BODY LANGUAGE*****************************************5
PART III: PERSONALITY RELATION BETWEEN OWNERS & THEIR PETS*6
PART IV: HOW ARE ANIMALS PS DIFFERENT FROM HUMANS*********8
REFLECTIVE & PERCEPTUAL CONSCIOUSNESS****************8
PART V: WHAT IS THE P FUNCTION THAT PETS SERVE FOR PEOPLE?**9
STRESS GOES TO THE DOGS*********************************9
PETS IN THE PEN******************************************10
AFTERTHOUGHTS AND ADVICE TO STUDENTS***************19
GLOSSARY OF TERMS******************************************22
REFERENCES**************************************************23
CONTENTS OF THE PAPER
Who can we talk to when we need a friend? Who will listen and comfort you when no one else will? Who else but your pet. Children and adults of all ages own some kind of a pet for many different reasons. But all in all I believe they are within hands of c
aring owners to comfort and care for each other. Both pet and owner relay this communication through their persona1ities which "elicit positive reactions from others in one's typical dealings with them" (Mischel 1993, 5)
I have had numerous wonderful pets throughout my childhood
and now, therefore I have experienced many different personalities such as dogs, birds, fish and also
a Jackson Chameleon. I believe they enhance my life as well as my family's which helped me to fulfill my
childhood and adult life. This paper will explore the necessary elements to prove that pets do have
personalities and they do bring out the best in us.
PART I: THE MECHANICS OF MY PAPER
CHOOSING MY TOPIC
This was probably the easiest step to completing my paper. The list of
topics were interesting but I knew right off the bat that pet personality was going to be the one. I
recently did research on opening up a small business in the healthy pet industry so this topic was the next best thing for my love for animals. Getting to know their biological and spiritual aspects between personality and pets will be an interesting chal
lenge.
Most of my research and sources came from Hamilton library. I'm pretty
knowledgeable of using the resources available at Hamilton therefore I tapped into:
UHCARL-Uncover, ERIC & Psychlit, and CD-R0M-Readers' Guide Abstracts, Newspaper
Abstracts, ERIC, Psychlit and Social Sciences. I did not find any relevant books but I did find a
vast amount of information from CD-ROM databases.
Subject headings and key words (often times combined) I used to get references were: personality, pets, psychology, humans, children, adults, interspecies, rehabilitation, behavior, human development, bond, relationships. I found excellent
magazine articles, excerpts from journal articles and newspaper clippings but the only thing I lacked
were books. But with the help of Dr. James, I went back into the On-line catalog and used different
key words and was quite successful with four relevant books. Key words I used were: pets & dogs,
dogs & cats, both with behavior added to them, then birds & dogs with psychology.
When I found these books, I
went to the section SF 433 T47 on the third floor and looked at other books with similar subjects.
I also looked in the section for to-be refilled books. Often times I have found books there that were
helpful to my research.
Two other students are working on the same topic so we all worked together to
make our research a bit easier. We split the research work and shared are resources.
PART II: DO PETS HAVE PERSONALITIES?
In my opinion, animals have unique personalities. Animals may not
talk the English language but they can understand our language and we can understand their language.
We communicate through body language, verbal and non-verbal responses. Pets act as a substitute
for human relationships for people and previous research suggests that pet owners are
psychologically different than non-owners in terms of self-esteem and other personality
characteristics (Johnson & Rule, 1991, 249).
Elizabeth Thomas, author of "The Hidden Life of Dogs" asked this question, do dogs have thoughts and feelings? Of course they do, there wouldn't be any
dogs if they didn't (Thomas, 1993, xv). Most animals, especially dogs, constantly evaluate other species
by means of empathetic observation. Thomas's dog assessed her dark mood, over a distance of
about one hundred yards and changed his demeanor from cheery to bleak in response. She was
sad at heart but not showing it in a way that people around her had noticed, but her dog saw
at once that something was wrong and stared at her for a moment. Then evidently deciding that his first
impression had been accurate, he drooped visibly. Impressed with his acuity; she cheered up again and
so did he (Thomas, 1993, xvi)
Author of ''Animal Minds" Donald Griffin, believes that animals do indeed
experience "conscious thoughts" (Griffin, 1992, viii). He found that ethologists have I recently discovered that some animals express both feelings and simple thoughts. Therefore these communicative signals in turn provide us with a promising source of ob
jective data about the mental experiences of animals (Griffin, 1992, ix).
