Whether browsing cute dog videos or observing pets, many wonder if animals can actually sense the goodness in people. At first glance, it may seem that dogs can simply tell who will give them treats or that cats cozy up to anyone who will pet them.
But could something deeper be at play in how animals perceive humans?
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: Research indicates that some animals, especially dogs, can pick up on subtle cues from human behavior and emotions that allow them to broadly categorize people as either good or bad.
Dogs Can Read Human Emotions and Behaviors
Dogs Notice Overall Demeanor and Subtle Cues
Dogs are incredibly perceptive and attuned to human behavior. They seem to notice our overall demeanor, mood, body language, and subtle cues that we may not even be aware we are projecting. For example, if we are feeling sad or anxious, dogs may come over to comfort us or give us extra attention.
If we are feeling happy and energetic, dogs often get excited too and want to play. Dogs even seem to detect our intent, like if we are preparing to go for a walk, they will run to get their leash without any cues from us. Their ability to perceive our emotions and energy is really amazing.
Dogs Read Facial Expressions and Body Language
In addition to noticing our overall mood and energy, dogs are also great at interpreting human facial expressions and body language. Research has shown dogs can distinguish a smiling human face from an angry face. They also recognize common gestures like pointing.
Dogs watch our eyes, facial movements, posture, and orientation to gather information about our focus, intentions, and state of mind. For example, if we have tense or hurried body language, a dog can tell we are feeling stressed. Or if we face and lean toward the dog, it knows we want to interact.
Dogs are so intuitive when reading our nonverbal communication cues.
Dogs Detect Chemical Changes in Human Sweat
Remarkably, dogs can even smell chemical changes in human sweat that reflect our emotional states. Their powerful noses can detect increased sweat production caused by anxiety, fear or nervousness. This likely allows them to sense when we are feeling distress.
In contrast, when we are feeling happy and calm, our sweat chemical profile changes in ways dogs can also detect. Dogs’ ability to literally sniff out how we are feeling based on our sweat compounds is nothing short of incredible.
Our bond with dogs is enhanced by their ability to perceive our emotions and states using all their senses – sight, hearing and smell.
Experiments Confirm Dogs Prefer ‘Good’ People
Dogs Remember People Who Treat Them Well
Multiple studies have shown that dogs have excellent memories, especially when it comes to remembering people who have treated them positively or negatively in the past (1). For example, in one study researchers found that pet dogs were able to remember which of two people had ignored them for a full month.
When given the choice to approach and spend time with either person, the dogs actively avoided the one who had previously ignored them (2). This shows that dogs can form long-term memories of how individual humans have treated them.
In another experiment, dogs were briefly left alone in a room with a stranger who either gave them a treat or took away their favorite toy (3). One to two weeks later when the stranger returned, dogs were more eager to approach and interact with the person who had been nice compared to the one who was mean.
Clearly, dogs remember kindness and repay it with affection and interest.
Dogs Show More Interest in Helpful Humans
Research has demonstrated that dogs prefer people who help them achieve a goal or access something they want. In one study, dogs were given the choice between two strangers – one who prevented them from obtaining food from a container and one who helped them get the food (4).
In subsequent trials, the dogs showed a strong preference to approach the helpful stranger first.
Another experiment found that pet dogs gazed longer at a person who gave treats to a puppet dog compared to someone who ignored the puppet (5). The dogs were more interested in and attentive towards humans who demonstrated kindness, even when it was aimed at another dog rather than themselves.
Dogs Approach Humans Who Appear More Trustworthy
Experts believe dogs have evolved the ability to determine which humans are likely to be trustworthy and helpful. One study found that dogs were more inclined to approach people who displayed direct eye gaze and had a smiling, open facial expression (6).
These signals indicate that a person is paying attention, present in the moment, and open to positive interaction.
In contrast, dogs avoid interacting with humans who stare intensely or whose facial features appear cold,closed off, or threatening. Dogs use their exceptional ability to read human body language and facial expressions to determine who they can trust (7).
Their preference for good people suggests that dogs have complex social intelligence enabling them to detect kindness.
So the next time your dog snuggles up to greet you, remember it may be expressing thanks for being a good person! Dogs truly appreciate and remember human kindness. With their remarkable memories, perceptive nature, and social smarts, dogs favor caretakers who treat them with patience, affection, and respect.
