Boye, Emma (2025) A Walk On The Wild Side? How We Judge Strangers. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
This thesis investigates how non-human social cues, specifically from dogs, can influence human impression formation of strangers. Informed by social psychology theories like Self-Categorization and Social Identity theory, the present study examines whether and how a dog’s behavior affects social perception. A 2×2×2 factorial design was implemented, varying the dog’s reaction to the stranger (positive vs. negative), participants’ cognitive framing (intuition vs. rational), and the type of stranger (uniformed vs. complete stranger). A total of 167 participants completed the vignette-based questionnaire, assessing their impressions of the stranger, informed by the dog's behavior. An ANOVA revealed that participants were more strongly influenced by a positive reaction from the dog, compared to a negative one. The attempted manipulation of shared identity via cognitive framing did not result in significant differences in susceptibility to the dogs influence, but did affect the participants' emotions and attitude towards the dog. An interaction effect showed that the dog exerted a stronger influence when the encountered stranger was non-uniformed (absence of social cues), in line with the notion that social influence generally arises in unclear situations. Individual differences (e.g., dog ownership, vegetarianism) did not moderate the level of influence. These findings provide evidence for the role dogs play in shaping social perception, particularly in the absence of additional social cues.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Spears, R. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2025 12:50 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 12:50 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5815 |
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