Abstract
This thesis investigates social evaluation in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), focusing on whether they form reputations based on human cooperative behaviours, perceive authority in human interactions, and assess intentionality when a human’s freedom of choice is constrained. These studies advance our understanding of canine social cognition, particularly how dogs interact with humans in ways that may indicate sensitivity to social cues. The first study explored whether prior cooperative interactions with a human would influence dogs’ gaze-following behaviour. Results indicated that dogs’ automaticgaze-following responses did not significantly differ based on previous cooperative or non-cooperative experiences. Nonetheless, dogs displayed social preferences, spending more time near a cooperative human, suggesting that while dogs may form preferences based on cooperative behaviour, they do not generalise these evaluations to influence gaze-following. In the second study, examining responses to human authority, dogs showed greater accuracy in following human cues, particularly pointing, in the presence of an authoritative experimenter compared to a non-authoritative one. Additionally, indirect experience - where dogs observed another dog interacting with an authoritative human - significantly influenced their responses. Dogs demonstrated a stronger overall response to the authoritative experimenter’s cues, suggesting that authority perception, both directly and indirectly experienced, plays a role in dogs' social evaluations. Finally, an exploration of dogs’ understanding of human intentionality involved two scenarios: a human who was physically constrained from offering a preferred treat and one who chose not to. No significant differences emerged in dogs’ responses to these conditions, indicating that dogs did not distinguish between constrained and voluntary actions in this context. Together, these studies reveal that while dogs show social preferences based on cooperative behaviour and respond significantly to both direct and indirect authority cues, they appear to have limited capacity for reputation formation in complex scenarios requiring intentionality assessments. This research enhances our understanding of canine social cognition, with practical implications for training and human-dog communication.
| Date of Award | 15 Jul 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Juliane Kaminski (Supervisor), Sophie Milward (Supervisor) & Marine Joly (Supervisor) |