The Effects of Observing Aggression and Affiliation on Domestic Dog Behavior
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Ellen Furlong
Expected Graduation Date
2019
Location
Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-13-2019 9:00 AM
End Date
4-13-2019 10:00 AM
Disciplines
Education
Abstract
Social learning is an effective learning strategy in humans; both for good (learning adaptive behaviors) and for bad (learning negative behaviors). In a classic study Bandura (1961), showed that children increased their aggressive behaviors after observing adult models interacting aggressively with a “Bobo” doll (hitting it, kicking it, berating it, etc.). There is good reason to believe this effect is not unique to humans: Pongracz and colleagues (2002) explored the generalizability of this effect across species by demonstrating that domestic dogs can learn problem solutions through observation. Here we further this work by exploring the behaviors of dogs after observing three types of human interactions: aggression, cooperation, and affectively neutral. We hypothesize that if dogs view high levels of aggressive behaviors between two human demonstrators (for example, tug of war) they will exhibit more aggressive behaviors towards the toy (for example, ripping it, trying to engage in a tug-of-war, etc.) than if they view neutral or cooperative behaviors between two demonstrators. We further hypothesize that dogs will prefer to be closer to the ‘victim’ of aggression and more likely to take a treat from said ‘victim’ rather than the aggressor. We will share the results of this experiment, connecting it to the literature on observational learning in human and nonhuman animals alike.
The Effects of Observing Aggression and Affiliation on Domestic Dog Behavior
Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Social learning is an effective learning strategy in humans; both for good (learning adaptive behaviors) and for bad (learning negative behaviors). In a classic study Bandura (1961), showed that children increased their aggressive behaviors after observing adult models interacting aggressively with a “Bobo” doll (hitting it, kicking it, berating it, etc.). There is good reason to believe this effect is not unique to humans: Pongracz and colleagues (2002) explored the generalizability of this effect across species by demonstrating that domestic dogs can learn problem solutions through observation. Here we further this work by exploring the behaviors of dogs after observing three types of human interactions: aggression, cooperation, and affectively neutral. We hypothesize that if dogs view high levels of aggressive behaviors between two human demonstrators (for example, tug of war) they will exhibit more aggressive behaviors towards the toy (for example, ripping it, trying to engage in a tug-of-war, etc.) than if they view neutral or cooperative behaviors between two demonstrators. We further hypothesize that dogs will prefer to be closer to the ‘victim’ of aggression and more likely to take a treat from said ‘victim’ rather than the aggressor. We will share the results of this experiment, connecting it to the literature on observational learning in human and nonhuman animals alike.