"Come on, understand me!" Many people misjudge their dogs
Most people believe they can accurately assess their pets' emotional state. However, a scientific study now shows the opposite.
Is Fiete in a good or bad mood, bored, anxious, or rather joyfully excited? Most dog owners confidently claim they know their four-legged friend perfectly and can therefore connect well with them. According to the study, many people misjudge their dogs' emotional state.
The key finding: a person's own mood shapes their judgment of a dog's feelings. Those in a positive mood rated dogs as sadder than they actually were; those in a negative mood rated dogs as happier. This underscores a consistent bias in assessing dog emotions.
The researchers themselves are surprised by their study results. Humans and dogs have lived closely together for at least 14,000 years. During this time, dogs have learned a lot about how to interact with humans," says Clive Wynne in a university press release. He is a co-author of the study, a professor of psychology, and the director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at ASU. "And yet, our research suggests that there are quite large gaps in our understanding of what dogs feel."
Experiment with film sequences
For their study, the research team, led by first author Holly Molinaro, asked 300 participants to rate short video clips of three previously selected dogs that displayed clearly positive, neutral, or negative emotions. To ensure that the environment did not influence perception, the backgrounds in the video sequences were blacked out. The researchers then put the participants in different moods – from positive to neutral to negative – and subsequently asked them about the animals' emotional states.
Subsequently, happier study participants rated the dogs in the videos as sadder, whereas participants in a worse mood rated them as happier. It is also noteworthy that the researchers found that simply watching the videos of dogs—even those shown in a negative mood—lifted the emotional mood of all study participants.
The researchers acknowledge certain limitations in their investigations, as their experiment relied solely on video clips of three dogs. Nevertheless, Molinaro notes the study provides clear indications of possible systematic errors in reading dogs' emotions.
This study is part of a larger ASU initiative to uncover and challenge human prejudices and assumptions that influence how we perceive animal emotions.
What dogs want to tell us with their eyes
Researchers stress the importance of recognizing our misinterpretations. Misunderstandings can cause inappropriate handling or unmet needs. Molinaro and Wynne hope the research will improve human-animal interactions and care. Molinaro sums up: "If we better understand how we perceive animals' emotions, we can care for them better."