Gaze in Interspecies Human–Pet Interaction: Some Exploratory Analyses

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines video-recorded naturally occurring human–pet interactions during which the animal’s gaze is treated by the human as a turn-allocation device. Gaze exchange has been extensively studied as the social phenomenon par excellence, especially by scientific paradigms interested in defining sociality as mutual orientation. Recently, studies in ethology have shown the relevance of doing sequential analyses of gaze exchanges in animal interactions, providing important information on the “monitoring function” of gaze. Less is known about the “regulatory function” (i.e., the effect of animal gaze on the sequential organization of action) in human–animal interspecies interactions. This article aims to fill this gap, by investigating the role of domestic dogs’, cats’, and horses’ gazes on human conversation and courses of action. Findings demonstrate a systematic format: an animal-initiated gaze followed by a verbal turn of the human participant, which evidences the turn-allocational function of the animal’s gaze on human participation. Data are in French.