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Human Bias

This note collects evidence demonstrating the need for self-governance of all agents, including nonhuman beings.

  • geographic
  • taxonomic
  • citation
  • larger species
  • land over ocean
  • charismatic species
  • evolutionary relatives
  • temperate over tropical

Examples of Bias in Life Sciences

Preference for charismatic species

Colléony, Agathe, Susan Clayton, Denis Couvet, Michel Saint Jalme, and Anne-Caroline Prévot. ‘Human Preferences for Species Conservation: Animal Charisma Trumps Endangered Status’. Biological Conservation 206 (2017): 263–69. https://doi.org/10/f9wz8q.

But being charismatic does not help as humans end up thinking there are a lot of you.

Courchamp, Franck, Ivan Jaric, Céline Albert, Yves Meinard, William J. Ripple, and Guillaume Chapron. ‘The Paradoxical Extinction of the Most Charismatic Animals’. PLOS Biology 16, no. 4 (2018): e2003997. https://doi.org/10/gdbdmq.

Bellon, Alejandro M. ‘Does Animal Charisma Influence Conservation Funding for Vertebrate Species Under the US Endangered Species Act?’ Environmental Economics and Policy Studies 21, no. 3 (2019): 399–411. https://doi.org/10/gmqbqp.

Preference for larger body

Berti, Emilio, Sophie Monsarrat, Michael Munk, Scott Jarvie, and Jens-Christian Svenning. ‘Body Size Is a Good Proxy for Vertebrate Charisma’. Biological Conservation 251 (2020): 108790. https://doi.org/10/ghjjcd.

Preference for closer evolutionary relatives

Miralles, Aurélien, Michel Raymond, and Guillaume Lecointre. ‘Empathy and Compassion Toward Other Species Decrease with Evolutionary Divergence Time’. Scientific Reports 9, no. 1 (2019): 19555. https://doi.org/10/ggp7t9.

Thomas, Howard, Helen Ougham, and Dawn Sanders. ‘Plant Blindness and Sustainability’. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 23, no. 1 (2021): 41–57. https://doi.org/10/gjq9ts.

In Europe, funding for conservation between 1992 and 2018 through LIFE projects was:

  • 150 million for invertebrates
  • 970 million for vertebrates

Mammola, Stefano, Nicoletta Riccardi, Vincent Prié, Ricardo Correia, Pedro Cardoso, Manuel Lopes-Lima, and Ronaldo Sousa. ‘Towards a Taxonomically Unbiased European Union Biodiversity Strategy for 2030’. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, no. 1940 (2020): 20202166. https://doi.org/10/gjfxkt.

This bias is contrary to the extinction risk: 26.3% of invertebrates are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable vs 13.3% of vertebrates. (see IUCN Red List)

Preference to temperate over tropical

Culumber, Zachary W., Jaime M. Anaya-Rojas, William W. Booker, Alexandra P. Hooks, Elizabeth C. Lange, Benjamin Pluer, Natali Ramírez-Bullón, and Joseph Travis. “Widespread Biases in Ecological and Evolutionary Studies.” BioScience 69, no. 8 (2019): 631–40. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz063.

References

Swartz, Brian, and Brent D. Mishler, eds. Speciesism in Biology and Culture: How Human Exceptionalism Is Pushing Planetary Boundaries. Cham: Springer, 2022.

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