Mauersberger, H;
Springer, A;
Fotopoulou, A;
Blaison, C;
Hess, U;
(2024)
Pet dogs succeed where human companions fail: The presence of pet dogs reduces pain.
Acta Psychologica
, 249
, Article 104418. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104418.
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Abstract
Social support from family and friends, albeit associated with beneficial health effects, does not always help to cope with pain. This may be because humans elicit mixed expectations of social support and evaluative judgment. The present studies aimed to test whether pet dogs are a more beneficial source of support in a painful situation than human companions because they are not evaluative. For this, 74 (Study 1) and 50 (Study 2) women completed a cold-pressor task in the presence of either their own (S1) or an unfamiliar (S2) dog, a friend (S1), or an unknown human companion (S2), or alone. In both studies, participants reported less pain and exhibited less pain behavior in the presence of dogs compared to human companions. Reactions to pain were moderated by attitudes towards dogs in S2. This suggests that pet dogs may help individuals to cope with painful situations, especially if the individual in pain generally feels affectionate towards dogs.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Pet dogs succeed where human companions fail: The presence of pet dogs reduces pain |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104418 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104418 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync- nd/4.0/ ). |
| Keywords: | Cold-pressor task, ECG, EDA, Facial EMG, Pain tolerance, Pet dogs, Physiological reactivity, Social support, Subjective pain ratings, Dogs, Animals, Humans, Female, Pets, Pain, Adult, Human-Animal Bond, Young Adult, Adaptation, Psychological, Social Support, Adolescent |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204903 |
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