ABSTRACT
People have a conflicted relationship with animals, and therefore their own membership in the animal kingdom. In this chapter, we review research showing how our connection to animals can influence our attachment systems, how we construct and understand our social identities, and how this connection can be costly, sometimes forcing us to make hard choices between animal and human welfare. We often love and cherish animals, yet we also frequently use them for resources (e.g., meat) and can feel threatened when our superiority is questioned, motivating a desire to maintain psychological distance. Animals represent both a significant connection to our natural environment, but also serve as a reminder of our mortality. We discuss how research into human-animal relations impacts on many of the same psychological constructs relevant to human-human relations. Studying our relationship with animals therefore offers critical insights into broad psychological processes relevant for the human domain and also reveals that how we relate to animals can shape how we relate to other humans.
