Dog People vs Cat People

From CNN – 1/13/2010

Do you rejoice at the sound of barking but cower at a meow? Or do you look at a cat and feel an instant sibling-style connection?

With the proliferation of Web sites cultivating photos and videos of animals doing cute things, it’s easier than ever to get your daily fix of the pet variety you have, or wish you had. Ever wonder what your preference for cats or dogs says about you?

A team of researchers led by psychologist Sam Gosling at the University of Texas at Austin wanted to find out. They posted a questionnaire online as part of a larger study about personality called the Gosling-Potter Internet Personality Project.

About 4,500 participants answered questions that measured their personality inclinations in five areas: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These five dimensions have been shown in previous research to encompass most personality traits. They also indicated whether they considered themselves cat people, dog people, both or neither.

It turns out that the “dog people” — based on how people identified themselves, not on what animals they actually own — tend to be more social and outgoing, whereas “cat people” tend to be more neurotic but “open,” which means creative, philosophical, or nontraditional in this context.

Dog people scored significantly higher on extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness measures, and lower on neuroticism and openness than cat people, the survey found. The effect persisted regardless of gender of the respondent.

“Once you know the findings, it kind of falls into place,” Gosling said. “You think, ‘of course, agreeableness and extraversion — dogs are companionable, they hang out, they like to be with you, they like your company, whereas cats like it for as long as they want it, and then they’re off.”

But this foray into your deeper pet subconscious isn’t the final word, Gosling says — after all, if the findings had been reversed, they would also make sense to some people. These are, of course, generalizations and don’t apply to every individual.

“It means that if you knew nothing else about them, that would be your best guess,” he said.

The findings do make sense to 12-year-old Naveen Rajur, a “loving dog boy” in Andover, Massachusetts, who considers dog people to be outgoing and active. He also agrees about the agreeableness and conscientiousness of dog people because they “always have to want to take care of the dog and always kind of be by its side.”