Introduction
People’s behavior is impacted by multiple factors – social and behavioral theories state that individuals’ choices are determined by influences, including political, economic, individual, and social ones. At the same time, changing tendencies in relation to these influences traditionally lead to a change in behavioral patterns and people’s choices. Using the example of pet-owning, it is possible to trace how changes in the population’s age, cultural values, living standards, and family-related preferences impacted the trends of pet-owning and formed attitudes toward animals in modern society. At the same time, while modern pets create additional ethical and environmental concerns, related issues may be solved by addressing people’s values as well.
Factors that Determine Behavioral Patterns and People’s Choices
According to multiple scientific theories that aim to investigate the nature of human behavior and perceive the reasons for its change, there are multiple factors that determine people’s choices. For instance, according to the social cognitive theory that synthesizes the concepts of emotional, behavioristic, and cognitive models, behavior, personal factors, and environmental influences are interconnected. The theory states that people acquire knowledge and develop particular behavioral patterns not only on the basis of individual characteristics and through personal experiences but also by observing others’ actions and their results.
Another socio-behavioral theory that emphasizes the importance of the environment’s influence on people’s behavior is the social-ecological one. Helping understand affecting factors and providing guidance for the development of social programs it emphasizes several levels of environmental influence, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public ones. The principles of the social cognitive and social ecological theories are similar, suggesting that social changes may lead to the change in people’s behavioral patterns.
In general, sociologists and behavioral scientists identify and examine factors that determine people’s behavior, choices, and their change. These factors traditionally include the following ones:
- Biological influences, such as people’s gender, age, and genetics that impact their emotions, thoughts, decisions, and actions;
- Psychological influences, including unmet needs, motivation, and self-esteem;
- Cultural influences that include people’s values and beliefs formed by their communities;
- Social influences as the belonging to particular social groups that determine behavioral patterns;
- Political and economic factors that create the necessity to behave in particular ways.
All in all, it is possible to say that political, economic, individual, and social factors and
values impact social structures, policies, and people’s decisions. All these tendencies may be traced
, using the example of pet-owning and analyzing the place of animals in modern society. In fact, the trends of pet-owning have substantially changed over time, and these changes are determined by social, cultural, economic, and individual factors that impact people’s decisions related to what pets to have and how to take care of them. At the same time, changed practices of pet-owning and the increased number of pets may lead to particular ethical and environmental concerns that should be considered by addressing individual and group values as well.
How Various Factors Impact Pet Owning
As previously mentioned, biological, cultural, social, and economic factors may impact people’s choices. In the present day, in the United States, economic stability, social changes, and cultural influences led to the aging population, the increased number of citizens who do not have families or children and remote employment. While there are more and more seniors who do not work and prefer to spend time with pets, serviced living facilities and townhouses become more pet friendly.
At the same time, while people tend to spend more time at home and they do not have children, pets frequently replace them as creatures who require love and care as well. As a result, the pet goods and services industry experiences incredible growth and development as people want to provide their pets with special toys, snacks, clothes, quality food, houses, equipment, grooming, training, veterinary care, and exclusive services for physical and mental well-being.
The increased use of electronic devices and the Internet led not only to massive advertising and marketing of pet products and services but to changes in the trends of pet owning. Thus, exotic species, designer cats and dogs, cloned animals, and anthropomorphic selection became highly popular. At the same time, modern cultural trends that promote tolerance, non-judgment, love, and compassion led to increased rates of pet adoption and the development of pet services.
In addition, modern tendencies caused the increased number of pets and shifts in species’ preferences that create additional ethical and environmental concerns. For instance, non-domestic exotic animals do not receive an opportunity to live naturally, while the ecological impact of pets becomes more negative with the growth of their population. However, the increasing popularity of moving instead of settling, along with spreading awareness of the necessity to keep wild animals in nature in the modern culture, allows to mitigate growing pet-related issues.
Conclusion
In modern society, it is possible to trace people’s specific behavioral patterns in relation to pet-owning. In particular, there are an increased number of pets, especially exotic, designer, or adopted ones with unique features, and the enlarged list of multiple products and services for animals. At the same time, there were significantly fewer pets in advance, along with ethical and environmental issues connected with them. However, the aging of the population, the growing number of individuals without families and children, economic stability, and the emerging cultural trends of love for animals formed the current situation. Thus, using the example of pet-owning, it is possible to state that environmental and individual factors form people’s behavior.