[新聞] 狗臉懺悔≠有做壞事

[winddolphin (玄雨)]

【聯合報╱郭錦萍／輯譯】

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=201081

    很多狗主人都說，他們的寵物做錯事時，會耳朵、尾巴下垂，眼角下拉，一臉認錯的

樣子，以尋求諒解。不過研究人員說，人對寵物的肢體語言解讀純屬臆想，沒有任何科學

依據，事實根本不是這樣。

    這個研究是美國紐約巴納德學院助理教授亞力山卓霍羅維茲所主持，目的是為了解飼

主如何將人類價值觀投射在寵物身上。

    研究是讓飼主先告誡狗狗不准吃食物後就離開，研究者則給其中一些狗食物。研究人

員告訴部分飼主，他們的狗不聽告誡，吃了食物。其他飼主則被告知，他們的狗乖的很，

沒有碰食物，但其實只有一半的人聽到了實話。

    結果，那些被主人喝斥的狗看起來最認錯，懺悔程度比那些吃了食物、但沒有被訓的

狗還高。研究人員因此推論，當狗一臉懺悔表情時，和是否「做壞事」無關，而是被主人

罵的自然反應。研究表明，以往人們對狗的身體語言，諸如內疚等表情的解讀完全錯誤，

只是人類主觀地將自己的想法強加在動物身上。

    這篇研究報告發表在最新一期「行為過程」。研究人員在接受英國媒體訪問時，還開

玩笑表示，以後飼主發現烤肉不翼而飛或垃圾滿地而責備狗狗，不管狗狗表現多麼承認罪

行受教，別就此以為事情真是牠們幹的。


    若你不信，研究者說：「飼主以責備的語氣大聲叫寵物名字，也會讓牠們出現懺悔的

表情」。


原文出自BBC "Can dogs really look 'guilty'?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8096912.stm

By Sean Coughlan


   That "guilty look" on a dog's face is all in the imagination of the human

owner, suggests research.

   Dog owners have often claimed they can read the expressions of their pets

- particularly that tell-tale look when they have done something wrong.

   But researchers at a New York college tricked owners into thinking innocent

pets had misbehaved - with the owners still claiming to see this guilty look.

   The study found that the expression had no relation to the dogs' behaviour.

   And researchers found that pet owners' belief that they could read their

dogs' "body language" was often entirely unfounded.


   The study from Alexandra Horowitz, assistant professor at Barnard College

in New York, showed that owners were projecting human values onto their pets.

   The research, Canine Behaviour and Cognition, looked at how dog owners

interpreted their pets' expressions, when they believed that the dog had stolen

and eaten a forbidden treat.

   In a series of tests, owners were sometimes given accurate and sometimes

false information about whether their dog had stolen the treat.

   But the research, published in Behavioural Processes, found that owners'

interpretations of whether their dog looked guilty bore no reliable link with

whether the dog had really stolen the treat.

   When the owners had been told their dog had misbehaved, they saw this guilty

expression, even when the dog had not really done anything wrong.

   Where there was any change in the dogs' expression, it was seen to be a

subsequent reflection of the human's emotions.

   If an owner thought the dog had misbehaved and then told the dog off, some

dogs showed an "admonished" look, which humans then misunderstood as an

admission of guilt.

   The dogs which were most likely to "look guilty", according to their owners,

were those who were entirely innocent and had then been told off by owners who

believed that they had stolen treats.

   Researchers concluded that any such "guilty look" is a response to human

behaviour and has no relation with the dog's actions or sense of having broken

any rules.


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我覺得這是一篇很有趣的研究。我們常說不要把寵物(狗、貓)擬人化，畢竟就算你愛他

像你愛任何一個人類一樣，動物的行為模式和表達方式不可否認的與人類差異甚大。

試想，狗兒的社交禮儀可是互聞屁股，你會對你的朋友這麼做嗎?

我們將心愛的寵物視為家人，或許也因此無意識的希望他們擁有人類的思考模式。但貓

狗真的會心虛嗎? 我認為對貓狗而言，這是一個沒什麼意義的情感。

貓狗之靈敏，一定可以察覺到主人細微的情緒變化、家中氣氛的改變並做出反應，但要

說他們"知道自己不該這樣這樣做"並且感到"心虛"，也許是人類主觀投射下的結論。

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→ phebes:推~有些事情,說破了嘴還是有人不願相信
推 hoyushen:感謝分享  讓科學說話<(_ _)>
推 Mozai:我朋友有一隻超好動的雪納瑞，明明沒作啥事，只要指著他說「
→ Mozai:猴~」，她就會坐下，一副認錯的樣子
推 iori325:我家雪納瑞從來沒有懺悔的臉...一向以女王自居XD
推 eienai126:這篇應該要M起來,狗狗不會說話有時還被誣賴好可憐QQ
推 babybox:但我們家的狗做壞事會一臉懺悔耶(沒有人罵她)，我都是看到
→ babybox:她表情才會知道她做壞事 @@ (ex：她只要一臉懺悔，我就去
→ babybox:找是不是又偷尿尿(她喜歡偷偷跑到佛堂尿尿)結果果然有偷尿
→ babybox:不然她平常都尿尿布，尿完還會一臉跩樣像在說「我很棒吧」
推 ZZ27:3樓好好笑 我也常跟我家狗這樣玩 XD