Comparative Psychology - Effect of Animals On Humans

Effect of Animals On Humans

In anthropology, animal studies is regarded as a field that has been generally neglected even though animals have been used as a way to investigate the evolution of human behavior for many years. Topics such as domestication have been a key element in understanding the relationships between humans, for a sense of differentiation and inequality between humans and animals was cultivated as humans began to consider animals as property. The argument has been posited that this domestication development could then lead humans to believe inferior or different to themselves. Also, while some may be searching for how humans are like animals and how far they share some characteristics, anthropologists use this opportunity to see how different societies see their human nature depending on which animals they might be comparing themselves to, according to Ingold.

He goes on to question how other people phrase the problem of humanity and answers this by saying that an accepted premise is that in all societies children have to learn to differentiate and separate themselves from others. Strangers from Kin and "not people," like animals. Something that Ingold stated in his studies was that Sigmund Freud said, "Children show no trace of arrogance which urges adult civilized men to draw a hard-and-fast line between their own nature and that of all other animals. Children have no scruples over allowing animals to rank as their full equals." It's hard for people to accept that they themselves indeed are animals so they create these separations and divided into animals and wild animals and tame animals which are then divided into house pets, all of these things can be seen as analogies of man's contrast between someone who is part of a human community and someone who isn't: the outsider. Most times nature is symbolizing the outsider.

The New York Times had an article that showed the psychological benefits of animals, more specifically of children with their pets. It's been proven that having a pet does in fact improve kids' social skills, in the article Dr. Sue Doescher, a psychologist involved in the study, stated "It made the children more cooperative and sharing." It was also shown that these kids were more confident with themselves and able to be more empathic with other children.

Furthermore, in an edition of Social Science and Medicine it was stated that, "A random survey of 339 residents from Perth, Western Australia were selected from three suburbs and interviewed by telephone. Pet ownership was found to be positively associated with some forms of social contact and interaction, and with perceptions of neighborhood friendliness. After adjustment for demographic variables, pet owners scored higher on social capital and civic engagement scales." Results like these let us know that owning a pet provides opportunities for neighborly interaction, among many other chances for socialization among people.