Özet:

Abstract The attitudes that are formed due to human-animal interactions has proven to be an essential and unique research field for psychology. This study aims to determine whether the attitudes of adults towards animal rights significantly differ according to the following variables: gender, educational background, marital status, having children, pet ownership, and membership to non-governmental organizations dealing with animal right issues. It also examines how attitudes towards animal rights predict empathy. The participants of the study are 493 adults (289 female, 204 male), living in Turkey. The participants were determined through convenient sampling method. The data was collected through Attitudes towards Animal Rights Scale and Basic Empathy Scale. Independent samples t-test and multiple standard linear regression analysis were used for the analysis. The results revealed significant differences between the participants’ attitudes towards animal rights and their gender, educational background, marital status, having children, pet ownership, having a pet in the past and membership to non-governmental organizations dealing with animal right issues. In addition, regression analysis showed that attitudes towards animal rights and having pets in the past accounted for empathy. The study showed that respect to animal rights is an important variable that accounts for empathy. Suggestions and directions for further research are discussed. Author Biographies Aybüke Demir, Ministry of National Education Turkey [email protected] 0000-0003-4731-2397

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