Erin Hecht: There’s sort of a tongue-in-cheek idea that dogs are psychological parasites, that they’ve evolved to hack our psychology and worm their way into our emotions and take over the types of psychological urges that we would normally invest in a human social partner. So I think, they maybe trick us, in a way, into thinking of them almost like little people.
Laine Perfas: Most U.S. families are pet owners, with just under half the population owning a dog, and in the vast majority of the cases, the owner thinks of the animal as a member of the family. The love goes both ways. Dogs depend on us for their survival, just as humans benefit from their presence. Research shows that having a furry companion is good for us physically, emotionally, some might even say spiritually. Why is that?
Welcome to “Harvard Thinking,” a podcast where the life of the mind meets everyday life. Today I’m joined by:
Alice Hoffman: Alice Hoffman. I am a novelist and also an alum from the Divinity School.
Laine Perfas: She’s published dozens of works of fiction, including the bestselling “Practical Magic” series. She most recently edited the nonfiction anthology, “The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love,” which features the stories of various authors and their dogs. Then:
