHuman Animal StudiesNon Human AnimalsHuman Cognition
Book:Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
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