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What Does Your Dog Say About You?
This article is 10 months old. It is presented here as part of an historical archive and as such, the information contained within it may no longer be accurate or up to date. Readers are advised to check with the University before acting upon the information contained herein.
Yes, you can match a dog to its owner. But the match is only skin deep. This is the finding of a study presented today, 3 April 2009, at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Brighton.
In the study, carried out by Charis Hunter and Dr Lance Workman at Bath Spa University, a group of 70 people who do not own a dog were asked to match photos of 41 dog owners to three possible breeds - labrador, poodle or Staffordshire bull terrier. Owners were correctly matched to their breed of dog above the level of chance.
Dr Lance Workman, Head of Psychology in Bath Spa University's School of Social Sciences, said: "This suggests that certain breeds of dogs are associated with particular kinds of people. The non dog owners used stereotypes to match the dogs to their owners. These stereotypes persisted into judgements of the dog owners' personalities: non dog owners considered the owners of each breed to share certain personality traits, such as level of conscientiousness and emotional stability.
"But when we tested the dog owners' personalities, we found no strong links between any particular personality trait and choice of dog breed, so any shared qualities are only skin deep."
The British Psychological Society Annual Conference takes place at the Holiday Inn, Brighton Seafront from 1- 3 April 2009
Press Release Issued 03 April 2009.