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7/27/2019 Dogs Get More Sympathy From People Than Human Victims of Violence in Study

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FILED UNDER: Pets And Health | Psychology, Mental Health / Misc.POSTED: Saturday, Au gust 10, 2013, 9:00 AM

SATURDAY, Aug. 10 (HealthDay News) -- People may feel more empathy for dogs

than for some of their fellow humans, a new study finds.

When it comes to victims of violence, people may be lessdisturbed by the suffering of human adults, who are consideredcapable of taking care of themselves, the study suggests.Meanwhile, children, puppies and full-grown dogs are

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The study involved 240 men and women. Most of theparticipants were white college students between 18 and 25years old.

In conducting the research, Jack Levin, a distinguishedprofessor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern

University, and study co-author Arnold Arluke, a sociologyprofessor at the school, randomly gave one of four fictionalnews stories to each participant.

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The scenarios involved the beating of a 1-year-old baby, anadult in his 30s, a puppy or a 6-year-old dog. After reading thestory, the participants rated how much empathy they had for the victim of the attack.

More empathy was shown for the child, the puppy and the adultdog than the adult human, the study revealed. Surprisingly, theparticipants had about the same amount of empathy for the

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c as ey or e puppy.

The study is scheduled for presentation Saturday at the annualmeeting of the American Sociological Association in NewYork City.

"We were surprised by the interaction of age and species,"Levin said in an association news release. "Age seems to

trump species when it comes to eliciting empathy."

The authors noted the findings would likely be similar if thestudy had involved cats instead of dogs. As family pets, theysaid, dogs and cats often are assigned human characteristics.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, thedata and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary untilpublished in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has more aboutempathy .

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas

SOURCE: American Sociological Association, news release, Aug. 10, 2013

Cop ri ht © 2013 HealthDa . All ri hts reserved.

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Comments (9)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:42 PM, 08/12/2013

I do. Humans are gr eedy and selfish. Dogs just w ant to love their master!

— manmean1971Sign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:57 PM, 08/12/2013

That doggy crapped on the rug!

— Zipper-Head Sign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:08 PM, 08/12/2013

They needed a STUDY to come to that conclusion??? They're only 26 years behind:

"That's the thing you gotta remember about WASPs. They love animals, but they can't stand people."- Gordon Gekko 1987, "Wall Street"

— VOMIT.MAN!Sign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:29 PM, 08/12/2013

Because dog's don't judge.

— kidretdesSign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:06 PM, 08/12/2013

oh....are you kiddin me....some people love dog and hate blacks......

— brjsphilaSign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:04 AM, 08/13/2013

Seems like SOME black people are obsess ed w ith self-image, and how "others"perceive them. Think of it this w ay...human beings are the top of the food c hain.

Something has to keep human population in check, or w e w ill suffoc ate ourselves. So, except f or

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disease, humans are their ow n "predator"...w ithout violence, w ar, STDs, etc. the human populationw ould explode. And, that would be the end of planet Earth.

— Road515Sign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:39 PM, 08/12/2013

You can tell more about a person by how they interact w ith dogs than you can w hen they interactw ith other humans. Qualities come out w hen dog and human meet. One of the most endearingqualities of people is that they w ill protect those who c annot protect themselves, if given theopportunity. Dogs are like our permanent children. A lifetime of dependency f or a lifetime of loyalty.Dogs are all about empathy. It's the best reason to have one.

— OldSouthPhillySign i n to report abuse

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:10 AM, 08/13/2013

Well, how c ould anyone not like the puppy in the photo? Domestic dogs w ere bred by humans to aidus, and be companions. Really, pet dogs depend on us. In that sense, harming a dog is similar toharming a family member. Harming a dog is harming something that depends on us to survive.

— Road515Sign i n to report abuse

Register to commentWhy are w e asking you to register? We've made somechanges to increase the quality of the user experience anddialogue, and reduce the number of inappropriate or of fensiveposts. You're now required to have a registered usernameand account bef ore adding a c omment. This w ill improve theexperience for everyone. We apologize for theinconvenience. Join the conversation!

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0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:48 AM, 08/13/2013

That is obvious....See how mch money is spent on Dogs (f ood toys, shots , grooming etc) c omparedto how much w e spend on homeless egtc ....NO DO NOT INCLUDE GOVERNEMETN GIVEAWAYS TOILLEGALS.....AS THAT IS THE DEMOCRATS WAY TO BUY VOTES....or unemployement for thosetoo lazy to get a job or take a job "beneath thier level" (as if any job is not better than being a leech)People love dogs becaus e they dont talk back and they dontg require any accountabiity..

— nuggettSign i n to report abuse

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