<p>This study examined constructions of horses and means staff working with horses parallel to therapy in institutional care ascribes to horses. A narrative method was used and the theoretical framework was social constructionism. A question was asked to the narratives: How can practice in institutional care be understood through these stories? The result showed different pictures of institutional care. Horses seem to provide a multi-faceted therapeutic tool. Through the horses staff could establish relations built on trust with their clients. The stable-environment and the horses provided healthy recreation and a social competence usable for clients in life. The constructions of horses also seemed related to the means ascribed to them in the daily life of the institution. So far there has been little research about animals in Swedish institutional care. If there are animals in institutions they probably fill some kind of function for social work and therefore the phenomena needs to be further examined. Especially as research claim economical and social benefits in using animals in human health care. Animals have been looked upon as trivial but the academic discipline dealing with relations between animals and humans, anthrozoology, has gained respect and is now considered serious.</p>

This study examined constructions of horses and means staff working with horses parallel to therapy in institutional care ascribes to horses. A narrative method was used and the theoretical framework was social constructionism. A question was asked to the narratives: How can practice in institutional care be understood through these stories? The result showed different pictures of institutional care. Horses seem to provide a multi-faceted therapeutic tool. Through the horses staff could establish relations built on trust with their clients. The stable-environment and the horses provided healthy recreation and a social competence usable for clients in life. The constructions of horses also seemed related to the means ascribed to them in the daily life of the institution. So far there has been little research about animals in Swedish institutional care. If there are animals in institutions they probably fill some kind of function for social work and therefore the phenomena needs to be further examined. Especially as research claim economical and social benefits in using animals in human health care. Animals have been looked upon as trivial but the academic discipline dealing with relations between animals and humans, anthrozoology, has gained respect and is now considered serious.

I syfte att undersöka om, och i så fall hur, förskollärare arbetar med djuretik som en värderingsfråga undersöks (1) förskollärares tolkning av läroplanens skrivning om ”respekt för allt levande”, (2) hur förskollärare arbetar med värderingsfrågan djuretik och (3) vilken hänsyn de tar till läroplanens krav på saklighet och allsidighet i detta arbete. Empirin bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med sex förskollärare varav 3 är vegetarianer. Analysen baseras på poststrukturalistisk teori och teori om den dolda läroplanen. Informanterna anger att de arbetar med djuretik i ringa omfattning men visar också att förskollärarna förmedlar omedvetna budskap om djuretik. Hur dessa förskollärare arbetar med djuretik kännetecknas av en relativt stor heterogenitet som delvis är beroende av de intervjuades kostval. Mot bakgrund av att lärarna i denna studie tolkar in djur i läroplanens direktiv om att arbeta för att barn utvecklar ”respekt för allt levande”, dras en slutsats att den lärare som vill arbeta för att barn ska utveckla respekt för djur kan hänvisa till denna skrivning för att rättfärdiga sitt arbete. / In order to examine whether and, if so, how preschool teachers work with animal ethics, I investigate (1) preschool teachers' interpretation of the the formulation of the Swedish curriculum about "respect for all living things", (2) how preschool teachers work with issues of animal ethics, and (3) which consideration they give in this work to the curriculum requirements of objectivity and comprehensiveness. The empirical data is based on qualitative interviews with six pre-school teachers whereof three are vegetarians. The analysis is based on poststructuralist theory and theory of the hidden curriculum. The informants tell that they are working with animal ethics to a small extent. However, the teachers do also mediate unconscious messages about animal ethics. How these preschool teachers work with animal ethics is characterized by a relatively high heterogeneity that partly depends on the food choice of the interviewees. Given that the teachers in this study do include the animals when they interpret the curriculum directives on working to ensure that children develop "respect for all living things", I conclude that the teachers who want to work for children to develop respect for animals may refer to this curriculum wording to justify their work.

For humans and non-human primates (NHPs) the face represents a particularly important source of social information providing a means of conspecific recognition and cues to personal details including sex, age, and emotional state. The human face may also be fundamental in the transmission to conspecifics of other forms of socially relevant information including the display of facial traits associated with sexual attraction and mate choice. A wealth of experimental literature indicates that humans display robust preferences for certain facial traits associated with facial attractiveness including preferences for bilateral facial symmetry, facial averageness and sexually dimorphic faces and facial features. It is thought that these preferences have evolved via sexual selection, and may be adaptive, due to the role that these specific facial features play in reliably signalling to others the possession of heritable genetic quality or ‘good genes’. Therefore, from an evolutionary perspective, it is possible that certain facial preferences may represent an evolutionary adaptation for the selection of potential mate quality. However, despite similarities between human and NHP face processing and recognition abilities, the shared evolutionary history and social importance of faces to primates in general, and the potential importance of these preferences in the mate choice decisions of NHPs, very little research has investigated the extent to which NHPs display comparable preferences to humans for these specific facial traits. Consequently, the aim of the following thesis was to comparatively assess the general and more specific preferences that humans and NHPs display for faces and for traits associated with facial attractiveness. Data was compiled from preference studies examining the visual preferences displayed by two species of NHP (brown capuchins (Cebus apella) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)) for conspecific faces manipulated for those facial traits associated with attractiveness, and from a single study of brown capuchins examining their general visual preferences for various types of facial information. Comparative preference studies were also conducted upon human adults and infants examining the visual and declared preferences that they display for manipulations of facial attractiveness. Data showed that despite possessing general preferences for certain faces and facial information, generally NHPs displayed no significant preferences for those facial traits thought to influences judgements of attractiveness in humans. Possible reasons for this absence of preference for these particular facial traits and the evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.

