- Email: [email protected]
Do dogs understand human emotional expressions?
Abstracts influences can be inferred from a careful evaluation of the environmental contingencies associated with the behavior, careful behavioral analysis and historical assessment. As a result a diagnosis, which should be considered to be a hypothetical construct that needs to be tested, can be formulated. This testing may be undertaken at a number of levels. In the clinical setting the relative importance of different emotional processes should be assessed as differential diagnoses by careful questioning and analysis, but at an experimental level, it is increasingly possible to provide scientific evidence to objectively support the definition of a given emotional response. Experimental evidence may come from many sources such as pharmacological probes which map onto particular neuromodulatory systems (possibly through epigenetic effects) and so help to differentiate the importance of one system over another, or the increasing range of cognitive-behavioral tests. There is a need for greater investment in these activities to help define the underlying biology of behavioral problems and in so doing it is to be hoped that our understanding of the relationship between behavior problems and psychopharmacology will become clearer. Key words: behavior problem; diagnosis; motivation; taxonomy
97 and used. Ten mentally disordered prisoners received the MTI-training once a week for a period of 12 weeks. The taken video material was systematically analyzed using rating scales and an index system. Statistical analysis included diverse statistical inference procedures including GLM for repeated measures to test the hypotheses. The results of the pre-post design as well as the video analysis demonstrate improvements in different fields of emotional competences, e.g., empathy (F (2, 9) 5 42.341; P , 0.001; h2 5 0.82), facial expression (F (2, 9) 5 22.031; P . 0.001; h2 5 0.71) and the regulation of emotions (F (2, 9) 5 5.180, P , 0,001; h2 5 0.37). Additionally improvements regarding communicational abilities (F (2, 9) 5 10.990, P , 0.001; h2 5 0.52) and perceived regulation of emotions (F (1, 9) 5 3.330, P , 0.101; h2 5 0.28) were found. Emotional competences are leading factors of influence regarding human development and interpersonal interaction (Goleman, 2006). The prisoners improved their empathy and learned to deal with their emotions more effectively due to the dog-assisted intervention. MTI contributes to health promotion and helps mentally disordered prisoners in developing essential life skills. The basis of this training is a respectful and species-appropriate interaction between dogs and humans. Key words: dog-assisted intervention; AAT; mentally disordered prisoners; empathy
References
DOG-ASSISTED INTERVENTION (MTI) WITH MENTALLY DISORDERED PRISONERS: ENHANCING EMPATHY – A PILOT STUDY K. Turner1,*, B.U. Stetina2, E. Burger1, L.M. Glenk3, O.D. Kothgassner2, U. Handlos4 1 Research and Training Practice, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Wien 2 Institute of Clinical, Biological and Differential Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Wien 3 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Medical University Vienna, Austria, Veterina¨rplatz 1, 1210 Wien 4 Special Education Center for Integrative Support, City School Board Vienna, Austria, Mittelgasse 1060 Wien *Corresponding author: [email protected]
DO DOGS UNDERSTAND HUMAN EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS? Ted Ruffman1,*, Zara Morris-Trainor2 1 University of Ottago 2 Department of Psychology, Dunedin, New Zealand *Corresponding author: [email protected]
Numerous studies underline the supporting emotional impact of dogs on people (Kotrschal & Ortbauer, 2003). Dogs have no prejudices; they react authentically and mainly communicate through body language. This qualifies them as adequate teachers for prisoners, who have emotional deficits especially regarding empathy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the positive effects of a dog-assisted intervention (Multiprofessionelle Tiergest€ utzte Intervention, MTI) on the empathy of mentally disordered prisoners. To analyze the constructs of interest, a pre-post design using instruments like SEE (Behr & Becker, 2004) were chosen. Additionally an observational system was slightly modified
Dogs are relatively good at understanding human gestures such as pointing or head turning as cues to food placement, and eye or head direction to indicate when to take a forbidden piece of food. They also tend to react aggressively or by avoidance when approached by a silent human who walks slowly with a halting gait and slightly bent upper body compared to one who walks at normal speed and speaks in a friendly voice. Common lore has it that dogs are empathic and understand human emotional expressions. We conducted two experiments to examine dogs’ understanding of human emotional expressions. First, we examined whether dogs were more
Behr, M., Becker, M., 2004. SEE – Skalen zum Erleben von Emotionen. Hogrefe, G€ottingen. Goleman, D., 2006. Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books, NY. Kotrschal, K., Ortbauer, B., 2003. Kurzzeiteinfl€usse von Hunden auf das Sozialverhalten von Grundsch€ulern. . In: Olbrich, E., Otterstedt, C. (Eds.), Menschen brauchen Tiere. Grundlagen und Praxis der tiergest€utzten Pa¨dagogik und Therapie Kosmos, Stuttgart, pp. 267–272.
