Advertisement

Animal Cognition

, Volume 15, Issue 5, pp 851–859 | Cite as

Empathic-like responding by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) to distress in humans: an exploratory study

  • Deborah CustanceEmail author
  • Jennifer Mayer
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

Empathy covers a range of phenomena from cognitive empathy involving metarepresentation to emotional contagion stemming from automatically triggered reflexes. An experimental protocol first used with human infants was adapted to investigate empathy in domestic dogs. Dogs oriented toward their owner or a stranger more often when the person was pretending to cry than when they were talking or humming. Observers, unaware of experimental hypotheses and the condition under which dogs were responding, more often categorized dogs’ approaches as submissive as opposed to alert, playful or calm during the crying condition. When the stranger pretended to cry, rather than approaching their usual source of comfort, their owner, dogs sniffed, nuzzled and licked the stranger instead. The dogs’ pattern of response was behaviorally consistent with an expression of empathic concern, but is most parsimoniously interpreted as emotional contagion coupled with a previous learning history in which they have been rewarded for approaching distressed human companions.

Keywords

Empathy Emotional contagion Domestic dogs 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Gordon Mayer, Debbie Mayer, Emily Bennett, Emma Collins, Emily Garside, Grace Godfrey, Robyn Palmer, Laurence Muspratt, and Vincent for assistance with testing. Grateful thanks to Pamela Heaton, Rory Allen, Kim Bard, Andrew Bremner, Elisabeth Hill, Andrew Whiten, and Alison Jolly for commenting on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We are indebted to our canine and human participants.

References

  1. Batson CD (1991) The altruism question: toward a social-psychological answer. Erlbaum Associates, HillsdaleGoogle Scholar
  2. Batson CD, Duncan BD, Ackerman P, Buckley T, Birch K (1981) Is empathic emotion a source of altruistic motivation? J Pers Soc Psychol 40:290–302CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Belyaev DK, Ruvinsky AO, Trut LN (1981) Inherited activation-inactivation of the star gene in foxes. J Heredity 72:264–274Google Scholar
  4. Church RM (1959) Emotional reactions of rats to the pain of others. J Comp Physiol Psychol 52:132–134PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Cools AKA, van Hout AJ, Nelissen MHJ (2008) Canine reconciliation and third-party-initiated postconflict affiliation: do peacemaking social mechanisms in dogs rival those of primates? Ethology 114:53–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. De Waal FBM (2008) Putting the altruism back into altruism: the evolution of empathy. Annu Rev Psychol 59:279–300PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. De Waal FBM, van Roosmalen A (1979) Reconciliation and consolation among chimpanzees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 5:55–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Decety J, Jackson PL (2004) The functional architecture of human empathy. Behav Cog Neurosci Rev 3:71–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Eisenberg N (2009) Empathy-related responding: links with self-regulation, moral judgment, and moral behavior. In: Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (eds) Prosocial motives, emotions and behavior: the better angels of our nature. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp 129–148Google Scholar
  10. Hare B, Tomasello M (2006) Human-like social skills in dogs? Trends Cogn Sci 9:439–444CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Hare B, Brown M, Williamson C, Tomasello M (2002) The domestication of social cognition in dogs. Science 298:1634–1636PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Joly-Mascheroni RM, Senju A, Shepherd AJ (2008) Dogs catch human yawns. Biol Lett 4:446PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Kaminski J, Bräuer J, Call J, Tomasello M (2009) Domestic dogs are sensitive to a human’s perspective. Behaviour 146:979–998CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Koski SE, Sterck EHM (2007) Triadic postconflict affiliation in captive chimpanzees: does consolation console? Anim Behav 73:133–142CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Ladygina-Kohts NN (1935/2001) Infant chimpanzee and human child: a classic 1935 comparative study of ape emotions and intelligence. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  16. Langford DJ, Crager SE, Shehzad Z, Smith SB, Sotochinal SG et al (2006) Social modulation of pain as evidence for empathy in mice. Science 312:1967–1970PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Macpherson K, Roberts WA (2006) Do dogs (Canis familiaris) seek help in an emergency? J Comp Psychol 120:113–119PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Martin P, Bateson P (2007) Measuring behaviour: an introductory guide. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Miklósi Á (2008) Dog behaviour, evolution, and cognition. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
  20. Palmer R, Custance D (2008) A counterbalanced version of Ainsworth’s strange situation procedure reveals secure-base effects in dog–human relationships. Appl Anim Behav Sci 109:306–319CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Prato-Previde E, Custance DM, Spiezio C, Sabatini F (2003) Is the dog–human relationship an attachment bond? An observational study using Ainsworth’s strange situation. Behav 140:225–254CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Preston SD, de Waal FBM (2002) Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases. Behav Brain Sci 25:1–72PubMedGoogle Scholar
  23. Savolainen P, Zhang Y, Luo J, Lundeberg J, Leitner T (2002) Genetic evidence for East Asian origin of domestic dogs. Science 298:1610–1613PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Scott JP, Fuller JL (1974) Dog behavior: the genetic basis. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoGoogle Scholar
  25. Seed AM, Clayton NS, Emery NJ (2007) Postconflict third party affiliation in rooks Corvus frugilegus. Curr Biol 17:152–158PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Silva K, de Sousa L (2011) ‘Canis empathicus’? A proposal on dogs’ capacity to empathize with humans. Biol Lett 7:489–492PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Titchener EB (1909) Lectures on the experimental psychology of thought-processes. Macmillan, New YorkCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Topál J, Miklósi Á, Csányi V, Dóka A (1998) Attachment behavior in dogs (Canis familiaris): a new application of Ainsworth’s (1969) strange situation test. J Comput Psychol 112:219–229CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Topál J, Byrne RW, Miklósi Á, Csányi V (2006) Reproducing human actions and action sequences: “Do as I do!” in a dog. Anim Cogn 9:355–367PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Trut LN, Kharlomova AV, Kukekova AV, Acland GM, Carrier DR, Chaes K, Lark KG (2002) Morphology and behavior: are they coupled at the genome level? In: Ostramder EA, Giger U, Lindblad-Toh K (eds) The dog and its genome. Cold Harbor Springs Laboratory Press, Cold Harbor Springs, pp 515–538Google Scholar
  31. Vitulli WF (2006) Attitudes toward empathy in domestic dogs and cats. Psychol Rep 99:981–991PubMedGoogle Scholar
  32. Wechkin S, Masserman JH, Terris W (1964) Shock to a conspecific as an aversive stimuli. Psychon Sci 1:47–48Google Scholar
  33. Yerkes R (1925) Almost human. Century, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  34. Zahn-Waxler C, Radke-Yarrow M, King RA (1979) Child rearing and children’s prosocial initiations toward victims of distress. Child Dev 50:319–330PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Zahn-Waxler C, Hollenbeck B, Radke-Yarrow M (1984) The origins of empathy and altruism. In: Fox MW, Mickley LD (eds) Advances in animal welfare science. Humane Soc US, Washington, DC, pp 21–39Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of PsychologyGoldsmiths CollegeLondonUK

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options