Dogs whose owners are high in neuroticism are likely to also be neurotic or have behavioral problems. This could be the reason, writes herzoghal
had owners complete the Big Five Personality Inventory for themselves and a canine version for their dog. On all of the Big Five traits, owners rated their dogs' personalities as similar to themselves, but the owners' and dogs’ personality scores were most similar for neuroticism. In the study, the researchers controlled for the possibility that owners might be projecting their insecurities on their pets — they also had family members rate the personalities of the owners and their dogs.
among adults in 1,280 households. People who scored high on the Big Five neuroticism scale were more likely to have been bitten by a dog than emotionally stable people., researchers at Michigan State University gave the Big Five personality inventory to 1,681 dog owners. The owners also completed the Dog Personality Questionnaire for their pets. The owners with higher “negative emotionality” scores had pets that tended to be more fearful, more excitable, less responsive to training.
One possibility is the like-owner/like-dog phenomenon is simply a matter of perception—that is, neurotic owners project their anxieties on their perfectly normal pets. The Austrian and Hungarian researchers, however, controlled for this possibility by having outside observers in their study rate the behaviors of the dogs.
It could be that anxious owners are attracted to nervous and emotionally needy dogs and seek them out as pets. After all, social psychologistsAnother possibility is that the causal arrow could point up the leash from dogs to their owners. Living with a fearful, aggressive, and emotionally unstable dog might increase their owners' levels of stress and anxiety.I suspect the most plausible explanation, however, is that neurotic owners—at least partly—help create anxious dogs.
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