98
Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Vol 6, No 1, January/February 2011
likely to obey a command to leave a piece of food if it was uttered with an angry tone of voice compared to a disgusted or a happy tone of voice (N530). Dogs were significantly slower to take the food in the ‘angry voice’ condition compared to the ‘happy voice’ condition, with no other differences shown. Dogs’ reactions to human vocal expressions of sadness were also examined (N 5 30). The experimenter greeted the dog and then hid herself behind a screen, playing the sound of one of five infants crying for 20 s, or one of five infants laughing for 20 s. Dogs were restrained on their leads, were videotaped and the videos were coded by two coders (with all kappas .0.80) for the amount of time spent approaching versus avoiding the screen, and for the number of times they cocked their heads. Dogs showed more interest when listening to crying than to laughing; they cocked their head more in this condition, and approached the screen more. Overall, the data indicate some degree of emotion ‘‘understanding’’ in dogs. Key words: emotional understanding; dog
SOCIAL PLAY BEHAVIOR OF GROUP HOUSED DOMESTIC DOGS (CANIS FAMILIARIS) Carina Adler1,*, Iris Mackensen-Friedrichs2, Cornelia Franz1, Karl Crailsheim1 1 Department of Zoology, University of Graz, Austria 2 IPN-Leipniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, University of Kiel, Germany *Corresponding author: [email protected] Social play involves two or more individuals, yet few studies have investigated the number of play partners participating in social play interactions. Social play behavior of adult group-housed domestic dogs was studied in a boarding kennel. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not dogs show social play bouts involving more than two individuals and if factors like age, sex, group size or duration of stay have influence on social play behavior. 142 well-socialized, unrelated domestic dogs were observed and social play bouts were videotaped and analyzed. The results show that all social play bouts (n 5 343), except one, were dyadic ones. The one exceptional bout included triadic play scenes. In one-third of the dyads an outsider (third party) tried to interact with the dyad by showing behaviors to attract interest or attention. Moreover it is highly significant that play bouts of female-male dyads lasted longer than single-sex dyads. Group size and duration of stay in the boarding kennel had no influence on play frequency or number of different play partners. 38% of all playing dogs had one single play partner during their entire stay and younger dogs had significant more play partners than older ones.
The results of this study indicate that dogs prefer to play with only one partner at a time. We suggest that in the course of domestication play behavior of dogs changed and that group life and familiarity may be important factors to enable social plays with multiple players. Key words: dogs; group; social; play; triad
DIETARY PARALLELS IN THE CO-EVOLUTION OF DOG AND MAN Wendy Y. Brown* University of New England, School of Environmental and Rural Science - Animal Science, Armidale, NSW 2351 Australia *Corresponding author: [email protected]; Phone: 161 2 6773 5125 The evolutionary success of the domestic dog is probably due to its diverse dietary habits and its exceptional ability to cohabitate with the world’s growing population of humans. Unlike the ancestral wolf, the domestic dog is more adept at scavenging than hunting, and is comfortable in the presence of humans. Consequently, Canis familiaris has found a niche in close proximity to man, and with it a source of food. Eating patterns of the domestic dog often reflect that of their human owners (Kienzle, 1998) and there are some interesting parallels with human nutrition trends. Thus, it can be argued that human dietary trends are a contributing factor in the recent evolution of the domestic dog. The latest trends in human nutrition are often reflected in the formulations and marketing of commercial dog foods, such as the inclusion of fatty acid profiles on dog food labels in response to recent human interest in this group of nutrients. This phenomenon is probably due to the tendency of many dog owners to anthropomorphize their pets, and to the reality that dog foods must appeal to dog owners to purchase them. One of the notable dietary trends in the 20th century has been an increased reliance on processed foods for both the human and pet dog populations. The shared canine and human dietary trends is also evident in the emergence of common nutrition-related health problems in both species, particularly obesity. Both humans and dogs share an innate taste preference for sugars and fats; a factor that is likely to contribute to the parallel dietary trends and health patterns of these two species in the future. Key words: co-evolution; diet; dog
Reference Kienzle, E., 1998. A comparison of the feeding behavior and the human-animal relationship in owners of normal and obese dogs. J. Nutr. 128, 2779S–2782S.
