Because Science!
Research Has Found That People Who Talk To Pets Are Smarter Than Those Who Don’t
Someone has finally brought a defence for all the pet owners who love talking to their pets but cannot do so without one or two dirty looks on them. That’s right—it has been scientifically proven that people who talk to dogs are smarter than those who don’t! You don’t have to talk to your pets like they are humans and be called ‘weird’ anymore! You’re the one who has higher intelligence.
A study conducted at Harvard University by Gary D. Sherman and Jonathan Haidt says that people who like pets more than people and those who have a conversation with their pets on a regular basis are more intelligent and not a crack- head! The study was focused on an act of attributing human personality to things that aren’t human, or, anthropomorphising.
A Behavioral Science professor at the University of Chicago, Nicholas Epley agrees to this by saying, “Historically, anthropomorphising 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,”
Sherman and Haidt, during their study, showed the photos of baby animals and adult animals to a group of people; most of who admitted that they would name the baby animals and use gender-specific pronouns on them. They also said that they would talk to the animals if they owned them.
Inanimate objects are also a massive part of anthropomorphising. Therefore, if you own a stuffed dolphin, named it ‘George’ and talked to it like it is your one and only true friend, you can take a sigh of relief. All the accusations of you being crazy are finally lifted off, and you are now counted as smarter than your ‘normal’ friends!
This condition applies to any age. Hence, it doesn’t matter if your 8 or 80 years old, you are still in the intelligent population!
A great example of anthropomorphism can be the fact that scientists almost regularly name hurricanes after names of humans.
Just like it is common for them, it is common for us to give our pets these kinds of names and to spoil them by referring to them as our ‘babies’. This is the most common type of anthropomorphism done by humans as well!
Moreover, anthropomorphism is also a sign of a high level of creativity. For example, if you drew a picture of a human and pasted it on your bedroom wall, you would confuse your brain and would want to name the person in the picture and have a conversation with them. But this is not crazy at all, this is natural human behaviour, and of course, a smart one!
We performing anthropomorphism continuously is, besides, even very helpful for our pets! They start learning specific words and gestures from us, which makes communication easier. So your dog recognising your sadness or anger and empathising with you is actually a result of anthropomorphism.
Hence, the next time someone gives you ‘the look’ of confusion when you are talking to your pet, you know how to defend yourself! Go ahead and talk to your little buddy and ignore all the negative comments!
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