Are you a cat or dog person? The answer to this question can actually reveal a little bit about your own personality, according to a research.
Mikel Delgado, a postdoctoral researcher and applied animal behaviorist at UC Davis Veterinary School authored a study in 2014, citing the “Big 5” personality measurements in those who said they prefer a dog or a cat, as well as those who said they don’t like both animals.
The Big 5 is used as a metrics of personality, referenced with the acronym OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
In his study, Delgado found that those who preferred cats tended to be higher in openness and neuroticism, while dog people tended to be more in extroversion and agreeableness.
Other studies suggest that those who identified themselves as dog people are more dominant in social interactions and more narcissistic, while cat people, at least based in one study, were more likely to be female.
But Delgado said studies like his are not perfect. “Most of us are doing research on a limited budget, and we are doing survey research,” she said. “The people who are likely to fill out a survey, especially a long survey, about their pets are going to fit a certain demographic.”
She added that asking how dog and cat people differ is just asking a simple question on a complicated issue.
Like cats and dogs, humans are also different from one another. What works for someone, may not work for another. So all factors including past pet experiences can affect whether someone really prefers to be a cat or dog person.
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