Dog Intelligence or Anthropomorphism?
Scientists Show That Canines Have a Sense of Fairness
Jan 8, 2009
Dog owners are often told not to anthropomorphize their pets. This means that some people believe dog lovers project too many human qualities onto their pets. However it’s always interesting when scientists prove what many dog owners have known for years. Now there is scientific evidence that dogs have a sense of fairness.
Friederike Range recently led a team of researchers at the University of Vienna, Austria’s Clever Dog Lab where 29 dogs were tested to see if or how they reacted to inequity.
Testing Dogs’ Reaction to Unfair Treatment
The dogs sat next to each other facing their experimenters. Each experimenter held a bowl containing treats of bread and sausage. Each dog was able to see the other and what reward it received. The dogs were asked to shake hands for a treat. When all dogs received their treat, they continued to play. However, if one received a treat and the other did not, the dog without a reward stopped playing.
Although some dogs were rewarded with sausage and some with bread, researchers were surprised that the dogs did not seem to care which treat they got, so long as they got something.
Other Measures of Dog Intelligence and Emotion
Dog intelligence has been measured in various ways. A dog trainers’ survey once arranged dog breeds in the order that they most quickly understood new commands and obeyed first commands. The top ranked breeds understood new commands in less than 5 repetitions and obeyed new commands 95% of the time or better.
A study at the University of Vienna in Austria had dogs use touch screen computers to show that they could categorize photographs of dogs and landscapes. Other evidence showed that dogs are able to use logic in learning new words.
More studies indicated that dogs not only can imitate the behavior of another dog but can selectively choose to imitate when they determine it to be appropriate.
Evidence also demonstrates that dogs show amazing ability for understanding human expressions. Experiments by Kun Guo and colleagues from the University of Lincoln, UK show that dogs exhibit left gaze bias to read human emotions in the face, just as humans do.
More Questions Concerning Dog Behavior
“Animals react to inequity,” concluded Range, adding, “Among other questions, we will investigate how differences in emotions influence cooperative abilities.”
Some dog owners have questioned how these new findings relate to what dog trainers have been teaching for years about treating pets differently because of pack hierarchy within the household. Perhaps dogs, and other animals for that matter, are more complicated, and perhaps more human-like, than we ever suspected.
Sources:
 |
