Cat lovers are smarter
Dog from the manuscript "René de Mantauban", volume 1, publication date 1451–1500. National Library of France, Paris
The cat sings wonderfully by the fire,
Climbs a tree deftly,
Catches and tears, catching up with me,
A cork with a rope threaded through it.Rudyard Kipling, translation by S. Marshak
Climbs a tree deftly,
Catches and tears, catching up with me,
A cork with a rope threaded through it.Rudyard Kipling, translation by S. Marshak
People and culture. As I already noticed once, one of the materials “about a cat” collected more views and comments than other articles “about weapon" And why? Yes, simply because even on the VO website there are not so many people who are well versed in the same old weapons, but almost every second of our readers has a cat in their house.
Therefore, it makes sense to draw a kind of line under this topic with one more material, based not on the author’s personal experience, but on information gleaned at different times from the Internet and various scientific and pseudo-scientific publications.
Well, I think it should start with the well-known saying: “Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are!” And that's how it really is! A friend of a bribe-taker, thief and drunkard will most likely not be an honest person, especially if he is “in the know.”
People of the same make, origin, social stratum and mind, of course, are always drawn to each other, although there are numerous examples of the opposite, as well as folk wisdom, expressed in the desire to “cut down a tree according to oneself.”
But what about animals that live side by side with people? Is it possible to determine what kind of person you are by what kind of bird or animal you keep in your apartment?
For example, a man keeps an aquarium with fish at home. But with which ones? With guppies or with piranhas? Agree that such a choice has a direct bearing on the psychology of this fish lover.
Or you keep a crocodile in the bathroom, or chickens on the balcony... Most likely, chickens are evidence that a person does not care about his neighbors, and this does not characterize him from the best side. But the crocodile is clearly a type of shocking personality whose goal is to stand out among others at any cost.
The number of animals also matters.
For a modern city apartment, one cat and one dog is normal. Three dogs in a three-room Soviet-style apartment, where three adults and a child also live, is clearly too much, indicating a mental disorder. And if the neighbor’s grandmother has 18 cats living on 18 meters, then there is no way to do without a psychiatrist. It is clear that lonely old age is not a joy, but you also need to know when to stop.
And this is an African snail, which you can buy in Yekaterinburg, on the street... Ulitochnaya, 1. Yes, yes, and this is not a joke or a scam...
Or here’s another example: a man keeps an African snail in his apartment and even talks to it. How is he better than the Japanese who, in a four-tatami apartment, holds... a plastic doll and also talks to it? But the reasons for loneliness in Japan are social, and there are quite a lot of such people in this country.
But conversations with a snail are, again, a reason for thought. Moreover, if a person lives not in Japan, but here. So having an animal in the house is also a certain marker of your socialization, psychological health and even level of intelligence, which has now been proven by scientists!
Akihiko Kondo at home in Tokyo with a life-size doll of Hatsune Miku, the virtual pop star he married in 2018. Photo: masakaru.ru
Several years ago, scientists at Carroll University in the USA conducted an interesting study, in which more than 600 respondents - cat and dog lovers - took part. And as a result of this study, it seems (because the sample was small!) it was possible to convincingly prove that cat lovers are generally smarter than dog lovers!
During the study, respondents were asked questions related to themselves, their personal qualities and erudition, as well as why they prefer one or another animal.
Interestingly, cat lovers turned out to be more sensitive and reserved people. But at the same time, they were more likely to break the rules. That is, they behaved exactly the same as their cute and fluffy animals.
That is, they acted in exactly the same way as Moliere’s Tartuffe - “he who sins in silence commits no sin”! But cats usually behave in exactly the same way: they sleep peacefully in a chair in front of their owners, but as soon as they leave the cat alone, she does things in the house that they never expect from her. But... as soon as she hears their steps on the stairs, she immediately goes to bed again or goes to meet them at the door.
We think that our pet is a fluffy toy, but just when we don’t see our cats, they turn into cold-blooded killers of birds, frogs and lizards. They scamper across carpets hanging on the walls, breaking all the laws of physics, sharpening their claws on sofas and wallpaper, but almost never do this in front of their owners. Unless they try to feed them with caught mice!
