Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Human Perception of Dog Emotions Is Influenced by Extraneous Factors

Abstract

Human perception of others’ emotions is complex. Specifically, little is known about what other extraneous factors may influence human perception of emotions in animals. This two-experiment study investigated contextual and demographic factors that impact on human perception of dog emotions. A dog was video recorded in putatively positive or negative situations. In experiment 1, participants were shown videos with and without visual background (context). In experiment 2, videos were edited so the dog appeared in mismatched contexts. In both experiments, undergraduates (n = 383, 485) rated the videos for valence and arousal, and freely described the dog’s emotions. In experiment 1, the presence of context impacted participants’ ratings: valence was rated more positive in videos without context and in videos of positive situations, whilst arousal was rated higher specifically for videos of positive situations without context. In experiment 2, videos in which the human was doing something positive were rated higher for levels of valence and lower for levels of arousal regardless of the situation in which the dog had been recorded. We highlight that extraneous factors besides the dog itself are major contributing influences on how humans perceive dogs’ emotions. These results serve to expand our comprehension of how we perceive animal emotions, strengthening the basis for providing better welfare to animals under human care. They also contribute to the consideration of what theories of emotion may be best suited to understanding animal emotional expression.