ABSTRACT Intensive animal production practices lead to animal suffering worldwide. This study examined whether farmers cope with the negative impact of farming practices on their animals by ascribing them less capacity to suffer compared with other species. Most people like eating meat but find animal suffering emotionally disturbing. Human omnivores employ a variety of strategies to navigate this “meat paradox,” and one of these is to reduce their perception of animals’ capacity to suffer. Psychological defenses associated with meat-eating have been widely researched, but this study provides the first investigation into how these are employed amongst those involved in meat production and focusses on intensive pig producers as an example. Seventy-six pig farmers reported their belief in pigs’ capacity to experience pain, hunger, fear, and boredom in a paper-based survey employing visual analogue scales. Their responses were compared with their perceptions of livestock that they did not farm (cows) and two companion animal species (dogs and cats). These results were compared with people who had similar experience of working with pigs (15 specialized pig veterinarians) and those who had no experience of pigs (23 agricultural students, 22 animal science students, and 58 citizens unrelated to agriculture). The results of the 194 responses provide evidence to suggest that the pig farmers did not ascribe their animals a diminished capacity to suffer. Rather, pig farmers expressed an enhanced belief in pigs’ capacity to experience hunger. All comparison groups expressed widespread belief in each species’ capacity to suffer. Nevertheless, dogs were the species judged to be most capable of suffering, and animal science students gave the highest suffering scores overall. Farmers are directly responsible for the welfare of their animals, and further investigation into the psychological and behavioral strategies of farmers may provide insight into non-financial reasons behind the generally slow progress in improving animal welfare.

中文翻译：

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相信猪的承受能力：对养猪户、兽医、学生和公民的评估

摘要 集约化的动物生产实践导致世界范围内的动物遭受痛苦。这项研究检查了农民是否通过认为与其他物种相比较少的承受能力来应对耕作方式对其动物的负面影响。大多数人喜欢吃肉，但发现动物的痛苦会让人情绪不安。人类杂食动物采用各种策略来应对这种“肉类悖论”，其中之一就是减少他们对动物承受痛苦能力的看法。与吃肉相关的心理防御已被广泛研究，但本研究首次调查了这些心理防御如何在参与肉类生产的人中使用，并以集约化养猪生产者为例。76 位养猪户表示，他们相信猪有能力体验痛苦、饥饿、恐惧、和使用视觉模拟量表的纸质调查中的无聊。他们的反应与他们对家畜（奶牛）和两种伴侣动物（狗和猫）的看法进行了比较。将这些结果与有类似养猪经验的人（15 名专业养猪兽医）和没有养猪经验的人（23 名农业学生、22 名动物科学学生和 58 名与农业无关的公民）进行了比较。194 份回复的结果提供了证据，表明养猪户并未将他们的动物的受苦能力降低。相反，养猪户表达了对猪承受饥饿能力的更深的信念。所有对照组都表达了对每个物种受苦能力的普遍看法。尽管如此，狗是被认为最有能力受苦的物种，动物科学专业的学生总体上给出了最高的受苦分数。农民对其动物的福利负有直接责任，进一步调查农民的心理和行为策略可以深入了解改善动物福利进展缓慢背后的非经济原因。