UF Study: Pet Lovers More Likely To Lend A Hand To Humans In Crisis

February 8, 2002

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Loving like an animal can actually bring out the finer, more altruistic side of your nature, a new University of Florida study suggests.

People with a close attachment to their pets indicated a greater willingness to help other people than owners who kept their animals at arm’s length, said Frederic Desmond, a UF graduate student who did the research for his doctoral dissertation in psychology.

“Pet owners often are very adept at knowing the difference between their pet’s various needs,” said Desmond, who teaches math and science at Lincoln Middle School in Gainesville. “They know when the pet has to go to the bathroom as opposed to when it is hungry or scared.

“It’s a lot like what mothers do with young children,” Desmond said. “They learn very quickly what their baby is thinking and feeling based on the baby’s body language and the way the baby cries. Many mothers can instantly tell the difference between a cry of frustration and a cry of pain.”

The study is important because it gives people another good reason to adopt a pet from organizations such as the Humane Society. It also provides additional support for having pets in the household and teaching children how to care for animals, he said.

Laura Bevan, director of the southeast regional office of the Humane Society in Tallahassee, Fla., said she was not surprised by the findings because pet owners tend to be more outgoing people who look beyond themselves to see how they can help creatures.

“People with pets are used to getting up every day and having to look after someone’s needs beside their own,” Bevan said. “That’s why it’s good to have children with pets. They learn to take care of something outside of themselves.”

Desmond surveyed 174 students enrolled in three large undergraduate UF psychology classes about their experiences with pets, asking detailed questions about each respondent’s closest pet relationship and how it affected their attitudes, feelings and behavior. The students didn’t necessarily have to be pet owners. Sometimes people who were unable to have pets because, for instance, a member of the household had allergies, became close to an animal who belonged to a neighbor or friend, he said.

Although the study found a moderate connection between close relationships with pets and increased tendency toward helping others, a major aim of the study was to examine how and why this increased helpfulness comes about. While the study’s results did not support Desmond’s hypothesis that increased empathy is the most important factor, Desmond nevertheless suspects that caring for critters refines the same empathic skills that make us more likely to feel someone else’s pain and then lend a helping hand.

“Understanding your pet’s view of the world gives you warm feelings toward the animal – but you’re not going to stop with those feelings,” he said. “You’re going to follow through with some kind of action such as feeding it, taking it for a walk or comforting it if it is upset.”

Desmond believes that same pattern of feeling empathy toward a pet and then acting to help the animal carries over to relationships with other humans.

“We see someone who needs help, empathize with their plight and then assist them,” he said. “It makes sense that one of the ways we learn to feel empathy and behave in a helpful manner is from having close relationships with pets.”

Besides giving people another reason to adopt a pet, Desmond believes developing good relationships with animals has other benefits. “It puts us more in touch with ourselves,” he said.