Dogs’ undeniable loyalty to humans has allowed them to carve out a unique niche in our society, quite unlike the status of any other species. Once predominantly utilized as hunting companions and guardians, dogs are now ubiquitous in human life, offering faithful companionship and service. Thanks to their eagerness to cooperate with humans and unquestioning […]
Digital Event
According to some estimates, there are about 1 billion dogs sharing Planet Earth with us. Most live in largely unrestricted conditions as village or pariah dogs, while only a small percentage of the world’s dog population live independently from humans. Most dogs have to maintain regular connections with humans to share our resources, which is […]
Looking into the eyes of our new puppy, Kit Kat, it is hard not to feel as if she understands me. While I usually describe myself as a cat person, our family cats have never evoked the same feeling of “understanding” for me as our family dogs have, even though the cats arguably spend much […]
This post was co-authored by Ludwig Huber. We were guest editors of a special issue of Learning & Behavior that is entirely devoted to the cognitive (and sensory) abilities of dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). The articles can be accessed from this landing page for free until 31 December 2018. As far as we know, apart […]
I live on an island that is famous for quite a few things, among them the apparent love affair between its human and canine inhabitants. According to an English journalist writing for a mainstream newspaper, “Many Englishmen reserve their deepest feelings for dogs and other dumb beasts.” (Her words, not mine). According to another journalist, […]
Academics by and large — at least, in my experience — strongly endorse norms of gender equality. The Psychonomic Society in particular has adopted a statement endorsing diversity and inclusion, which includes the explicit goal of “[w]ork[ing] towards strong representation in all aspects of the Society…that are not only gender balanced, but includes underrepresented groups.” […]
Even before I began my studies in psychology back in 2006, I have always been intrigued by the scientific research findings in the behavioral sciences. Back then I did not pay much attention to the sample characteristics on which those findings were based. Things changed when I had to write my bachelor and master’s theses, […]
One ongoing challenge for science concerns the poor representation of women in senior positions. Women are underrepresented at full professor level in virtually all areas of science, in the USA, Europe, Canada—as we learned yesterday during this digital event—and around the world. The field of Psychology presents a particularly striking example of this disparity. Students […]
(This post was co-authored with Debra Titone) In most of today’s Psychology undergraduate classes, the majority of students are women. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that many women are entering the “pipeline” to academic careers in psychology. Yet, as others have repeatedly documented, women are in the minority with respect to positions of leadership […]
Although issues relating to replication and open science have received a great deal of recent attention, relatively little discussion has been devoted to how these issues intersect with considerations of diversity and inclusion. In an earlier post, I argued that one reason that diversity is valuable in science is because it can introduce diversity of […]