On the Evolutionary, Bio-Psychological Foundations of the Human-Animal Relationship

Abstract

Ever since, people live in contact with nature and animals, even in relatively non-utilitarian ways. Erich Fromm and Edward Wilson termed this human universal „Biophilia“. But why different species can live together in a social way, is explained by a “common social toolbox” of neural, psychological and physiological mechanisms, which evolved over phylogeny. Major components of this toolbox are found in the vertebrate brain, which evolved over the past 600 million years in a succession of key innovations and conservative preservation. The tegmental and diencephalic brain hosts a 450 million year old, structurally and functionally virtually unchanged “social network” which, in crosstalk with the mammalian prefrontal cortex or the analogous bird forebrain, enables complex social behaviour – within as well as between species. In addition, this toolbox features common principles of behavioural organization, including the expression and reading of emotions, as well as shared emotional, stress and calming systems. Such a common ground for social behaviour also explains the potential effectiveness of animal-assisted interventions in a wide range of pedagogic and therapeutic settings. However, positive effects are mostly revealed by experience and plausibility, whereas studies on animal-assisted activities and interventions according to biomedical scientific standards are still rare.