Scientists explain why dogs often resemble their owners 17:13

Behavioral scientists from British animal welfare charity Dogs Trust have explained why dog ​​owners often resemble their pets. This was reported by Portal Live Science.

According to Dogs Trust researcher Katrina Holland, the external similarity between dogs and their owners is no coincidence. As previous studies have shown, this effect has been confirmed in experiments where participants had to compare photographs of people and their pets. Those who focused on the similarity between the person’s appearance and the dog’s appearance made correct guesses more often.

Some aspects of appearance are more important than others. Facial features, especially eyes, play a more important role in perceptions of similarity than attributes such as size, hairstyle, and physical fitness.

When the researcher showed participants pairs of real and fake dog owners by masking different parts of the dog’s and owner’s facial features, the participants matched equally well when they saw only the eye area, when they saw the whole face, or when they saw a face with its mouth closed. But when they masked the eye area, the participants’ success rate dropped to 50/50.

According to Holland, the main hypothesis about the reasons for the external similarity of dogs and their owners is that people tend to look for human partners who are somehow similar to themselves. The same principle applies when choosing a four-legged pet.

“We may prefer dogs that are somewhat similar to us due to a simple exposure effect; people prefer familiar objects (such as their own face, often seen in a mirror) over those they have not seen before or are less common,” the scientist explained.

But the impact of exposure affects more than just appearance. A recent study found that dogs generally resemble their owners in five key personality traits: extroversion, friendliness, openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness.

Earlier scientists I learnedCan pigs be as loyal to humans as dogs?