Children and dogs, what could be cuter than this picture? Author's photo
On the other hand, cat owners are more freedom-loving than dog owners. Moreover, this was noticed back in the Middle Ages. “Cats have an understanding of freedom... The cat is resilient and cunning,” medieval armorialists wrote about it, further pointing out that on the coat of arms the cat is usually depicted in profile and is a symbol of independence. But the dog, on the contrary, according to the concepts of heraldry scholars, was a symbol of fidelity. It is not without reason that in many medieval effigies the deceased knight was depicted with his feet standing on a dog. So if a cat is “your animal,” then, most likely, you will have a subconscious, and perhaps even an obvious love of freedom.
It is interesting that in the Middle Ages in England it was the black cat that was considered a symbol of good luck. It is possible that people believed that he had magical powers and, if he lived with a person, then in gratitude for food and shelter, he could share it with the owner.
o In addition, since it was believed that the cat was smart, it follows that only a smart person could keep it, and not a stupid one. “The beast in its youth is lustful, fast, cheerful and dexterous, frolicking, jumping on everything in front of it, running after straws” - another testimony of the medieval author regarding the cat.
Coat of arms of Coventry with a cat as a helmet decoration
But, judging by the same survey, people who positioned themselves as “dog people” turned out to be more sociable and more energetic. That is, they were clearly more socialized than the “cat lovers.”
Professor Denise Gastello, who presented the results of this study at a meeting of the Society for Psychological Science in Chicago, said that, in principle, the results were quite expected. After all, dogs are more dependent on humans than cats and are more sociable. Accordingly, sociable people are also drawn to them. But more introverted and less mobile people are most likely to get a cat - after all, you don’t need to walk with it every day and you can have a great time in a chair by the fireplace with a purring cat on your lap.
A fragment of the effigy of Don Pashecu's wife, Maria Villalobos, with a lap dog eating a piece of chicken. Chapel of St. Ildefonso, Cathedral, Lisbon. Photo travel.dogrurik.ru
In addition, dogs are pack animals. They initially have a sense of hierarchy and definitely need a leader. So the person plays the role of such a leader in relation to the dog. And many people also lack love, affection, the ability to lead someone, and here a dog is simply perfect for this role. Surely they won’t let them down!
Not so with a cat... Yes, she is attached to her owners and is even ready to protect them from strangers, and no worse than a dog. But at the same time, there is always something of its own in it, something that a person does not understand and will never understand. But do we always fully understand ourselves?
A dog and a cat in the same house. Illustration from the manuscript "René de Mantauban", volume 1, publication date 1451–1500. National Library of France, Paris
It’s interesting that if a cat and a dog live together in a house, then it is the furry purr who becomes the initiator and ringleader of all the pranks that happen, which is confirmed by an amazing amount of evidence filmed on a hidden camera. That is, the cat in this case does not behave at all like a gentleman. By the way, Kipling also noticed this and wrote this in his poem:
In the evening, a cat is like a gentle animal,
Rubbing against your knees.
As soon as you lie down, the cat is out the door
He rushes, counting the steps.
The cat leaves for the whole night.
Binky is faithful and sleeping to me:
He snores at the top of his lungs under the bed, -
So he is a real friend!
Tombstones of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici by sculptor Germain. Photo travel.dogrurik.ru
However, today this is not entirely true. Because, for example, my cat sleeps peacefully all night at my feet. And, by the way, she never leaves the apartment in winter. Only in the summer do we take her out to the dacha and there, yes, she, again, falls asleep at her feet in the evening, somewhere in the middle of the night she goes hunting.
“Photo portrait of a modern cat in thought.” Photo by the author
However, the most interesting thing concerned the test of intelligence level - IQ. You can disagree that this test is reliable, but you can agree. In this case, comparative indicators are important, and they clearly showed that the IQ of “cat people” is higher than that of “dog people,” and this is by no means a statistical error.
But the percentage of those tested was... in favor of the “dog lovers”. 60% of respondents declared their affection for dogs, but only 10% considered themselves cat lovers.
And here's what's surprising. This ratio is very close to the “Pareto law”, according to which 80% of material goods in a society belong to 20% of its citizens and vice versa. And it is directly related to the level of intelligence. However, this same 20% is also not without sin. They are less socialized and more closed to communication.
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