The love for pets also has its cracks, its extremes: there are dog lovers versus those who adore cats. This is added to the duels between Boca and River or summer or winter, to give some examples.
But science investigated the bond between people and these domestic animals, and came to some conclusions that may leave more than one thinking. And he established some clear differences.
These scientific works showed a common denominator: “cat people” tend to be more intelligent than “dog people.”
They also found that the pro-cat camp tends to be more creative, independent and rebellious.
That said, science suggests that it's not all bad for dog lovers, just as it's not all good for felines either.
According to a 2017 study conducted by psychologists from the University of Florida, Carroll University and Marquette University, they gathered 418 college students who proclaimed themselves dog or cat lovers, Gizmodo reports.
The next step was to give them a questionnaire that investigated their personality traits.
The study showed that 352 declared themselves dog lovers and 66 confessed to preferring cats.
After analyzing the responses, the “pro cats” obtained higher scores on a reasoning and general intelligence test.
But not only that, they also proved to be better at abstract thinking, self-sufficiency, and open-mindedness.
The dogs' friends, who were more numerous, were more likely to have outgoing and warm personalities, as well as to be aware of the rules.
"These findings describe the personalities of the average cat person as shy, solitary, impersonal, serious and nonconformist, but also creative, sentimental, independent and self-sufficient," according to the authors of the work that was published by IFLSCience.
On the other hand, dog lovers emerge as "pragmatic and obedient, as well as warm, outgoing, sociable, expressive and group-oriented,"
The findings suggest that people who score higher on rule awareness and liveliness tend to prefer dogs, and those who score higher on reasoning and emotional sensitivity tend to prefer cats.
On the other hand, research from a few years ago indicated that it had not found significant differences with respect to anxiety and neuroticism between both groups.
Based on the information collected, the study argues that the trend can be explained by creativity.
Traits linked to creative people, such as open-mindedness and less attention to rules, are also shared by cat lovers.
While dog lovers more frequently possessed traits that tend to inhibit creativity, such as conscientiousness.
