My students did a study comparing petting a dog and watching a cute puppy picture of dogs (of the same breed). The participants were stressed out college students. They did not find any differences (although the puppy video was awfully cute!). They did find lots of research examining the effects of touching/petting animals on the reduction of anxiety, increased well being etc. As I recall, the research in inconsistent.
I volunteer with my dog as a therapy dog and anecdotally I can say that the staff at the nursing homes we go to really like petting the dogs and some residents do (but some don’t seem to care that much). I also take my dog to an afterschool program where the kids read aloud to my dog and again some kids love the dog (and see it as a reward) whereas other kids are all business about reading to the dog. Many of the kids do hold up the book so my dog can see the pictures -- pretty cute. Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of Psychology Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1040 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://blogs.dickinson.edu/helwegm/ -----Original Message----- From: The Psych Files [mailto:mich...@thepsychfiles.com] Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2017 7:38 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu> Subject: [tips] Therapy Llamas Okay I get this. Therapy dogs are kinda yesterday’s news and llamas are undeniably cute, so this doesn’t surprise too much. Anyone have any links to the effectiveness of therapy animals? https://thescene.com/watch/brides/wedding-llamas Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. mich...@thepsychfiles.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: helw...@dickinson.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a4468797f&n=T&l=tips&o=51632 or send a blank email to leave-51632-13234.b0e864a6eccfc779c8119f5a44687...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=51635 or send a blank email to leave-51635-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
