Abstract

Wolves (Canis Lupis) were domesticated into the common dog (Canis Familiaris) at least 15 thousand years ago. The domestication process changed wolves both physically and neurologically. Dogs now have a unique connection with humans, and display many of the same personality traits and cognitive deficits as humans do. Research by Harris and Prouvost (2014) has suggested that dogs can display jealous reactions. In this thesis, dogs were exposed to either a plastic Jack-O-Lantern stimulus or a plush dog stimulus and recorded their behavioral and physiological reactions to such stimuli. The results show that the majority of the differences in the dogs’ behavior was in interest and over arousal in the jealousy condition. This result suggests a potential jealousy-like reaction, but the current research does not seem to replicate the findings of Harris and Prouvost (2014) where it can be definitively stated that the dogs were jealous.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Dogs--Behavior; Dogs--Psychology; Jealousy

Publication Date

8-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Experimental Psychology (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Psychology (CLA)

Advisor

John Edlund

Advisor/Committee Member

Joseph Baschnagel

Advisor/Committee Member

Tina Sutton

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

EXPSYC-MS

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