EA - Giving Farm Animals a Name and a Face: The Power of The Identifiable Victim Effect by Rakefet Cohen Ben-Arye

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Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Giving Farm Animals a Name and a Face: The Power of The Identifiable Victim Effect, published by Rakefet Cohen Ben-Arye on January 16, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.In this post, we provide an overview of our recent scientific paper, "Giving Farm Animals a Name and a Face: Eliciting Animal Advocacy among Omnivores using the Identifiable Victim Effect," which was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. We delve into the findings of our study with Dr. Eliran Halali, highlighting the benefits of telling the story of a single identifiable individual and its implications for future research on animal advocacy.IntroductionIn an era where we are no longer dependent on animal protein and can survive and even thrive on plant-based nutrition - a diet that is increasingly recognized for its health (Melina, Craig, and Levin 2016) and environmental benefits (Ranganathan et al. 2016), our study "Giving Farm Animals a Name and a Face" explores a unique approach to animal advocacy. We investigate whether the identifiable victim effect, a well-documented phenomenon in eliciting prosocial behavior (Small and Loewenstein, 2003), can be leveraged to promote empathy and action toward farm animals among omnivores.The Identifiable Victim EffectPrevious research has shown that stories about a single, identifiable victim are more effective in evoking prosocial affect and behavior than information about anonymous or statistical victims (Jenni and Loewenstein 1997; Small, Loewenstein, and Slovic 2007; Kogut and Ritov 2005b, [a] 2005).This phenomenon, known as the identifiable victim effect, although usually accompanied by a photo or a video of the identifiable victim, suggests that even minimal identifiability can significantly increase caring and donations (Small and Loewenstein 2003). Our research expands on this concept, exploring its application in animal advocacy and, mainly, whether one can elicit compassion for farm animals among omnivores.The Identifiable Animal Victim EffectResearch on the identifiable victim effect, primarily focused on human beneficiaries, has only recently expanded to animal victims. Studies explored this effect with endangered animals and climate crisis (Markowitz et al. 2013; Hsee and Rottenstreich 2004). Markowitz's study (2013) revealed that non-environmentalists were more likely to donate to a single identified animal victim, such as a panda than a group.However, this effect was not as prominent among environmentalists, possibly due to their already high prosocial intentions. These findings suggest that the identifiable victim effect can be a crucial factor in animal advocacy, highlighting the unique impact of emotional connection to a single, identifiable animal.Our study uniquely challenges the identifiable victim effect by focusing on omnivores, who are the very reason the victim needs help in the first place.MethodParticipants were exposed to an experimental intervention and answered questionnaires.InterventionLucky's story. Drawing inspiration from real-life cases, we centered on Lucky, a fictional calf who was given a name and a face (picture), or unidentified calves without a name and a face.Potential mechanismsSympathy. For example, "Lucky's (The farm animals') story made me very sad."Personal distress. For example, "I felt sympathy toward Lucky (the farm animal)."Ambivalence towards meat. For example, "I feel torn between the two sides of eating meat."Potential conditionsConcern. For example, "When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them."Perspective-taking. For example: "I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both."Empathy. For example: "If I see someone fidgeting, I'll start feeling anxious too."Identification with animals. Compos...