Plagemann, Victor (2022) Self Cat (or Dog) and Social Influence: Interspecies Influence and the Role of Theory of Mind. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
With this study, we wanted to find out whether we can be socially influenced by pets, and whether this influence is due to a shared social category, implicating species-being informed theory of mind assumptions based around a common group identity. We tested this idea by a vignette-based study in a sample of 448 first year university students. Participant were assigned to conditions involving a social appraisal situation in which either their cat or dog reacted positively or negatively to a barely known acquaintance. After they read about the pet’s reaction, we assessed what the participant perceived their pet was feeling towards the acquaintance, what they were feeling towards the acquaintance and what they were feeling towards the pet. Furthermore, we assessed participants empathy with the pet and their attitudes towards the acquaintance. We also assessed how likely they were to self-categorize with their pet and created a questionnaire to assess participants assumptions about cats and dogs. We hypothesized that a dog’s reaction (as a pack/group animal) would be more influential than a cat’s reaction and that participants who really owned the respective pet are more strongly influenced by their pet’s behavior. Both hypotheses were generally supported by our data. Furthermore, we found that participants more strongly self-categorize with dogs and that dogs were consistently perceived as more social.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Spears, R. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2022 10:12 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jul 2022 10:12 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1207 |
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