
Cat People vs. Dog People - geedzmo
https://research.facebook.com/blog/cat-people-dog-people/
======
jondubois
I used to love dogs when I was a kid, now I'm definitely a cat person.

I find dogs superficial and too simple-minded. If you feed them often enough,
they will like you (guaranteed) - I find this kind of relationship
unsatisfying - You are the master and so the dog has no choice but to like
you. Kind of like how people are inclined to laugh when their boss makes a
not-so-funny joke - That's the kind of dynamic you get.

Cats are more mysterious and complex. Most of the time, when a cat shows
affection, their real motives are usually pretty straight forward; like how
they start rubbing themselves against you only when you're physically holding
their food (they don't try to hide anything). Often you get the feeling that
cats don't care about you at all. In fact, they probably don't really need you
(they can usually fend for themselves catching mice, lizards, birds, get food
from neighbours, etc...)

But sometimes, there are rare moments when a cat will show you affection
without any obvious reason; and when they do, it feels a lot more genuine than
the kind of affection you would get from a dog.

I like cats because I like to foster relationships between equals. My cat is
my friend, not my subordinate - I don't really NEED the cat and the cat
doesn't really NEED me - There are no ulterior evolutionary/survival motives
between us.

I just don't like relationships where there is a power imbalance (even when I
get to be the master). Though I suppose some could argue that it's not so
different from a parent-child relationship - But then again, some parents are
more strict than others...

~~~
auganov
Most [all?] cultures agree. "Dog" is an insult across many languages, which
indicates it's lower status. Never heard of "cat" being a standalone insult.

~~~
chris_st
In american english, calling someone "catty" means they gossip maliciously.

Also, "cathouse" is another name for whorehouse.

~~~
auganov
Yea, but that's a variation on cat. Not a standalone "cat', while a standalone
"dog" has enough of a negative connotation in most languages.

~~~
bluejekyll
Seriously? you won't accept derivatives that disagree with your statement.

Also, see the response about the spanish usage of 'gata'

edit: this is much too serious of a response to this funny of a thread, I
should throw some humor in here somewhere ;)

~~~
auganov
Of course not (which I indicated fairly clearly too). To make a fair
comparison you want to consider what kind of a feeling or connotation "You're
a dog" vs "You're a cat" invokes. Variations on the sentence are okay too,
like, say "You're such a dog" or "Come here dog". I didn't contest 'gata',
gender specificity does make it non-ideal, but I'll take it.

~~~
Cogito
"You're such a pussy" or "Don't be a pussy" can definitely be used in a
derogatory fashion, especially in groups in which social status is dominated
by masculinity.

It can mean, for example, variations on "Don't be so timid", "Stop expressing
your fears", and "Take more risks".

Indeed, I have heard "Don't be a bitch" be used in almost the exact same way.

~~~
err4nt
Let me introduce you to the word “pusillanimous”. It means showing a lack of
courage or determination, or being timid.

So when you call somebody a 'pussy' for not having the courage to do something
that has _nothing_ to do with felines or vaginas. (As most people commonly
seem to think). Being a 'pussy' is short for 'pusillanimous', nothing to do
with cats at all…

------
GFischer
I loved OkCupid's analysis based on data from their site, and I liked this
blog post too :) .

Facebook must be absolutely fascinating for researchers, I wonder if they make
anonymized datasets available for universities? - Edit: they do

[https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-
Facebook.html](https://snap.stanford.edu/data/egonets-Facebook.html)

[http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-
of-1-2...](http://www.michaelzimmer.org/2011/02/15/facebook-data-
of-1-2-million-users-from-2005-released/)

~~~
amelius
I'm hoping for an analysis based on 23andme data :)

------
alonmower
It's funny, I grew up with both cats and dogs and like them both (and one
observation I've had is that most people I know tend to like whichever pets
they had when they were younger, fear of the unknown and all that).

In my circle of friends in SF/Oakland cats are definitely more prevalent but I
think a lot of that has to do with how expensive owning a dog here is. My
roommate has two cats but I'd probably get a dog if it wouldn't cost me so
much. You need:

1) An apartment/house that allows dogs. This means you either own your own
property, pay out the nose for a newer development that allows pets, or if
you're in the lucky few you may have a rent controlled place lets you have
them

2) Something for them to do during the day. This means you either work at a
place that lets you have pets, have enough money to pay a dogwalker, or have
enough private indoor/outdoor space where you can leave them dog during the
day (see #1)

3) Places to put them while you travel, but most of your friends can't have
dogs at their places so this usually means paying a dogsitter

I imagine it's similar in places like NYC but it's weird for me to think of
owning a dog as a status symbol

------
overcast
The book and movie comparisons throw me off. It looks like the majority of dog
owners in this research are women, while the majority of cat owners are men.
I'd have expected those to be reversed.

~~~
TA8aug
My gut reaction to the book and movie comparisons is that people who share cat
photos tend to be liberal and people who share dog photos tend to be
conservative (for the US definition of liberal and conservative). Maybe I'm
off base.

Also, note that the comparison is about people who share cat or dog photos and
their Facebook friends -- not about cat or dog people and their actual
friends. I'm a dog person and many of my friends are cat people, but I
wouldn't be interested in seeing their cat photos on Facebook. Nor would I be
posting dog photos anywhere...

