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Pet-Related Humor Study
My University Group Undergraduate Research Project For Psychology
Abstract
This research study aimed to investigate whether individuals find the misfortune of domestic pets (e.g. dogs, cats) or exotic pets (e.g. mice, hamsters, tarantulas, parrots) more amusing or distressing. Past research suggests that people perceive differences in various animals’ capacity to feel (Possidónio, 2019), and that people view tragedies as funnier when the tragedy is more distant (McGraw, 2012). Because exotic pets are not as commonplace, it is possible that they may seem more distant, and thus may be perceived as feeling less than domestic animals, leading people to perceive their misfortune as more humorous. Participants completed an online study, where they were presented with pet-related jokes depicting the misfortune of exotic and domestic animals and were asked to rate how amusing and distressing they found each image. We expected participants would rate the jokes involving the misfortune of exotic animals as more amusing and less distressing than the domestic animal misfortune jokes. This result might mean that we perceive exotic animals as feeling less than their more familiar domestic counterparts. We believe the results of this study could lead to further questioning on why we do not approach the physical and psychological well-being of all animals with the same level of consideration, while also raising awareness about the inequitable animal welfare practices for these animal groups.
Pet-Related Humor Study
Research suggests that pets may have a positive impact on human psychological well-being (Kanat-Maymon, Antebi, Zilcha-Mano 2016). Another way in which psychological well-being can be improved is through the production of humor (Maiolina, Kuiper 2016). The overlapping benefits of humor and pets may explain the presence of pet-related humor on every major social media platform. Unfortunately, not all pet-related content is as innocent as cats jumping into boxes and dogs chasing their tails. The darker side of the internet shows examples of the misfortune of pets, such as sharing bizarre ways in which pets have died or showing pets being put in misfortunate scenarios, presented in ways that suggest this extreme misfortune should be found humorous…
