Are You a Cat Person or a Dog Person?

The age old debate rages on.. and even those without either animal as a pet, tend to self-identify as one or the other. According to studies done by psychologist and study researcher Sam Gosling, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin, what differentiates dog and cat people may not stand true anymore.
Pets Team 28 October 2010

Photo credit to corbis.com

The age old debate rages on.. and even those without either animal as a pet, tend to self-identify as one or the other. According to studies done by psychologist and study researcher Sam Gosling, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin, what differentiates dog and cat people may not stand true anymore.

 We’ve gotten accustomed to associating introvertedness and curiosity to cat people, while dog people are more eager to please and social. However, Dr Gosling’s new study found that many of these traits are actually shared between dog and cat people; the old stereotypes did not take into consideration that cat owners may also have dogs and vice-versa.

WebDB reports:

As part of a larger online personality survey, Gosling and colleague Carson J. Sandy, asked about 4,500 people if they considered themselves dog people or cat people.

The 44-question survey delved into the five dimensions of personality thought to encompass the spectrum of personality types:

  • Conscientiousness. Common behaviors include self-discipline, sense of duty, and a tendency toward planned vs. spontaneous behavior.
  • Extraversion. Tendency toward being gregarious, enthusiastic, positive, and energetic.
  • Agreeableness. Includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and sociability.
  • Openness. Includes traits such as appreciation for the arts, curiosity, creativity, and nontraditional thinking and behavior.
  • Neuroticism. Includes characteristics such as being easily stressed, anxious, or easily worried.

The results from Dr Gosling’s study show that "self-identified dog people were 15% more extroverted, 13% more agreeable, and 11% more conscientious than cat people." On the other hand, "cat people were about 12% more neurotic and 11% more open than dog people."

"These are not huge differences," Gosling says. "There are certainly many, many cat people who are extroverts and many, many dog people who aren't."

But he adds that the findings may have broader implications in the field of pet therapy, suggesting that personality screening may help match people in need with the most appropriate animal.

The study will be published later this year in the journal Anthrozoos.

 

[Source: http://pets.webmd.com]