Science Says Talking To Your Dog Makes You Smarter

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SCIENCE SAYS TALKING TO YOUR DOG MAKES YOU SMARTER

December 11, 2018 by Brandon Prows

How many times have you talked to your pets in personal, loving, or deliberate ways only to have your friends laugh and make fun of you for acting so silly?

People who talk to their pets (or animals and other inanimate objects) are often ridiculed for making such a personal connection with something that cannot communicate back, but scientific research is shedding new light on the intelligence of such acts. According to research, talking to your pets, plants, or other inanimate objects is a sign of intelligence, not stupidity (1).

The Benefit Of Talking To Your Dog

From a pleasant “good morning” to asking if they’re hungry, pet parents communicate verbally with their pets on a daily basis. We ask our pooches if they want to go for a walk, we tell them when they’ve done well or badly, and we inquire after their well-being perhaps more often than we do our human friends. Other people often get weirded out by this behavior, inquiring after your well-being and explaining how unhealthy, odd, or pointless such communication is between pet and owner. What these criticizers don’t realize, however, is that your act of apparent craziness is actually a sign of intelligence (1). It’s called anthropomorphizing.

What Is Anthropomorphizing?

Simply, anthropomorphizing is the act of attributing “human form or personality to things not human” (2). In other words, it’s giving human characteristics to or expecting them from animals, inanimate objects, natural phenomena, plants, and the like (3). The reverse of this is known as dehumanization when human beings are represented as nonhuman objects, which can be seen in historical acts such as the Nazi persecution of Jews during the Holocaust (3).

Anthropomorphism is a mental process that occurs in practically everyone and research has discovered that the degree to which this common act occurs has significant consequences on someone’s life (4). Nicholas Epley, professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, said, “Historically, anthropomorphizing has been treated as a sign of childishness or stupidity, but it’s actually a natural byproduct of the tendency that makes humans uniquely smart on this planet” (1).

No other living creature besides human beings have the ability to identify human behavior in inanimate objects, so calling your dog “baby” and your hamster “little man” is your intelligence talking, not you being a weirdo (1). When you’re able to find human characteristics in pets, plants, pens, computers, and more, it’s a sign of your brain’s creativity (1).

People anthropomorphize because the objects appear to have a face, we’d like to be friends, or we are curious about its unpredictable behavior (1). Human beings are naturally social creatures, so responding to these three triggers doesn’t make you crazy, it makes you normal! And your normal is smart!

Conclusion

Next time your friends make fun of you for having conversations with your pet (or your car, house, pajamas, etc.), don’t get offended and don’t feel dumb! Instead, explain how it’s a sign of your intelligence and your brain’s creativity. While you do, toss your fur baby his favorite Trudog treat and tell him he’s a good boy!

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