An Introduction to Human–Animal Relationships

A Psychological Perspective

Clive R. Hollin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000378542
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Historia y teoría en psicología

An Introduction to Human – Animal Relationships is a comprehensive introduction to the field of human–animal interaction from a psychological perspective across a wide range of themes.

Hollin examines the topic of the relationships between humans and animals as seen in owning a companion animal alongside more indirect relationships such as our approaches to eating meat. The core issues under discussion include the moral and ethical issues raised in using animals for entertainment, in therapy, to keep us safe, and in sports such as horse racing. The justifications for hunting and killing animals as sport and using animals in scientific experimentation are considered. The closing chapter looks to the future and considers how conservation and climate change may influence human–animal relationships.

This key text brings an important perspective to the field of human–animal studies and will be useful to students and scholars in the fields of psychology, sociology, animal welfare, anthrozoology, veterinary science, and zoology.

Part I
Animals and psychology

1 Animals in psychological research

The discipline of psychology, at least as taught and practiced in the Western world, has three readily identifiable formative strands. The first is the psychoanalytic tradition of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers (Brown, 1961); the second is the establishment by Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832–1920) of the first laboratory for experimental studies in the field of psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany (Blumenthal, 1985); and the third is the influence of a group of Russian scientists which included the neurologist Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (1857–1927), the naturalist Vladimir Aleksandrovich Wagner (or Vagner; 1849–1934), and the physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936). These early Russian scientists, not constrained by academic boundaries, variously concerned themselves with biology, neurology, physiology, and psychology. The work of the last-named researcher, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, familiar to generations of psychology students, is where the serious story of animals in psychology begins. However, it is interesting to make a small detour to see what Sigmund Freud had to say about animals.

Freud on animals

In his professional work, Freud had little to say about animals, with the exception of those that appeared in his clients’ dreams and fantasies. One of Freud’s patients, Sergei Pankejeff (1886–1979), came to Freud with an account of a nightmare experienced on the night before his fourth birthday. In the dream Pankejeff was lying in bed when the window swung open and looking out he saw six or seven white wolves, their gaze fixed upon him, sitting in the tree outside his bedroom. In terror at the wolves’ stares, he woke up screaming. Freud’s account of the case, known as the Wolf Man, became a psychoanalytic classic (Freud, 1918).

In his private life, however, Freud had an evident affection for dogs. In 1925, Freud purchased an Alsatian Shepherd for his daughter’s protection on her evening walks through Vienna. The dog was called Wolf (make of that what you will) and became a firm family favourite. Braitman (2014) describes how when Freud was in his mid-70s he acquired two red chows, one of which, called Jofi, became a treasured companion. Jofi was allowed in the consulting room during sessions: Freud held the view that Jofi was a calming influence for patients so that they relaxed and became more candid when she was present.

Freud (1917) gave his views on the human–animal relationship:

In the course of his development towards culture man acquired a dominating position over his fellow-creatures in the animal kingdom. Not content with this supremacy, however, he began to place a gulf between his nature and theirs. He denied the possession of reason to them, and to himself he attributed an immortal soul, and made claims of divine descent which permitted him to annihilate the bonds of community between him and the animal kingdom. (p. 140)

As will be evident as this book unfolds, there are many contemporary examples that lend support to Freud’s analysis.

Pavlov’s dogs

As recounted in legions of introductory textbooks, the scientific work with a powerful bearing on the emerging discipline of psychology was carried out by the Nobel Prize–winning scientist Ivan Pavlov (Samoilov, 2007). Pavlov was a physiologist and was awarded the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged.”

However, it was for reasons other than his physiological research that Pavlov became an important figure in psychology.

Pavlov’s research relied upon the measurement of dog’s rate of salivation under controlled laboratory conditions. In preparation for eating, a dog salivates as a reflex response to the smell and sight of food. The traditional account is that Pavlov’s measurements were disturbed because the dogs were salivating when no food was present but when sounds, such as the clanking of the food pails, associated with food were audible. In a series of experiments in which the presentation of food was repeatedly paired with a stimulus such as a ringing bell Pavlov showed that eventually the bell gained the power to elicit the salivation.

The sequence shown in Figure 1.1 shows the steps in the experiment. The dog’s naturally occurring reflex is to salivate when it perceives cues associated with food: there is no learning involved, thus an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits an unconditioned response (UCR). There is, however, no naturally occurring reason why a dog should salivate at the sound of a bell. In the experiment, the food is repeatedly presented together with the sound of the bell so that the dog learns to associate the food and the sound of the bell. In time, the sound of the bell gains the power to elicit salivation. Thus, the bell is a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits salivation as a conditioned response (CR). As dogs do not naturally salivate to the sound of a bell this is sometimes also called a conditioned reflex.