Caring and keeping your pet is very vital in keeping your pet's personality healthy and happy.
Responsibility has come into play and the owner must keep their pet's living area clean and comfortable. If the living area is clean then the pet would stay on the happy side and not be a pest.
Animal Cognition
Animal cognition is concerned with explaining animal behavior
on the basis of observable variables such as stimuli and responses.
For a time it appeared, at least to some, that discussion of cognitive
states was not necessary, either because
they were exhaustively
determined by environmental events or because they were
epiphenomenal and without any causal force. In any case, it was
assumed that a sufficiently detailed description of overt events would
suffice for explanation.
A great deal of the research into animal
behavior has made it clear, however, that such cognitive states are
real and necessary components of any adequate theory that seeks
to explain animal behavior.
(Roitblat, Bever, and Terra
ce, 1984, 1, in Griffin, 1992, 20)
These cognitive states "include learning, remembering, problem solving, rule and concept formation, perception, (and) recognition" (Roitblat, 1987, 2, in Griffin, 1992, 21). I believe that animal cognition
has really grown to be significant in our minds. Their personality tells it all through their gestures, behavior and facial expressions.
Animal Mentality
Griffin believes that any thinking animal is likely to guide its behavior on the basis of the content of its thoughts however simple or limited such thoughts may be (Griffin, 1992, 4). Animal obtain most of the information that affects their behavior thr
ough their sense organs, including those that signal conditions within their bodies. But some mental experiences are probably based on past sensory input; and some may arise through recombination into new patterns of information already present in the ce
ntral nervous system (Griffin, 1992, 4). I believe their consciousness is quite important to them in all aspects of their behavior and mannerism.
Body Language
I definitely agree with Elizabeth Thomas because I had a dog of my own for ten years and I experienced a great deal with her. It's like they can sense what you are feeling like a human being can by looking and talking with you. I remember when I was you
nger I used to get in to trouble a lot and get yelled at and grounded so I would go outside and see Lehua for companionship. She would come up to me and try to cheer me up be nudging herself against me to play or pet her or sometimes she would just be by
my side for comfort. Dogs communicate with their tails, ears, mouths, eyes and fur (Grants, 1984, 87).
Another great aspect that dogs reveal is their smile. I first noticed
it in Lehua while she was growing up. She used to smile a lot pulling back her lips and
cheeks and showing her front teeth. It was quite neat because you wouldn't think of animals
smiling for you. Thomas also noticed that all dogs smile with a pleasant and relaxed face
(Thomas, 1993, xviii).
Kia my cockatiel has a personality of her own. She is a very fertile
bird at her age Of three and a half years. Kia has laid 87 unfertile eggs through the years
and I learned a great deal about her. Just before she lays her eggs she will get fussy and
start tearing a corner of the paper on the bottom of the cage (to make her nest). Then
she sits in that corner until she lays the egg protecting herself and her nest. If someone
were to walk by her cage she would open her beak and squawk at you.
After warming her
egg for the day she doesn't use the bathroom in her cage, she holds everything until I
open her door so she can walk out and deposit her waste. Kia would also let me know
when she needs to use the bathroom by coming on her perch and walking around.
I
noticed she would only lay eggs when I didn't pay attention to her for awhile. I change her
water and give her fresh food everyday but there are times where I can't give her all the
attention she wants so she lays her eggs to keep herself occupied. Then I discovered
that she lays her eggs in groups of three or four every other day.
PART III: THE PERSONALITY RELATION BETWEEN OWNERS AND THEIR PETS
Thomas indicated that there are a few dogs that emulate their owners (human) smiles. In the
presence of human beings, they draw back their lips grotesquely and bare their teeth
making the same face we make (Thomas, 1993, xviii). Her husband's dog elects to show his
belly to him right after they both get up in the morning. They don't know why they do that
but they both expect it every morning (Thomas, 1993, xviii).
My aunt's dog Nikki is a
house dog who is spoiled by my grandparents. Whenever my aunty goes out at night my
grandma would wait up for her and so would Nikki. As soon as Nikki hears the car pull
up into the driveway, he gets up and goes to my aunty's bed where they both sleep.
My
grandpa has cancer and a heart condition therefore he has to take medication every so
often. Because he forgets sometimes he sets an alarms to go off and when it does Nikki
helps him to remember by barking and looks for grandpa. When it's time to eat, grandma
calls him and tells Nikki to call grandpa and get him up. Having Nikki around is very good
for them because he calms every one down and makes them happy.
Kia gets all excited
when I come home. As soon as I turn off my car I can hear her calling for me to come
and open her cage up and scratch her neck which she loves. Even when I open my
bedroom door in the morning she hears it and gets all excited.
My sister had a budgie
parakeet Tuffy some time ago. When she first got him, he was a weakling that's why we
named him Tuffy, but as he got older he became a tuffy. He and I didn't really get along
with each other and knew it because at that time I had my other cockatiel Sammy, and
Tuffy would chase her all over the place. Tuffy would go one everyone else's finger but
mine.
Ninja the Jackson Chameleon we had for only a short time because he got
murdered by a mongoose or a cat. But during that time I had grown to really like him. I
was the one to feed him almost everyday so I think he knew me whenever I came to his
cage. I remember at the beginning I would have to give him water by shooting it through a
nozzle onto a branch where he could see it. But sometimes I would accidentally shoot him
in the eye which he hated. When I did go out to feed him, I would always talk to him and
he would look at me with his beady eyes and listen to me.
PART IV: HOW ARE ANIMALS PERSONALITIES DIFFERENT FROM HUMANS?
Although humans and pets have personalities, there is a certain criterion of human uniqueness. According to Griffin, reflective consciousness is a unique human characteristic which means that animals
may know certain things, but they do not know that they know (Griffin, 1992, 11).
People can tell what they are thinking about, but animals are held to be incapable of
doing so, yet animal communication may often serve the same basic function (Griffin,
1992, 11). He also says that detecting whether animals experience reflective
consciousness should make us cautious about ruling it out.
Griffin also brings about
another concept called perceptual consciousness. An animal might be consciously aware
of some part of its own behavior such as the act of eating food or fleeing from a predator
(Griffin, 1992, 11). But such an animal might be incapable of thinking that it, itself, was
eating or fleeing. If so, it would be capable of perceptual consciousness about its own
behavior but not of reflective consciousness that it, itself was the actor (Griffin, 1992, 11).
I suppose this is why we all have unique personalities for human beings and animals.
Although we have personalities, we express them in many different ways depending on our
relative consciousness. There are many scientists out there who believe that animals don't
have a consciousness or for that matter a personality. But I guess they are also the ones
who do not own pets themselves.
PART V: WHAT IS THE PERSONALITY FUNCTION THAT PETS SERVE FOR PEOPLE?
Pets serve a function for people
that no other person or thing can replace. They are unique in the sense of the power they
have over human beings therapeutically and what I would call pet-bonding. I also believe
that they help us to live longer and enjoy life more.
Stress Goes To The Dogs
Dogs take a bite out of stress because they provide unconditional support without scrutinizing
their owner's sometimes frantic attempts to meet a challenge (Bower, 1991, 295).
October's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology reported new findings that pets
often help to buffer their owners from stress and illness (Bower, 1991, 295). Many
studies have shown great survival rates of those who owned a pet, especially a dog. With
the companionship and attachment of a pet, individuals with heart problems or other
medical problems proved to have a stronger predictor of survival than just having a
family member or a friend support. Bower noted another investigation of 345 elderly pet
owners who had fewer physician visits over a one year period that 59 same-aged
counterparts with no pets. Pet owners found that animals offered substantial comfort in
times of stress (Bower, 1991, 295). Pets in the Pen
District of Columbia
medium-security correctional facility at Loron, Virginia, the Oakwood Forensic Center in
Lima, Ohio, and the Purdy Treatment Center for Women in Gig Harbor all allow
prisoners to keep pets with them to make a lonely place a little better. Fish, birds, rabbits,
guinea pigs, and gerbils have been introduced as companions for the inmates (Netting,
Wilson & New, 1987, 62). David Lee, a psychiatric social worker at Oakwood believes
that this pet program for prisoners touches their lives therapeutically and helps them to
miraculously open up (Meer, 1984, 62). Therapeutic Animals
The value of pets in
improving their owners' physical and mental 10 health is widely acknowledged, and the
use of pet-assisted therapy is growing (Frost, 1991, 39). More and more studies on the
relationships of animals to people have been designed and conducted (Netting, Wilson
and New, 1987, 60). And there are increasingly new programs which combine the child
and their pet (Netting, et. al., 1987, 60).
