Dianne Balfour (1993) A Positive Response to "the Inevitable Bond" was not Inevitable . Psycoloquy: 4(54) Human Animal Bond (7)
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Psycoloquy 4(54): A Positive Response to "the Inevitable Bond" was not Inevitable

A POSITIVE RESPONSE TO "THE INEVITABLE BOND" WAS NOT INEVITABLE
Reply to Bekoff, Shapiro, Faulkes, Innis, Zentall on Human-Animal-Bond

Dianne Balfour
Ministry of Health
1515 Blanshard St.
Victoria, British Columbia
CANADA V8W 3C8

Hank Davis
Department of Psychology
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario
CANADA N1G 2W1

psyhank@vm.uoguelph.ca

Abstract

The consistently positive tone of the reviews is pleasing but surprising. Many of our contributors took professional risks in providing the information that appears in The Inevitable Bond. Bekoff notes in his review, the topic of TIB is one about which many scientists would rather think than talk. It appeared that thinking about these issues was itself not a comfortable mode for some colleagues. We believed the time for reenacting the emperor's new clothes was past. It was for this reason that we wrote The Inevitable Bond: to stimulate discussion and promote further research. The responses of our colleagues in PSYCOLOQUY suggest that our perception was not unique.

Keywords

Human-animal bond, human-animal interactions, relationships, scientist-animal interactions, animal psychology, behavioral research, attachment, human-nonhuman relationships, behavioral arousal, rhesus monkeys, pongid pedagogy, ape cognition, automated avoidance, pseudohabitutation.

References