Psychological and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Attitudes toward Animals

The study investigates the individual differences in attitudes to animals, in the attempt at finding a wider predictive model that includes both sociodemographic and psychological variables. The adapted Romanian versions of the Attitudes to Animals Scale (AAS), Empathy to Animals Scale (ETA) and Belief in Animal Mind Questionnaire (BAM) were administered to 2683 participants in an online survey. Significant correlations between anthropomorphic beliefs, animal directed empathy and attitudes to animals were observed. Gender, owning a companion animal, anthropomorphic beliefs, cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy to animals were significant predictors of attitudes to animals. These findings are discussed. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.