Testing and Extending the Pets as Ambassadors Hypothesis: The Role of Contact with Pets and Recategorization Processes in Predicting Positive Attitudes toward Animals

Abstract

Abstract According to the pets as ambassadors hypothesis ( Serpell & Paul, 1994 ), contact with pets can promote more positive attitudes toward animals in general and serve as a springboard toward concerns for a broader range of animals. Building on intergroup contact theory and the common ingroup identity model, the current research aimed to test and extend the pets as ambassadors hypothesis as well as investigate its underlying mechanisms. Specifically, two studies aimed to test whether contact with pets – as a specific type of cross-group friendship – can predict more positive attitudes toward animals in general through recategorization and self-expansion processes. Extending the pets as ambassadors hypothesis, we also verified if inclusion of a favorite pet in the self could predict identification with nature. Two correlational studies conducted at the University of Quebec in Montreal tested these associations. In Study 1 ( N =148 university students, 109 women; mean age of 24.96 years old; 103 pet owners), mediation analyses revealed that contact with pets predicted greater moral concern toward animals and lower speciesism; these links were mediated by the inclusion of animals in the self. Study 2 ( N =157 university students, 108 women; mean age of 23.26 years old; 95 pet owners) extended these findings by showing that inclusion of a favorite pet in the self predicted identification with nature; this link was mediated by inclusion of animals in the self. Categorizing humans and animals into the same superordinate group also mediated the associations between inclusion of a favorite pet in the self, on the one end, and inclusion of animals in the self as well as identification with nature on the other. These results stress the importance of recategorization processes in our relations with animals and with nature. Furthermore, they reveal the applicability of the intergroup contact, cross-group friendship, and common ingroup identity models to the realm of human-animal relations.