SHARKLab is dedicated to the psychological study of human-animal relations and led by Dr Kristof Dhont, based in the School of Psychology at the University of Kent. Our goal is to gain insights into the processes leading to prejudiced and compassionate attitudes and behaviours towards non-human animals.
Our main areas of current research projects are in the following broad domains:
- The psychological, social and societal factors shaping how people perceive and think about animals, human-animal relations, and animal welfare and rights.
- The connections and intersections between human-animal relations and human intergroup relations as well as between animal ethics and other social justice domains including environmentalism, feminism, and anti-racism.
- The psychology of speciesism, animal cruelty, and meat consumption versus vegetarianism/veganism.
- The impact of interventions and advocacy strategies on intergroup bias, animal abuse offending, meat and animal product consumption, support for animal rights.
credits: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals