Non-Evaluative Social Support
3 Components of Attachment Comprise the Companion Animal Bond
(1) Affective Attachment10
• Includes: Emotional expressions of interest and closeness with their pet
• Promotes self-other differentiation, the ability to put oneself in someone
else’s shoes
(2) Behavior Attachment10
• Includes: Physical activity with the pet, such as playing and caregiving
• Stronger attachment to pets, increased likelihood to show caretaking
behaviors5
• Successful caretaking requires recognition and accurate interpretation of
nonverbal cues, and is correlated with empathy in children10
(3) Cognitive Attachment10
• Includes: Ideas about the pet and its care
• With maturation, the childhood tendency to display attachment by
maintaining proximity diminishes, and the attachment relationship is
instead maintained through thoughts of the attachment object9
Males
65
Females
60
Saliency of Effects
• Effects and interpretation of environment in early personality development
relate to empathy levels throughout adulthood10,16
• A positive relationship exists between companion-animal bonding and
empathy in children 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15. Across all related studies, only one
considered pets’ effect into young adulthood14, but did so looking at pet
ownership, which is not a reliable predictor of pets’ effects11, 12
55
50
20
15
10
21.321 20.154
17.355
19.6
5
0
40
No Other Dogs
30
Figure 2. H3. A Gender (2) x Presence of Other
Dogs (2) ANOVA on CABS scores revealed no
significant main effects of gender on CABS scores,
F(1, 78) = .193, p = .662. partial ε2 = .002. A trend
approaching significance for a tendency for
participants with no other dogs to have stronger
bonding with The Dog than those with other dogs
owned, F(1, 78) = 3.398, p = .069, partial ε2 = .042.
25
20
5
15
25
35
CABS Total Score
Figure 1. H1. Pearson’s correlation
coefficient between CABS and TEQ
scores by gender revealed that females
showed a trend approaching significance in
the negative direction, as weaker bonding
was associated with higher empathy scores
on the TEQ, r (57) = -.237, p = .070. Males
with strong bonding showed higher empathy,
r (21) = .470, p = .024. Fisher’s r-to-z
transformation showed that females and
males significantly differed in how the
strength of bonding with The Dog affected
empathy, z = 2.89, p = .004.
and self-report (TEQ) empathy
H2: Females will have stronger bonding and higher empathy than males
H3: As a result of the empathy-activating writing task, the bond reminded
condition will have equal or higher empathy scores than the bonddistracted condition
H4: Ownership of other dogs will lead to weaker bonding with The Dog
and lower empathy scores
Participants: 83 SMCM students (59 females, 23 males) recruited in SP12 to participate in the
study, Personality and Perceptions of Pets. Randomly assigned based on arrival time in
alternating sequence into experimental manipulation group (n = 44) or control group (n = 38).
Inclusionary criteria was the ownership of a dog prior to 16 years old.
Independent Variables: Experimental Condition, Companion-Animal Bonding (CABS)
Score, Presence of Other Dogs
Two Groups, One 5-Minute Writing Prompt:
Prompt 1. Bond Reminded (Experimental Manipulation). Relationship with The Dog
Prompt 2. Bond Distracted (Control). Their interpretation of the meaning of personality
Companion Animal Bonding Scale (CABS)11:
• 8-item scale developed by scientists in fields of child development and veterinary medicine
• Assesses self-reported behaviors indicative of bonding in relationship with most important pet
• Selected The Dog considered as most important in life
• 5-point Likert Scale with frequency of bonding behaviors with The Dog, never (1) to always
(5), Possible total scores range from 8 to 40, higher scores represent stronger bonding with
The Dog
Presence of Other Dogs
• Participants responded on number of other dogs present in the household at the same time
as The Dog. The majority of participants either did not own another dog (50.6%) or owned
only one other dog (36.1%), thus responses were recoded within a presence of other dogs
variable, no other dogs owned = 0 (n = 42), one or more other dogs owned = 1 (n = 41).
Other Dogs
Presence of Other Dogs
35
H1: A stronger bond with The Dog will lead to higher behavioral (MIE)
CABS Score
Adult Revised Reading the Eyes in the Mind Test (MIE)2:
• 36-item behavioral measure of empathy
• Assesses ability to accurately interpret complex interpersonal stimuli by pairing static
nonverbal cues (i.e. emotion in eyes) with one of four mental-state term choices
• Correct responses worth one point each, possible total scores range from 0 to 36, higher
scores represent higher empathy
Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ)12:
• 16-item scale was developed using a factor analysis on all current self-report empathy
measures to find core opinion on how empathy is measured
• Researchers found scores on the TEQ to correlate with those on the MIE12, but relationship
between two empathy measures was not apparent in this study
Males
45
MIE and TEQ Empathy Measures Did
Not Correlate,
r(81) = .03, p = .788
60
Females
Males
50
40
30
47.214
50.385
49.613
42.9
20
10
0
No Other Dogs
Other Dogs
Presence of Other Dogs
Hypotheses
Dependent Variables: Behavioral (MIE) and Self-Report (TEQ) Empathy Score,
25
CABS Mean Scores
Attachment Relationship
70
TEQ Total Score
Empathy Development
• Prerequisites: Secure Attachment and
Positive Social Support2
• Feelings of Security and Comfort
Precede Attachment7
• Dogs Unique Compared to Other Pets,
and Even Family4
Gender Differences Appeared in How
Bonding Affects Empathy
TEQ Mean Score
• Human beings rely on connectedness with others for mental health via (a)
receiving social support, and (b) demonstrating care about people and
other living things5
Females
To test H2, a between-subjects t-test
was explored for gender differences for
CABS, MIE, or TEQ scores. Females’
scores did not significantly differ from
males’ scores on the CABS, t (80) = .530,
p = .597. Females and males did not
significantly differ in scores on the MIE, t
(80) = -1.031, p = .306, or on the TEQ, t
(80) = -.800, p = .426.
