Animals and Society


Book Description

This textbook provides a full overview of human-animal studies. It focuses on the conceptual construction of animals in American culture and the way in which it reinforces and perpetuates hierarchical human relationships rooted in racism, sexism, and class privilege.




The Waltham Book of Human-Animal Interaction


Book Description

The Waltham Book of Human-Animal Interaction: Benefits and Responsibilities of Pet Ownership discusses the scientific study of the relationship between man and animals, focusing on the behavior of companion animals, and how humans and animals affect each other's behavior. This first half of this book discusses research on benefits that have been found to accumulate from associations with animals, and the role of animals in care and therapy program. The responsibilities toward the animals kept, and how to enhance their care and welfare are considered in the next chapters. The human response to pet loss is also elaborated. This publication is beneficial to veterinary students and individuals concerned with the study of human-animal interactions.




How Animals Affect Us


Book Description

The findings in this volume deepen our understanding of human and animal behavior, including the impact that pets can have on children's development and the efficacy of animal-assisted therapies.







Introduction to Human-Animal Interaction


Book Description

Introduction to Human-Animal Interaction focuses on the human dimension of interacting with other animals. This book introduces recent developments, theories, and debates in the relatively new research area of Human-Animal Interaction (HAI) and focuses on the social and life sciences aspect of these interactions. Experts from different academic disciplines provide an overview for students and professionals interested in how humans and other animals interact, and what advantages and disadvantages emerge for both parties in this relationship. The book starts with the theories and mechanisms supporting our interactions with animals, such as human-animal communication, and it then covers the implications of HAI in terms of ethics and welfare. After discussing cultural differences and forensic aspects in human-animal interaction (e.g., wildlife crime and animal abuse), the book examines evidence in the area of animal-assisted intervention. The final chapters give an overview of current research in specific human-animal interaction systems: human-pet, human-livestock and human-wildlife interaction. The book offers a scientific, evidence-based perspective on human-animal interaction, providing pedagogical tools to make a systematic, critical and constructive evaluation of research in HAI possible. It offers a range of in-text pedagogical features like a subject index, chapter MCQs, open questions, further reading, and additional digital resources including videos which are accessible via QR codes or through the associated website. This textbook provides the fundamental tools for achieving a comprehensive, current, and critical overview of the HAI field and is an integral text for undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking modules in human-animal interaction, in social sciences such as anthropology, cultural studies, criminology, ethics and laws or in life sciences such as animal behaviour, conservation and welfare, biology, neuroscience, physiology, psychology, public health and those studying veterinary science.




Human-livestock Interactions


Book Description

The second edition of this book contains chapters that discuss the role of the stockperson in animal welfare, including attitudes, human-animal interactions, human and animal behaviour and improvement of human-animal interactions in animal production. This book is intended for those with an interest in human-animal interactions, including trainers, livestock farm managers, students and academics.




The Psychology of the Human-Animal Bond


Book Description

There have been dramatic increases in the financial, emotional, and psychological investment in pets over the past four decades. The increasing importance of animal companions in people's lives has resulted in growing emphasis on the human-animal bond within academic literature. This book introduces practicing and emerging professionals to vital subject matter concerning this growing specialty area by providing an essential framework and information through which to consider the unique contextual backdrop of the human-animal bond. Such contexts include a wide array of themes including: issues of attachment and loss, success and frustration with making and sustaining connections, world views regarding animal ethics, familial history of neglect or abuse, and cultural dynamics that speak to the order of things between mankind and nature. Adopting a contextual stance will aid mental health professionals in appreciating why and how this connection has become a significant part of everyday life for many. As with any other important clinical dynamic, training and preparation are needed to gain competence for professional practice and research. To this end, an ensemble of international experts across the fields of psychology and mental health explore topics that will help both new and established clinicians increase and understanding of the various ways the human-animal bond manifests itself. Perspectives from beyond the scope of psychology and mental health such as anthropology, philosophy, literature, religion, and history are included to provide a sampling of the significant contexts in which the human-animal bond is established. What brings these divergent topics together in a meaningful way is their relevance and centrality to the contextual bonds that underlie the human-animal connection. This text will be a valuable resource that provides opportunities to deepen one's expertise in understanding the psychology of the human-animal bond.




The Social Neuroscience of Human-animal Interaction


Book Description

Our relationships with animals, as anyone with a beloved dog or cat knows, can be among the most significant in our lives. But why are we so attached to our pets? What kind of health, developmental, and psychological impacts do animals have on us? And what practical benefits -- for animals and humans alike -- can be gained from a deeper understanding of human-animal interactions? In this volume, a cross-disciplinary group of authors that includes behavioral psychologists, neuroscientists, geneticists, ethicists and veterinarians seek to understand human-animal interactions by applying research in the neurobiology and genetics that underlie human social functioning. Chapters describe the concepts and methodologies that social neuroscientists use to understand human social relationships, functioning, and the social bases of cognition, and apply these to understanding the role of animals in our lives. Authors present evolutionary and developmental perspectives, and weigh the implications of human-animal interactions research for animal welfare. Clinical applications include animal-assisted therapies for people with disabilities, acute or chronic health conditions, and social or emotional difficulties. Clear and accessible, this book is intended for a broad readership that includes clinicians, teachers, and anyone interested in how and why animals affect us the way they do.




Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists


Book Description

Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists is an essential text for students and professionals wanting to pursue a career in human-animal interaction (HAI). It is exclusively designed to navigate this field and provide information on the best education, training, and background one might need to incorporate HAI into a successful career. Kogan and Erdman bring together a diverse range of insights from HAI social scientists who have secured or created their HAI job. The book highlights six categories of work settings: academia, private practice, corporations/for profit companies, non-profit organizations, government, and other positions, to show the growing number of opportunities to blend social science interests with the desire to incorporate HAI into their careers. The book clearly outlines the career paths available to social science students and professionals, from careers connected to human services of psychology, therapy, social work, and journalism, to research or other scholarship.




Placing Animals


Book Description

As Julie Urbanik vividly illustrates, non-human animals are central to our daily human lives. We eat them, wear them, live with them, work them, experiment on them, try to save them, spoil them, abuse them, fight them, hunt them, buy and sell them, love them, and hate them. Placing Animals is the first book to bring together the historical development of the field of animal geography with a comprehensive survey of how geographers study animals today. Urbanik provides readers with a thorough understanding of the relationship between animal geography and the larger animal studies project, an appreciation of the many geographies of human-animal interactions around the world, and insight into how animal geography is both challenging and contributing to the major fields of human and nature-society geography. Through the theme of the role of place in shaping where and why human-animal interactions occur, the chapters in turn explore the history of animal geography and our distinctive relationships in the home, on farms, in the context of labor, in the wider culture, and in the wild.