Arts-based research, animal studies and Pavlov’s dogs: making the familiar strange in psychology

In this article I report on the novel use of arts-based research to explore the lives of experimental animals in Ivan Pavlov’s physiological and psychological studies. I describe the collaborative production of two artefacts - a graphic novel and a public art installation consisting of a series of three-dimensional scale models. Both artefacts were designed to reimagine and re-present the detail of the lives and treatment of the dogs in Pavlov’s care, as entangled in wider human-animal relationships and events. I discuss the arts-based research process involved and reflect on the outcomes in relation to two objectives: to bring critical developments of ‘the animal turn’, animal studies and the posthumanities into contact with Psychology as a discipline; and to contribute to the development of methods concerned with addressing the complexity of human-animal and multispecies relationships. Finally I consider the broader potential of arts-based research for challenging anthropocentrism and fostering alternatives.