According To New Study, More People Love Dogs More Than They Love Other People. Do You Agree?

Sep 11, 2018 by apost team

Dogs are often called "man's best friend" as they continuously add joy and love to the lives of their owners. Because of the loyalty and love that dogs exhibit, it is no surprise that humans show them love in return. After all, several polls reveal that dogs are the most popular pet in the United States.

However, not many people would expect this love for dogs to reach beyond love between humans. A recent study suggests that some people may love their dogs more than other people. 

In Boston, Northeastern University's Brudnick Centre on Violence and Conflict recently conducted research into the relationships between humans and their furry friends. It turns out that the connection shared between dogs and their owners can be stronger than some human-to-human relationships. These findings may come as a great surprise to those without dogs.

For those who love their dogs however, these results will only reaffirm the affection they feel for their furry friends. This study joins a long list of research involving the relationship between humans and dogs.

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Researchers at Northeastern University studied a group of 240 participants. These volunteers ranged in age from 18 to 25 to ensure some variability. The study measured the strength of sympathy that these participants had for an adult, a baby, and a dog. Overall, the baby and dog drew a strong sympathetic response from participants than did the other adult. These findings may not surprise the average person, but the results are an important contribution to this growing body of work.

Arnold Arluke and Jack Levin were co-authors in the study and helped to design the process. In order to measure the sympathetic response from each participant, the researchers handed out fake news stories. The stories told an abusive story about a puppy, an adult in their 30's, and a 6-year old.

Each story mentioned that the victim was found with deep wounds, broken legs and dead. It was also mentioned that the perpetrator had not yet been put in prison.

Each participant was then asked to react to the stories in order to rate their sympathetic response. These stories were randomly distributed to each member of the study. The results found that the baby and dog received more of a sympathetic response than the adult. Researchers concluded that these responses were stronger for the dog and child because they are seen as helpless and innocent. An adult is often seen to have more agency and ability to defend themselves against a perpetrator.

Levin believes that the dogs were seen as an extension of puppies by the participants. Even though older dogs are more capable than puppies, people tend to associate the same innocence and cuteness of puppies with dogs overall. Arluke and Levin believe that these findings would be replicable for other pets such as rabbits and cats.

What do you think about the study? Do you agree that humans sometimes sympathize more with their dogs than other human beings? If this is true, what would this mean for human relationships in general?