“Liking,” “Commenting,” and “Reposting”: Psychological factors associated to online animal abuse

Advancements in technology and internet accessibility bring potential for new forms of offending behavior. Social Networking Sites (SNS) provide platforms for nonhuman animal abuse to be displayed and interacted with. There is a dearth of research into the characteristics of animal abuse perpetrated with the intent to be displayed on SNS. The aim of this study was to explore the psychological correlates of engagement with SNS content depicting animal abuse and likelihood to create new animal abuse content. One hundred and eighty-five university students completed an online questionnaire, which included their self-reported likelihood to engage with images of animal abuse on SNS (i.e., “like,” “comment,” “share,” and/or recreate). We found high levels of animal-oriented callousness, as opposed to other predicted factors (e.g., narcissism), were significantly related to likelihood to recreate animal abuse for display on SNS. The implications of the findings such as factors associated with bystander intervention are discussed.