Bastian Jaeger

Suffering is bad – no matter who experiences it or where it occurs – and we should try to prevent it as much as we can. Most of my research is motivated by this simple observation. I think psychology plays an important role in this project because the biggest moral issues do not always capture our attention, empathy, and compassion. I study the psychological factors that make us care about some individuals but not others, and why our altruistic acts often fail to reduce suffering in an effective way. A tremendous amount of suffering is experienced by the trillions of non-human animals that are killed in factory farms every year. My work explores how people reason about the moral standing of animals. I try to put these insights into practice by testing how we can reduce animal suffering, for example, by changing attitudes toward animals or by reducing meat consumption. I also helped create LIME, a website where researchers, advocates, and other stakeholders can explore and analyze the scientific literature on meat reduction interventions.