~~~
douche
It's also difficult to have a real dog if you're living in a city. Dogs need
space, exercise, and attention, which are in short supply the more urban you
go. Additionally, it can be almost impossible to find apartments that will
allow dogs over purse-size.

Cats don't particularly need exercise, are small, tend to be able to entertain
themselves, and for whatever reason, are easier to get permission to have in
apartments[1]. So if you're a city person, it's magnitudes easier to be a cat
person, if you're going to have pets at all. City people are more liberal than
country people, on average.

[1] I cannot stand litterboxes, hairballs, or cat urine, so this baffles me...

~~~
derefr
Suburbs count as city, though, not rural. And to me, that's a dog's niche: the
detached-home-plus-yard. Dogs don't fit in apartments, but they don't really
"earn their keep" on farms, either (on _ranches_ or _pastures_ , sure, but not
_farms_.) Meanwhile, it's traditional to have a barn-cat to keep away vermin,
even if you've also got traps.

------
honkhonkpants
This seems like quite an intrusion into people's private data. If certain
other large companies decided to crawl all over your data for shits and
giggles, I'm fairly sure HN would have its pitchforks out.

~~~
whateveracct
> To answer these questions, we dug our claws into aggregate, de-identified
> data from a sample of about 160,000 people in the United States who shared
> photos of cats or dogs (or both) on Facebook.

How is looking at aggregate, de-identified data an intrusion into people's
private data? ?? ?

~~~
beefsack
This article is interesting, but it alludes to the level of profiling they do
on their user-base, and that part is scary.

~~~
whateveracct
What is scary about using statistics on data your users knowingly give you?

------
dav43
Here is Australia, I don't like cats because they kill the native wildlife.
They're a pest.

I have also seen what cats can do after travelling to some Greek islands.
Almost zero wildlife on lands. No prevelance of birds. You wake up to silence.

For this reason, I'll always be a dog person.

~~~
shirro
I am deeply opposed to cat ownership on ecological grounds. They cause massive
damage when introduced to a country like Australia. Most cat owners are very
irresponsible and allow their animals to roam but strenuously resist any moves
to regulate their fluffy little predators.

Dog owners are required to tag and register their animals and face fines if
their animals roam which is reasonable for the protection of stock or people
from wild dogs. My takeaway is that dog owners are more reasonable and less
selfish. I blame it on toxoplasmosis.

~~~
GFischer
I am a cat owner and I agree that they shouldn't be able to roam and kill
wildlife.

I wasn't aware of any proposed regulation though.

Unfortunately, feral dogs are a thing in my country, and in Australia too -
look up Dingoes "The dingo is suspected to have caused the extinction of the
thylacine, the Tasmanian devil and the Tasmanian nativehen from mainland
Australia".

So, irresponsible pet owners are a problem, both for dogs and cats. I do agree
that cats are more problematic since they're more independant.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo#Ecological_impact_of_the...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo#Ecological_impact_of_the_dingo_after_its_arrival_in_mainland_Australia)

------
CM30
I wonder how much of this is an introvert/extravert thing? I mean, the article
already points out that dog people will likely have more friends and cat
people are more likely to be single, so I suspect the difference in
preferences may depend on that aspect of someone's personality.

Cats are perfect for introverts; they look after themselves, don't tend to do
much in the day, don't need walks and hence can be mostly left alone (or left
to sit next to you) while you browse the internet or work at home.

Dogs require more excercise, commitment, etc. So if you gain energy from being
around others, what better way than to go for two walks a day round the
streets/local park?

So extraverts likely choose dogs, and introverts likely choose cats.

~~~
nhumrich
I'm very much an introvert but I love my dog, and absolutely am not a cat
person.

~~~
brokenmachine
I'm the same. I'm generally introverted but I loved my dog (RIP) more than
anything.

I feel like a battered spouse when I'm forced to take care of an ungrateful
cat.

------
crispyambulance
Meh.

There really is only one thing that makes me cat person: Cats don't need
someone to take them out to POOP.

