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.
I don't believe it!
I bet your gave that puppy ittie bittie whittle kisses
LOL
WOOF
You do look alike!
;-)
I was blowing some dust off of him, he was dusty.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Ha! You can't fool me
I bet you cried when Old Yeller died
Is he laying on a guitar cord?
 |
Vacuum cleaner cord. He weighs 160 pounds. |
A fine pupper!
Bo is a good lookin' dawg.
Phudd was about the same size too!!
How ya doin' buddy?
Doin good. I'll have some new pics of the pups once I figure out my new camera. If I was smart, I'd leave it on the kitchen table for a day or two, then my boy could teach me how it works.
Oh, btw, the rott is Shadow... Beau is the backup main dawg. He's lab/pointer/plutonium. His bloodline includes the Bill France family I understand. He knows all the Nascar rules, and he handicaps races for milkbones. They've got his photo posted in the casinos though.
Is this a trick question? Which one in the photo is you?
It may be that we had several of these wonderful hounds when I was young.
Or it may be that I am short and have a longish nose.
Go figure. :)
Could somebody tell me how to post my Lucy's picture on here? I have some pics of her scanned, but don't know how to attach them.
She's gone to visit her boyfriend right now, and I am grieving, I miss her so much. If I could post a pic I could sit here in front of my computer and stare at it and feel better:)
Well I know I want to see a pic of that cross-eyed dog!
humble doesn't know how to quit you!!
(He has seen the movie)
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