The development of humans' moral views of other animals

McGuire, Luke and Piazza, Jared and Faber, Nadira S and Liebal, Katja and Wilks, Matti (2026) The development of humans' moral views of other animals. Child Development Perspectives: aadaf001. ISSN 1750-8592

Abstract

Humans' moral views of animals vary in important ways across development. In many cases, adults display anthropocentric moral judgments that relate to the exploitation of animals as a resource. In contrast, children appear to have a more inclusive perspective regarding animals. In this article, we review and synthesize studies examining differences in how children, adolescents, and adults make moral judgments about animals. We consider how both cultural and individual differences may relate to this developmental trajectory.