Human-Animal Relations

The Human-Animal Relations research group examines how humans perceive animal minds and how these perceptions shape moral judgment, responsibility, and social practice. As empirical research increasingly documents sophisticated cognitive capacities in non-human animals, understanding how beliefs about animal minds develop and vary across cultures has become a central scientific and societal challenge. The group studies how children and adults attribute thoughts, feelings, and intentions to animals, how distinctions between humans and other species are drawn, and how these beliefs inform moral standing, welfare decisions, and attitudes toward practices such as meat consumption. Developmental and cross-cultural approaches reveal which aspects of human mental exceptionalism are universal, which are culturally variable, and how they change across the lifespan. By linking comparative cognition with developmental psychology and moral reasoning, the group provides a framework for understanding how scientific knowledge about animal minds enters society—and how it reshapes human–animal relationships in ethical, political, and ecological contexts.