Dog people and cat people differ on dominance-related traits

Abstract

Many people identify themselves as being either a “cat person” or a “dog person” based on their preference for these domestic animals. The purpose of this study was to test the common belief that there are personality differences between these types. Previous research has found differences between cat people and dog people on all Big Five personality traits, but studies comparing them on other personality characteristics have yielded mixed findings. Conjecturing that people prefer pets that complement their own personalities, we predicted that dog people should score higher than cat people on traits relating to dominance (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], interpersonal dominance, com..