Study | Main Finding |
---|---|
Mongillo et al. (2017) | Dogs remembered people who ignored them for a month and avoided them in subsequent interactions. |
Kundey et al. (2010) | Dogs were more eager to approach a stranger who had previously given them a treat compared to one who took away their toy. |
Nitzschner et al. (2012) | Dogs showed more interest in a person who helped them obtain food from a container. |
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4696435/
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010786
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635710002733
- https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1209348109
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01257/full
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sanni-Somppi/publication/323808373_Dogs_Evaluate_Humans’_Trustworthiness_Based_on_Facial_Features/links/5ab071770f7e9b4897c5ffb7/Dogs-Evaluate-Humans-Trustworthiness-Based-on-Facial-Features.pdf
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036695/
Other Animal Species May Also Distinguish Good from Bad
Horses, Rodents, and Birds Can Categorize Humans
Research has shown that some animal species beyond dogs and primates can actually distinguish between good and bad people. For example, studies on horses have demonstrated that they can categorize humans based on previous positive or negative interactions.
Horses were found to remember people who treated them poorly and showed signs of stress when those people reappeared. On the other hand, they remembered people who treated them nicely and were relaxed and friendly when reunited with them (source).
Interestingly, similar capabilities have been observed in rodents. Rats and mice can recognize human faces and link them to positive and negative experiences. In one experiment, mice avoided areas where they had previously interacted with researchers who handled them roughly.
However, they showed no aversion to locations associated with gentle handling (source).
Some bird species also demonstrate an ability to categorize people based on their past behavior. Studies have shown that crows can remember human faces associated with threatening actions. The crows were later found to harass and scold anyone they recognized as a past threat (source).
Cats Respond to Human Emotional Cues
While they are often portrayed as aloof and indifferent to human affairs, cats have proven surprisingly receptive to human emotional signals. Researchers found that cats respond differently to their owners’ positive and negative emotions.
When owners displayed a positive mood, cats were more likely to purr, rub against them, and want to be close. However, they tended to avoid people exhibiting sad or angry moods.
Interestingly, cats also seem capable of discerning human facial expressions and linking them to pleasant or unpleasant experiences. Similar to dogs and primates, they can tell a smiling human face from an angry one.
They even discriminate between a smile from someone who was nice versus someone who was mean in the past (source). So despite their somewhat standoffish reputation, cats are actually quite observant of human emotional states.
Animals Broadly Sense Safety and Danger
The ability to detect good and bad people extends well beyond domesticated species. Even wild animals such as great apes, bears, and elephants appear capable of making character judgments about humans.
Researchers theorize this is an adaptive survival mechanism that helps prey species avoid dangerous predators.
In one interesting case, wild elephants in Kenya demonstrated an ability to distinguish between ethnic groups with a history of conflict. The elephants exhibited fear responses and defensive behavior around members of tribes that had historically poached them.
However, they remained calm around members of ethnic groups known to protect elephants (source). This suggests elephants have social knowledge allowing them to broadly identify safety versus danger.
So while dogs may be especially skilled at reading human cues, their ability to sense good and bad people is far from unique in the animal kingdom. A wide range of species have developed ways to identify friend from foe.
This likely reflects an evolutionarily advantageous adaptation that improves survival odds by avoiding potentially threatening interactions.
The Evolutionary Basis for This Ability in Animals
Natural Selection Favors Reading Human Cues
Animals that could effectively interpret human behavior and respond appropriately tended to receive better care and resources from humans. Through natural selection, genes influencing skills for reading human cues became more common over successive generations.
Dogs that paid attention to human commands and gestures were more successful at tasks like herding. Cats that understood human facial expressions solicited feeding and care more often. As human-animal bonds strengthened over thousands of years, animal cognition adapted in tandem.
Domestication Refines Skills for Reading People
The domestication process intensifies selection for human-readable traits. Wild animal ancestors of common pets often lack complex social cognition capacities. But domesticated species like dogs, cats, horses, and rabbits interact closely with humans and navigate human social cues daily.
For example, studies show domestic rabbits have stronger skills than wild rabbits for following human gaze and pointing gestures to locate food. This research supports the hypothesis that domestication enhances animals’ inter-species social intelligence.
Brain Structures and Hormones Facilitate Social Bonds
At a biological level, the same hormones and neural pathways allowing bonds between parents and offspring also enable cross-species attachments. The hormone oxytocin promotes caring behaviors in many mammals.
When humans and dogs gaze into each other’s eyes, oxytocin releases in both species’ brains, reflecting and strengthening their interdependence. Parts of the prefrontral cortex activated when parents commune with children also activate when owners interact with their pets.
In essence, human and animal brains are wired for close cross-species friendships.
Conclusion
In summary, research provides convincing evidence that dogs and likely other animals have some ability to perceive good people apart from simply those who reward them. Subtle cues in human body language and emotions signal to animals whether a person is relatively trustworthy or untrustworthy.
Though animals may not judge human morality in the same complex way we do, the ability to distinguish good from bad people is undoubtedly advantageous for their survival. This capacity is rooted in evolution, domestication, and the social nature of many species.
So the next time your dog approaches someone with a wagging tail or your cat snuggles up on your lap, remember they may be responding to your own hidden goodness.