OK, so, most of us already knew this; Dogs have personalities. But try to tell that to a scientist, and you're like as not to get a disdainful sniff and an upturned nose, along with a charge of 'anthropomorphism.' That is to say, applying human characteristics to that which is not human.
Well, sure enough, dogs ain't human. Never-the-less, at least one researcher from Texas has proof that dogs do indeed posses personalities, and that those personalities map pretty close to those of humans. Four out of five key traits map (extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to new experience), and frankly, I'm not at all sure there isn't at least a partial map for the fifth, conscientiousness, too. Further, the dogs were proven to have predictable and repeatable behaviors based upon their observed personalities.
Can we have a resounding "Duh!" please..? Thank you.
Says Dr. Gosling (and how amusing is that name, for an animal researcher, eh?) :
"There’s a strong view that animal personality is preposterous anthropomorphism: when I suggested applying measures of human personality to animals, I had people yelling that I was bringing the field into disrepute.”
Well, I've been accused of anthro-whatever-the-hell-it-is more than a time or two. Now I can thumb my nose right back at the nay-sayers with the full confidence of science at my back. At least until the next study comes along to ruin things again. :-p
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article517435.ece
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I think us with Border Collies really know they each have different personalities.... heck, every dog I have had has been completely different!
researchers don't know everything and honestly, I think there is a turn around coming. Patricia McConnel knows better and she's a scientist as does Dr. Irene Pepperberg who did research with Alex the African Grey Parrot.
Dr. McConnell has a blog:
http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/
Dr. Pepperberg has a website:
http://www.alexfoundation.org/index2.html
now if those 2 women say so, I believe them
It seems, and I have no reason why this may be, that many sceintists have a really hard time accepting that humanity isn't a stand-alone, unique, phenomina. There was a big flop-n-twitch over the discovery that chimps make war, and that birds make and use tools, and other observations that humanity differs from other animals only in degree, not type. There are still scientists whom insist that animals don't truly feel pain as humans understand it, and that self-awareness is reserved only to the higher primates.
Every time one of these studies comes along, I find my self to be sourly amused once again. Could it be true, perhaps that not all scientists are human? That might explain the disconnect...
Oh, I LOVE that we are now exploring whether scientists may not be human. :) Though I also love those scientists who have passion for observation and who contribute to humanity, I suspect if you stare too closely at a tree and ask to be shown where the forest is, you will never see the forest from the tree.
Thanks for the post, MM!
haha! Ain't that the truth. It's like diets. One week they say eating only meat is dangerous, the next they say no carbs at all.
Of course dogs, and many other animals have personalities. duh!
Anyone who spend enough real time around them know that. :)
~Lisa
aka~Rapunzle
(ps, Just want to add that I SOOO appreciate all the supportive and interesting comments you leave on my blog. I enjoy rading every one!)
Personally I take issue with those who do not believe that animals experience pain the way we do. I think it's an excuse to be lazy or indifferent in our treatment of animals. If they don't feel pain, we need not go to the effort either of controlling it, or of concerning ourselves with the knowledge that these animals ARE in fact in pain.
Apart fromm which, it's idiotic to observe an animal that is painful and deny that that's pain you're observing. We all intuitively ubderstand what that looks like, and we all know how it feels. It would be like saying that human infants don't feel pain because they can't articulate the words, or that adult non-English-speaking humans don't feel pain because they didn't tell the English-speaking researchers IN ENGLISH that they were in pain.
Moreover, if animals do not feel pain, why is it that we use their pain responses (or the lack thereof) to test the effectiveness of analgesics??? Is it just me, or is there a logic schism there? Moreover, pain is a highly adaptive reflex, necessary to survival. Wo is more in need of pain perception and the appropriate respnses thereto than animals, many species of whom are out there fending for themselves in tough conditions? Their lives depend on them being able to notice pain.
IMO denying that animals feel pain in ways highly similar (if not identical) the humans - or have personalities, or feel greif and jealousy and a lot of other things - is poor science (because it invloves ignoring the repeatable evidence of our senses), foolish (because how big an idiot do you have to be not to get that?), cruel (because it allows suffering) and unbelievably self-absorbed (because it implies that we are somehow more special than all the other animals on our planet.)
Might just be me, though.
Always something interesting to read here. :) I enjoyed this one a lot.
Thanks all, and glad to be of service!
Agree whole-heartedly with AKDD - I work in pharma, and while I strongly dislike animal testing on a personal level, there are sound ethical and scientific reasons for some animal testing; It's unavoidable if were' going to progress medicen. Some may feel that medicine doesn't need progressing, but that's an argument for another venue. But if the "humans are not animals/animals don't share human characteristics" crowd were actually correct, then animal testing for analgesics would actually be grossly unethical and hypocritical; in fact it'd be actually actively evil.
@Kate;
I've known enough scientists that I do indeed question whether if some are actually human.
I responded to your comment on my blog; don't know if you requested email follow-up so am giving you a heads up here since I don't see an email link.
I demand an update to this blog! ;) Hope all is well with you and yours.
Michelle
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