There is an estimated 8,000 mentally retarded
people in 49 states benefit every year with 250 pet programs such as horseback riding
as a form of therapy (Meer, 1984, 62). In Miami, Betsy Smith a social worker, connects
the human-animal-bond by using dolphins to encourage communication in autistic children.
Researchers Samuel and Elizabeth Corson used dogs to help patients with depression
problems. Forty-seven out of fifty patients improved after contact with animals. Also
nursing homes have pet programs such as the Bide-a-Wee Home Association Pet-
A-Pet program to help the elderly increase mobility, speech and alertness when they
interact with the animals. Dentists and doctors who keep fish tanks in their waiting rooms
help the patients to relax (Meer, 1984, 62-3).
There are community-based programs that
include "pets by prescription" in which physicians prescribe companion animals for lonely
elderly persons and for these subsidy programs the costs for pet ownership is reduced
(Netting, Wilson & New, 1987, 62).
Presently I work at a pediatrician's office on King
Street and we have a ten gallon fish tank right on the counter where everyone can see it.
Practically all the babies who are being carried by their parent awe at the sight of the
fish tank. When they come in the door and right after they get a shot from the nurse. They
would cry their eyes out after they get a shot but the parents would walk them out to
the fish tank to calm them down and almost instantly they would stop and point at the
fish tank and talk to the fish.
Just recently my Grandpa was in the hospital due to his
heart condition and my aunt observed that Nikki was looking for my Grandpa
throughout the house trying to find him. My aunt also said that he was unusually quiet for
the days that my grandpa was at the hospital.
PETS BRING OUT THE BEST IN US
Author Susan Cohen states the question, "What's the difference between a pet and a
psychiatrist" (1988, 16)? She explains that a pet offers a person non-judgmental
acceptance, love, and companionship which are very important no matter how young or old we are. Young children receive the touch and stimulation from pets as young as six
months (Cohen, 1988, 16).
A child and their pet can have a very strong relationship. I
experienced this while babysitting Tia, an 18-month old girl and her big golden retriever
Lani. They have been together since Tia's newborn age and are very interesting together. It
seems as though Lani knows that Tia is a fragile little girl and she respects that. But if Tia
has a treat then. Lani wants that treat and vice-versa. They continually follow each
other around the house as if they are protecting each other. Often times I give Tia a snack
and Lani comes over and wants some too, so Tia shares with her. Lani chews it away
from Tia's hand but never bites hard to hurt her which I found quite interesting. It looks like
she's going to bite her hand off but Lani is really careful about that.
One weekend my
boyfriend and I babysat Tia and we watched Aladdin together and my boyfriend was
trying to sing for Tia and dance at the same time. Well while he was doing that I noticed
Lani staring at him and turning his head left and right like he was really weird. Her eyes also
told that story. When I first started babysitting Tia, Lani would carefully watch my every
move I did with Tia to see if I was treating her safely. Why do people have pets?
An issue
of Psychology Today (August 1984) did a survey that all added up to why people have
pets. Eighty-nine percent of the more than l,000 readers who answered the survey had
pet while they were growing: up and ninety-seven percent believed that children should
have pets (Horn & Meer, 1984, 5). The three main benefits were: providing
companionship/pleasure, learning gentleness and learning responsibility. I know that
responsibility is a very important aspect of owning your own pet. Cleaning up after them,
remembering to feed them daily, changing their water and most important caring for them
with attention. Your pet would have to be priority in your life.
