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Empathy Articles By Topic >  Dog Empathy Study
 


Karine Silva


2011-02-20 -

 Canis empathicus’? A proposal on dogs' capacity to empathize with humans — Biology Letters
  The study appears in Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
Empathy has long attracted the attention of philosophers and psychologists, and more recently, of evolutionary biologists. Interestingly, studies suggest that empathy is a phylogenetically continuous phenomenon, ranging across animals from automatic emotional activation in response to the emotions of others, to perspective-taking that becomes increasingly complex with increasing brain size.

 

 Dogs human-like social skills make them mans best friend
A new study has found out that dogs possess certain human-like social skills that even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, do not, and maybe that’s why they are termed man’s best friend.

 

 Human-like social skills mean you're right to think of your dog like a best friend  18th February 2011
They hold the undisputed title of man’s best friend. But scientists believe the bond between dogs and their owners may be even deeper than we had thought. Although it has been shown that dogs can empathise with humans, no studies have explored the level of mental processes behind the unique relationship.  

 

 Dogs Probably Feel Sorry For Us : Discovery News Feb 18, 2011
But dogs do more than just copy us, according to the study's authors Karine Silva and Liliana Sousa of the Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute.

 

2011-02-20 - Sunday Editorial-Tommy, your dog can teach you the theory of evolution!
Silva and Sousa argue that dogs have the capacity to empathize with humans for three main reasons: ‘Dogs originated from wolves, highly social animals that engage in cooperative activities and are believed to have some ability to empathize with their fellow wolves.