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CareLab Event Title: Compassion and Connection Across Species: The Psychology of Human-Animal Relationships

Mudd Center Partnership with Museums at W&L and the University Library

Wednesday, November 9, 2022, 5:00 pm, Northen Auditorium
Museum Menagerie Reception immediately following in Watson Galleries

CareLab events are designed to personalize our exploration of beneficence. If we aspire to practice an ethics of care, how can we learn to manifest this value in our thoughts and actions?

"This session will address our dynamic relationships with animals, and how these interactions can foster care, empathy, and compassion towards animals, other people, and the environments we share. We will discuss how humans conceptualize different types of animals, how we engage with them and interpret their emotions, and how understanding our relationships with animals can help us better understand ourselves and connect to others."

Megan Mueller is a developmental psychologist whose research assesses the dynamic relationships between people and animals in families and communities. In particular, her work focuses on how human-animal interaction can support youth with social anxiety and promote thriving for adolescents and their families.

Dr. Mueller is co-director of the Tufts Initiative for Human-Animal Interaction and a senior fellow at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. She teaches in the M.S. in Animals and Public Policy program at the Center for Animals and Public Policy, and advises the Tufts Paws for People therapy animal organization. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as a range of private foundations. Recently, she received a Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (formerly NARSAD, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression).

Dr. Mueller is a board member of the International Society for Anthrozoology and serves on the Pet Partners Human-Animal Bond Advisory Board.

Dr. Mueller earned her B.A. and Ph.D. at Tufts University.