New Research Sheds Some Light as to Whether Dogs Truly Experience Jealousy or Not

by Denisse Aguilar on in Interesting Facts 19
jealous pug

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The common consensus was that jealousy is a complex emotion and therefore reserved for human feeling (and squabbling,) not something dogs would concern themselves with.  But a new study from PLOS ONE, might make you rethink how dogs think.

Adapting a test that has been used to determine jealous behavior in human infants, Psychologists from the University of California, San Diego researchers were able to determine that dogs do in fact feel jealous.

Researchers videotaped 36 small breed dogs reacting to their owners ignoring them and instead displaying affection to an animated, stuffed dog that barked, whined and wagged its tail. During these interactions with the plush pet, over three-quarters of the real dogs pushed or touched their owners.

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The findings mirror those of studies of 6-month-old babies who had jealous reaction to their moms interacting with a doll, but were less concerned about moms interacting with a book.

Psychologist Christine Harris, who led the study, says she's been studying jealousy for many years — but in humans.

So what does she think of the dogs?

The fact that these dogs seemed like they were trying to draw their owners away from the stuffed animal indicates that they're feeling something very similar to human jealousy, Harris says.

But in the end (as convincing as it seems) the study still doesn't prove that dogs feel jealousy.

While the study might not be conclusive, there is no doubt that whether your call it jealousy, fear or sadness, dogs feel something when someone or something gets in the way of the love and attention they deserve.

WOW! All those times you felt your doggy behaved in a jealous manner actually has some truth behind it now!

Read more about this study and how dogs reacted to jealousy by visiting Dog Channel.



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