Satisfying your basic psychological need: pet contact promotes psychological well-being

Pets has often been praised for enhancing well-being. However, the available evidence does not support this claim well. Across four studies, we systematically demonstrated that pet contact promotes psychological wellbeing. Both correlational and experimental evidence showed that pet contact-whether in daily life, through imagination, in pet-related environment, or recalling related experiences-was associated with higher psychological well-being. Importantly, the effect was mediated by satisfying basic psychological needs, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Together, our findings provide evidence suggesting that pet contact may serve as a simple and accessible means of fostering psychological well-being by fulfilling fundamental psychological needs.