Accurate recognition of emotions in non-human species is crucial for the welfare of animals under human care; however, the factors contributing to interpersonal differences in this ability remain unclear. This study explored whether self-reported empathy towards animals (AES), social dominance orientation (SDO), and speciesist attitudes (SPEC) correlated with humans’ ability to recognise emotional valence (negative vs. positive) and arousal (low or high). Visitors at Korkeasaari Zoo (Helsinki, Finland) rated the emotional valence and arousal depicted in short video clips of Barbary macaques, tigers, and markhors, and completed questionnaires including demographic information and psychometric measures (AES, SDO, SPEC). A total of 681 respondents provided 3143 ratings of emotional states, which were compared to expert ratings. On average, valence was recognised correctly at 67% and arousal at 70%. For both valence and arousal, respondents were most accurate when evaluating Barbary macaques (valence 84%, arousal 92%), followed by markhors (valence 78%, arousal 84%) and tigers (valence 44%, arousal 46%). Notably, tiger emotions were recognised at below chance level, indicating systemic misinterpretation. Contrary to our hypotheses, interpersonal variation in empathy, social dominance and speciesist attitudes were not associated with recognition accuracy. Similarly, no effects were found for gender or pet ownership. The results suggest that humans may process species-specific visual cues of animal emotions differently from auditory cues, the recognition of which has been shown to be affected by the human listener’s level of empathy. Given the implications for animal welfare, it is essential to provide education on emotions in animals, including guidance on how to recognise species-specific expressions and body language, and to raise people's general awareness that feelings of empathy towards an animal per se do not necessarily guarantee interspecific understanding. • People’s ability to recognise animal emotions is vital for improvements in welfare • Zoo visitors’ recognition accuracy on video was compared to self-reported traits • Higher empathy and attitudes towards animals did not improve emotion recognition • Tiger emotions were recognised at a lower than chance rate and often misunderstood • Recognising species-specific expressions is not intuitive but requires learning
Hiisivuori et al. (Fri,) studied this question.