Anthropomorphism, empathy, and perceived communicative ability vary with phylogenetic relatedness to humans.

Abstract

Participants in the present study completed an online questionnaire that assessed empathy for a list of animals and perceived empathic and communicative abilitiesanthropomorphic attributions—of said list of animals varying in phylogenetic relatedness to humans. Results showed near-perfect relationships between perceived empathic and communicative variables, and near-perfect relationships between these variables and phylogenetic relatedness to humans. Further, the majority of participants were more likely to use the animate pronouns “he” and “she” versus the inanimate pronoun “it” when referring to all animal exemplars except invertebrates, and this animate pronoun use was highly correlated with phylogenetic relatedness to humans. These data substantiate that the tendency to anthropomorphize varies with a species’ genetic relatedness to humans. Further, these data provide evidence for the interconnectedness of empathy and communication and highlight the relationship between these cognitive processes and anthropomorphism. The relationship between anthropomorphism and animal welfare is discussed.