<P> The relationship between humans and animals has long been of interest to anthropologists as one pathway to an understanding the evolution of human behavior . Similarities between the behavior of humans and animals have sometimes been used in an attempt to understand the evolutionary significance of particular behaviors . Differences in the treatment of animals have been said to reflect a society's understanding of human nature and the place of humans and animals in the scheme of things . Domestication has been of particular interest . For example, it has been argued that, as animals became domesticated, humans treated them as property and began to see them as inferior or fundamentally different from humans . </P> <P> Ingold remarks that in all societies children have to learn to differentiate and separate themselves from others . In this process, strangers may be seen as "not people," and like animals . Ingold quoted Sigmund Freud: "Children show no trace of arrogance which urges adult civilized men to draw a hard - and - fast line between their own nature and that of all other animals . Children have no scruples over allowing animals to rank as their full equals ." With maturity however, humans find it hard to accept that they themselves are animals, so they categorize, separating humans from animals, and animals into wild animals and tame animals, and tame animals into house pets and livestock . Such divisions can be seen as similar to categories of humans: who is part of a human community and someone who isn't, that is, the outsider . </P> <P> The New York Times ran an article that showed the psychological benefits of animals, more specifically of children with their pets . It's been proven that having a pet does in fact improve kids' social skills . In the article, Dr. Sue Doescher, a psychologist involved in the study, stated, "It made the children more cooperative and sharing ." It was also shown that these kids were more confident with themselves and able to be more empathic with other children . </P> <P> Furthermore, in an edition of Social Science and Medicine it was stated, "A random survey of 339 residents from Perth, Western Australia were selected from three suburbs and interviewed by telephone . Pet ownership was found to be positively associated with some forms of social contact and interaction, and with perceptions of neighborhood friendliness . After adjustment for demographic variables, pet owners scored higher on social capital and civic engagement scales ." Results like these let us know that owning a pet provides opportunities for neighborly interaction, among many other chances for socialization among people . </P>

Who wrote the first book on comparative psychology