Posted on 06/18/2012 7:20:06 AM PDT by JoeProBono
LONDON, - Dogs respond to a person who is crying regardless of whether it is their owner or an unfamiliar person, researchers in Britain found.
Dr. Deborah Custance and Jennifer Mayer, both of the Department of Psychology at the University of London, developed a procedure to examine whether domestic dogs could identify and respond to emotional states in humans.
Eighteen pet dogs -- a range of ages and breeds -- were exposed to four separate 20-second experimental conditions in which either the dog's owner or an unfamiliar person pretended to cry, hummed in an odd manner, or carried out a casual conversation.
More dogs looked at, approached and touched the humans as they were crying as opposed to humming, and no dogs responded to those talking, Custance said.
The study, published in the journal Animal Cognition, found a majority of dogs in the study responded to the crying person in a submissive manner consistent with empathic concern and comfort-offering.
"If the dogs' approaches during the crying condition were motivated by self-oriented comfort-seeking, they would be more likely to approach their usual source of comfort, their owner, rather than the stranger," Mayer said in a statement. "No such preference was found. The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity. Thus they were responding to the person's emotion, not their own needs, which is suggestive of empathic-like comfort-offering behavior."
No wonder they are man’s best friend. I wonder what the experiment would result in if it were run with other animals such as cats and horses. I bet that dogs would be found to be the most responsive.
All dogs go to heaven.
Great post with which to start off the day.
I love this picture. Looks so much like my beautiful Riley.
“Dr. Deborah Custance and Jennifer Mayer, both of the Department of Psychology at the University of London, developed a procedure to examine whether domestic dogs could identify and respond to emotional states in humans. “
Seems like we’ve known the answer to this for...I don’t know...thousands of years?
The more I know about people...the more I love animals.
Dogs respond to crying, but not to talking?
Sounds like the old husband stereotype.
But we already knew that. ...man’s best friend and all.
Seems like we’ve known the answer to this for...I don’t know...thousands of years?
*************************************************
Aye...
I wondered why they needed a study for this.
Grant money.
.Cat's would laugh at you.....
Of course dogs are the most responsive, but cats and some horses note human distress. They just react to it in more subtle ways, ways we may not detect or find comforting.
Anyone who rides horses in a serious manner will tell you that horses react to the emotions of riders. A horse who is apparently misbehaving is sometimes reflecting the emotional upset of his rider, an emotional state the human can successfully conceal from other humans. Any trainer will agree that if you are nervous, the horses can tell and will become nervous too, or will otherwise respond. My horses have become very affectionate when I'm upset, putting their heads in my arms, grooming me gently with their teeth, following me around, resting heads on my shoulder, etc.
Just proved what many people knew all along :)
I had a mama cat who comforted my young children only when they cried. She was the only cat of mine that did this - I always considered it a maternal thing, but I do think that animals are empathetic, maybe moreso than many humans I know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.