97 and used. Ten mentally disordered prisoners received the MTI-training once a week for a period of 12 weeks. The taken video material was systematically analyzed using rating scales and an index system. Statistical analysis included diverse statistical inference procedures including GLM for repeated measures to test the hypotheses. The results of the pre-post design as well as the video analysis demonstrate improvements in different fields of emotional competences, e.g., empathy (F (2, 9) 5 42.341; P , 0.001; h2 5 0.82), facial expression (F (2, 9) 5 22.031; P . 0.001; h2 5 0.71) and the regulation of emotions (F (2, 9) 5 5.180, P , 0,001; h2 5 0.37). Additionally improvements regarding communicational abilities (F (2, 9) 5 10.990, P , 0.001; h2 5 0.52) and perceived regulation of emotions (F (1, 9) 5 3.330, P , 0.101; h2 5 0.28) were found. Emotional competences are leading factors of influence regarding human development and interpersonal interaction (Goleman, 2006). The prisoners improved their empathy and learned to deal with their emotions more effectively due to the dog-assisted intervention. MTI contributes to health promotion and helps mentally disordered prisoners in developing essential life skills. The basis of this training is a respectful and species-appropriate interaction between dogs and humans. Key words: dog-assisted intervention; AAT; mentally disordered prisoners; empathy
References
DOG-ASSISTED INTERVENTION (MTI) WITH MENTALLY DISORDERED PRISONERS: ENHANCING EMPATHY – A PILOT STUDY K. Turner1,*, B.U. Stetina2, E. Burger1, L.M. Glenk3, O.D. Kothgassner2, U. Handlos4 1 Research and Training Practice, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Wien 2 Institute of Clinical, Biological and Differential Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria, Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Wien 3 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Medical University Vienna, Austria, Veterina¨rplatz 1, 1210 Wien 4 Special Education Center for Integrative Support, City School Board Vienna, Austria, Mittelgasse 1060 Wien *Corresponding author: [email protected]
DO DOGS UNDERSTAND HUMAN EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIONS? Ted Ruffman1,*, Zara Morris-Trainor2 1 University of Ottago 2 Department of Psychology, Dunedin, New Zealand *Corresponding author: [email protected]
Numerous studies underline the supporting emotional impact of dogs on people (Kotrschal & Ortbauer, 2003). Dogs have no prejudices; they react authentically and mainly communicate through body language. This qualifies them as adequate teachers for prisoners, who have emotional deficits especially regarding empathy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the positive effects of a dog-assisted intervention (Multiprofessionelle Tiergest€ utzte Intervention, MTI) on the empathy of mentally disordered prisoners. To analyze the constructs of interest, a pre-post design using instruments like SEE (Behr & Becker, 2004) were chosen. Additionally an observational system was slightly modified
Dogs are relatively good at understanding human gestures such as pointing or head turning as cues to food placement, and eye or head direction to indicate when to take a forbidden piece of food. They also tend to react aggressively or by avoidance when approached by a silent human who walks slowly with a halting gait and slightly bent upper body compared to one who walks at normal speed and speaks in a friendly voice. Common lore has it that dogs are empathic and understand human emotional expressions. We conducted two experiments to examine dogs’ understanding of human emotional expressions. First, we examined whether dogs were more
Behr, M., Becker, M., 2004. SEE – Skalen zum Erleben von Emotionen. Hogrefe, G€ottingen. Goleman, D., 2006. Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books, NY. Kotrschal, K., Ortbauer, B., 2003. Kurzzeiteinfl€usse von Hunden auf das Sozialverhalten von Grundsch€ulern. . In: Olbrich, E., Otterstedt, C. (Eds.), Menschen brauchen Tiere. Grundlagen und Praxis der tiergest€utzten Pa¨dagogik und Therapie Kosmos, Stuttgart, pp. 267–272.
