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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gender And Other Social Effects In People’S Perceptions Of Domesticated Animals, Clayton Wagner Bell, A. Hayden Brown Jan 2007

Gender And Other Social Effects In People’S Perceptions Of Domesticated Animals, Clayton Wagner Bell, A. Hayden Brown

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

It is no secret that people possess radically differing opinions and philosophical beliefs regarding domesticated animals. These contradictory perceptions are especially evident when examining people’s thoughts regarding the mental capabilities of animals and issues related to animal welfare. To determine whether or not gender and social environments play a role in these various perceptions, a survey was formulated and randomly distributed to 1000 undergraduate students across the University of Arkansas campus. Upon examination of the survey results, some very intriguing correlations became apparent. Of particular interest were the differences between the perceptions of males and females regarding domesticated animals. Women …


Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts To Our Humanizing Of Animals, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Marc Bekoff Jan 2007

Naturalizing Anthropomorphism: Behavioral Prompts To Our Humanizing Of Animals, Alexandra C. Horowitz, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog–human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a …