Keywords
Abuse; Animal; Personality; Deviance; Ethics; Pet
Abstract
Previous research has looked at the association between personality traits and the proclivity, or history, of committing acts that are characterized as animal abuse or animal cruelty. Much research has also found that individuals who exhibit this type of behavior towards animals also tend to exhibit similar behavior towards other individuals, mainly in the form of domestic or child abuse. Previous studies have measured animal abuse using very explicit and extreme criteria, using acts that are without question blatant abuse or torture; however, there is some grey area where many may argue whether certain acts should be considered abuse, which could escalate later on in one's life to full-blown abuse. To cover this disputed grey area, we created the Permissiveness of Ethical Treatment (PET) scale to measure one's permissiveness of animal treatment, specifically focusing on behaviors that fall into this grey area of controversial but often legal practices. We analyzed the relationship between PET scores and the mini IPIP, also commonly known as the Big Five personality inventory, in conjunction with sex and age. Our results found agreeableness, sex, and age to be significant predictors of PET scores, partially matching relationships with overt animal abuse.
Thesis Completion Year
2025
Thesis Completion Semester
Fall
Thesis Chair
Chin, Matthew
College
College of Sciences
Department
Psychology
Thesis Discipline
Psychology
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
Subjects
Pets--Psychology; Animals--Psychological testing; Personality assessment--Research; Human-animal relationships--Psychological aspects; Pets--Moral and ethical aspects
STARS Citation
HILTON, ZACKERY J., "Measuring Personality and Animal Treatment Attitudes with the PET Scale" (2025). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 436.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/436
Included in
Other Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social Psychology Commons
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