science market
Human - animal social relationships: functions and mechanisms
abstract: Animals have been central to human life throughout history, whether as a focus of spirituality, beasts of burden, food sources, or social companions. With increasing urbanization, some of the roles of animals in human life have been fading away, while others, particularly social companionship, appear to have been growing in importance. Social interactions between humans and domesticated species have only become a focus of research in the last two decades. This relationship has many of the features of within-species social relations and can be approached within the same broad evolutionary framework. The purpose of this session is to present and discuss the latest research on human social interaction with dogs, cats and possibly other domesticated animals from a variety of theoretical viewpoints, including but not limited to, Animal Welfare, Behavioural Ecology, Comparative Psychology, and Ethology. This research raises theoretical questions about the relationship of phylogeny and ontogeny in the development of behavior, and has practical importance for our interaction with the many millions of domesticated animals that live in human society.
The organisors of this session are Prof. Clive Wynne (wynne@ufl.edu Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Box 112250, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA, Phone: +1 352 392 0601 Xtn 292, Fax: +1 352 392 7985) and Prof. Dr. Kurt Kotrschal (kotr@tele2.at A-4645 Gruenau 11 Austria, Phone: 0043(0)76168510, Fax: 0043(0)76168510-4).
Confirmed speakers are:
- - Clive Wynne (University of Florida)
- - Kurt Kotrschal (Universität Wien)
- - Ray Coppinger (Hampshire College)
- - Monique Udell (University of Florida)
