Human-Dog Psychology: 5 Weird Studies
Cat or dog? If I have to choose, I choose dog. It seems, if pushed, most academic research psychologists choose dog as well. I say that because there are quite a few studies about how we interact with dogs but hardly any (none?) about cats [UPDATE: actually there are studies on human-cat psychology].
Here are my five favourite studies on the psychology of human-dog interaction.
1. Is talking to a dog like talking to a baby?
Are these people talking to their babies or their dogs:
"Coochie-coochie-coooo!"
"Who's a clever little boy?"
"Oh my God, the living room carpet is ruined!"
Difficult to tell right? So Mitchell (2001) thought, which is why he decided to compare how people talk to infants with how they talk to dogs. He found both similarities and differences:
Similarities: high-pitched voice, repetitive use of grammatically acceptable words, present-tense verbs.
Differences: Dog-talk involved shorter sentences and more orders while baby-talk included more questions.
Which all raises the question of whether we're treating our babies like dogs or our dogs like babies. Either way, the authors point out the main problem in talking to both babies and dogs is it "involve[s] communicating with a limited and inattentive addressee."
I think that's a bit harsh on dogs.
2. Do we think dogs understand us?
What with all that baby-talk going on, you'd think that dogs would pick up the odd word or two. To examine people's perceptions of their dog's understanding Pongracz, Miklosi and Csanyi (2001) gave Hungarian dog-owners a questionnaire. It asked them to rate the types of utterances they thought their dogs could understand. Top of the list came questions, followed by permissions and information giving. It seems these dogs are regular little Lassies.
But what proof is there that they really understand? Well, we can only tell by how the dog responds. So, next the authors asked dog-owners how often their dogs demonstrated understanding by obeying a command. Our hardy Hungarian dog-owners reckoned:
- Dogs obeyed 31% of the time under all circumstances.
- Dogs obeyed 53% of the time when the context was right
Seems pretty high to me. Or perhaps Hungarian dogs are very smart.
3. Are dogs ice-breakers?
Even if dogs can't understand what we're saying they're still fantastic props for starting conversations. When taking a dog for a walk, you can't help getting chatting to people. OK, so you're mainly apologising to parents as your dog mauls their children, but at least its social contact, right?
The evidence for this one is provided by Rogers, Hart and Boltz (1993) in an observational study of elderly dog walkers. They found dog owners have more conversations in which, surprise surprise, they often talked about their dogs.
Not only that, but dog owners tended to report higher satisfaction with their emotional, social and physical states. So not only do dogs start conversations, they may also make you healthier.
4. Do dogs resemble their owners?
I recently covered a study finding that couples come to resemble each other facially over time. So what about dogs and their owners? There are a few studies on this - well actually there's three academic articles and just one study.
a. Roy and Christenfeld (2004) find that, yes, dogs do resemble their owners, but only if they're purebreds - that's the dogs now, not the owners. So, the old chestnut is true. Hooray!
b. Levine (2005), reanalysing the data collected in the first study, say no - there's problems with Roy and Christenfeld's (2004) study. This means we can't yet be sure purebred dogs resemble their owners. A new study is required. Booo.
c. The authors of the original study say yes their original study was correct (Roy & Christenfeld, 2005). Hooray! (I think?)
The world still awaits the conclusion...
5. Is it wrong to eat your dog?
Dog lovers: look away now. Cat lovers: sharpen your knives. Haidt, Koller & Dias (1993) wanted to find out how culture affects the way we moralise about different types of behaviours using fictional stories. One story participants were told goes like this:
"A family's dog was killed by a car in front of their house. They had heard that dog meat was delicious, so they cut up the dog's body and cooked it and ate it for dinner."
Then they're asked if the dog-chomping family should be stopped. Turns out the answer you give depends on your culture and socioeconomic status. If you live in the US and you're well off you're likely to agree that eating your dog may be disgusting but seeing as it isn't harmful, shouldn't be stopped.
On the other hand, if you're a poor US citizen, or you live in Brazil, you're much more likely to moralise and think the dog-chompers should be stopped in their tracks.
Cat conclusions
As there's little research on cats for all you cat people, I've had to make some inductive leaps based on the research about dogs:
- Cat-talk and baby-talk is completely unrelated
- Cats can't understand us (mostly)
- Cats are not ice-breakers
- Cats and their owners may (or may not) resemble each other.
- Only eat your cat in a poor neighbourhood
Err, we might need a little more research on this...
UPDATE: I've since discovered that there is a small literature on the psychology of cats. Read on about whether cats improve our mood, become attached to us and have personalities.
» This is part of a series on the psychology of the everyday.
References
Haidt, J., Koller, S.H., & Dias, M.G. (1993). Affect, culture, and morality, or is it wrong to eat your dog? Journal of personality and social psychology, 65(4), 613-28.
Levine, D.W. (2005). Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners?. A Reanalysis of Roy and Christenfeld (2004). Psychological Science, 16(1), 83-84.
Mitchell, R.W. (2001). Americans' Talk to Dogs: Similarities and Differences With Talk to Infants. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 34(2), 183-210.
Pongracz, P., Miklosi, A., & Csanyi, V. (2001). Owner's beliefs on the ability of their pet dogs to understand human verbal communication: A case of social understanding. Cahiers de psychologie cognitive, 20(1-2), 87-107.
Rogers, J., Hart, L.A., & Boltz, R.P. (1993). The role of pet dogs in casual conversations of elderly adults. J Soc Psychol, 133(3), 265-77.
Roy, M.M., & Christenfeld, N.J.S. (2004). Research Report Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners? Psychological Science, 15(5), 361.
