Oxytocin Responses After Dog and Cat Interactions Depend on Pet Ownership and May Affect Interpersonal Trust

Abstract

Although many of us interact daily with animals, we have little understanding of how this affects our interactions with people. This study assessed the physiological effects of human-animal interactions and tested if this affected interpersonaltrust. Participants (N=141) were assigned to play with a friendly but unfamiliar cat or dog for 10 minutes or to rest quietly in a private room. Blood was obtained from human participants before and after animal interactions or rest, and videos of animal interactions were coded for encounter styles. Participants then made interpersonal monetary decisions to quantify trust and trustworthiness toward strangers. Although oxytocin (OT) fell on average after interactions with both dogs and cats, there was a positive and significant correlation between the change in OT after interacting with a dog and lifetime pet exposure. Participants who had lived with four or more dogs in their lifetimes had a positive increase in OT after interacting with an unknown dog. We found a negative correlation between the change in OT after interacting with a cat and cat ownership. Participants who had a reduction in stress hormones after a dog interaction showed increased trust in strangers. Specifically, a one-percentage-point decrease in the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin hormone increased trust in a stranger by 24 percent. Our findings show that the human OT response to animals depends on previous pet exposure.

Oxytocin levels and self-reported anxiety during interactions between humans and cows

“…However, even among dog owners, interaction with their dog has produced varied OT results depending on the nature of the interaction (higher urinary OT associated with long eye contact, Nagasawa et al, 2009) and strength of attachment to the dog (rise in salivary OT associated with weak attachment, Powell et al, 2020). Marshall-Pescini et al (2019) detected no change in the urinary OT of dog owners following interaction with their own dog vs. another familiar dog, and Curry et al (2015) reported that the plasma OT response of dog owners to an unfamiliar dog was related to their prior dog ownership experience. Interestingly, Lürzel et al (2020) detected no groupwise change in the peripheral OT concentration of cows following a 10-min grooming interaction with either a familiar researcher or an unfamiliar person.…”