A stray dog lies outside the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul September 17, 2010.(Agencies) |
If your dog destroys the furniture when you are away, it could be a pessimist, researchers have concluded. A study has found that some dogs are natural gloom-mongers while others have sunnier dispositions. "We know that people's emotional states affect their judgments and that happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situation positively," said professor Mike Mendl, an author of the study and head of animal welfare and behavior at Bristol University. "What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs." To measure canine psychology, researchers trained dogs to recognize that bowls on one side of a room contained food, while bowls on the other side were empty. They then placed the bowls in "neutral" locations between the two sides. Just as happy people tend to see the positive in any situation, so optimistic dogs sprinted toward the bowl, expecting to find food, while pessimistic dogs hesitated or ran more slowly. The study, published in Current Biology, which looked at 24 dogs at two UK animal centers, found that dogs' temperaments correlated with their behavior when separated from their owners. Dogs that saw the bowl as half-full were calmer when left alone, sure their owners would return, while pessimistic dogs were more likely to worry, bark and misbehave. About half of the 10 million dogs in the United Kingdom show "separation-related behavior" at some point, Mendl said. Instead of getting rid of anxious dogs or ignoring them, owners should recognize that their dogs may have emotional issues and seek treatment for them, he said. (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
最新研究顯示,如果你的愛(ài)犬趁你不在時(shí)破壞家具,那它可能是一條悲觀的狗。 研究表明,有些狗天生就有“憂郁范兒”,另外一些則是“樂(lè)天派”。 研究報(bào)告的作者之一、布里斯托爾大學(xué)動(dòng)物康樂(lè)和行為系主任邁克?門德?tīng)柦淌谡f(shuō):“我們都知道情緒會(huì)影響人的判斷,快樂(lè)的人更有可能在前景不明朗時(shí)朝積極的方向去想?!?/p> “我們的研究表明,這個(gè)規(guī)律也適用于狗?!?/p> 為了把握狗的心理,研究人員通過(guò)訓(xùn)練使狗明白放在房屋一側(cè)的碗里有食物,另一側(cè)的碗?yún)s是空的。隨后,他們把碗放在了房屋中間的“中立區(qū)”。 就像樂(lè)觀者總會(huì)朝好處想一樣,樂(lè)觀的狗會(huì)飛快地跑到碗邊,希望能找到食物,而悲觀的狗卻猶豫不前,或者慢吞吞地挪過(guò)去。 研究表明,當(dāng)主人不在身邊時(shí),狗的行為就會(huì)受其性情的影響。這項(xiàng)研究對(duì)英國(guó)兩家動(dòng)物中心的24只狗進(jìn)行了觀察,研究成果在《當(dāng)代生物》上發(fā)表。 看到碗“半滿”的狗獨(dú)處時(shí)表現(xiàn)得更為冷靜,肯定主人會(huì)回來(lái),而悲觀的狗更容易焦慮,狂吠,行為失常。 據(jù)門德?tīng)柗Q,在英國(guó)一千萬(wàn)只狗中,大約有一半都會(huì)在某些時(shí)候表現(xiàn)出“分離焦慮”。 他還說(shuō),狗主人不應(yīng)該拋棄那些焦慮的狗,或者對(duì)它們不理不睬,而應(yīng)該意識(shí)到他們的狗可能有情緒問(wèn)題,并尋求治療。 相關(guān)閱讀 調(diào)查:多數(shù)美國(guó)人戀舊 寧愿回到過(guò)去 美國(guó)瘦身訓(xùn)練營(yíng) 主人與狗齊減肥 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 實(shí)習(xí)生秦華江 編輯 Julie) |
Vocabulary: canine: of or like a dog; pertaining to or characteristic of dogs(犬科的,似犬的) |