每日英語跟讀 Ep.K361: Farm animals and humans should be treated the same, children say
Children think farm animals deserve to be treated as well as human beings but lose this belief in adolescence, a groundbreaking study has found.
一項開創性的研究發現，孩子們認為農場動物應該像人類一樣受到對待，但在青春期就失去了這種信念。
Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford asked a group of British children aged nine to 11, young adults aged 18 to 21 and older men and women about their attitudes to different sorts of animals.
來自埃克塞特大學和牛津大學的研究人員詢問了一組9至11歲的英國兒童，18至21歲的年輕人以及年齡較大的男性和女性，以了解他們對不同種類動物的態度。
In general, the children said farm animals and human beings should be treated the same and found eating animals less morally acceptable than both sets of adults. The findings suggest that “speciesism” — a moral hierarchy that gives different value to different animals — is learned during adolescence, according to the study.
普遍來說，孩子們說農場動物和人類應該得到同樣的對待，並且發現吃動物在道德上不如兩組成年人。研究結果表明，「物種主義」——一種賦予不同動物不同價值的道德等級制度——是在青春期學習的。
“Humans’ relationship with animals is full of ethical double standards,” said the lead author, Luke McGuire, a lecturer at the University of Exeter who specializes in social and moral development. “Some animals are beloved household companions, while others are kept in factory farms for economic benefit. Judgments seem to largely depend on the species of the animal in question: dogs are our friends, pigs are food.”
“人類與動物的關係充滿了道德雙重標準，”主要作者，埃克塞特大學（University of Exeter）專門研究社會和道德發展的講師盧克·麥奎爾（Luke McGuire）說。“有些動物是心愛的家庭伴侶，而另一些則為了經濟利益而被飼養在工廠化農場。判斷似乎在很大程度上取決於所討論動物的種類：狗是我們的朋友，豬是食物。
The report says an important aspect of the human mind is “moral acrobatics”: people can hold ethical values that contradict each other and employ moral double standards. But the origins of moral acrobatics relating to animals is poorly understood and the researchers say this new study provides some of the first evidence examining the differences in how children and adults think about animal treatment.
報告說，人類思維的一個重要方面是“道德雜技”：人們可以持有相互矛盾的道德價值觀，並採用道德雙重標準。但是，與動物有關的道德雜技的起源知之甚少，研究人員表示，這項新研究提供了一些初步證據，檢查了兒童和成人如何看待動物治療的差異。
Among other tasks, participants in the study were presented with pictures including a farm animal and companion animals and asked to categorize them as “food”, “pet” or “object”. They were asked how animals were treated, and how they should be treated.
除其他任務外，該研究的參與者還獲得了包括農場動物和伴侶動物在內的圖片，並被要求將它們歸類為“食物”，“寵物”或“物體”。他們被問及如何對待動物，以及應該如何對待它們。
Children did not judge all animals to be equal. They concluded, in fact, that dogs ought to be treated better than pigs — but also that pigs ought not to be treated differently from humans. The two sets of adult groups said pigs ought to be treated less well than dogs, while humans and dogs ought to be treated the same.
孩子們並沒有判斷所有的動物都是平等的。事實上，他們得出的結論是，狗應該比豬受到更好的對待，但也不應該對豬的待遇與人類不同。這兩組成年群體表示，豬應該比狗受到的待遇要差，而人類和狗應該受到同樣的對待。
McGuire said the study suggests that while children think farm animals and humans ought to be treated equally well, by adulthood people believe that companion animals and humans ought to be treated better. He said children rated eating animals as significantly less permissible than young adults and adults did.
McGuire說，這項研究表明，雖然孩子們認為農場動物和人類應該得到同等的對待，但到了成年人，人們認為伴侶動物和人類應該得到更好的對待。他說，兒童認為吃動物比年輕人和成年人的允許性要低得多。
The paper, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, is titled “The development of speciesism: age-related differences in the moral view of animals.”
這篇論文發表在《社會心理與人格科學》（Social Psychological and Personality Science）雜誌上，題目是“物種主義的發展：動物道德觀中與年齡相關的差異”。Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2022/04/19/2003776807