Table 4. Participants' Ideas about the Origins of their Own and the Opposing Group's View of Animal Experimentation

Idea

Number of participants reporting each idea

Animal rights campaigners - themselves:

Experience of animals as a child (e.g., pets, wildlife)

9

Free thinker, open-minded, non-conformist, questioning

7

Strong feeling for justice, morality

5

Sensitive, empathic, caring sort of person

5

Concern for the "underdog" in society

4

Animal researchers - themselves:

Interest in science, curiosity, desire to know how things work

13

Compassion and desire to help people (and animals) through medicine

10

Experience of animals as a child (e.g., farm animals)

5

Inevitability of animal experiments for understanding disease, etc.

4

Belief that their work is humane

3

Animal rights campaigners - the opposing group:

Corrupted by the "system" (i.e., science, the establishment, education)

12

Insensitive, unempathetic, uncaring

5

Narrow-minded, unquestioning, closed to new ideas

4

Humans and animals are perceived as very different

4

They just do it for the job, money, prestige

4

Bullies, superior, arrogant, selfish people

4

Lack of experience with animals

3

Sadists

3

Animal researchers - the opposing group:

Young, impressionable, gullible, immature

9

Animal lovers, sentimental, sensitive

8

Lack of interest in/understanding of science

7

Anti-establishment, anarchistic, need for a "cause"

7

Exposed to misleading propaganda

5

Failures; lacking education, success, achievement

4

Dislike or hatred of mankind

4

Intolerant, fanatical, bigoted

4

Hypocrites

3

Lack of experience of human suffering

1