Research shows that adult meat eaters strategically distort or disregard information about animals (e.g., their intelligence) that is problematic for meat consumption. However, the development of such behaviours is not well understood. Two studies tested whether primary-school-age children exhibit motivated use of information about food animals as adults do (N = 148 children, 410 adults). Using experimental methods that manipulated participants’ perceptions of the intelligence (high vs. low) of food animals versus non-food animals (Study 1) and the perspective taken (self vs. other; Study 2), it was found that, compared to adult omnivores, children tend to hold stronger moral views about the wrongness of harming animals to use as food. Only adults exhibited motivated non-use of intelligence information and self-other distinctions in their moral-concern judgments. Children's judgments of eating animals did not exhibit the strategic, self-serving processes characteristic of adult meat eaters. Psychological explanations for these developmental differences are discussed.

中文翻译：

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吃一只聪明的鸡有多糟糕？儿童对吃动物的判断不像成年人那样“自私”

研究表明，成年肉食者战略性地扭曲或忽视有关动物的信息（例如，它们的智力），这对肉类消费有问题。然而，这种行为的发展尚不清楚。两项研究测试了小学学龄儿童是否表现出像成人一样积极使用有关食用动物的信息（N  = 148 名儿童，410 名成人）。使用实验方法操纵参与者对食用动物与非食用动物的智力（高与低）的看法（研究 1）以及所采取的观点（自我与他人；研究 2），结果发现，与与成年杂食动物相比，儿童往往对伤害动物作为食物的错误持有更强烈的道德观点。只有成年人在道德关怀判断中表现出有动机地不使用情报信息和自我他人差异。儿童对吃动物的判断并没有表现出成年肉食者所特有的策略性、自私自利的过程。讨论了这些发育差异的心理学解释。