Readers further indicated
that pets were significant when their owner was lonely or depressed and that eighty-eight
percent said that stroking a pet helped them to relax. They also said that almost half the
owners had a pet to make them feel safer and more secure. Twenty-seven percent felt that
pets helped them to make friends and ninety-nine percent of the owners talk to their pets.
Another interesting statistic that Horn and Meer came out with was that half the pets sleep in
the same bed with a family member and a third sleep in the same room with the owner or
family member (Horn & Meer, 1984, 57). I thought this percentage of PETS OF
CHOICE was quite interesting:
Dog 54% Fish 11% Reptile 3%
Cat 52% Rodent 5% Horse 4%
Bird 9% Rabbit 3% Other 3%
(Horn & Meer, 1984, 57)
PART VI: WHAT PERSONALITY THEORIES/CONCEPTS CAN BE APPLIED?
There has been quite a lot of research done on pet personality but not enough to say that there are specific
theories or concepts directly related to personality and pets. Although, in one article that I
found, I did come across theoretical perspectives on human-animal bonding. Authors
Netting, Wilson & New (1987), developed some theoretical frameworks that may be
helpful in understanding the roles and relationships of pets.
One theory that Brim
(1987, 61) came up with is the Social Role Theory. According to Parsons (1955, 17), a
role can be defined as any set of behaviors that has some socially agreed-upon function
and for which there exists an accepted code of norms (Netting, et al., 1987). There are
four dimensions that characterize the effect of social roles on the individual:
1) The number of roles
2) The intensity of involvement
3) The pattern of participation over time
4) The degree of structure the role imposes
(Netting, Wilson & New, 1987, 61)
One responsible role that is culturally acceptable for young children in our society is that of
pet ownership. They say that expectations surrounding the role of pet ownership are that
it will develop a sense of responsibility (Netting, Wilson & New, 1987, 61).
Another
theory that is closely related to social theory is the exchange theory. It is simply stated
that this theory suggests that people continue to engage in relationships only as long as
the benefits of their interactions outweigh the costs (Netting, Wilson & New, 1987, 61).
Emphasis here is toward the children, disabled, retarded, elderly and the imprisoned. To
them, the pets may provide valuable relationships that serve such functions as
companionship, tactile stimulation, safety and nonjudgmental emotional support (Netting,
et al., 1987, 61).
Personality has a lot to do with the inner and outer of oneself (James,
1994). The inside will determine the outside and one's outside will reflect one's inside. I
refer this to the affective, cognitive and sensory motor attributions. When we talk about
the affective, we are referring to the "feelings", the character of a person or even an
animal. The cognitive refers to the "thoughts", the personality and sensory motor refers to
the natural, overt behavior.
Personally I believe that animals have an affective side to them.
They feel their emotions and express it through their character. Animals have a keen sense
of their surroundings and know when something or someone is around. The emotions
are expressed through the behaviorism.
I used to feed my dog Lehua a raw egg mixed into
her food. She loved it and it was a treat for her. What I would always do is go in the
kitchen where she can see me through the window and I would mix the egg in a bowl first.
She would know it was for her by the sound of the fork hitting the sides of the bowl when
I mixed the egg. Right away she would get really excited and she would lick her lips
knowing that she would get egg in her food. And it was great to see her jump all around
and smile and see her eyes light up in excitement. Somehow this procedure got stuck in
her thoughts (cognitive) and she would express her memory (sensory motor) with overt
behavior.
MODELING
Learning without direct reinforcement, otherwise known as
modeling (Mischel, 1993, 316). Albert Bandura calls it observational learning that occurs
when one watches others or when they attend to their surrounding, to physical events, or to
symbols such as words or pictures (Mischel, 1993, 317). I believe that animals also
perform modeling by watching their owner and others.
My sister had a parakeet named
Tuffy and she played with him constantly and one day she discovered that he could actually
say, "Hello Tuffy boy". Lehua also did some modeling. She would always try to copy some
things I would do like smelling flowers. There was always flowers blooming where she used
to stay and I would always pick them and smell them. Lehua was right next to me so she
would try to smell it too.
Lani (the pet dog where I babysit at) loves to follow Tia there
almost two years old daughter in everything she does. Whether it's playing with a toy or
eating something, Lani would be right over her shoulder trying to get at it.
