Attitudes toward Empathy in Domestic Dogs and Cats

Bibliographic Data

ID13669306
AuthorsWilliam F Vitulli (University of South Alabama, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume99
Issue3
Pages981-991
Publication date2006-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychological Reports (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2941 • E-ISSN: 1558-691X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2466/pr0.99.3.981-991
PMID17305224
OpenAlexW2057314434
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited15

This exploratory study included 524 undergraduate students (360 women, M age = 21.1 yr., SD = 6.1; and 164 men, M age = 20.0 yr., SD = 3.6) enrolled in introductory psychology sections who completed the Empathy in Pet Dogs and Cats Scale to assess their attitudes regarding how much domestic dogs and cats show vicarious experiencing of the thoughts, feelings, or attitudes of their owners. A principal components analysis followed by varimax rotation extracted five factors accounting for 60.85% of the total variance as follows: (1) Pets' empathy for owner, (2) Cats' empathy for owner, (3) Dogs' empathy for owner, (4) Souls in humans and pets, (5) Owners' empathy for pets. Women gave significantly higher ratings than men regarding dogs' and cats' knowing when their owners are happy, sad, or angry. Women also gave significantly higher ratings than men regarding dogs' and cats' feeling love and compassion for their owners. Specific instances of empathy in pets underscore the need for contemporary research to be inclusive of operational definitions of measures of empathy

CATS · Compassion · Empathy · Feeling · Clinical Psychology · Empathy and Medical Education · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Veterinary Practice and Education Studies

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