98
Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Vol 6, No 1, January/February 2011
likely to obey a command to leave a piece of food if it was uttered with an angry tone of voice compared to a disgusted or a happy tone of voice (N530). Dogs were significantly slower to take the food in the ‘angry voice’ condition compared to the ‘happy voice’ condition, with no other differences shown. Dogs’ reactions to human vocal expressions of sadness were also examined (N 5 30). The experimenter greeted the dog and then hid herself behind a screen, playing the sound of one of five infants crying for 20 s, or one of five infants laughing for 20 s. Dogs were restrained on their leads, were videotaped and the videos were coded by two coders (with all kappas .0.80) for the amount of time spent approaching versus avoiding the screen, and for the number of times they cocked their heads. Dogs showed more interest when listening to crying than to laughing; they cocked their head more in this condition, and approached the screen more. Overall, the data indicate some degree of emotion ‘‘understanding’’ in dogs. Key words: emotional understanding; dog
SOCIAL PLAY BEHAVIOR OF GROUP HOUSED DOMESTIC DOGS (CANIS FAMILIARIS) Carina Adler1,*, Iris Mackensen-Friedrichs2, Cornelia Franz1, Karl Crailsheim1 1 Department of Zoology, University of Graz, Austria 2 IPN-Leipniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, University of Kiel, Germany *Corresponding author: [email protected] Social play involves two or more individuals, yet few studies have investigated the number of play partners participating in social play interactions. Social play behavior of adult group-housed domestic dogs was studied in a boarding kennel. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not dogs show social play bouts involving more than two individuals and if factors like age, sex, group size or duration of stay have influence on social play behavior. 142 well-socialized, unrelated domestic dogs were observed and social play bouts were videotaped and analyzed. The results show that all social play bouts (n 5 343), except one, were dyadic ones. The one exceptional bout included triadic play scenes. In one-third of the dyads an outsider (third party) tried to interact with the dyad by showing behaviors to attract interest or attention. Moreover it is highly significant that play bouts of female-male dyads lasted longer than single-sex dyads. Group size and duration of stay in the boarding kennel had no influence on play frequency or number of different play partners. 38% of all playing dogs had one single play partner during their entire stay and younger dogs had significant more play partners than older ones.
The results of this study indicate that dogs prefer to play with only one partner at a time. We suggest that in the course of domestication play behavior of dogs changed and that group life and familiarity may be important factors to enable social plays with multiple players. Key words: dogs; group; social; play; triad
DIETARY PARALLELS IN THE CO-EVOLUTION OF DOG AND MAN Wendy Y. Brown* University of New England, School of Environmental and Rural Science - Animal Science, Armidale, NSW 2351 Australia *Corresponding author: [email protected]; Phone: 161 2 6773 5125 The evolutionary success of the domestic dog is probably due to its diverse dietary habits and its exceptional ability to cohabitate with the world’s growing population of humans. Unlike the ancestral wolf, the domestic dog is more adept at scavenging than hunting, and is comfortable in the presence of humans. Consequently, Canis familiaris has found a niche in close proximity to man, and with it a source of food. Eating patterns of the domestic dog often reflect that of their human owners (Kienzle, 1998) and there are some interesting parallels with human nutrition trends. Thus, it can be argued that human dietary trends are a contributing factor in the recent evolution of the domestic dog. The latest trends in human nutrition are often reflected in the formulations and marketing of commercial dog foods, such as the inclusion of fatty acid profiles on dog food labels in response to recent human interest in this group of nutrients. This phenomenon is probably due to the tendency of many dog owners to anthropomorphize their pets, and to the reality that dog foods must appeal to dog owners to purchase them. One of the notable dietary trends in the 20th century has been an increased reliance on processed foods for both the human and pet dog populations. The shared canine and human dietary trends is also evident in the emergence of common nutrition-related health problems in both species, particularly obesity. Both humans and dogs share an innate taste preference for sugars and fats; a factor that is likely to contribute to the parallel dietary trends and health patterns of these two species in the future. Key words: co-evolution; diet; dog
Reference Kienzle, E., 1998. A comparison of the feeding behavior and the human-animal relationship in owners of normal and obese dogs. J. Nutr. 128, 2779S–2782S.