Somehow, cats made the intellectual leap that dogs can't seem to grasp. That
is, shitting in a box and covering it up. Brilliant.

~~~
brokenmachine
You could easily train a dog go in a litterbox, but that would be gross. Just
as gross, actually, as it is to keep a litterbox full of toxoplasmosis in your
house.

If cats are so amazingly intelligent to always go in a box, why is there so
much cat poop in the gardens of my apartment complex? The gardeners have
actually threatened to leave, strata has notified the cat owners (not that
they care because they don't take responsibility for their "pets", they just
roam free).

------
TheAceOfHearts
This is a really nice blog post; I hope we keep seeing more posts like this
coming from Facebook.

I wonder why we haven't seen something similar from Google. Surely they have
access to as much or more data? Perhaps Google does publish similar blog
posts, and I'm just not aware of where to look for them?

In any case, the results presented definitely didn't match my expectations.
Although upon giving it a bit of thought, I can see how introverted cat people
are more likely to have classic "nerdy" interests like scifi, fantasy, anime,
etc.

~~~
RickS
>I wonder why we haven't seen something similar from Google

I imagine google spends a great deal of effort to avoid the "we know
everything about you" stereotype

~~~
derefr
A.K.A. "Don't Seem Evil."

------
icantdrive55
I like dogs.

I like cats.

I'm just very allergic to cats. It has seriously been a barrier to whom I hang
around with. The allergy is genetic. My father had a worse allergic reaction
than myself.

My father found a person he liked enough to try to find a work around. This
was quite a milestone for my dad. Growing up, my father was just a rigid guy.
There were no "work arounds"

Well, when his girlfriend came over he had a separate set of clothes she would
put on--free of cat allergens. Even with that preparation he ended up in the
emergency room three times. I was there once when he had an Asthma attack. I
used two epi pens, and he still couldn't breath.

A cat tried to be friends with me last summer. I was working on my
transmission at 1 a.m.. This little cat started to meow behind my head. He
actually startled me. Well I got up, and checked for a collar. No collar. He
followed me around the house for the following week. What ever chore I did, he
was there. For weeks he would show up at the door with a mouse in his mouth.
"I brought dinner." The mice were usually alive, but in shock. I would let
them loose on my Lawyers property. This cat wanted a new home so bad, he would
climb up the side of the house and peer into Windows. I'm still not sure how
he got so high.

Just when I decided he could live in the garage, he showed up one night with a
collar, and a number. I called the number, and the owner said when they got a
puppy a few years ago; he decided to look for a new home. The owner said he
would be gone for a week at a time, but always came home.

This cat still visits a least once a month. He usually takes a nap, and
leaves.

------
rm999
Cool analysis, but the results seem off to me based on my own social network
(which line up with a lot of common stereotypes).

I think I know why. The majority of people I know who have cats don't post
photos of their cats on social media, but it's pretty mainstream to post
photos of a dog. This reflects social habits with pets in general: at work the
dog people regularly talk about their dogs, e.g. how they took them to the
park on Saturday. I rarely hear any discussion about cats at work even though
I know more of my coworkers own them.

I think this leads to an "alternative", quirky, less social bias on the cat
people. There's probably some bias on the dog people, but I imagine far less
of one.

------
Blorqx
As a human-presenting, non-binary, therian (felinekin), I feel I must weight
in.

Gender is a binary social construct used for oppression and it is disgusting
to project your closed minded, heteronormative, racist ideas of gender on
innocent animals who have no way of consenting.

Using the word "pussy" to refer to vaginal sexual organs OR to a feline animal
is a micro-aggression against all womyn AND all feline-identifying otherkin
and is the type of privileged, sexist language that enables our oppression.

------
balls187
Regardless of your choice, definitely adopt from a shelter!

I have two adopted animals, a cat and a dog (and a 2nd beagle from a breeder).

If you can provide a forever home to an animal, you will be rewarded for it.

------
fellellor
Some of the comments here try to justify their love for either species by
arguing that the other is inferior in some way. I find this very silly. Why
can't you just like cats, or dogs or both? There doesn't have to be any
objective reasoning behind it other than simple personal preference.

------
beefsack
I wonder how many people are on Facebook without even knowing they're being
profiled like this. Sure, this is an interesting article, but this minuscule
piece alludes to how much they know about the people on their platform.

------
narrator
Here's some fun dinner party conversation you can source from this article:
dog people like "Fifty Shades of Grey", cat people like "A Clockwork Orange".
Discuss.

~~~
bluejekyll
Actually, I was surprised at the number of dark movies vs. fun movies that cat
people vs. dog people liked.

Based on that, I should be a cat person, but I enjoy dogs much more.

------
metaphorical
> "dog people are more outgoing, measured in terms of Facebook friends."

Or, perhaps, cat people just don't like adding friends on Facebook as much as
dog people!

------
aaron695
My understanding is research shows pets are good for well being and dogs are
better than cats.

Which would imply part of these differences are causation.

------
hokkos
Beyond creepy, and cute dog/cat images won't make it less.

