Posted on 02/10/2006 10:18:31 AM PST by girlangler
News Release March 29, 2004
Study Reveals That Dogs Resemble Their Owners As a Result of Selection
Do people really resemble their pets? A resemblance in a movie or on TV between a pet and its owner has occasionally tickled our funny bone. The results of a recent study suggest that a resemblance between owner and dog may be actually determined by the pet lover's selection.
The research, by Michael M. Roy and Nicholas Christenfeld, both of the University of California, San Diego, found that when people pick a pet, they seek one that, at some level, resembles them. These findings will be published in the May issue of Psychological Science, a publication of the American Psychological Society.
The study investigated two possible scenarios that could produce similarity between people and their dogs. One would involve some convergence in features over time, meaning the similarity had grown with the length of ownership. The other would involve people selecting dogs that are like them. (This second situation suggests greater similarity between people and their purebred dogs than between people and their mutts, because a mutt puppy's final appearance is unpredictable, and its selection might also involve less foresight and deliberation.)
Forty-five dogs (25 purebreds and 20 mutts) and their owners were separately photographed. Owners were photographed from the waist up, wearing whatever clothes they had chosen that day and whatever facial expression they chose for the picture. Dogs were photographed facing forward, with the whole dog visible. (The dogs also made whatever facial expression they chose, though often with more emphasis on a steadily lolling tongue.) Judges were shown a picture of one owner and a picture of that owner's dog and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match.
The judges were able to most often able to properly match the owner and dog. The judges found no resemblance between mutts and their owners, providing evidence that owners tend to choose a dog that looks like them, rather than owners and dogs grow alike over time.
For more information, contact Christenfeld at nchristenfeld@ucsd.edu, or for a complete copy of this article, visit the APS Media Center at www.psychologicalscience.org/media.
Psychological Science is ranked among the top 10 general psychology journals for impact by the Institute for Scientific Information. The American Psychological Society represents advocating science-based research in the public's interest.
My setter Lucy is much better looking than I am.
Now I understand why my cat is ornery.
I took part in such a study once. Asked to match six owners and dogs, I got all six wrong. The study still showed that owners and dogs resembled each other. Makes me wonder about the statistics of the study.
So I guess we can assume Harry Reid owns a weiner dog.
Don't mess with me. I look like a German Shepherd!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrowl
Are you on the right or the left? :-)
This is going to cost Freepers some keyboards.
LOL!
They are VERY cute.
Awwwww...
A martin fierro creation...couldn't resist posting it in this thread ;-)
Which of your dogs (Pippin or Tango) do you look like?
FYI...and we need more pics
I love the hound on the right's Very Regal Expression.
< |:)~
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