Apr 6 2009
According to British scientists a dog can be matched to its owner by simply looking at photographs.
The researchers from Bath Spa University conducted a study involving 41 dog owners and a group of 70 people who did not own dogs.
For the study led by Dr. Lance Workman, the non-dog group were asked to match three possible dog breeds - labrador, poodle or Staffordshire bull terrier - to their owners and it was revealed that matches were made at a level significantly above mere chance.
Dr. Workman, Head of Psychology in Bath Spa University's School of Social Sciences, says the non-dog owners used stereotypes to match the dogs to their owners and this suggests that certain breeds of dogs are associated with particular kinds of people.
Dr. Workman says these stereotypes persisted into judgments of the dog owners' personalities and the non-dog owners considered the owners of each breed to share certain personality traits, such as level of conscientiousness and emotional stability.
But he says when they tested the dog owners' personalities no strong links between any particular personality trait and choice of dog breed were found, so any shared qualities are only skin deep.
Dr. Lance Workman believes certain breeds of dogs are associated with particular kinds of people - so just what does that say about doggy people?
The research is due to be presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Brighton later in the year.