The Leash on Society
Have you ever heard the joke: it pulls you by a leash, you pick up it’s waste, and you feed it- so who’s the pet and who’s the owner? Chances are you have. But of course, it has always been excepted that the human was there to take care of the pet, and the pet was meant to be something to play with. This still stands to be true, but over the last decade it has become more widely accepted and researched more in depth that the ownership of an animal and it’s assistance in therapy and education may have more benefits than was previously thought possible. This year, hundreds of studies have been done on how the relationship between an animal and a human effects the human brain. Research exhibited that interaction with animals has major influence on social interaction between humans regarding respect, trust, empathy, aggression, and a positive mood. This influence is manifested when human interaction is visibly change due to the presence of an animal. This phenomenon is known as the “social catalyst effect”.
A study on this topic was conducted in 2004 by E.Wells, who focused on the behaviour of 1800 strangers toward a female experimenter in six different conditions: accompanied by a Labrador retriever puppy, by an adult Labrador, by an adult Rottweiler, a teddy bear or plant, or being alone. All of these served as controlled conditions. In the alone condition, the experimenter was ignored more than with the teddy or plant, but got more attention in the company of a dog. The Rottweiler led to more non-responses than the puppy or the adult Labrador, which evoked most smiles and verbal responses.
Not only do animals draw people together and paint them in a better light, animals serve in therapeutic natures as well. Adult patients with chronic schizophrenia often have dog-assisted therapy, a practice which is linked to improvement in social contact, symptoms, and quality of life related to social relationships. This was tested in many psychiatric hospitals across the states, particularly with psychiatric inpatients, with results showing that AAT (animal assisted therapy) lead to a significant increase in interactions with other patients over the course of 4 weeks in comparison to rehabilitation without animals. This included smiles, sociability, helpfulness toward others, and responsiveness.
So this leads many to think, why not put down your cellphone and pick up a puppy? While cellphones are currently devolving our conversational skills and lowering real life human connection, animals seem to be promoting more social interaction. More studies are continuing to be conducted on animal-human interaction and the importance of live interaction. They state that animals are less evolved then humans, but maybe animals are evolving us.
Image credit: Undergraduate Opportunities