Studies Reveal That Dogs Are Masters At Faking The Sorry Look! The next time your dog chews up your homework or favorite t-shirt dont waste your energy admonishing him/her. Thats because while it may seem sad and look at you with sorrowful puppy eyes and tail tucked between the legs, scientists say dogs have no idea what shame is. In case you are a little skeptical, Dr. Beaver is not the only expert that has reached this conclusion. In 2009, Alexandra Horowitz, an Associate Professor of Psychology at New Yorks Barnard College, conducted a study on 14 dogs. She videotaped each of them on several occasions to see what they did after they were instructed not to eat a treat placed in front of them and left alone in the room. Some obeyed, while others devoured the forbidden food as soon as the owner left. Yet all of them had the same look of shame when they were scolded by their owners. In her study entitled Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know, she concluded that while dogs may feel some guilt, the look that we humans associate with shame, is not when they are feeling it. They are just smart enough to know that it helps placate their owners and hence put it on, whenever they feel their wrath. This knowledge is probably not going to stop most owners from getting upset when their dogs do something wrong. But it may at least take away some of the guilt they feel after they are done telling off their pet. Also, just because dogs fake this one emotion does not mean they are always lying. They are constantly trying to communicate with their owners, something the authors of National Geographics new fun book - How to Speak Dog: A Guide to Decoding Dog Language, seem to have observed in great detail. Resources: NDTV, npr.org
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:05:35 +0000
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