Why do people feel more empathy for animals? Everybody is asking the same question over and over. Empathy is feeling compassion towards someone and bringing about a change that lessens someone’s emotional or physical pain.

Seeing a new story each day of conflicts around the globe leads to losing interest or feeling a lack of emotional attachment towards people going through hardships due to the conditioned overload of the same information. This is known as compassion fatigue. But these walls shatter when people come across an animal feeling distress.

Empathy allows us to relate to others and their emotions. It provides us the ability to understand each other at a human level deeply and care for the emotionally or physically hurt individuals.

The Vulnerability Factor: Why We Protect the Helpless

One major factor why humans show more compassion towards animals in their suffering as compared to other humans is because animals are considered more helpless. Studies indicate that our capacity for compassion does not depend on the species but rather the vulnerability of individual. A classic study noted that people showed a similar degree of empathy towards a toddler, a puppy, and an adult dog but significantly less towards an adult man.

This reaction is a result of a survival instinct trapped within all of us that makes us want to protect those who can’t fend for themselves. Babies and animals are totally dependent on other people for their survival, which heightens the emotional response a person feels towards them. In other case, adult humans are usually considered encapsulated within stronger, “capable” barriers, which damps our instinctual emotional response towards their pain.

The Influence of Culture and the Media

Since our early age, movies, cartoons and even books have portrayed animals as humans. Indeed, many of us watched films with talking and emoting pets. Such portrayals encourage a deeper bond with animals, making their pain more real and relatable.In the same way, media influences our perception of human suffering. When we think of wars, natural calamities, or crimes, the victims are usually anonymous and do not have a face. Their pain is easier for us to disconnect from because they appear far away. But seeing a dog shivering outside in the cold? Now that is true and immediate.

Selectively Compassionate

Interestingly, our compassion towards animals is quite selective. People tend to show great compassion towards cats and dogs, yet turn a blind eye to farm animals. Psychologists have termed this the “meat paradox”: loving some animals while guiltlessly consuming others.

Part of this is cognitive dissonance. That is, to avoid discomfort, people divorce pets from farm animals. This sheer emotional detachment allows them to empathize with some animals while being indifferent to others’ suffering.

How Pets Benefit Human beings

Beyond empathy, there is another reason for people caring deeply for animals: our pets are extremely beneficial for us. Scientific research shows that pets aid in enhancing one’s mental, emotional and physical health.

Social Benefits

• Pets alleviate feelings of loneliness and provide companionship.
• Owning a dog enhances social interactions through walking them or visiting pet friendly areas.

Physical Benefits

• Interaction with animals leads to lower blood pressure and reduced stress hormones.
• Being a dog owner comes with added responsibility, but also means being more physically active, which in turn, allows owners to relish the perks of good heart health.

Emotional and Psychological Benefits

Pets will always remain pets, but one thing is for sure: a cat and a dog can provide love in endless quantities with no strings attached. Women and men who own pets tend to experience lower rates of anxiety and depression, which makes sense given the unconditional love pets give.

For non pet owners, they are considered dead pets, but for pet owners, pets means a integral family member and losing one is painful beyond measure. The bond formed with such pets in a mere span of time is heart stirring to say the least, which causes them to feel suffering on such a deep level. Why do people feel more empathy for animals? They do not feel more empathy towards animals they just feel their pets as family member, nobody can critisize that because they see “sometimes” more affection towards their pet.

Finding Balance in Empathy

Kindness doesn’t mean we should be less affectionate towards humans. True love, in stark contrast, makes us capable of true kindness. The real struggle is to show that kindness, be it human or animal.

Not all aid has to come in forms of monetary donation. Actions as simple as supporting animal rights or kindness shown towards others has the ability to capture the attention of the whole world.

EXTRA:

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