Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination, Appendix:  Animals as an Outgroup.

Is There Such a Thing as Prejudice Toward Animals?

1. What is speciesism?
2. Give some examples (at least two) of dissonance-reducing statements about animals are similar to other dissonance-reducing statements.
3. How did Ringling Brothers Circus combine racism and speciesism in one show?
4. What vocabulary words demonstrate parallels between speciesism and other forms of prejudice?
5. What are some of the results of the physical remoteness of most animal industries?
6. Examine table 1 on page 515.  How many of those items did you think were true?  Which ones surprised you the most?  What is your reaction to these items?
7. How are American children taught to both love and consume animals?
8. What is one of the most common means of dissonance reduction?
9. What evidence is there that human physiology is actually more common to that of vegetarian species, and how many human groups are actually vegetarian or semi-vegetarian?
10. (Extra credit) What was the famous line used when Charlie the Tuna was not chosen to be killed and made into canned tuna?
11. What are the reasons to think that hunting and trapping are not performed as a service to animals?
12. Explain the “Similarity Principle.”

A Sampler of Dissonance-Reducing Statements in Support of Harming Animals?

13. Choose three of these statements and compare them to statements you have read in the textbook about other outgroups.

Gaps in the Mind

14. What did Tommy Vladak say about how the job affected his attitude and actions?
15. Why are some hogs beaten to death at the Morrell facility?
16. What did Tommy Tice share about is attitude towards people’s pain after working in the Morrell plant?