Science Confirms Dogs Can Sense If You're a Mean Person
We're often told to "trust our instincts," although unfortunately for us they are not always right. However, according to a recent study conducted by the journal, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, the same can't be said for dogs. In fact, a dog's instincts are very trustworthy.
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The study showed that not only can dogs recognize key factors that make up an individual's personality, they can also sense if a person is "being mean" to another person.
To find this out, the scientists observed the typical reactions dogs have to different events.
“Dogs are known to consistently follow human pointing gestures. In this study, we asked whether dogs ‘automatically’ do this or whether they flexibly adjust their behavior depending upon the reliability of the pointer, demonstrated in an immediately preceding event,” one scientist said.
During the study, the dogs were put through a number of different scenarios.
In one scenario, a volunteer was helping another person open a jar that was tightly sealed. In one variation, the volunteer was passive. In another, the volunteer refused to help at all.
After the dog had observed the behavior, the volunteer would then try to offer the dog a treat.
If the volunteer was nice, the dog was much more likely to happily take the treat from their hand. Whereas when the volunteer who didn’t offer to help open the jar tried to offer a treat, the dog ignored them. The dog didn’t trust the person who was mean.
The dogs showed amazing perception!
These dogs were offered free treats, however they chose not to take them because they could sense the person offering them was not nice.
“These results suggest that not only dogs are highly skilled at understanding human pointing gestures, but also they make inferences about the reliability of a human who presents cues and consequently modify their behavior flexibly depending on the inference.”
So, next time your dog seems a little unsure of someone, remember it may be worth listening to them!