The Impact of Pet Ownership Experience on Responsibility Attribution for Injurious Pets

With the rising number of pet owners, the bond between humans and pets has grown increasingly close. While pet ownership brings various benefits, it can also lead to social issues such as pet-related injuries and public disturbances, resulting in frequent human-pet conflicts. Due to the unique nature of such incidents, assigning responsibility can be challenging. Drawing on previous research, this study posits that pet ownership experience and situational ambiguity are key factors influencing individuals’ responsibility attributions in human-pet conflicts. An experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of pet ownership experience and situational ambiguity on responsibility attribution. The results showed that in highly ambiguous scenarios, pet owners, compared to non-pet owners, were less likely to attribute responsibility to pets. These findings suggest that pet ownership experience can shape how people attribute responsibility in human-pet conflicts.