Recent research published in journals scientific report It has been found that people who own pets and have more positive contact with animals develop more positive attitudes toward non-pet animals, the biosphere environment, and other humans.
study: Exploring the role of contact with pets in expanding interest in animals, nature, and our fellow human beings: A representative study. Image credit: NatRomero / Shutterstock.com
background
The human-pet relationship is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship that can influence the attitudes and behaviors of humans and pets toward each other. Empirical evidence shows that contact with pets can induce more aggressive attitudes and behaviors in humans toward other non-pet animals, such as domestic animals and wild animals.
Positive changes in human attitudes and moral concern toward animals are thought to be associated with social identification with animals. Social identification with animals is a process of cognitive expansion that connects humans and animals, in addition to increasing humans’ moral concern for different social groups.
In the current study, scientists investigated whether pet ownership and contact with pets can induce more positive attitudes in humans toward non-pet animals, the environment, fellow humans, and meat consumption. We are investigating. Researchers are also determining whether these positive attitudes are caused by a process of social identification with pets.
research design
The study primarily focused on two types of contact with pets, including pet ownership and frequency of active contact with pets. A total of 619 Canadian pet owners and 450 non-pet owners were enrolled in the study.
All study participants were provided with a questionnaire to report their attitudes toward non-pet animals, the biosphere environment, and fellow humans. The level of social identification with animals in three dimensions, including human-animal similarity, sense of solidarity with animals, and animal pride, was also determined through a questionnaire-based survey.
important findings
It was observed that people who owned pets had higher social identification with animals in all three dimensions compared to people who did not own pets. Frequency of positive contact with pets and positive attitudes toward non-pet animals and fellow humans were also higher among pet owners.
Regarding attitudes towards the environment, we found that pet owners were more concerned about the biosphere environment and had stronger beliefs about human-environment interdependence than non-pet owners. Additionally, people with pets were found to consume less meat per week than people without pets.
Similar to pet ownership, more frequent positive contact with animals was also associated with most of these study variables.
Influence of aspects of social identification with pets
The researchers also investigated whether aspects of social identification with pets could predict the study variables.
Among the three dimensions, solidarity with animals was identified as the most consistent predictor of the study variables. Higher feelings of solidarity with animals are associated with more positive contact with animals, more positive attitudes towards non-pet animals and fellow humans, concern for the biosphere environment and beliefs in human-environment interdependence. , was found to independently predict lower meat consumption and lower social dominance orientation.
Regarding other aspects, we found that higher human-animal similarity independently predicted lower social dominance orientation. They also found that higher animal pride independently predicted higher meat consumption.
Mechanistic analysis revealed that more active contact with animals was associated with increased human-animal similarity, which was subsequently associated with decreased social dominance orientation. This finding indicates that people who perceive pets as a “higher status group” are less likely to believe in hierarchies that distinguish individuals belonging to different social statuses.
The association between more active contact with animals and higher solidarity with animals was found to positively influence beliefs about human-environment interdependence. Furthermore, the association between more active contact with animals and a higher sense of solidarity with animals was found to influence weekly meat consumption.
Significance of research
This study highlights the importance of pet ownership in human life in shaping human consideration of a wide range of social issues. The study found that people who live with pets develop more positive attitudes and moral concerns toward non-pet animals, fellow humans, and the biosphere environment.
The data-driven approach and rigorous methodological and statistical approaches utilized in the current study will help further research interest in human-pet relationships.
Reference magazines:
- Amiot, C. E., Gagné, C., and Bastian, B. (2023). Exploring the role of contact with pets in expanding interest in animals, nature, and our fellow human beings: A representative study. scientific report. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-43680-z.