No description available.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

The aims of this research were to describe in rich phenomenological detail the recollected childhood experiences described by three South African adults of growing up with animals in the context of a traditionally African cultural perspective in South Africa; as well as to document the emotional, physical and social effects of inter-species relationships as described by these participants, in order to explore and situate these experiences in relation to broad international perspectives on the contribution of animals to human development. The question of how these described experiences correlate with broad international perspectives on the contribution of animals to human development comprised the hermeneutic of the study. Here it was found that the experiences of these South African individuals were generally in keeping with the trends found in the literature. Participants attributed to their childhood relationships with animals a variety of benefits. These benefits occur on a range of levels, from the physical to the cognitive, and the psychosocial. The emotional attachment of the participants to animals with whom they had interacted in childhood correlated with the nature of interspecies relationships as anticipated by the literature. Cultural differences in the conceptualisation of inter-species relationships, between western and traditionally African ideologies, appeared to influence the moral and ethical positions assumed by the participants, while the subjective nature of the described attachment between participants and animals remains qualitatively similar across cultures, when explored in relation to international research. The similarities between the experiences of the participants and international research findings lend credence to Wilson’s hypothesis that all human beings are potentially able to connect in deep and profound ways with their natural environment, and that this connection contributes to the development of social and cognitive skills, as well as constituting emotional support and stability. The research concludes with an examination of its own limitations and suggestions are made for further research.

I anslutning till det ökade vetenskapliga intresset för relationen djur – människa ämnar jag här undersöka varför många hästmänniskor söker sig informella kunskapsvägar, vägar som inte sällan står i strid med hegemoniska diskurser och maktstrukturer inom den svenska hästvärlden. Mina frågeställningar är följande: Hur ser den formella kunskapsvägen i Hästsverige ut och varför tycks det finnas ett motstånd mot denna? Hur ser motståndet ut? Vad är det man väljer bort? Vad söker man istället? Materialet består av intervjuer med människor som valt informella sätt att nå kunskap om hästar, författarens egna erfarenheter samt texter som behandlar den svenska hästvärlden i stort. Resultatet kan sammanfattas i att människor dras till de informella kunskapsvägarna därför att dessa i större utsträckning än de formella betraktar hästen som en individ vars vilja och agens förtjänar respekt och förståelse.

In this piece I have attempted to perform descriptive quantitative research in the field of Animal-Assisted Activities and Animal-Assisted Therapies in the Czech Republic. I have placed emphasis on the professional background and dog handling skills of the dog-handler. I tried not only to focus on the impact of dogs on humans, but also to emphasize the importance of the personality of the therapist. I also consider the impact of different personality theories on the personality of the handler/therapist, and the importance of theoretical background and preparation in the given area in which the handler/therapist engages with dogs. Based on the positive respondent reactions, I trust that this research will prove to be of use to people involved in human-animal positive interactions.

O tutor é uma parte importante da vida do animal, já que ele determina todas as condições de vida do pet. A maioria dos tutores quer cuidar de seu cão ou gato com o melhor de suas habilidades, entretanto boas intenções não devem ser confundidas com bem-estar adequado na realidade. É importante que mais pesquisas sejam feitas para encontrar um método efetivo e barato para educar tutores. Nosso objetivo foi criar cinco folhetos e dois vídeos para informar adotantes sobre manejo, comportamento e as necessidades dos gatos. Nós os comparamos a outros tutores que receberam folhetos desenvolvidos pela Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals e a tutores não-informados em São Paulo, Brasil. No momento da adoção, foi avaliado o nível de informação dos tutores. Após seis meses, foram medidos o vínculo do tutor com o gato, o bem-estar do gato e o acatamento dos tutores informados às recomendações fornecidas. Em geral, as pessoas acertaram mais de metade da maioria das perguntas do escore de informação, porém algumas perguntas apresentaram um número alarmante de respostas erradas. O escore de informação estava associado aos tutores possuírem um gato no momento em que respondiam ao questionário. Não houve diferença no vínculo tutor-gato e nos escores de bem-estar e acatamento entre os tutores informados e não-informados. Algumas perguntas do questionário estavam associadas a estes escores e um pequeno número de perguntas foi associado entre si. O estudo deixou clara a necessidade de informar tutores brasileiros a respeito da guarda responsável, mas não define a adoção como o momento ideal para esta conscientização / The owner is an important part in an animals life, as he/she determines all the pets living conditions. The majority of owners wants to look after their cats and dogs to the best of their abilities, but well-meaning intentions should not be confused with good welfare in reality. It is important to conduct more researches to find an effective and non-expensive method of educating owners. We aimed to create five pamphlets and two videos to inform adopters about cats handling, behaviors and needs. We compared them to others owners that received pamphlets made by Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and to non-informed owners in São Paulo, Brazil. At the adoption, we assessed the level of owners information. After 6 months, we measured the owners attachment to the cat, the cats welfare and the compliance of informed owners with the advices given. In general, people got right more than half of each answer in the information score, although some questions had an alarming number of wrong answers. The information score was associated with owners already having a cat in the moment they were answering the questionnaire. There was no difference in the human-cat attachment, welfare or compliance scores among the informed e non-informed owners. A few questions in the questionnaire were associated with such scores and a small number of questions was associated with each other. The study emphasized the need to inform Brazilian owners about responsible ownership, but did not define the adoption as the ideal moment to counsel owners about this