Chimpanzees may share many of our genes, but dogs have lived with us for so long that they offer a good model for understanding human social behavior. Cooperation, attachment to people, understanding human verbal and non-verbal communications, and the ability to imitate are just a handful of the social behaviors we share with dogs. They might even think like us at times too, according to the paper. While there is no evidence to support that dogs and humans co-evolved their shared behaviors over the past 20,000 years, the researchers believe adapting to the same living conditions may have resulted in the similarities.
In one of many recent studies conducted by the team, Topal and his colleagues taught both a 16-month-old human child and mature dogs to repeat multiple demonstrated actions on verbal command "Do it!" The actions included turning around in circles, vocalizing, jumping up, jumping over a horizontal rod, putting an object into a container, carrying an object to the owner or parent, and pushing a rod to the floor. The dogs "performed at a comparable level to the 16-month-old child," Topal said.
Multiple studies mentioned by the authors also support that dogs exhibit all three primary types of social behavior that humans evolved when they split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago. The first is sociality, or organization into groups where members are loyal to each other and display reduced aggression. The second is synchronization, where following shared social rules and even taking on each others emotions helps to strengthen group unity.The third is constructive activity, where individuals within a group cooperate and communicate with each other to achieve goals. Dogs can also distinguish rational from irrational human communications, Topal said.
The scientists additionally believe dogs are good models for human social behavior because studies can compare and contrast domesticated dogs with wolves, and then with humans.
Posted by Brittany Monteiro
Wow. I find it sad and slightly disturbing that they taught a 16-month old child to do tricks like a dog. Did they mention anywhere in the article the pack mentality of domestic dogs? How would they go about comparing/contrasting domesticated dogs with wolves and then humans?
ReplyDelete-Emily Crete
This article is very interesting. Did the article mention why breed of dog they used in the experiment? Have they ever tested more then one breed to see if they would get the same results? I agree with the article. I believe that humans are very close with dogs because of environmental factors.
ReplyDelete-Samantha Babcock
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ReplyDeleteI honestly don’t know what to say about this article. i found it interesting how they talked about chimps being closer genetically but dogs better understand humans. However, I didn't like that they were saying "do it" to a 16-month old. To me that seems awful. Interesting article though!
ReplyDelete-Stephen Chiricosta
It is interesting that dogs have evolved to think like humans from living with them for so long. Having the same preformance level as a 16 month old child is amazing. There is so much that we have not learned about domestic dogs. I wonder if there is a difference between breeds or other factors.
ReplyDelete-Tricia Carlson
I definitely agree with the article in that dogs have become similar to humans by adapting to the same living conditions. The video you have attached was a great example of how dogs can understand and communicate with humans. I have dogs at home, and I feel as though they are part of the family; I treat them more like friends than pets, and I can definitely communicate with them. I am curious about the species of dogs that were used in the study with the 16 mo. old baby. Also, what were the results of the comparisons between dogs and wolves VS dogs and humans?
ReplyDelete-Crystal Young
This was cool to read about -- to the best of my knowledge their is very few behavior research focusing on dogs in this country. If what this article says about social behavior is right, maybe there should be more active research taken up in this field. Is there any work being done right now connecting dogs with human social behavior?
ReplyDeletePosted by Heather Gore
This is so interesting. I can't believe they had a 16-month-old and a dog do the same "tricks," but it shows how intelligent dogs are and how similar they are to us. I wonder if there are differences in these behaviors between domestic dogs and wild coyotes, wolves, etc.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Benjamin
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ReplyDelete