1.2. Mental Activation of Social Support
Because a supportive figure may not be physically present during all stressful situations that occur in life, of interest is the possibility that simply thinking about a social tie may be beneficial. Specifically, researchers have investigated if mentally activating an internal representation of social support (i.e., support schemas) may also significantly buffer stress reactivity to a stressor. In one of the first studies to investigate this, Smith et al. [In comparison to human social support, the effect of mental activation of animal-derived social support on stress reactivity has been much less researched. A seminal 2012 study conducted two experiments to determine if mentally activating an attachment relationship with a pet could provide similar benefits as having a pet physically present. The study found that participants who wrote about their relationship with their pet prior to the stressor (cognitive presence) and participants who had their pet present (physical presence) both had lower blood pressure during the task compared to a control group [