Cultural Differences in Dog-Human-Interactions

• Applicants: Dr. Juliane Bräuer; Professor Dr. Stefan R. Schweinberger
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456410370

In this project we plan to investigate cultural differences in dog human interactions. In particular, we want to investigate how the social-cognitive abilities of dogs, the relationship between dogs and humans, the way dogs are kept, their function and perception in different societies are related.In the first study of the project we will investigate cross-cultural variation in human dog relationship, using the feely accessible database eHRAF (https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/ehrafe/). In that way we will find suitable societies for the planned cultural comparison in the second study. Here we aim to investigate how dogs’ cognitive skills and dog-human interactions vary cross-culturally. In particular we want to investigate dog-owner interactions in Germany and in four non-western cultures. We will develop a test battery with short tests on the following aspects of dog-owner interaction: education, communication, visual perspective-taking, social referencing and physical cognition.The results of this project may not only contribute to a better understanding of the dog-human relationship, but also of the relationship between cultural evolution and domestication, i.e. how cultural and evolutionary processes influence each other.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Kathryn Kirby