Humans Aren ’t The Only Animals To Experience Jealousy — Dogs Do, Too

By Emily Reynolds

Jealousy is a fairly common human emotion — and for a long time, it was presumed it truly was only human. Some have argued that jealousy, with its focus on social threat, requires a concept of “self” and a theory of mind — being jealous of someone flirting with your partner, for example, requires a level of threat (real or imagined) to your relationship. This element of jealousy has been used to argue that animals, without such a sense of self, are therefore unable to experience it.

However a new study, published in Psychological Science, suggests this might not be the case. Amalia P. M. Bastos and team from the University of Auckland find evidence that dogs may, in fact, be able to mentally represent the threatening social interactions that give rise to jealousy.

Some previous research has already suggested that dogs get jealous — one 2018 study, for example, found that dogs would move in between or push owners away from interactions with fake dogs. But that research didn’t provide conclusive evidence that the dogs were actually experiencing jealousy.

In the new study, the team recruited 18 dogs and their owners: all dogs had been in the household for at least six months, were non-aggressive and showed no signs of discomfort within the experimental setting, removing the possibility that they would move towards a fake dog out of aggression or fear.

The owner sat behind a large barrier, wearing a blindfold and ...

Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - May 6, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Comparative Emotion Source Type: blogs