Anthrozoology Undergraduate Theses
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Item Role of Human Personalities in Horse Handling(2018-04-01) Castillo, Lauren; Anne Perkins; Erica Feurbacher; Sonya LambHow do people with different personalities interact with horses? This study was designed to determine if introverts have an easier time handling an unfamiliar horse when compared to extroverts. Volunteers with a range of horse experience were asked to complete the Myers Briggs Personality Assessment. Volunteers were assigned a horse to lead over a 12-foot platform in an outdoor arena. All horses were familiar with this obstacle. Every participant was videotaped. The dependent variables included the fluid motion of the horse, horse facial expressions, and horse body language along with horsehuman interactions. The hypothesis was that introverts would experience an easier time with fewer stops when compared to extroverts in completing this task with the horse. The results showed that there was no significant difference in how the horses were led when with an extrovert or an introvert. There was a difference in the time taken depending on if the person was handling a reactive horse or a nonreactive horse.Item Animal Archetypes of the Human Female: The Biological and Social Dichotomy through Stages of Development(2013-04-01) Clearman, Theresa; Marie Suthers; Beth Haile; Darren NealisThis paper will discuss the developmental cycle of women (infancy/childhood to adulthood to old age) and how animal archetypes appear in their psyche as a result of social and biological influence. The discussion of archetypes typically occurs within the field of psychotherapy without strong empirical evidence. In general, there have been few efforts to bridge psychotherapy and experimental psychology. In examining the biological basis of archetypes, this paper will attempt to create such a bridge between these two disciplines. The exposure to archetypal and animal characters during sensitive periods of language acquisition may influence symbol assignment and memory from an early age. Female needs to satisfy unfulfilled social or maternal urges in adult stages of development are possibly impacted by the presence of animals both in the physical and psychic world. The ongoing overlap of archetypal images acting against subliminal backdrop of rapid biological development may have a long lasting or even permanent effect on subconscious action, reasoning, and memory. The emotional importance of animal bonds throughout life could impact behaviors such as altruism, empathy, and maternal care. Similar patterns associated to early development may appear as defense mechanisms later in life with issues surrounding memory loss and trauma.Item Persistent Behavior in Domestic Canines (Canis familiaris)(2016-04-01) Arant, MeganBehavioral persistence is the continuation of responding without reward. (Weiner, H. 1970) It is important to look at persistence in domestic dog behavior so people can better partner with them professionally in day to day life. Working dogs, such as service dogs and police dogs, often have to learn to work under conditions involving little or no reinforcement or delayed reinforcement conditions. To make training more effective for these working dogs understanding the factors that influence the persistence aspects would be important. Researching persistence also has an application with owned pet dogs, for example, owners may not want to rely solely on treats every time their dog behaves in public. Previous research found that owned dogs were more persistent than dogs in a shelter setting. (Gunter) Stress is one possible factor for this difference; shelter dogs face a lot of stress. Cortisol levels rise in shelter dogs during the first three days of being introduced to a shelter setting. (Davis, H.N., Douglas, C.W., Hennessy, M.B., Mellott, C., Williams, M. T., 1998) We investigated persistence in seven domestic dogs as they moved from a shelter to a foster program. The goal of the current study was to measure whether persistence changed from the time when the dogs were in the shelter, and likely in a state of stress, to six months after dogs were placed in a foster program and have adjusted to life in a home. Dogs were trained to touch the experimenter's hand, contingent upon which a treat would be delivered. After twenty trials on alternating hands, where the dog responded with nose presses, the behavior was put on extinction. No further reinforcers were delivered. We recorded how many times the dog continued to touch the hand as a measure of persistence. Each dog was tested once a month for five months. We analyzed how the dogs changed in their level of persistence over the five months, beginning with an initial shelter test before entering the foster situation.