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 well-being. 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. • Pet contact enhances psychological well-being. • The satisfaction of basic psychological mediates the effect of pet contact on psychological well-being. • This positive pet effect on psychological well-being is not due to pet ownership.