Has there been any psych research about why some people prefer certain kinds of pets over others?
There’s a billion quizzes online that say they can help you choose your first pet, and my 45 minutes of googling before posting this did turn up a single blog that suggested that owners of a class of pet share certain personality traits and lifestyles (although they frustratingly seemed to forget that people own things like snakes, ferrets, lizards, rats, frogs, tarantulas, turtles, mice, etc.)
I am certainly willing to buy that people who have the same kind of pet are more likely to have traits in common, but has there been any research into which traits cause people to choose a hamster over a cat, as well as which traits are partially caused/amplified by the ownership of the pet?
If you have access to any psych papers about this subject, please link to a pdf copy of it because I don’t know how to pirate research papers
Edit: Specifically I’m curious about “good-faith” personality traits, beliefs, and preferences that could lead to a pet acquisition. I am perfectly aware, for example, that statistically most hamsters are owned by a child whose parents chose it because it is tiny and can be stuffed into a tiny carcinogenic box forever until it dies of stress and malnourisment, as well as that most guinea pigs are bought by parents who want to see if their kid can keep it alive for a while before getting a “real” pet. I dont think those reasons count and am not interested in those.