Personality Differences Between Dog and Cat Owners
Virtually any discussion among pet owners is bound to reveal that
there clearly are dog people and there are cat people. In some cases the
depth of feeling for their chosen species can be quite intense.
However, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll, there are a
lot more dog people out there, since 74 percent of their test sample
like dogs a lot, and only 41 percent like cats a lot.
The
flip side of the coin is that some people seem to be quite exclusive in
their preferences, liking either dogs or cats and loathing the other
species. Apparently cats appear to be much easier to hate. Fifteen
percent of the adults questioned said they disliked cats a lot while the
number who said they disliked dogs a lot was only two percent.
There are sound reasons to suspect that the preference for dogs or cats
reflects some underlying human personality
differences. Certainly the relationship between cats and humans has
always been quite different than the relationship between dogs and
people. This reflects the behaviors that both species have kept from
their heritage prior to domestication. In the wild, cats are usually
solitary hunters and often are active mostly at night. In contrast, wild
canines are usually sociable pack animals that work in groups and are
active between dawn and dusk. Our domestic dogs retain this need for
social interaction to the degree that without a master and a family, a
dog seems unhappy--almost lost. Dogs will intrude on a person's ongoing
activities if they are feeling lonely and want some company or play.
Cats, on the other hand, are often invisible during the day, seeming
only to appear in the evening, especially if that is when they are fed.
Cats will occasionally engage in social activities or play with people,
but their interest is limited. Usually, after only a few minutes, cats
will abandon the game and wander away. Dogs on the other hand, will
often engage in play, like fetching a thrown ball, for hours at a time,
and it is usually the human that quits the game first.
Recently, Sam Gosling, a psychologist at the University of Texas in
Austin and his graduate student Carson Sandy conducted a web-based study
in which 4,565 individuals were asked whether they were dog people, cat
people, neither or both. The same group was given a 44-item assessment
that measured them on the so-called Big Five personality dimensions
psychologists often use to study personalities.
Gosling
summarized his results saying, "There is a widely held cultural belief
that the pet species -- dog or cat -- with which a person has the
strongest affinity says something about the individual's personality,
and this research suggests there are significant differences on major
personality traits between dog people and cat people."
Just on the basis of the nature
of dogs being more sociable than cats, one might expect that the
personalities of dog lovers would also reflect higher sociability. The
results showed that dog people were generally about 15 percent more extroverted
and 13 percent more agreeable, both of which dimensions are associated
with social orientation. In addition dog people were 11 percent more conscientious than cat people. Conscientiousness involves is a tendency to show self-discipline, to complete tasks and aim for achievement. The trait shows a preference for planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
In comparison cat people were generally about 12 percent more
neurotic, however they were also 11 percent more open than dog people.
The openness trait involves a general appreciation for art, emotion,
adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of
experience. People high on openness are more likely to hold
unconventional beliefs while people with low scores on openness (dog
people) tend to have more conventional, traditional interests.
Gosling's recent study seems to confirm the findings of some
research that I did for my book "Why We Love The Dogs We Do." I used a
different personality measure, namely the Interpersonal Adjective Scale,
because I was mainly interested in items reflecting social interactions
and social tendencies. It gives scores on four scales, extroversion,
dominance, trust and warmth (which is close to agreeableness on
Gosling's measure).
My study involved 6,149 people, aged
16 to 94. I attempted to get as many dog owners as I could, so this
group included 3,362 dog owners, but also, 1,223 people who only owned
cats and 1,564 people that owned neither a cat nor a dog.
My results showed that people who owned only cats seemed to be
somewhat different than dog owners or people who owned both dogs and
cats in terms of their personalities. People who own both dogs and cats
seem to be much like people who own only dogs. You should keep this in
mind, since from here on, at least for the purposes of this discussion,
when I mention a cat owner I mean someone who lives only with a cat,
while when I mention dog owners I will mean a person who owns a dog or
both a dog and a cat.
According to my data, cat owners
were one third more likely to live alone than dog owners and twice as
likely to live in an apartment or flat. Being married, living in a
house, and having children living in the home, are all factors that are
more likely for dog owners than cat owners. A single woman was the most
likely individual to have a cat. Of the people who grew up in a house
with cats as pets, 47 percent were likely to have cats today, while only 11 percent of people whose childhood years were spent in a house with a dog have only a cat as a pet.
Turning to the personality profile of the person who owns only cats, we
find a reasonable overlap with Gosling's recent findings. To begin with
we find we find that people who own only cats tend to be relatively introverted
(low on extroversion) and also reasonably cool (low in warmth or
agreeableness) which is the pattern confirmed by the more recent data.
Looking at the other two measures we find that cat owners are
relatively low in dominance. People who are high on dominance are
generally described as being forceful, assertive,
persistent, self-assured and self-confident. They are the people who
stand out in social gatherings as opposed to people who are low in
dominance that come across as being more timid, bashful, shy
and unaggressive. The final dimension that I looked at was trust, and
cat owners appear to be fairly trusting. People high on this dimension
are often described as obliging, modest, straightforward and "good sports." People low on this dimension can be more suspicious and manipulative.
The general pattern that comes out of both studies is that dog
owners are more social, interactive and accepting and cat owners (who
own cats exclusively) are more introverted, self-contained and less
sociable.
Perhaps one of the most telling differences
between dog and cat owners is illustrated in a single comparison. I
asked people who own only cats "If you had adequate living space and
there were no objections from other people in your life, and someone
gave you a puppy as a gift, would you keep it?" The answer to this was
compared to what I got when I asked people who own only dogs the same
question about a kitten. More than two thirds of the cat owners (68
percent) said that they would not accept a dog as a pet, while almost
the same number of dog owners (70 percent) said that they would admit
the cat into their household. This suggests that most people who own
only a dog are potentially dog and cat owners, while most people who own
only a cat are exclusively cat owners.
Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: The
Modern Dog, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History, How
Dogs Think, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs
Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Why Does My Dog Act That Way?
Understanding Dogs for Dummies, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
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