Humans seem to consider "edible" animals to be stupid and companion animals to be smart.

What many people believe about animal intelligence may stem from denial used to justify factory farming.

Cattle were domesticated around 10,500 years ago, yet a study shows a herd can still survive without humans.

In both German and English, the expression "you stupid cow" is quite common. I have always wondered why we admire horses and yet speak ill of cattle, which were domesticated much earlier—around 10,500 years ago—and have provided us with dairy products, meat, and leather ever since. Well, there is a whole book about it: Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, which claims that, in particular in Western cultures, farmed animals are exploited while dogs are treated like family members. We eat certain animals and have therefore developed mechanisms to justify this practice. The three primary defence mechanisms are denial, justification, and cognitive distortion.

One such mechanism is the denial that animals suffer in factory farming. Justification means considering eating these animals is normal, natural, and necessary. However, the most interesting defence mechanism for me is cognitive distortion.

How humans choose to view animal intelligence

Animals are downgraded to objects and abstractions. For example, we tend to consider "edible" animals as stupid and companion animals as smart. This makes it easier to eat a cow and admire a horse.

Of course, there are significant cultural differences in how different species of animals........

© Psychology Today