Figure 1.1 Pavlov’s experimental design.

Source: Pavlov, I. P. (1897/1902). The work of the digestive glands. London: Griffin.

The story above is found in the textbooks but, as suggested by Pavlov’s biographers, it is not the complete story. While Pavlov used a variety of stimuli, such as a buzzer, harmonium, light, metronome, and whistle, there is some debate about the use of a bell (Thomas, 1997; Todes, 2014). In addition, it appears that some details of terminology may have been lost in translation. The term we favour, conditionedresponse, is not what was originally intended: Pavlov used the Russian word uslovnyi meaning a conditionalresponse (which makes more sense, as the response has become conditional upon the presence of the stimulus).

Pavlov visited the United States in 1923 and 1929 and on the latter visit made presentations at the IXth International Congress of Psychology at Yale University and at the XXXth International Congress of Physiology at Harvard University (Rall, 2016; Ruiz, Sánchez, & De la Casa, 2003). Thus, the early American psychologists, in particular John B. Watson (1878–1958), would have been aware of Pavlov’s research and were undoubtably influenced by it (Todd & Morris, 1986).

While Pavlov made no claims to be a psychologist or a behaviourist, he was interested in the use of his experimental methods to understand the mind and consciousness. Pavlov’s research was so revolutionary that interest in his work extended beyond academia. The novelist Aldous Huxley was certainly aware of Pavlov’s ideas and incorporated them into his seminal work Brave New World. In November 1927 the science fiction writer H. G. Wells wrote about Pavlov’s life in The New York Times Magazine. Thus, Pavlov became a celebrated scientist, recognised by his peers and an international public figure.

In reading the accounts of Pavlov’s experiments and their various ramifications it is easy to forget the dogs: however, Tully (2003) provides an excellent canine record. Tully recounts how on a “Pilgrimage to the last working place of the behavioral psychologist Ivan Pavlov in Russia” (p. R117) he discovered a photograph album containing images of some of Pavlov’s dogs. These photographs, together with the names of the dogs – Krasavietz, Beck, Milkah, Ikar, Joy, Tungus, Arleekin, Ruslan, Toi, and Murashka – are reproduced in Tully’s article.

The use of laboratory dogs was also evident outside psychology as seen, for example, in the development of Beagle Colonies for use in radiation research (Giraud & Hollin, 2016, 2017). Döring, Nick, Bauer, Kϋchenhoff, and Erhard (2017) found that beagles can be successfully rehomed after life in the laboratory. However, to follow Pavlov’s line of work, I have selected a small number of seminal pieces of research which both relied on animals and greatly influenced their own field specifically and psychology generally.

A consideration in the use of laboratory dogs is that they need space and care both of which cost money. Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949) had expanded the range of laboratory animals by using cats as well as dogs in his work on the law of effect (Thorndike, 1927). However, as events transpired, it was first pigeons and then rats which proved to be the alternative to dogs. Before looking at the huge part played by the rat in psychological experimentation, we will take a sidestep to look at how animals contributed to Gestalt psychology.

Kohler’s chimpanzees

Wolfgang Köhler (1887–1967) was a German psychologist who, along with Max Wertheimer (1880–1943), Fritz Perls (1893–1970), and Kurt Koffka (1886–1941), was a prominent figure in the formation of Gestalt psychology. Gestalt psychology was concerned with how we make sense of our environment. In perceiving the world around we do not focus on every individual element it contains, rather we perceive elements to be part of a greater whole, a gestalt, which can be more than simply the sum of its parts. While no longer a mainstream theory, Gestalt psychology proved to be an important step in the study of human sensation and perception.

Kohler’s most well-known work is a series of experimental studies of the problem-solving abilities of chimpanzees, famously with a chimp called Sultan (Kohler, 1925). In one study, a piece of fruit was suspended just out of the chimpanzee’s reach and either two sticks or three boxes were placed in close proximity. At first, the chimpanzee tried to jump up to grab the banana but it was too high to reach; after several such failures the chimpanzee attempted to solve the problem. In one study, the problem of getting the banana could be solved by joining the sticks to form a single longer stick to knock down the hanging fruit. In a second study, the chimpanzee solved the problem by stacking the boxes on top of each other and climbing up to reach the fruit (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 Kohler’s chimpanzees.

Source: Kohler, W. (1924). The mentality of apes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Kohler suggested that that chimpanzees had exhibited a form of learning that he called insight learning, the sudden realisation of how to solve a prob...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART I: Animals and psychology
• PART II: Mainly of cats and dogs
• PART III: Humans and animals: Friend or foe?
• Epilogue
• Index