Using dog facial-emotion recognizability to explore the putative black dog syndrome.

Abstract

Black Dog Syndrome" (BDS) is a putative phenomenon based on a supposed bias against dogs of black coloration. Many think it decreases their adoption rates, causing them to languish in shelters and to suffer increased euthanasia rates. However, despite many anecdotes supporting the existence of BDS, previous research found mixed results. This study evaluated 105 college-student participants' ability to accurately identify emotions in behaviorally anchored photographs of a dog whose coloration and eyebrow nodes had been digitally altered into either a black or tan condition and into a condition with more or less visible nodes, as well as questioned these participants on a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators related to BDS. The results did not demonstrate a difference in participants' ability to accurately match photographs with the operationally defined emotions based on either coloration or visibility of nodes, nor was any bias seen against black coloration in terms of preference or willingness to adopt. However, the results did find that more visible nodes led to a significantly higher rate of success in identifying emotions for the photographs of the tan, but not for the black, dog. These findings are presented as a construct validation study exploring whether BDS exists, and the data do not tend toward supporting its existence. However, due to various limitations, this study should not be seen as disproving the existence of BDS, only providing some evidence against its construct validity.

Introduction to special section on human-animal studies: Humanistic psychology contributions of Team Woof.

“…Trevathan-Minnis and colleagues, in “Using Dog Facial-Emotion Recognizability to Explore the Putative Black Dog Syndrome” (Trevathan-Minnis et al, 2021), employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches in a mixed-method study. It shows the importance in this era of epistemic crisis (Meagan & Call-Cummings, 2020) in which so many putative beliefs have been shown to be false, how empirical research can provide evidence to untangle facts from fiction in addressing problems with important consequences.…”