June 30, 2003

URBANA -- Are animal lovers always nature lovers? Environmental psychologist and University of Illinois professor Joanne Vining has hypothesized that people’s affection for animals may have something to do with how they care about the environment.

Psychologists have done numerous studies on humans and their attachment to animals and/or their pets as well as numerous studies on people’s concern for nature and the environment. Vining is the first to test these factors empirically to see if they influence each other.

“For some people, being with an animal or owning one is a method of connecting with the natural world,” Vining said. “Since the industrialization of our society we have tamed much of the natural world and kept it at arm’s length.”

Vining surveyed a random sample of U.S. residents. The results showed that people often do not consider themselves to be a part of nature. Other findings suggest that people who consider animals to have the same rights as humans felt the balance of nature has been upset by human actions. As recent years have shown, environmental conservation and preservation is an important issue for some and Vining attributes this to scarcity.

“Early settlers to America wished to tame much of nature and use its valuable resources,” Vining said. “Today people are conflicted about our treatment of the environment. Owning an animal or bonding with one may satisfy the need to connect with nature for some people.”

An article by Vining (in revision for publication) states that 50 percent of North American and European households have at least one pet. People own pets for a variety of reasons, with the most common reason being companionship. Vining concedes that some societies do not share the same feelings for domestication of animals as others, but this study is focused on western societies that do.

Vining said this research does not take a sentimental approach to pet ownership. Instead it is utilizing this characteristic as a method of understanding a human’s attachment to animals and the natural world.

“People have an easier time expressing why they care about their pet or a certain animal than they do talking about nature,” Vining said. “Understanding human attachment to nature is the goal of the research.” Environmental attachment can be a more subconscious emotion for people than animal attachment and Vining is trying to get to the root of that attachment.

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