Roy, M.M., & Christenfeld, N.J. (2005). Dogs Still Do Resemble Their Owners. Psychological Science, 16(9), 743-744.
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I think a lab still has a high friendliness quotient as compared to a pit bull. In the area where I live pit bulls are common and preferred by males of certain sort. They tend to be people who shouldn't own dogs at all, and definately not potentially dangerous ones. These dogs are pretty obviously aquired to enhance the owner's appearance of toughness. Okay, so I live in Texas, if that tells you anything.
Anyway, I think the perception of the female as to dog breeds may depend on where you are and what the local culture is like. I do think that the lab or similar has an sporty sort of appeal, but one thing women hate is when a big dog jumps up on thier new white shorts, and little dogs aren't so apt to do that. I think there are dogs that might detract from a guy's masculine image. One that takes a lot of grooming, for instance.
I think the baby thing is true, too. They are definately social ice breakers. And definately they increase the sense that a man is trustworthy. 'Hey, he's taking care of a baby (or dog). He's not a bad guy.' No doubt it's generally true.
What can be said about this? When humans behave like dogs, we call them loyal and trusting. When humans behave like cats, we call them scary psychopaths and try to have them locked up. Maybe it's because dogs have been domesticated longer than cats?
This is in response to Will,
I was laughing out loud...I am so sorry your 'funny' comment was eaten. cats and our family are the same, although we do have a dog in the mix too.
Thanks for a good laugh, I needed that.
@ Dr. Grumpus. You wrote that you've heard of a study where dogs are used as mediators for tension in couples. It would be great if you could find the reference because I could use this for an essay I am writing. I looked on the web myself but couldn't find it. Thanks!!!
I have always had a theory that men prefer dogs because they are easier to control and more predictable, and that people who have an antipathy for cats have a problem with the anima. I'm amazed there haven't been any studies to explore why people prefer dogs over cats.
I’ve trained many of my cats to do tricks, beg, shake, roll over and to walk on a leash. It’s very simple to do when there’s a bond and trust between you and the cat, speaking to them helps create that. Repetitive speaking causes them to acknowledge and respond to your voice,
And I’m sorry Dr. Grumpus but you’re flat out wrong there, while cats in the wild might not be group animals, your modern day house cat very much is a group creature. They are happiest in pairs and groups and whole family systems. With complex alpha systems along with it.
Dogs are definitely ice-breakers. No one approaches my intimidating husband when he is walking alone. When he walks our friendly, fluffy white dog however, women and children approach him and engage in conversation. His only complaint is they remember the dog's name and address but forget his name.
There are cultures in which a puppy is eaten as part of a ceremony. Other cultures simply regard them (and cats) as meat. So?
Cats have been domesticated for as long as dogs or longer. The difference is that in ancient Egypt, for example, and some other cultures, Cats were worshiped and dogs were servants. Cats view humans as their property and are much more demanding of us, where as dogs view larger animals as dominant and often aim to please. Dogs are almost always social animals, and sometimes function independently. Cats are usually independent but sometimes function socially, example: lions.
You can keep your "inductive" reasoning, clever though it may be. Cats are much more affectionate than dogs. Also, your cat won't eat you or kill your child.
cats CAN kill your kids.
there have been incidents where cats have laid on babies asleep in cots because of the warmth and smell of milk, causing asphyxiation.
also cats will eat you, they just wait til you're already dead...
I read that if a dog's owner dies, the dog will wait to feast on the body until it has no other choice but to do so - up to three weeks without food.
Cats? They will wait about three days.
Fun post. My dog keeps telling me I look like him, but I'm not buying it.
More seriously, I've always found it amusing that so many people assume that cats are smart because they appear "independent". Just from life experience I see next to no evidence that cats are anywhere near as intelligent as dogs. But I guess using the independence excuse makes people feel better about their less intelligent feline companions.
The only thing I can say here is that when my dog hears the sound of my father's keys, she immediately gets excited because she knows it's time for her walk, and I had another dog who would jump off the couch as soon as she heard my mother approaching because she knew that she would get spanked if she got caught sleeping there. Is that really understanding or just a response to an stimulus, like that of Pavlov's dogs? Well, I guess most people would agree that it's the second, but in the end, what is understanding? I mean, maybe dogs cannot think rationally about situations, but they know about them, and so they kind of "understand" them. E.g. my dog didn't know why, but she knew perfectly well that something bad would happen to her if my mother saw her on the couch, so she reacted to that knowledge by jumping off, trying to avoid the harm... And isn't understanding a situation being conscious of its posible consequences? Isn't that exactly what we do every day? E.g. we don't speed with our cars when we know they're policemen around because we know it would get us into trouble.
To the question "are dogs ice-breakers"? The answer is YES, indeed. Every time I take my dog out I engage in conversation with someone, which hardly ever happens when I go out on my own. And to the question "do dogs resemble their owners" the answer is HELL, YES!!! Dogs who stay home most of the time with their owners, specially if they're old, are very likely to become bad-tempered and unsociable, just like their owners! I know this from my own experience, because I've seen many dogs like this. Also dogs, as well as humans, can suffer from mental illnesses such as depression. Apart from that, you should have mentioned that dogs, like humans and cats, have a "personality". E.g. my older dog used to bark a lot, while the dog we have know barks very little and is not aggressive towards strangers at all but, surprisingly, she seems to dislike children. She gets really tense in their presence and sometimes she even tries to bite them very timidly, as if she knew that what she wants to do is wrong. Other dogs, however, seem to love children and are delighted to play with them, even if the kids pull their ears and tail. Isn't that a sign that they have a personality?