Cat Lovers Smarter Than Dog Lovers? Study Arrives With Controversial Conclusion, But Is Consistent With Prior Results

Cat lovers are smarter than dog lovers, new research suggests. Findings in the latest study reveal that people who love cats tend to be more sensitive and open-minded than dog people. Huffington Post reports that the controversial conclusion is the result of a study by Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

60 percent of dog lovers and 11 percent of cat lovers were among the 600 college students participating in the research study. A small percentage in the study admitted not having a favorite — or didn’t like either one.

What’s the nitty gritty behind this intriguing study? Dog people are found to be more lively, outgoing, and tend to follow rules closely. Besides sensitivity and open-mindedness, cat people have a tendency to be more introverted. They’re pegged to be non-conformists, independent, and prefer expediency over obeying rules. Above all, cat lovers in this study are more intelligent than dog lovers.

Research uncovered in the controversial project was presented at the Association for Psychological Science meeting with associate professor of psychology, Denise Guastello, heading the study. In-depth questions answered by participants covered a wide range of self-assessments pertaining to how they view themselves as people and what types of traits they look for in pets.

Guastello says personality differences could be related to the types of environments cat or dog people favor. Time recaps Guastello’s thoughts on the findings:

“It makes sense that a dog person is going to be more lively, because they’re going to want to be out there, outside, talking to people, bringing their dog. Whereas, if you’re more introverted, and sensitive, maybe you’re more at home reading a book, and your cat doesn’t need to go outside for a walk.”

Huffington Post adds that a similar study in 2010 — with 4,500 different types of people — arrived with the same results. Professor Guastello did say the latest study centered around college students, but the 2010 findings align with the latest one in that cat lovers are smarter than dog lovers.

Daily Mail reports that Kickstarter shows that people are more “attracted to businesses and products related to dogs, than cats.” The blog does note:

“However, cat projects so far have a higher success rate than dog-related projects at 44 per cent and 39 per cent respectively and cat projects attract a higher number of average backers per project over-all.”

The numbers of projects for dogs being launched as of April 2014 is 735 versus the 459 for cats, according to Kickstarter.

[Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]