Psychology

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Psychology

Journal Article Review

The general topic of the article is the resemblance of the dogs with their owners. Michael Roy and Nicholas Christenfeld conducted a research study in the year 2004, which was entitled as “Do Dogs Resemble Their Owners?” The researchers were of the view that most of the times people believe that dogs and their owners have some kind of resemblance in their appearance, style or friendliness. It was also inferred from the books of children, as well as different magazines, depicting the images of dogs with their owners that they shared some kind of resemblance. The previous research and related topics demonstrated that the spouse develops a resemblance to each other or convergence after almost twenty-five years of marriage. So, the researchers intended that if the pets also developed convergence with their owners, over the passage of time. The purpose of the research described in the paper is to examine if people really looked like their pets and to examine the criteria of resemblance if people really looked like their pets. Although, there had been no proper research on the topic of pet resembling their owners, but resemblance among the human married couples, over the passage of time. The research study complemented the previous research by sharing a new perspective that pets can also share a resemblance with their owners and it is not just limited to the married couples. There was no particular hypothesis developed by the researchers and they just captured the photographs of dogs and their owners separately and asked the judges to match the dogs with owners, to see if they were able to find the original pair of pet and owner, on the basis of any kind of resemblance (Roy, and Nicholas).

The methods used to collect the data was that the researchers visited three dog parks. The participants of the research study were the dog owners and purebred and non-purebred dogs. The researchers asked the dog owners if they wanted to take part in a psychological experiment and provided other details about the purpose of the research study. The dog owners who showed their consent for the experiment were photographed, and their dogs were also photographed separately. The researchers took special care of the fact that the background of the photographs for the dogs and their owners were different. Fifteen pairs of dogs and owners were randomly selected from three dog parks, and twenty-eight undergraduate observers were asked to match the dogs with their owner. They were presented with two pictures of dogs and one owner at a single time and were asked to identify the pet of the owner.

The results of the study were that the observers were able to identify the right pair of dog and its owner, in the case of purebred. Most of the observers were not able to identify the owner of the non-purebred. So, it highlighted the fact that the purebred group of dogs showed greater resemblance with their owners, as compared to the non-purebred. The age of the pet, as well as the time period of their adoption, was also observed in order to find the correlation between the time spent with the owner, o contributing towards the convergence or resemblance with the owner. However, the results of the research study revealed that there was no correlation between the resemblance of a pet with the owner and the time period spent together (Roy, and Nicholas).

The results of the research study supported the point that pets share a certain resemblance with their owners; however, it is not convergence. The major conclusion drawn by the authors of the research study is that purebreds are more likely to share a resemblance with their owners as compared to the non-purebreds. Moreover, the dogs do not share similar features with their owners, as in the case of married couples, their facial features seem alike after almost twenty-five years of marriage. On the other hand, in the case of dogs and their owners, the resemblance is on the basis of friendliness, energy level, hairlines, and attractiveness of the pet and their owner. The implications of the research study in terms of future psychological research are that it can help the researchers to focus on the resemblance of owners with other pets like cats, rabbits or any other animal. They can base the research if pet shares a similar attitude like their owners or not. The implication of research study in case of understanding social behavior in the "real world" is it can help the researcher to find if the attitude and energy of the pet cause an impact on the owner, or vice versa (Roy, and Nicholas).

My opinion regarding this research study is that it also shed light on the preference of the owners to pick a pet which has something in common with them. For example, the taller owners tried to pick the taller dogs, while the energetic owners preferred the energetic dogs. Moreover, the pets and owners share a resemblance in their attitude and habits, as compared to the resemblance in their appearance and facial features.

The study will further the knowledge base and the goals of psychology by identifying that pets share similarity with their owners in terms of their energy and friendliness. Moreover, it can also help to further conduct the research to explore if the pets are influenced by the owners or they actually influence their owners. It can also lead to conduct new research and find if the change in the owner can cause a change in the attitude of the pet or not.

The research adds to the knowledge of psychology by highlighting the fact that human beings get more attracted towards the things with which they find any kind of resemblance. They try to connect with people or even pets who seem similar to them. Human beings try to find some kind of relate-ability or connection with the creatures with which they associate and then get impacted by them as well. The research study also highlighted the fact that pets try to associate with their owners by trying to copy their habits and attitudes.

Nadine Burke Harris-ACE Studies

Question: 1

My opinion on the ‘Adverse Childhood Experience’ studies is that it is quite necessary to know the psychological mechanism of human beings, which impacts their biological and neurological functioning. The adverse experiences of trauma, abuse, and negligence which people face during their childhood, keeps haunting them throughout their lives, in one or the other way. Early onset of chronic diseases, like heart issues, lung diseases, and many others are actually being supported by traumatic childhood experiences. The traumatic experiences impact the immune system of the bodies, resulting in their weakness and contribute to the onset of chronic disease or other health issues. There is a need for conducting more ACE studies while exploring the issue in detail and finding out the solutions. I think they are the representative of the population, as they shed light on the experiences of the public and how the experiences of childhood impacted their adult life. Although the results of such studies represent the specific population included in the research; it also represents the increasing number of the population being impacted and the increased number of health risk that can affect them in the latter part of their life. The results are not just the depiction of a rough childhood but are also the product of science, which is able to find the hidden or lost cause of health risk (Burke-Harris).

Question: 2

I think children are more susceptible to trauma as they are not able to drive the logical reason behind the situation, as the adults can do. Any kind of abnormal or loud and aggressive act can cause them trauma because it gives a warning of danger to them and they feel themselves insecure and vulnerable.

Question: 3

I think health care professionals should screen patients for trauma as part of intake, as part of their initial screening. When patients meet with therapists such as psychologists or social workers, they also screen them. If the healthcare professionals would screen the patients for trauma, they would get the opportunity of finding the hidden causes of their symptoms, which otherwise seem just normal. Screening for trauma is not an invasion of privacy, because the patients need to be treated and should not be left suffering, which is only possible after being screened.

Question: 4

In the modern world, a number of unexplained medical conditions are being identified; however, the health professionals are unable to properly diagnose and treat them. So, I think it should be mandated that all health professionals receive education about the effects of trauma and they should be able to assess trauma. Only then they would be able to provide quality care to the suffering patients and help them recover fast (Burke-Harris).

Works Cited

Burke-Harris, N. "Nadine Burke-Harris: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime." (2014).

Roy, Michael M., and JS Christenfeld Nicholas. "Do dogs resemble their owners?" Psychological Science 15.5 (2004): 361-363.