Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Study: Dogs and Monkeys Judge Humans By How They Treat Others

Don't judge me, Fido.
Share Tweet
By Faithwire Staff
Editor

February 14, 2017

Your dog may be judging you by the way you treat others.

According to a study recently published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, dogs can tell when a person is being rude to others and they use that social evaluation when determining how to interact with the humans around them.

Study author James Anderson of Japan’s Kyoto University and his colleagues tested pet dogs and capuchin monkeys to see whether they would show a preference for people who help others.

During the study, which was highlighted by New Scientist, dogs watched their owners struggle to open a container with a toy inside and then present it to one of two bystanders, who either helped or refused to do so. The second bystander was passive.

Then, the bystanders offered the dogs a treat to see which one the pets would choose.

The dogs had no preference when one of the bystanders had helped their owner open the container. But the dogs were more likely to choose the passive bystander if the first didn’t lend a hand to their owner. Thus, the study found that dogs negatively evaluate people who refuse to help their owners.

 

Likewise, the study found that capuchin monkeys negatively evaluate someone who refuse to help other people, and they also negatively evaluate people who exchange unfairly with others.

In one test, the monkeys watched an actor struggle to open a container with a toy inside. The actor presented the container to a bystander who would either help or refuse.

The study found the monkeys showed no preference between accepting a reward from the actor struggling to open the container or the bystander when that person was helpful. But when the bystander refused to assist, the monkey was more likely to take food from the actor struggling with the container.

In another test, two people had three balls each. The capuchin monkeys watched as Actor A requested balls from Actor B, who handed over three balls.

Then, Actor B requested balls from Actor B, who either gave three balls back or none at all. Finally, both people offered the monkeys a reward.

The study found the monkeys had no preference when actor A gave returned the balls, but the monkey were more likely to chose actor B when actor A did not give back any balls.

The study’s authors argued the results suggest that both dogs and monkeys make social evaluations similar to human babies.

“If somebody is behaving antisocially, they probably end up with some sort of emotional reaction to it,” Anderson, who researches animal behavior, primate learning and cognition at Kyoto University, recently told New Scientist.

Latest

  • Faith

    CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’

  • News

    Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief

  • News

    ‘God Still Heals’: Mike Signorelli on Fighting the Demonic, Seeing Miracles — and More

  • Faith

    Tim Tebow Foundation, Nonprofit Team Up to Rescue More Than 70 Missing Children

  • News

    School Reportedly Bans Student From Performing Christian Songs at Talent Show — Then Reverses Course


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • CeCe Winans Reveals ‘The One Thing’ She’d Do Differently as a Parent: ‘If I Could Go Back’
  • Hollywood Actor’s ‘Demonic Attack,’ ‘Insane’ God Encounter Shock Him Into Belief
  • ‘God Still Heals’: Mike Signorelli on Fighting the Demonic, Seeing Miracles — and More
  • Tim Tebow Foundation, Nonprofit Team Up to Rescue More Than 70 Missing Children
  • School Reportedly Bans Student From Performing Christian Songs at Talent Show — Then Reverses Course

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.