Why do humans treat their pets like human beings? Yep, I’m guilty of that sometimes. And why wouldn’t I? Sometimes my dog is nicer to me that my children are. This phenomena is called anthropomorphism and there are many reasons we do this.
Somehow the relationship with a pet is a more intuitive and perceptually deeper. Since they don’t have words to tell us what they really think , we use empathy to ‘read’ them. And since animals are very good at picking up our vibes, it feels like they understand us better than our human counter parts.
I think it is normal to appreciate this, but do you think that showering them with treats and love and affection is good for them? It is also normal to want to give our pets a good life, but what should that really look like?
Pre discussion
- What do pets bring to our lives?
- How would you describe a healthy pet-owner relationship?
- Some vocabulary:
- pampered
- appealling
- mischievous
- bond and bonding
- alleviate stress
- Behaviour
Video and Article: New York Times Why Humans Treat Their Dogs Like People
Discussion
- Do a Mind Map of the main points of the video
- Who is Tinker Bell?
- Why does Annie Grossman think anthropomorphizing animals is problematic?
- What did B.F. Skinner do to help us understand behaviour?
- Is anthropomorphizing animals a northern hemisphere phenomena? How do you view animals in your culture?