PART VII: CONCLUSION AND AFTERTHOUGHTS
Pets and personality is not a very
developed and knowledgeable topic but from the research I did there is definite growth
through research and findings. Experimental studies are also being performed especially
the subject on the therapeutic aspect of pets towards people of all ages.
As Leon James (1994) put it, personality is always changeable. It's constantly in the process of
becoming/changing willingly (James, 1994). Books and other documented research has
now been readily available due to the understanding and the awareness that pets are not
only furry, soft animals, they are companions that help people with difficulties in one's life.
Pets are helping the human race to live longer more prosperous lives just by being there
by their owner. According to an issue of Psychology Today (August 1984), eight out of
ten owners agree that pets are sometimes the closest companions they have (Horn & Meer,
1984, 54). Pets give children companionship and help them learn the values of gentleness
and responsibility (Horn & 1eer, 1984, 53).
This one article documents that you can learn
to read your dog's moods and desires more effectively if you know the basic vocabulary
of canine body language (Grant, 1984, 86). There are five body-language repertoire of a
dog: play, submission, aggression, fear and interest.
Pet owners and the families should
also remember that family stress does affect your pet. Dr. Fox says that any change in
family dynamics can have an affect on your pet behavior and mannerism either negatively
or positively. So remember to keep your cool at home calm down.
Pets will always be a
special part of my life and I feel it is good for me to be able to write a term paper on a
subject that I know I will enjoy while I am writing it and after I am done. Having any sort
of pet gives one a sense of gratification and a sense of happiness that non-pet-owners
do not receive. And there is documented proof that pets do help our elders hearts and
general health. I have living proof with my Grandpa who is ill and Nikki (the lovable
doggie) at their home. My Grandpa has lived longer and enjoys every moment of it
especially with Nikki there to help him to remind him about his medication and when to eat
dinner. Before my family was against having a dog in my grandparents lives but I think
Nikki proved them wrong.
I believe that people are turning their heads and understanding
more about pets and what effects they have on our children and the adults. I also believe
that student writing about pets will definitely make other students more aware of pet life
and how beneficial they can be in our lives.
I hope other students will read our papers on
pets and their personalities and continue to do further research on this subject and more to
continue the awareness to the public about how pets can be extremely beneficial and
rewarding to you and your kids. Advice to students...
It is important to start your research
early especially if the topic you choose is a popular one. Use UH's CD-Rom Database
which is really helpful and full of current information on many subjects. It can also lead
you to other sources. Do not limit your research to just one or two places such as the UH
libraries on campus. Go to other libraries on O'ahu or if possible try to contact other
sources such as the Human Society if you plan to do a paper on animals. Try different
options and do not limit yourself to here and there. Try because you will never know.
Having too many sources is always good than having too little sources on hand. You could
always eliminate the not so important ones and have a broader range of material to cover in
the paper. It always depends . on your topic too so consult the professor if questions arise
about the sources. Once you get your sources read them over to make sure that it is
relevant to your topic, sometimes just the title or the abstract may sound good but the total
article doesn't even pertain to the topic of your paper.
Next step is to start on the outline
right away. Get an idea of what the main headlines will be and what sort of material will be
covered in that section. The outline is important because it gives you a plan of what the
paper will look like and also to see if it will flow or not.
If there are other students doing
the same topic as you then get together with them and perhaps share reference information
and other ideas to help each other.
Time is of the essence so start early on writing the rough
draft. I think this is the hardest thing to do is to start writing the paper. It took me quite
awhile to actually start putting full sentences on the computer. But once you start and since
you have all the references needed and an outline to help you along the way, the paper
should flow from there.
I think professors should always have set deadlines for outlines,
rough drafts and then the final paper instead of having just one due date for the final paper.
It helps the students to start early and get going on the paper.
So start early and don't
procrastinate!
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1) Animal Cognition: refer to page 4
2) Consciousness: the state or faculty of being mentally conscious or aware of anything.
3) Ethologists: those who study the scientific and objective study of animal behavior.
4) Personality: elicits positive reactions from others in one's typical dealings with them.