This exploratory study included 524 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology sections who completed the Empathy in Pet Dogs and Cats Scale to assess their attitudes regarding how much domestic dogs and cats show vicarious experiencing of the thoughts, feelings, or attitudes of their owners.
Results: Women gave significantly higher ratings than men regarding dogs’ and cats’ knowing when their owners are happy, sad, or angry. Women also gave significantly higher ratings than men regarding dogs’ and cats’ feeling love and compassion for their owners.
Specific instances of empathy in pets underscore the need for contemporary research to be inclusive of operational definitions of measures of empathy.
Vitulli WF.
Attitudes toward empathy in domestic dogs and cats.
Psychol Rep. 2006 Dec;99(3):981-91
Acknowledgement: Information is obtained from PubMed at the National Library of Medicine (NCBI)
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