Are you a convinced dog person or more of a cat person? Your favorite animal could reveal something about your character, according to various studies. However, the researchers also leave a few questions unanswered.
Dog person or cat person: Why not just both? – Shutterstock/Tibanna79
When a dog person and a cat person discuss their favorite pets, it can get heated. Unpleasant clichés are then quickly thrown up: cats are sneaky, unpredictable and moody, dog lovers complain. Inveterate cat lovers criticize that dogs are submissive, greedy and dependent. Of course, these stereotypes are nonsense. However, can you still tell something about a person’s character from their favorite animal?
Dog people: Extroverted and conformist?
Scientist Samuel D. Gosling and his colleagues studied the character of people who clearly identify as either dog people or cat people. The result of the study was that dog lovers tend to be more extroverted and sociable than cat lovers. They appear more active, sociable and talkative, and outwardly happier and brighter. Additionally, dog lovers were found to be more balanced, relaxed, and carefree compared to cat friends in the study.
Another study by researchers Beatrice Alba and Nick Haslam looked at how dog people and cat people deal with dominance. Accordingly, a world view seems to be widespread among dog lovers that there is a certain hierarchy and ranking between living beings and humans. Differences are natural and desirable. Such a world view is closely related to a conservative attitude; According to the study, dog lovers are more conservative than cat lovers. They are more conventional, traditional and like to stick to fixed rules.
Cat person: introverted individualist?
According to the study by Gosling and his colleagues, a cat person tends to be more introverted, i.e. more reserved, quiet, calm and reserved. Some cat lovers tend to be shy and less sociable than dog lovers. They also appeared more nervous, sensitive, and anxious than people who prefer dogs to cats.
A survey of 600 students by the scientist Denise Guastello and her colleagues also found that a cat person is apparently not only more introverted and sensitive than a dog person. Apparently, cat lovers are also more open-minded and nonjudgmental than dog people. In this study, however, no fearful or nervous tendencies could be detected in cat lovers. Furthermore, they seemed more individualistic, independent and unconventional than dog lovers. In addition, committed cat lovers performed better on IQ tests than dog lovers.
exceptions prove the rule
However, such studies should not be taken too seriously. There are always exceptions and it doesn’t help anyone if prejudices are formed because someone likes a certain animal species better than others. There are also people who love both cats and dogs and call both animals their own. Nothing was said about her personality in the studies. Also nothing about the character of people who don’t like pets or who prefer small animals like guinea pigs and rabbits or birds, reptiles and fish. At the end of the day, every person and every animal is lovable and special in their own way.
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