Stefan Leach
Biographic Data
| ID | 5448788 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stefan Leach |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stefan |
| FAMILY NAME | Leach |
| SIGNATURE | LEACH S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Kent |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4065-3519 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Moral Outrage Predicts the Virality of Petitions for Change on Social Media, But Not the Number of Signatures They Receive
Social media is a powerful tool for activists to share their perspectives, but concerns persist that the viral spread of online moral outrage may undermine collective causes in some ways. Analyzing posts on X ( n = 1,286,442) with URLs to petitions on www.change.org ( n = 24,785), we found that expressions of outrage were uniquely associated with the number of times posts were liked and reposted (virality). Mediation analyses showed that outrage …
Changing minds about minds
Our relationships with other animals are governed by how we view their capacity for sentience and suffering. However, there is currently little agreement as to whether people's beliefs about animal minds are largely accurate or inaccurate. We used an innovative task to examine how people update their beliefs in response to noisy but informative clues about animal minds. This allowed us to compare participants' posterior beliefs to what a normativ…
Non-speciesist language conveys moral commitments to animals and evokes do-gooder derogation
The use of non-speciesist language, such as referring to non-human animals as ‘someone’ instead of ‘something’, is a simple way for individuals to recognize animals’ moral standing. However, little is known about how this language is perceived and whether it may lead to do-gooder derogation. We conducted three studies involving adults in the United Kingdom (n = 1409) and found that omnivores, semi-vegetarians, and lacto-/ovo-vegetarians were less…
The Misandry Myth
In six studies, we examined the accuracy and underpinnings of the damaging stereotype that feminists harbor negative attitudes toward men. In Study 1 ( n = 1,664), feminist and nonfeminist women displayed similarly positive attitudes toward men. Study 2 ( n = 3,892) replicated these results in non-WEIRD countries and among male participants. Study 3 ( n = 198) extended them to implicit attitudes. Investigating the mechanisms underlying feminists’…
Unpalatable truths
When is it wrong to eat animals? The relevance of different animal traits and behaviours
Research suggests that animals’ capacity for agency, experience, and benevolence predict beliefs about their moral treatment. Four studies built on this work by examining how fine‐grained information about animals’ traits and behaviours (e.g., can store food for later vs. can use tools) shifted moral beliefs about eating and harming animals. The information that most strongly affected moral beliefs was related to secondary emotions (e.g., can fee…
The ‘me’ in meat
When smiles (and frowns) speak words
Self‐reported experiences are often poor indicators of outward expressions. Here we examine social power as a variable that may impact the relationship between self‐reported affect and facial expressions. Earlier studies addressing this issue were limited by focusing on a single facial expression (smiling) and by using different, less sensitive methods that yielded mostly null results. Sampling, for the first time, self‐reported affect repeatedly…
Can People Judge the Veracity of Their Intuitions
People differ in the belief that their intuitions produce good decision outcomes. In the present research, we sought to test the validity of these beliefs by comparing individuals’ self-reports with measures of actual intuition performance in a standard implicit learning task, exposing participants to seemingly random letter strings (Studies 1a–b) and social media profile pictures (Study 2) that conformed to an underlying rule or grammar. A meta-…
From grumpy to cheerful (and back)
Does influence beget autonomy? Clarifying the relationship between social and personal power
We iteratively develop and test a model to clarify the relationship between both high and low levels of social (influence) and personal (autonomy) power. A meta-analysis synthesizing primary data (n = 298) and secondary data (n = 498) found that impaired personal power coincided with impaired social power, but not vice versa. Unexpectedly, elevated social power did not coincide with elevated personal power, suggesting that the association between…
Unpalatable truths
When is it wrong to eat animals? The relevance of different animal traits and behaviours
Research suggests that animals’ capacity for agency, experience, and benevolence predict beliefs about their moral treatment. Four studies built on this work by examining how fine‐grained information about animals’ traits and behaviours (e.g., can store food for later vs. can use tools) shifted moral beliefs about eating and harming animals. The information that most strongly affected moral beliefs was related to secondary emotions (e.g., can fee…
