According To A Study, Anger Affects How Dogs Trust Us

Does human anger affect canine trust? Yes, according to the findings of a study published in Animal Cognition.

A research team from Brigham Young University led by Psychology professor Ross Flom examines for the first time how dogs respond to human emotional cues and discovers that dogs are less likely to trust someone who appears angry.

Introduction

Existing studies have covered the capability of dogs to use human communicative cues. However, there is little research on the exploratory and point-following behavior of dogs based on human affective behavior.

The term affective information refers to the facial and vocal expressions used to convey an emotion, or ‘affect.’

Research

Flom and his colleagues conducted two experiments to measure how dogs react to positive and negative emotions. Volunteers were made to execute a pointing gesture in the direction of a hidden dog treat. The researchers observed how quickly the dogs responded to the gesture with a combination of facial expression and vocal tone.

Results

Dogs demonstrated that they could accurately locate a hidden treat based on silent point and gaze as well as with a person who had a positive facial and vocal expression.

For dogs that were paired with volunteers who expressed negative emotions, their behaviors were hesitant and their choices were not as reliable.

Analysis

The absence or presence of affective expressions influences exploratory behavior in dogs, while the absence or presence of reward affects whether they will follow the point following gestures of an unfamiliar person.

This further demonstrates that dogs are sensitive to various human social communicative behaviors due to the special and unique bond that exists between dogs and people.

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