Figure 3. H3. A Gender (2) x Presence of Other
Dogs (2) ANOVA on TEQ scores revealed a
significant interaction between gender and presence
of other dogs on empathy, F(1, 78) = 9.337, p = .003.
partial ε2 = .107. Males with other dogs owned
showed lower empathy scores than those with no
other dogs, while females did not show a relationship
between presence of other dogs and empathy. No
main effect of gender, F (1, 78) = 1.200, p = .277,
partial ε2 = .015, or presence of other dogs on TEQ
scores was found, F(1, 78) = 2.473, p = .120.
H1: Partially Supported. Females with stronger companion-animal bonds showed a
tendency towards lower empathy, whereas males with stronger companion-animal
bonds reported higher empathy. There was not a relationship between the behavioral
(MIE) and self-report (TEQ) empathy measures. Shared method variance may have
contributed to this effect.
H2: Not supported. Females did not report higher scores on the CABS, MIE, or TEQ
compared to males.
H3: Not supported. The experimental manipulation did not lead to differences between
experimental conditions on empathy measures.
H4: Partially Supported. Owning one or more dogs at the same time as The Dog led to
weaker bonding with The Dog for all participants and for females, but not for males.
Owning other dogs had a negative effect on empathy for males, but not for females.
While the relationship between the formation of a companion-animal bond and
empathy has been supported in childhood, results of this study suggest that these
effects are likely to result in different empathy outcomes for females and males by
young adulthood.
1 Allen,
K.M., Blascovich, J., Tomaka, J., & Kelsey, R.M. (1991). Presence of human friends and pet dogs as moderators of autonomic responses to stress in women. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 582-589.
2 Baron-Cohen. (2001). The "reading the mind in the eyes" test revised version: A study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal
for Child Psychology and Psychiatry 42, 241-251.
3 Bonas, S., Mcnicholas, J., & Collis, G.M. (2001). Pets in the network of family relationships: An empirical study. In A. L. Podberscek, E. S. Paul & J. A. Serpell (Eds.), Companionanimals and us: Exploring the relationships between people and pets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4 Bryant, B.K. (1990). The richness of the child-pet relationship: A consideration of both benefits and costs of pets to children. Anthrozoos, 3, 253-261.
5 Endenburg, N., & Baarda, B. (1995). The role of pets in enhancing human well being: Effects on child development. The Waltham Book of Human-Animal Interaction: Benefits and
Responsibilities of Pet Ownership, 7-17.
6 Gendler, H.D. (1997). The role of childhood pets in the development of empathy (Unpublished master's of science thesis). University of Maryland: Maryland.
7 Levinson, B.M. (1978). Pets and personality development. Psychological Reports, 42, 1031-1038.
8 Melson, G.F., Peet, S., & Sparks, C. (1991). Children's attachment to their pets: Links to socio-emotional development. Children's Environments Quarterly, 8, 55-65.
9 Paul, E.S. (2000). Empathy with animals and with humans: Are they linked? Anthrozoos, 13, 194-202.
10 Poresky, R. H., & Hendrix, C. (1990). Differential effects of pet presence and pet-bonding on young children. Psychological Reports, 67, 51-54.
11 Poresky. (1996). Companion-animals and other factors affecting young children's development. Anthrozoos, 9(4), 159-168.
12 Spreng, N.R., McKinnon, M.C., Mar, R.A., & Levine, B. (2009). The Toronto empathy questionnaire: Scale development and initial validation of a factor-analytic solution to multiple
empathy measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 62-71.
13 Vidovic, V.V., Arambasic, L., Kerestes, G., Kuterovac-Jagodic, G., & Stetic, V.V. (2001). Pet ownership in childhood and socio-emotional characteristics, work values, and
profession choices in early adulthood. Anthrozoos, 14, 224-231.
14 Vidovic, V.V., Stetic, V.V., & Bratko, D. (1999). Pet ownership, type of pet, and socio emotional development of school children. Anthrozoos, 12, 211-217.
15 Zahn-Waxler, C., Robinson, J.L., & Emde, R.N. (1992). The development of empathy in twins. Developmental Psychology, 28, 1038-1047.