The Misandry Myth
In six studies, we examined the accuracy and underpinnings of the damaging stereotype that feminists harbor negative attitudes toward men. In Study 1 ( n = 1,664), feminist and nonfeminist women displayed similarly positive attitudes toward men. Study 2 ( n = 3,892) replicated these results in non-WEIRD countries and among male participants. Study 3 ( n = 198) extended them to implicit attitudes. Investigating the mechanisms underlying feminists’…
From grumpy to cheerful (and back)
The ‘me’ in meat
Does influence beget autonomy? Clarifying the relationship between social and personal power
We iteratively develop and test a model to clarify the relationship between both high and low levels of social (influence) and personal (autonomy) power. A meta-analysis synthesizing primary data (n = 298) and secondary data (n = 498) found that impaired personal power coincided with impaired social power, but not vice versa. Unexpectedly, elevated social power did not coincide with elevated personal power, suggesting that the association between…
Can People Judge the Veracity of Their Intuitions
People differ in the belief that their intuitions produce good decision outcomes. In the present research, we sought to test the validity of these beliefs by comparing individuals’ self-reports with measures of actual intuition performance in a standard implicit learning task, exposing participants to seemingly random letter strings (Studies 1a–b) and social media profile pictures (Study 2) that conformed to an underlying rule or grammar. A meta-…
From grumpy to cheerful (and back)
When smiles (and frowns) speak words
Self‐reported experiences are often poor indicators of outward expressions. Here we examine social power as a variable that may impact the relationship between self‐reported affect and facial expressions. Earlier studies addressing this issue were limited by focusing on a single facial expression (smiling) and by using different, less sensitive methods that yielded mostly null results. Sampling, for the first time, self‐reported affect repeatedly…
When is it wrong to eat animals? The relevance of different animal traits and behaviours
Research suggests that animals’ capacity for agency, experience, and benevolence predict beliefs about their moral treatment. Four studies built on this work by examining how fine‐grained information about animals’ traits and behaviours (e.g., can store food for later vs. can use tools) shifted moral beliefs about eating and harming animals. The information that most strongly affected moral beliefs was related to secondary emotions (e.g., can fee…
The ‘me’ in meat
Unpalatable truths
Changing minds about minds
Our relationships with other animals are governed by how we view their capacity for sentience and suffering. However, there is currently little agreement as to whether people's beliefs about animal minds are largely accurate or inaccurate. We used an innovative task to examine how people update their beliefs in response to noisy but informative clues about animal minds. This allowed us to compare participants' posterior beliefs to what a normativ…
Non-speciesist language conveys moral commitments to animals and evokes do-gooder derogation
The use of non-speciesist language, such as referring to non-human animals as ‘someone’ instead of ‘something’, is a simple way for individuals to recognize animals’ moral standing. However, little is known about how this language is perceived and whether it may lead to do-gooder derogation. We conducted three studies involving adults in the United Kingdom (n = 1409) and found that omnivores, semi-vegetarians, and lacto-/ovo-vegetarians were less…
The Misandry Myth
In six studies, we examined the accuracy and underpinnings of the damaging stereotype that feminists harbor negative attitudes toward men. In Study 1 ( n = 1,664), feminist and nonfeminist women displayed similarly positive attitudes toward men. Study 2 ( n = 3,892) replicated these results in non-WEIRD countries and among male participants. Study 3 ( n = 198) extended them to implicit attitudes. Investigating the mechanisms underlying feminists’…
Moral Outrage Predicts the Virality of Petitions for Change on Social Media, But Not the Number of Signatures They Receive
Social media is a powerful tool for activists to share their perspectives, but concerns persist that the viral spread of online moral outrage may undermine collective causes in some ways. Analyzing posts on X ( n = 1,286,442) with URLs to petitions on www.change.org ( n = 24,785), we found that expressions of outrage were uniquely associated with the number of times posts were liked and reposted (virality). Mediation analyses showed that outrage …
Psychology (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (6 works) · Human-Animal Interaction Studies (5 works) · Developmental psychology (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works) · Animal and Plant Science Education (2 works)