Trans-species Psychology

The Kerulos Center's work is based on the principles of trans-species psychology – the study of the minds and emotions of all animals, including humans. Trans-species psychology represents a new species-inclusive paradigm of learning and knowledge-making. Its establishment involves a new way of thinking and behaving towards animals, that we are all "kin under skin, fin, feather, and fur."

While many of the concepts of trans-species psychology are intuitive, at a deeper level it provides a collective language that links scientific objectivity with subjective knowledge and experience to create a "science of the heart." In so doing, animal psychology is approached from a supportive, mutualistic perspective, not as an object for human gain.

The "trans" in trans-species psychology signifies that there is no scientific basis for maintaining separate fields and models for animal and human psychology. Until recently, animals were thought to lack many attributes, such as emotions, feelings, sophisticated cognitive capacities, culture, the ability to feel pain, and other qualities that presumably defined humans uniquely. This differentiation provided a rationale for objectifying animals, one that has enabled the widespread trauma and crisis now prevalent in animal cultures. Today, however, scientific theory and data are congruent with our sensibilities. Though individual differences may exist, the same psychobiological theories and models that hold for people also hold for other animals.

Trans-species psychology also stands apart from most conventional approaches to animal conservation. Like veterinary medicine, trans-species psychology is devoted to the wellbeing of the individual. The welfare of an individual is not considered secondary, nor is it sacrificed to the objectives of the group such as species or population. The Kerulos Center seeks to imbue this perspective and ethic into the theory and practice of conservation.

Trans-Species Science Research

Similar to psychology in general, trans-species psychology is committed to the health and well-being of its subjects. Trans-species psychology is therefore rooted in methods and enquiry that eschew causing distress or damage in the process of knowledge-making.

In contrast to the past scientific paradigm, trans-species psychology does not support the gathering of "knowledge for the sake of knowledge." Prioritizing research over the wellbeing of animals has been one of the primary causes of animal suffering. Chimpanzees, rats, mice, fish, and others are used routinely as experimental subjects with little consideration for their rights as living beings. Elephants, wolves, deer, lions, orcas, turkeys, and others are manipulated and "managed" through conservation methods such as culls, translocations, confinement, and artificial insemination with little regard for the emotional, social, and psychological costs.

Similarly, the lives of companion and farm animals are directed by largely human values and concerns. Now that there is clear scientific evidence showing parity between human and animal emotions and cognition, science culture is compelled to change its practices and standards to be ethically congruent with what we know.

For these reasons, trans-species psychology also includes the study of institutions and cultures that have been agents of animal suffering. Conversely, trans-species psychology seeks to identify behaviour and cultural practices that enhance animal wellbeing and positive relationships. By expanding definitions of health to include the psychological, we bring attention to the striking parallels that exist between humans and animals who have been held captive or have experienced other forms of violence and oppression. In so doing, we embark on the emergence of a trans-species culture and ethic.

Interspecies Communication

Notably, communication in the animal world and between animals and people does not involve written language or even much that is spoken. Subsequently, Kerulos research and teaching invokes the sensed, felt, and directly experienced world. Kerulos engages in projects and programs that include revitalizing indigenous ways that facilitate interspecies communication and culture to deepen understanding of animals and then translates this knowledge into everyday living. At the same time, scientific theories and language can guide us together on the journey back to ways of being, knowing, and speaking of the heart that transcend across all boundaries toward a species-inclusive knowledge system.