Social Dominance and Legitimizing Myths about Animal Use

The present study tested the hypothesis that the relation between social dominance orientation and the endorsement of legitimizing myths about the human use of nonhuman animals is moderated by the salience of that use. Eighty-two student participants read an article about agriculture that focused on either animal or crop production and then completed measures of legitimizing myths about animal use, speciesism, and social dominance orientation. In support of the hypothesis, legitimizing myths and speciesism were endorsed among people higher in social dominance orientation in the animal agriculture condition but not in the crop agriculture condition. This illustrates that when issues regarding the human use of animals are salient, people who support inequality between human groups are likely to appeal to justifications of practices in animal use that benefit humans. More broadly, it illustrates that a similar nexus between social dynamics and psychological variables sustains both human intergroup inequality and hierarchical human–animal relationships.