Dr. Holly Molinaro

Yes.

Yes.

So what was interesting about this study was the first time we did it, there was no effect.

So even though we had people that were extremely happy, they saw dogs and rated them exactly the same, which we were like, that doesn't make sense because in the human literature, this trend follows.

So what we did was we primed people with dog pictures.

So this time we had like a puppy in a teacup, which was so cute for like the happy.

And then we had like a dog behind bars, you know, like all sad, right?

They were kind of sad photos, to be honest.

And then we did the same thing.

We showed them the exact same videos.

And this time what we found is that if you're in a positive mood from seeing all these positive dog images...

You're actually more likely to rate dogs as more sad.

So if you just saw a bunch of cute dogs and they made you feel really happy, you're more likely to rate dogs moods as sad and vice versa.

If you just saw a bunch of really sad dogs behind bars and you see a dog, you might like, you're more likely to say that dog is happier.

I think it says, number one, we need to be a lot more humble when it comes to understanding our dog's emotions.

I think we have such a strong inclination that we just know that you can just look at a dog's face and instantly know what they're feeling.

And our research shows that there are just so many little things that are subconscious that are going on in our brain that we don't even recognize are impacting how we actually perceive their emotions.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I'm sorry for Tomato that I had to put my cat in a little onesie too.