Psychology and Dogs

When I was studying psychology at university, one of the topics that came up was ‘the self’. In particular, this topic was applied to the early development of children. It described how, as babies grow into children and as they discover the world, they also discover themselves. For example, over time, they learn to recognise themselves in the mirror.

It’s been a couple of years since I finished my degree but I do remember one thing that stuck out for me during this module and this topic about ‘the self’. It’s something I’m reminded of time and time again, whenever my German Shepherd, Shadow, comes into my room. But before I go into that, I’ll start from the beginning.

Self-recognition. That’s what this is all about. The ability to look at yourself in your reflection and be able to say ‘hey, that’s me!’ (Not that we all greet our reflections in such a way – that would be weird...). This happens supposedly at around the age of 18 months. However, what stood out for me was how my lecturer noted how most animals don’t possess this self-recognition. Dolphins, they noted, and higher primates such as chimpanzees, were shown to – but most other animals, nope.

In my bedroom, I have a wardrobe with a full length mirror built on one of the doors – really helpful when I want to make sure that my top actually matches my jeans (though, most the time I wear the same old stuff so this is never really a problem). Now, I dare anyone to tell me that my dog, Shadow, does not recognise herself in my mirror.

Shadow, she’s my furry little monster who will pester me time and time again because she wants food or loves. She is extremely loving, to the point of irritation sometimes. But also, she’s extremely anti-social (a bit like me sometimes). Certain people she’s fine with, and she loves my other German Shepherd, Sacha – but Sacha was already here when Shadow was introduced to our family. Other dogs though, nope... Shadow really isn’t keen on other dogs, and that’s just out and about. The closer we get to home, the worse she gets. Another dog, in her territory? No way – Shadow would not like that at all.

And yet, here she comes, wandering into my room and there’s my mirror, with another dog in it. When she was younger, when she didn’t quite understand, there was a bit of confusion, but now – she doesn’t even bother. If Shadow truly doesn’t understand that the other dog in the mirror is her, why doesn’t she bark at it like she does at other dogs?

You could possibly say that she dismisses the mirror, like she does with the television – she knows it isn’t a threat, but that doesn’t mean she knows it’s her. But then, she doesn’t completely dismiss the mirror.

It’s hard to describe, but the way my bedroom is laid out: if my bedroom door is open and you’re out in the hall, you can see my bedroom mirror, and the way this mirror is positioned (at an angle) means if you look at the mirror, you can see me on my laptop. Vice versa, if I turn around and look in my mirror, I can see whoever is out in the hall (as long as they’re at the right angle). This includes dogs. So what am I getting at? Shadow will look at my reflection if she can’t see my face directly. She’ll meet my eyes through the mirror, and she knows it’s me, or at least, that it’s a reflection of me. Yes, I did fool her into thinking once that the reflection was actually me and the resulting reaction of confusion made me laugh so much. But dogs learn and they learn well, so she knows now that it was a trick.

So, if Shadow responds to my reflection in the mirror but not her own, what does that mean?

Her attention span is shorter than mine so that would make it incredibly difficult to perform tests like they did with the dolphins and chimps in order to see if they possessed self-recognition, so I’ve got no scientific proof that my dog also possesses this. I’ve only got my own belief, which wouldn’t hold up in psychological research, but is good enough for me.

Personally, all these studies about animals not recognising themselves in mirrors, I think they often forget one very simple thing – exposure. Surely it stands to reasons that the more someone or something is exposed to mirrors, the more they’ll come to understand how they work? Not all animals maybe, but I would say that it is ignorant to dismiss all animals simply because human beings are raised in a society filled with mirrors and reflections and animals, not so much.

Anyway... there’s a very random, non-writing related post for you. I promise, next post I post will be writing related... maybe.