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The Economist: Man’s best friend -- Can dogs really show empathy towards humans?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 2nd 12, 02:06 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 52
Default The Economist: Man’s best friend -- Can dogs really show empathy towards humans?

"DOGS quickly become part of the family. Tales abound of dogs
celebrating joy in a household or commiserating when tragedy strikes.
This may not seem surprising after 15,000 years of co-evolution. But
what hard evidence is there of dogs’ empathy with humans? A new
experiment suggests that behind all the waggy tails there really is
something deeper going on."

http://www.economist.com/node/21557721

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com
  #2  
Old July 3rd 12, 08:39 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 479
Default The Economist: Man’s best friend --Can dogs really show empa...

Yep. Of course, dog owners have known this for centuries.... but it's
nice to have scientific validation.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia, USA

  #3  
Old July 3rd 12, 12:31 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 38
Default The Economist: Man’s best friend -- Can dogs really show empathy towards humans?

On 2 jul, 15:06, Opinicus
wrote:
"DOGS quickly become part of the family. Tales abound of dog celebrating joy in a household or commiserating when tragedy strikes. This may not seem surprising after 15,000 years of co-evolution. But what hard evidence is there of dogs’ empathy with humans? A new experiment suggests that behind all the waggy tails there really is something deeper going on."

----
Thanks for this. Somewhere, would have to root around to find it,
there is a New Scientist article that argues that both dogs and cats
can show empathy, and one reason for this is that they are predators,
so it helps for them to be able to 'get inside of the heads' of their
prey, to some extent.

What surprised me about dogs is that they can have very different
reactions to grief, though, as humans do too, this shouldn't really be
a surprise. Some humans will hug another who is crying. Other humans
feel awkward and uncomfortable and back off. Then there are people who
say ´pull yourself together´. One day I read a letter saying a friend
had died, wept, and my spitz cross, Rug came up, and put his head on
my lap. Another day a woman friend was weeping over a boyfriend, and
my mum's border collie cross went up to her and nipped her. Not hard,
just enough for her to snap out of it. My mom's Katie, the sofa dog,
did not like listening to heated discussions between humans, and would
hide behind the sofa until the humans had calmed down. So it´s not an
easy area to research. How dogs respond to human emotions is about
relationships, rather than about dogs responding in a uniform way to
stimuli.

Alison in Spain
 




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