The influence of human attitudes on canine behavior

Our relationship with wolves and dogs extends back at least 30,000 years. However, few studies have investigated our attitudes towards wolves and dogs, if they conform to these attitudes, and how our attitudes may affect their behaviours. The prevailing view is of the “dangerous wolf” and the “social dog”, despite data suggesting that today, dogs pose a far greater danger to humans than wolves. This appears to influence also our scientific discourse, where domestication hypotheses posit a shift in temperament from a more aggressive wolf to a gentler, friendlier dog. We will explore this dichotomous view by investigating both humans and canines, and their interaction. In humans, we will use behavioural, neural and physiological measures to test whether lay people and researchers tend to fear wolves and love dogs, and how our attitudes are shaped by our exposure to and knowledge about the animals. We will then explore whether direct experience alter the attitudes. In the animals, we will test the most prominent domestication hypotheses by comparing the human-directed behaviours of wolves and dogs raised and kept similarly.Finally, to study human-animal interaction, we will investigate how our attitudes towards wolves and dogs influence the animal’s behaviours. Based on this multi-layered approach, we will explore uncharted territory regarding human-canine interaction, and this is expected to be of crucial relevance for theories ofdomestication and wildlife management.By establishing an interdisciplinary collaboration (Friederike Range & Sarah Marshall-Pescini: comparative cognition, expertise in canine behavior; Claus Lamm: Social Cognition and Neuroscience, expertise in human cognition, affect and behavior), we will broaden the expertise of the team and involved students and researchers to encompass methods and the theoretical framework in human psychology and animal cognition and behavior respectively, creating a new generation of researchers that qualify as human-animal interaction specialists. At the same time, we will start a “meta-scientific” approach involving self-reflection that is likely to influence also other areas of research where human attitudes might compromise scientific reasoning.