59 undergraduates were assigned randomly to react to a vignette that depicted abuse of a small child or a puppy left in a hot car. While participants considered treatment of both the child and the puppy to be abusive, they rated treatment of the child as more abusive. A pro-animal orientation of participants was more important in perception of abusiveness than was the variable of child versus puppy. Perceptions of greater abusiveness resulted in harsher recommended punishment for the abuser. Results are interpreted within the context of social roles and human and animal rights.
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