The Effect of Dog Videos on Subjective and Physiological Responses to Stress

ABSTRACT

Research indicates that animal-assisted therapy programs can reduce stress responses. However, animals are not always permitted in public settings. Thus, alternative forms to the physical presence of an animal could be beneficial. The objective of this study was to determine (1) whether exposure to an active-dog video can help improve subjective and physiological responses to stress more than a tranquil-dog video, (2) whether exposure to dog videos can improve subjective and physiological stress responses more than nature videos, and (3) whether exposure to dog (and nature) videos can improve subjective and physiological stress responses more than a control video. Participants (n = 103; female = 78, male = 25) completed a stressful task and were randomly assigned to watch one of five videos: active dog (dog playing with a toy), tranquil dog (dog lying down quietly), active nature (fast-paced waterfall in a forest), tranquil nature (slow-moving stream in a forest), or blank screen (control video; a video of a black screen). Improvements in subjective (i.e., decrease in stress, anxiety, negative affect, and/or increase in happiness, relaxation, positive affect) and physiological (decrease in heart rate and blood pressure) responses to the stressor were examined. This study found no evidence that the active-dog video improved subjective or physiological responses more than the tranquil-dog video. However, this study found evidence that dog videos can decrease subjective anxiety and increase positive affect more than nature videos. Similarly, this study also found that dog videos can decrease subjective anxiety and increase happiness and positive affect more than can the control video. The effects of the dog videos and nature videos (and control video) on the remaining subjective measures and all physiological responses did not differ. Together, the results show some evidence that dog videos may be better at improving subjective anxiety, happiness, and positive affect responses than nature and/or control videos. However, the results did not show evidence that dog videos could alleviate any physiological responses more than the other videos. Practical applications of these findings include how to improve subjective anxiety and affect responses in public settings (e.g., universities) when animals are not allowed.

KEYWORDS:

• Affect
• anxiety
• dog
• human–animal interaction
• stress
• video

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Active versus tranquil is likely better conceptualized as a continuum than as a dichotomy. That noted, consistent with previous research, this study defines the more active end of the spectrum of activity as high active of the animal (Fredrickson et al., 2000). Further, the more tranquil end of the spectrum is defined as relatively minimal and expected activity of the animal (Wells, 2005).

2 Participants were from a range of majors (e.g., nursing, biology, and arts and contemporary studies).

3 The dog videos and nature videos were both piloted to ensure that, before their use in this study, participants rated the tranquil-dog/nature video as relaxing and that of the active-dog/nature video as active. Specifically, a pilot study (n = 43) showed that most participants rated the active-dog video as active and the tranquil-dog video as relaxing (Ein et al., 2020). Similarly, a pilot study (n = 50) showed most participants rated the active-nature video as active and the tranquil-nature video as relaxing (Ein et al., unpublished data).

4 Data were not normally distributed in some cases (e.g., recovery time point). A stricter p-value was used to account for the data being skewed. A significance level of p < 0.025 was chosen to reduce the likelihood of a type 1 error (false positive) while still protecting for type II error (false negative; Wasserstein et al., 2019).

5 Anecdotal evidence suggests that exposure to the control video may have created a meditation experience for the participant: they often said that, when asked by the researcher “what did you think of the video,” they meditated while watching it.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.