Anthrozoology

anthrozoology, study of the interactions and relationships between human and nonhuman animals. Anthrozoology spans the humanities and the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences.

While the lives of humans and nonhuman animals have always been intertwined, the ways that humans relate to and think about members of other species became the focus of systematic study only in the late 20th century. The development of anthrozoology as an academic discipline was spurred by reports that there were health and psychological benefits to interacting with animals and by the establishment of the academic journals Anthrozoös in 1987 and Society & Animals in 1993.

Topics of anthrozoological inquiry include the psychological and biological underpinnings of attachments to pets, attitudes toward the use of animals, cross-cultural similarities and differences in human-animal relationships, sex differences in interactions with other species, and the roles of animals in art, religion, mythology, sport, and literature. The impact of companion animals on human health and happiness continues to be an active area of research. Interacting with pets has been found to lower their owners’ blood pressure and stress levels, and pet ownership is associated with increased survivorship following heart attacks. Some epidemiological studies have reported that pet owners make fewer visits to doctors, are more physically active, and have lower levels of depression. However, research on the effects of pets on humans has produced conflicting results, and some studies have found that the health and happiness of pet owners was no better, and in some cases was worse, than non-pet owners’.

Interacting with animals has been used as a therapeutic intervention for disorders such as autism and to enhance morale in institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals, and prisons. Relatively few randomized clinical trials (in which participants are assigned at random to different treatments) have assessed the long-term effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy, but it is clear that many people find stroking, talking to, and playing with companion animals deeply satisfying.

The link between animal abuse and aggression in humans is also an important area of research. Some investigators have reported that childhood animal cruelty is a strong predictor of violent behaviour in adults. Other researchers, however, argue that most children who abuse animals do not become violent adults and that the relationship between animal cruelty and human-directed aggression is not as strong as was originally thought.

Since the 1980s, interest in the study of human-animal relationships has grown steadily. The International Society for Anthrozoology was organized in 1991, and university-based centres for the study of human-animal interactions exist in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Courses in human-animal relationships are increasingly common on college campuses, and several universities offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field.