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242 J. Archer (1987). In both cases, pet ownership is regarded as maladaptive behavior. One explanation focuses on the individual's psychological difficulties. The other concen- trates on the general impact o f modern environmental conditions. A third explanation regards pet ownership as beneficial, and, therefore, by implication adaptive for modern- day pet owners. In the course of discussing these views, I shall argue that all three are incorrect, which leads us to consider pet ownership from a wider comparative perspective. IS P E T O W N E R S H I P A R E S U L T O F D E F I C I E N T H U M A N R E L A T I O N S H I P S ? One c o m m o n view, particularly among those who do not themselves have pets, and even among some who do, is that strong feelings directed towards a pet are an indi- cation o f some inadequacy in the person's relationships with humans. Commonly, this judgment is applied to a woman who lives by herself, has no children, and dotes on her pet dogs or cats. It can be found in the comments o f some psychiatrists about patients who show strong attachments to their pets (Keddie 1977; Rynearson 1978). It can be seen in a more general form in the attitude that any show o f emotion over a pet is a sentimental indulgence. In a p o e m called In memory o f our cat Ralph, Garri- son Keillor (1989) describes such feelings that he and his family felt when their cat died, and then goes on to ask whether it is not "a childish weakness, to regard/An animal whose life is brief/With such affection and such grief." Serpell (1986, 1987) has argued strongly against the view that pet love betrays signs o f emotional immaturity and weakness. He suggested that this attitude to pet keeping has arisen as a consequence of the general way animals have been viewed in the Judeo-Christian tradition of Western Europe, in other words, that they were created specifically to serve the interests of humans who have dominion over them. He also argued that attachment to a pet is too widespread a phenomenon throughout history and in the modern world for it to be viewed as an abnormal response by some inadequate individuals. This viewpoint is considered further in the next section. Also supporting Serpell' s argument are a number of studies indicating more pos- itive personality characteristics among pet owners than nonowners (Joubert 1987; Kidd and Feldman 1981; Paden-Levy 1985), although in some cases the differences are only marginal (Hyde et al.. 1983), and there are contrary findings (Cameron and Mattson 1972). There is also some preliminary evidence that people who have more secure at- tachments in their close relationships with other adults are the ones who are most strongly attached to their dogs (Archer et al. n.d.). This is the reverse to what we would expect if strong attachment to a pet resulted from difficulties in forming rela- tionships with adult humans. IS P E T O W N E R S H I P A C O N S E Q U E N C E O F M O D E R N L I V I N G C O N D I T I O N S ? Another popular belief (Serpell 1987) is that pet ownership has arisen specifically in the modern western world. A related view is that it might be associated with the

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